Tweet
Continuing the discussion....
First here is a summary of what has happened to this point.
<font size=5> Summary list for player interface suggestions:</font>
These are not presented in any particular order. The description that follows is a summary written by myself, if I didn’t get something right, either post back or e-mail me. The usernames in parentheses following the description are the people who have contributed to the topic. Once again, if I have forgotten someone post or e-mail me.
1. USE THE WINDOWS ENVIRONMENT. It would be nice to be able to make multiple windows to view troublespots (similar to Civnet). It is easier to access other programs (e.g. CD Player) w/out having to <alt><tab>. Actually this is a topic with many opinions, this will require a vote. (Shining1, Ecco Homo, Ralph, Freddz, Frank Moore)
2. A WAY TO ATTACH NOTES TO A UNIT TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE UNIT AND TO OUTLINE A SHORT TERM PLAN FOR THE UNIT (e.g. move to cityX, make new home city, move to cityY to join assault force.) (the Octopus)
3. A NOTEPAD TOOL THAT THE PLAYER COULD USE TO MAKE NOTES TO HIMSELF DURING A TURN (e.g. barbarians near cityX – wipe them out, or even general things like, check all cities for unhappiness.) This notepad would then popup at the end of turn to allow the player to take action. The notepad should have the option of clearing after every turn. Each city should have a notepad, certain occurences should be automatically recorded (e.g. when improvements are built, civil disorder, etc.) and the player would also be able to add his/her notes to the notepad. (the Octopus, tfs99, SnowFire, jof)
4. THE PLAYER SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW THE STATS ON ANY SQUARE BY JUST MOVING THE MOUSE OVER A PARTICULAR SQUARE, instead of having to “move the cursor to this square”. (Shining1)
5. A WAY TO STANDARDIZE THE KEYS USED IN PLAY (i.e. in civ2 <h> is go to home city, in SMAC it is hold.) Maybe a better way to do this is to make the entire keyboard interface configurable, such as a shooter game. (Fugi the Great, tfs99, Blade Runner, Frank Moore)
6. THERE SHOULD BE A WAY TO GROUP UNITS TOGETHER SO THAT THEY ACT AS ONE UNIT (e.g. group 2 rover, one probe team, and three infantry units together. All units would move as one unit, with the slowest unit dictating movement rate. If no movement is required for the group only one spacebar would be required to bypass the group’s turn. (Shining1, Frank Moore)
7. A WAY TO CUSTOMIZE THE RIGHT-CLICK MENUS. It would be nice if the menus could be changed on the fly (e.g. early in the game the right click for former would include “plant forest”, while later in the game the “build magtube” order would be added. The menus should also be unit dependent, so that the menu for formers would be different from that of a combat unit. (tfs99, Frank Moore)
8. INCORPORATE THE “PUBLIC WORKS” IDEA FROM CTP INTO THE SETTLER CONCEPT. From the city screen the player should be able to dictate which squares to be improved, what to improve, and what order to improve them in. any settlers that are assigned to this city would then follow the orders. (Cybershy)
9. WHEN RESTARTING A GAME, A POPUP TO SUMMARIZE THE CURRENT GAME AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. For example, you are currently working on two wonders, the Spanish declared war 5 turns ago, and you have just discovered gunpowder. (the Octopus)
10. HAVE THE GAME CHECK TO SEE IF A FULL INSTALL HAS BEEN DONE. This would eliminate the popup dialog box. A small issue, but one that been complained about more than once. (tfs99)
11. AN IMPROVED DEMOGRAPHICS DISPLAY. What I think that we really want here are as many options, graphs, lists as possible. Definitely bring back top 5 cities, I really enjoyed trying to get all 5. (Ralph, Frank Moore)
12. FIX THE PROBLEMS WITH THE REPLAY THAT EXIST IN SMAC. Namely the Spartans being the same color as the ocean, and the final land geography being displayed from the beginning instead of showing the terraforming as it progresses. (Ecco Homo, Frank Moore)
13. THERE SHOULD BE BUTTONS AVAILABLE FOR MAXIMIZING FOOD, RESOURCE AND TRADE. This is really an issue for the city interface topic, but I’ll present it here also. (Freddz)
14. USE THE CTP TYPE OF UNIT INTERFACE. I still have not played CTP yet, but it seems to me that players either like or absolutely can’t stand this interface, this will need a vote. (Bell, Onmoy, Depp)
15. DESIGN WORKSHOP IMPROVEMENTS. The DW should be able to display many more units at one time. The whole DW should use the entire screen, not just a popup. This would allow the player to see many more units at one time. FILTERING. It would be nice to be able to filter what units are shown, for example, all air units, all naval units, etc. (Frank Moore)
16. IT WOULD BE NICE TO BE ABLE TO PRINT OUT MAPS OF THE WORLD DURING A GAME. Self-explanatory. (Ecco Homo)
17. A WAY TO CUSTOMIZE WHAT “GOODIE HUTS” CAN YIELD. For example a player should be able to toggle whether a goodie hut can yield an advanced tribe. (Bird)
18. A PEOPLE COUNTER THAT CAN COUNT HIGHER THAN 320 MILLION. I assume this is a CTP drawback. (Bird)
19. A REAL TIME CLOCK. Possibly with an alarm snooze feature. (Frank Moore)
20. INCORPORATE A SPREADSHEET INTO THE GAME. This would show all cities, what improvements the city has already built, etc. (don Don)
21. THERE SHOULD BE A WAY IN VIEW 2 OR MORE CITIES AT ONE TIME. This would be especially useful in managing resources with overlapping cities. (don Don)
22. IN GENERAL KEEP THE SMAC INTERFACE. I think that this is a pretty good idea, certain things will need changed or added. (meowser, JT)
23. SIMPLIFY THE INTERFACE TO CUT DOWN ON THE NUMBER OF MOUSE CLICKS. I agree that this should be a major goal. (Atahualpa)
24. MORE DETAIL SHOULD BE PROVIDED ON THE SCIENCE (AND OTHER) REPORTS. For example, the report should show how many beakers have accumulated, how many are needed for the next tech, and this should dynamically update to reflect changes in the science rate. Also extra beakers (and shields) should not be wasted, but added to the next discovery (improvement) or changed to currency. (Bird)
25. IN GENERAL ALL PARAMETERS (FOOD SHIELDS, BEAKERS, ETC.) SHOULD HAVE A NUMBER REPRESENTATION, NOT ONLY A GRAPHIC ONE. I believe that this has been added to SMAC. (Frank Moore)
22. IN GENERAL KEEP THE CIV2 INTERFACE. I think that this relates to number 22 above. I think that SMAC and Civ2 are pretty similar, maybe we should try to identify particular items on each game that we either love or hate. (Kaak)
First here is a summary of what has happened to this point.
<font size=5> Summary list for player interface suggestions:</font>
These are not presented in any particular order. The description that follows is a summary written by myself, if I didn’t get something right, either post back or e-mail me. The usernames in parentheses following the description are the people who have contributed to the topic. Once again, if I have forgotten someone post or e-mail me.
1. USE THE WINDOWS ENVIRONMENT. It would be nice to be able to make multiple windows to view troublespots (similar to Civnet). It is easier to access other programs (e.g. CD Player) w/out having to <alt><tab>. Actually this is a topic with many opinions, this will require a vote. (Shining1, Ecco Homo, Ralph, Freddz, Frank Moore)
2. A WAY TO ATTACH NOTES TO A UNIT TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE UNIT AND TO OUTLINE A SHORT TERM PLAN FOR THE UNIT (e.g. move to cityX, make new home city, move to cityY to join assault force.) (the Octopus)
3. A NOTEPAD TOOL THAT THE PLAYER COULD USE TO MAKE NOTES TO HIMSELF DURING A TURN (e.g. barbarians near cityX – wipe them out, or even general things like, check all cities for unhappiness.) This notepad would then popup at the end of turn to allow the player to take action. The notepad should have the option of clearing after every turn. Each city should have a notepad, certain occurences should be automatically recorded (e.g. when improvements are built, civil disorder, etc.) and the player would also be able to add his/her notes to the notepad. (the Octopus, tfs99, SnowFire, jof)
4. THE PLAYER SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW THE STATS ON ANY SQUARE BY JUST MOVING THE MOUSE OVER A PARTICULAR SQUARE, instead of having to “move the cursor to this square”. (Shining1)
5. A WAY TO STANDARDIZE THE KEYS USED IN PLAY (i.e. in civ2 <h> is go to home city, in SMAC it is hold.) Maybe a better way to do this is to make the entire keyboard interface configurable, such as a shooter game. (Fugi the Great, tfs99, Blade Runner, Frank Moore)
6. THERE SHOULD BE A WAY TO GROUP UNITS TOGETHER SO THAT THEY ACT AS ONE UNIT (e.g. group 2 rover, one probe team, and three infantry units together. All units would move as one unit, with the slowest unit dictating movement rate. If no movement is required for the group only one spacebar would be required to bypass the group’s turn. (Shining1, Frank Moore)
7. A WAY TO CUSTOMIZE THE RIGHT-CLICK MENUS. It would be nice if the menus could be changed on the fly (e.g. early in the game the right click for former would include “plant forest”, while later in the game the “build magtube” order would be added. The menus should also be unit dependent, so that the menu for formers would be different from that of a combat unit. (tfs99, Frank Moore)
8. INCORPORATE THE “PUBLIC WORKS” IDEA FROM CTP INTO THE SETTLER CONCEPT. From the city screen the player should be able to dictate which squares to be improved, what to improve, and what order to improve them in. any settlers that are assigned to this city would then follow the orders. (Cybershy)
9. WHEN RESTARTING A GAME, A POPUP TO SUMMARIZE THE CURRENT GAME AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. For example, you are currently working on two wonders, the Spanish declared war 5 turns ago, and you have just discovered gunpowder. (the Octopus)
10. HAVE THE GAME CHECK TO SEE IF A FULL INSTALL HAS BEEN DONE. This would eliminate the popup dialog box. A small issue, but one that been complained about more than once. (tfs99)
11. AN IMPROVED DEMOGRAPHICS DISPLAY. What I think that we really want here are as many options, graphs, lists as possible. Definitely bring back top 5 cities, I really enjoyed trying to get all 5. (Ralph, Frank Moore)
12. FIX THE PROBLEMS WITH THE REPLAY THAT EXIST IN SMAC. Namely the Spartans being the same color as the ocean, and the final land geography being displayed from the beginning instead of showing the terraforming as it progresses. (Ecco Homo, Frank Moore)
13. THERE SHOULD BE BUTTONS AVAILABLE FOR MAXIMIZING FOOD, RESOURCE AND TRADE. This is really an issue for the city interface topic, but I’ll present it here also. (Freddz)
14. USE THE CTP TYPE OF UNIT INTERFACE. I still have not played CTP yet, but it seems to me that players either like or absolutely can’t stand this interface, this will need a vote. (Bell, Onmoy, Depp)
15. DESIGN WORKSHOP IMPROVEMENTS. The DW should be able to display many more units at one time. The whole DW should use the entire screen, not just a popup. This would allow the player to see many more units at one time. FILTERING. It would be nice to be able to filter what units are shown, for example, all air units, all naval units, etc. (Frank Moore)
16. IT WOULD BE NICE TO BE ABLE TO PRINT OUT MAPS OF THE WORLD DURING A GAME. Self-explanatory. (Ecco Homo)
17. A WAY TO CUSTOMIZE WHAT “GOODIE HUTS” CAN YIELD. For example a player should be able to toggle whether a goodie hut can yield an advanced tribe. (Bird)
18. A PEOPLE COUNTER THAT CAN COUNT HIGHER THAN 320 MILLION. I assume this is a CTP drawback. (Bird)
19. A REAL TIME CLOCK. Possibly with an alarm snooze feature. (Frank Moore)
20. INCORPORATE A SPREADSHEET INTO THE GAME. This would show all cities, what improvements the city has already built, etc. (don Don)
21. THERE SHOULD BE A WAY IN VIEW 2 OR MORE CITIES AT ONE TIME. This would be especially useful in managing resources with overlapping cities. (don Don)
22. IN GENERAL KEEP THE SMAC INTERFACE. I think that this is a pretty good idea, certain things will need changed or added. (meowser, JT)
23. SIMPLIFY THE INTERFACE TO CUT DOWN ON THE NUMBER OF MOUSE CLICKS. I agree that this should be a major goal. (Atahualpa)
24. MORE DETAIL SHOULD BE PROVIDED ON THE SCIENCE (AND OTHER) REPORTS. For example, the report should show how many beakers have accumulated, how many are needed for the next tech, and this should dynamically update to reflect changes in the science rate. Also extra beakers (and shields) should not be wasted, but added to the next discovery (improvement) or changed to currency. (Bird)
25. IN GENERAL ALL PARAMETERS (FOOD SHIELDS, BEAKERS, ETC.) SHOULD HAVE A NUMBER REPRESENTATION, NOT ONLY A GRAPHIC ONE. I believe that this has been added to SMAC. (Frank Moore)
22. IN GENERAL KEEP THE CIV2 INTERFACE. I think that this relates to number 22 above. I think that SMAC and Civ2 are pretty similar, maybe we should try to identify particular items on each game that we either love or hate. (Kaak)
Comment