UI Improvements

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by Quitch, February 27, 2014.

  1. mabdeno

    mabdeno Active Member

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    I find Picture in Picture to be the best way to use teleporters. That way you can connect teleporters and move your army through without having to move your camera view.
  2. rockemsockemrobot

    rockemsockemrobot Member

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    Burn rate indicator.

    Would be nice if selecting a group of units/buildings would provide energy and mass usage rate.
  3. wondible

    wondible Post Master General

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  4. karolus10

    karolus10 Member

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    About choosing color/commander, I don't think that drop-down menu is needed but I would be happy to see using right mouse key on them to select previous color/commander. I often click fast to see witch color I want and If you overshoot, you cannot go back but you had to go around trough all colors/commanders to pick one you desire, I think that this would be neat UI change.
    websterx01 likes this.
  5. rockemsockemrobot

    rockemsockemrobot Member

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  6. morchailin

    morchailin New Member

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    I would like the ability to grab and move waypoints around. For example, you set up a few factories to build units to go on a patrol route around your base. You want to expand or change the route for the existing patrol, so you simply grab the waypoints and move them, and all the units on that patrol change routes accordingly.
  7. chronosoul

    chronosoul Well-Known Member

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    Here is my take on it: ( @igncom1 I am using your picture for reference since i'm at school)
    Tele explanation.jpg

    This is what I would See it working. The teleporter symbol is viewable at the orbital level, It would be located on the spot on the planet. When activated it would have a harmonizing color with the teleporter it is connected to. Or maybe be shown side by side on the left side of the screen.

    The left side of the screen Item 1 is clickable tele symbols to be used in quick ground level camera views.

    You don't have to zoom to ground level to click on the teleporter and then vice versa with the other part of the teleporter entrance.
  8. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    Where do teleporters 3, 4, 5 and 6 go?
  9. chronosoul

    chronosoul Well-Known Member

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    They would drop down and eventually have an arrow button to go to the extra teleporters.

    It's an idea to make it easier, If it doesn't feel easy, i'm sure there are other ways to make it simpler.
  10. ORFJackal

    ORFJackal Active Member

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    I'd like to have a PIP tooltip for teleporters (similar to alert PIPs) which would show the destination teleporter. Either show the PIP when hovering the mouse over the teleporter or when the teleporter is selected, whichever works better.

    That would make it easier to navigate the system when you have lots of teleporters on lots of planets. The name of the destination teleporter's planet could be shown in the title bar of that PIP, in case we have many planets with the same biomes.
    cptconundrum and LavaSnake like this.
  11. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    same though there's still some bugs linking them through PIP.
  12. mabdeno

    mabdeno Active Member

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    I know what you mean. I think that has alot to do with the server lag later in the game though.
  13. stawos

    stawos Member

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    and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, Uber guys edit one line of code for us.... Return to LOBBY instead of main menu when we fail to join a game! I know it might seem like a trivial thing for you guys to bother with when there is still so much to do, but it's literally a 1min fix that will make the community happy. it's super annoying to try and join games and get booted back to the main menu over & over again.
  14. optagon

    optagon New Member

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    There are a few things I would like to comment on while my first impression is still fresh.

    Build Menu:
    I find the unit and building icons really hard to distinguish without focusing all my attention on them.
    I can think of a couple of things that would make my experience easier. Split up the icon into logical groups, just a few pixels is enough to quickly see where something is.

    icon_split.jpg

    Another idea would be to couple each icon (or group) with their minimap icon. And finally, add some color. Why are the icons gray? Adding the strips of player color will make the icons easier to identify as well.

    General Interface:
    I'm sure a damage indicator is on it's way, but it's one of the things I miss the most right now. Ideally I want to be able to click the notification saying "Your Bot Factory is taking damage!" and the camera will jump right to it. Other RTS's have mini-map pings where you are taking damage, but that doesn't make as much sense in PA. Also, Control Group icons. Just a list of icons showing number and unit types, that you can click to select and double click to zoom to.
    chronosoul likes this.
  15. chronosoul

    chronosoul Well-Known Member

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    So i've been messing around with the system manager and so far it seems a little user unfriendly.

    System manager UI imrpove 1.jpg
    Entering the My systems page. It looks and feels rather basic in the options you can look at when you want to look at systems one has created.

    Item 1: I think for systems with more then one planet. the basic picture (earth picture, can have multiple planets stacked behind it. to show that it is a multi planet system.) When selecting a planet, it would be nice for there to be a scroll wheel to see the multiple planets in the system instead of having to load the entire system to see what is inside of it.

    Item 2: Planets made by me or from Uber should have proper separation of either a filter or something else. When the game is released, it would help the user know when a map is actually potentially custom or from my own gallery. Maybe a Tabbed system will work. (all, my systems, Downloaded systems, etc.)

    Planet organization.jpg

    The My planets tab is also in need of some adjusters. By adjusters i mean, show planets of > or < then radius slider///Separated by number of engines required. //etc.

    Potentially another menu box that you can create new system from the planets made by clicking each planet (which selects them) and then load the planets into one system, for further manipulation
    Overal system feedback.jpg

    In this screen cap I think it would be really nice to have a Reset system to original setting button, so that after simulating the planet motion that it will go back to its normal positions that the planets were originally set.

    I would then like to say that the system manager editor is quite nice but The increased speed of the planets is not helpful. I think if there was a slider to adjust the speed to see what would be the in-game speed compared to when I want to know if planets collide.

    A collision detector would be nice so one can figure out if planets will collide based on the paths outlined in the editor.
    lokiCML and Quitch like this.
  16. cptconundrum

    cptconundrum Post Master General

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    Have you tried the Enhanced System Preview mod on PAMM? There's a screenshot of it earlier in this thread.
  17. zlord

    zlord New Member

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    I want see icons in build menu...
    I want see power costs and hp when i build stuff and resource drain overall, so i can know what units drain my power more, so i can conclude: " i may need more power if i am gonna buils [X]"
    Maybe i am just noob who played only like 7 games, but it takes time for me to find what buildings does what, like you can make air related building be more light blue or even white

    when i zoom in/out camera is locked on center of planet wich frustrate supcom players that used to navigate only with mouse wheel (not joking... i hate anchor point concept ^_^ and useing keyboard for navigation like in starcraft)

    for now ui is extremely annoying, somehow i can't do anything in game
    if they eventually make UI as good as supcom i will be so happy :D

    Edit, i also want game to highlight selected units better (like much better)
    and i somehow fail to select units with double click all the time :( and even if i selected, i have no idea how much xD

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    Last edited: March 10, 2014
    Quitch and chronosoul like this.
  18. aulex

    aulex New Member

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    Yea i totally agre with this, especially with the icons on the build bar, it makes it much easier to identify the buildings because it is simple and can be easily distinguished from another icon.
  19. Shalkka

    Shalkka Active Member

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    I would like something that worked in AI War to work. Ctrl + click on a teleporter changes viewpoint to linked teleporter at a similar zoom. That way you can peek to the "other side" of the wormhole.
    Quitch likes this.

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