Map views

[Mark_Everson]

Dialogs:

I hope I'm not misunderstanding the limited discussion... but I think we need to avoid dialogs per se as much as possible. They really disrupt the atmosphere IMO, especially if a bunch of them pile up each turn. I would rather have events get registered by the relevant advisor, and if they pass a priority level that the player sets, then get presented by that advisor in a relevant news-sheet or whatever. Those that need a response could have checkboxes next to them or something.

Anyone have any bright ideas on this topic? If so they should probably be put in the generic interfaces thread, since this isn't really a map issue.

lee:

"working out whether a player selects a unit on the main map is probably beyond me"
Again, demo 4 already has a solution for this... the 'TFs here' window. We can put other stuff in that window also if it turns out to be needed. Perhaps the TFs here window will turn out not the best in the long run, but its certainly workable for now. Things are already partly set up in the old ClashImage class for figuring out what gets clicked in a given square. But its nowhere near complete. I can help you out with this whenever you get to it.

"largest map size"
it can be whatever the player wants... maybe I don't understand your question. But for good design, whatever you do shouldn't have any assumptions on the number of squares in the map embedded in it.

[F_Smith]

puree:

Off-hand, I can think of two classes of events that the interface will have to fire off -- when a player gives unit orders, and when a player changes a govt policy/gives govt orders. So something like 'UnitEvent' and 'GovtEvent', for now?

There likely will be others, but for now, these are for sure.

I tend to think that we should have a standard dialog box, but I'll leave that decision to you.

And I love the idea of doing a custom look and feel, like you're discussing. I've used the 'metal/motif/windows' PLAF stuff, and it's easy, but I've never done a custom one. That is a fascinating idea.

* * *

Mark:

Perhaps you're right. Consider that changed.

[F_Smith]

puree:

I'm sorry, not 'dialog boxes' -- I just meant a standard 'frame' that would be a 'detail dialog' or some such.

As Mark said, there should be a small JInternalFrame that is the 'mapsquare detail' info.

Oh, and the largest map you need to worry about for now, assuming a 60 mile square mapsquare, is 120 by 240. I imagine you're worried about memory?

[F_Smith]

Puree:

One other type of event just occurred to me -- this is a radical idea, but what if we allowed players to click a 'turn' button and take turns!!!

I can't believe I forgot that one.


We'll need a 'TurnEvent', of course.

[puree]

mark

i had considered the concept of selecting a square and then from a separate window/dialog selecting the units you wish to move, that would be easy enough to do, i was concerned about being able to select units on the main map so that there is not to much moving the mouse to do things.

dialogs to me meant the window/frame to manipulate stuff ie dialog to do city management, govt actions.
i just wondered what was meant by standard dialog ?

in terms of squares i dont mind how many, and it wont matter up to a point, but ( memory aside ) a large map may mean a scrolling overview map or very tiny graphics, i was wanting to work out what the overview map had to cope with

puree

[Mark_Everson]

puree:

Well, we are going to be able to show at most one TF for each of two different sides in a square. I think some selection from the TF window when there are a lot of troops in a square is going to be unavoidable. If you can think of a way around this, more power to you. I would say for starters, you should do it the way we had in demo 4 for now, and if someone has a flash of brilliance, we'll switch over to the better solution. The logic for my simple TF box is already coded, so that seems like the path of least effort to get things going.

Standard dialog is just the usual little box that pops up saying "Attack the Bignoses?" and gives 'yes' or 'no' buttons for choices for example. Or in more germane cicles "save file?" 'yes' or 'cancel'.

overview maps... I think we will need several types of these. We will need a one-pixel-per-square thumbnail of the world, with a color overlay to show various things (like locations of oil, or per-capita-income, or simply civ color). We'll also need regional maps like the one at upper right in demo 4. These might have 10-30 pixels per square diagonal and show other info like power rings. For these, being able to shift the center (although not necc. by scrolling) is a clear necessity. If you want to be fancy you could make a tabbed holder for overview maps, and let the player select any 5 types they want to be on the tabs. Sorry to be so wishy-washy, but I think we need some playtesting to find out what will work best for the overview map. But if you make the 'main' map package versatile, it should cover most of what the various overview maps need to do IMO.