World in Flames is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. World In Flames is a highly detailed game covering the both Europe and Pacific Theaters of Operations during World War II. If you want grand strategy this game is for you.
ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I am deciding on the size for the status indicators such that they are visible/useful down to level 3 of zoom. That translates as a change from 136 by 152 pixels per hex down to 51 by 57 pixels per hex. Players tell me they usually play at zoom level 4 and would like to be able to play at zoom level 3. That's because they can see more of the map at the same time when zoomed out.
While I hold aesthetics to be quite important, more than merely eye candy, playability still rules supreme in the list of criteria.
Right, and I totally agree. I would have thought that a "zoom level" half of what you post in screenshots (level 4 vice level 8) would have to have a separate graphic anyway. The whole depiction could be different at lower zoom levels it seems. Dunno, maybe I'm wrong on how you do this. But if so, you could choose to emphasize certain things at the lower zooms as you perceive their needs. (In other words, it seems the indicators could be larger relative to the counter at zoom 4 than at zoom 8.)
Anyway, I comment on what you have posted and how that looks to me as just a single judge of the graphic quality and clarity. If you didn't post and solicit commentary, I wouldn't say anything, right? [:'(]
Excellent. I had missed the possibility of making the size relationship between the indicators and the counters dynamic too. I was mentally locked into the assumption that their relative sizes would be fixed.
I am not sure how I can make use of that 'new' possibility, but every broadening of choices is an exponential increase not linear.
While I am not a slave to public opinion, I do listen and upon occasion change my mind (I have to overcome my 50% Swedish ancetstry; or as my father, who is 100%, always said, with a very heavy Swedish accent, "You can always tell a Swede; but you can't tell him much.").
I am back on working through the Start of New Game form. Here is my latest version.
The new game sequence is in the upper left corner and the screen, and it shows that I have completed the first 4 steps of the 5 step procedure.
The mode of play is Hot Seat, the Scenario is Barbarossa, and I have selected the Standard optional rules (under the Default section of that panel). After entering the player names, I am now choosing sides for each player. Barbarossa has only two combatants: Germany and the USSR, which have the goals of achieving 20 and 21 victory cities, respectively. Gee, which side will Ivan choose I wonder?
Once both players have been assigned major powers, then the Major Powers Assigned box will be checked and the game will start.
Not yet implemented is the ability to bid for sides. That will only be available when playing over the Internet, so I will write and test that code after I get the NetPlay code installed.
This is a very busy screen, yet I prefer this solution versus having a series of simpler forms, one per step. What I like about this design, is that on one form you can see the entire process of starting a new game, and easily go back to an earlier step in the sequence if you change your mind. It appeals to my desire for a complete picture of the task at hand (i.e., starting a new game).
I am in the process of coding the routines for saving and restoring screen layouts and map views.
A map view is set of specifications that describe how the detailed map is set up. The data are:
UpperLeftHex: TSmallPoint; // Hex column and row for upper left hex
Zoom: Byte; // Zoom level
Weather: Boolean; // Whether weather is shown
WeaterZones: Boolean; // Whether weather zones are shown
Labels: Boolean; // Whether map labels are shown
Units: Boolean; // Whether units are shown
RailLines: Boolean; // Whether rail lines are shown
HexControl: Boolean; // Whether hex control is shown
Not included is the size of the detailed map, which is part of the screen layout.
Here are the data for screen layouts:
MainFor: TMWIFMain; // Main menu form
GameStatusFor: TGameStatus; // Game status form (turn, weather)
GameControlFor: TGameControl; // End of phase, switch major power
DisplayControlFor: TDisplayControl; // Toggles switches and zoom form
HexParticularsFor: THexParticulars; // Terrain, resources, etc. for hex
DetailedMaps: TDetailedMapTable; // List of detailed maps
MapDisplayControlsFor: TMapDisplayControls; // Map display controls form
GlobalMapFor: TGlobalMap; // Global Map form
GlobalMapLegendFor: TGlobalMapLegend; // Global map legend form
UnitPanelFor: TUnitPanel; // Unit panel form
UnitsInHexSummaryFor: TUnitsInHexSummary; // Units in hex summary form
UnitDisplayControlsFor: TUnitDisplayControls; // Unit display controls form
SetupFor: TSetup; // Setup form
UnitDataFor: TUnitData; // Unit data form
LandCombatTableFor: TLandCombatTable; // Land combat table form
DiceFor: TDice; // Dice form
ChatFor: TChat; // Chat form
NewMessageFor: TNewMessage; // New message form
SequenceOfPlayFor: TSequenceOfPlay; // Sequence of play form
ScreenLayoutsFor: TScreenLayoutList; // Placement of screen layouts list
MapViewsFor: TMapViewList; // Placement of map views list
UnitSelectionFor: TUnitSelectionList; // Placement of units list
The ‘For’ embedded in each name indicates (so I don’t get it confused with other things) that the variable records the location of the form - that is, its position of its leftmost and topmost pixel. Some of these also have dynamic sizes which are also stored. The odd duck here is the DetailedMaps variable which contains a set of detailed maps. There may be more than one visible on the screen.
The purpose behind screen layouts and map views is to enable the player to have some control over tailoring the interface the way he likes it. There are defaults for everything, so there is no need to overtly make these decisions. But if the placement of some form on the screen bothers you, you have the ability to not only change it, but to preserve that change so you do not have to do it again every time you play the game.
Screen layouts simply record the position and size of the forms that appear while playing the game. Map views record the focus of the map: zoom level, which hex is in the upper left corner of the map, plus how the toggle switches are set.
I expect each player to have dozens of map views on hand for quickly jumping around the map: China overview (zoomed out), China North (zoomed in), China South, Southern England, Maginot Line, Poland, Rumania, Gibraltar, Italy, East Africa, Middle East, etc.. These might be by phase of the game too, with different ones for production, placing reinforcements, strategic bombing, and so on.
Screen layouts are similar, with different forms visible depending on the phase of the game. Naval movement versus land movement might require different sizes and placements for information/forms.
So here is my problem. How to name the map views and screen layouts.
First, I do not think it is necessary to include the player’s name as part of the file name. That’s because it will be rare that more than one MWIF player will use a single computer. Second, I do not believe the phase of the turn should be part of the file name. However, I am not so sure about the major power.
What I have in mind is that the French player would have a set of map views and could go from the first to the last using right arrow, or some such keystroke. That would be nice to have tied into the current major power. The US and CW want markedly different map views from those of the USSR and Italy. I am not so sure that is needed for screen layouts though.
Here are some alternatives:
1 - make up a name and that is what is used. E.g., Maginot Line, Poland, England
2 - make up a name and an abbreviation for the major power is added to it. E.g., Fr Maginot Line, Fr North Africa, Ge Baltic States, Ge Kiev, Ge Rumania, Ge Lowlands.
3 - make up a name and both the major power and phase will be added to it. E.g., Fr Production France, CW Production England, US Production Atlantic, US Production Pacific, Ru Production Europe, Ru Production Pacific.
4 - something else I haven’t thought of that is how you would like it handled.
In CWiF I have been using the global map in a shrunk format at one side of the screen and clicking on any spot on that map, it may have to be rotated some to get the desired spot visible, the main map immmediately shifts to that area.
This way I do not need any saved maps over and above the default configuration used.
Lars
In CWiF I have been using the global map in a shrunk format at one side of the screen and clicking on any spot on that map, it may have to be rotated some to get the desired spot visible, the main map immmediately shifts to that area.
This way I do not need any saved maps over and above the default configuration used.
Lars
Yes, I work that way too from time to time. But after clicking on the global map, the detailed map needs to be scrolled about some to get the focus just the way I want it. I also change zoom levels for different activities.
What I have in mind is a single click to get the detailed map exactly the way you want it.
1 - make up a name and that is what is used. E.g., Maginot Line, Poland, England
2 - make up a name and an abbreviation for the major power is added to it. E.g., Fr Maginot Line, Fr North Africa, Ge Baltic States, Ge Kiev, Ge Rumania, Ge Lowlands.
3 - make up a name and both the major power and phase will be added to it. E.g., Fr Production France, CW Production England, US Production Atlantic, US Production Pacific, Ru Production Europe, Ru Production Pacific.
4 - something else I haven’t thought of that is how you would like it handled.
Make up a name as in 3, and let the possibility to the player to add or modify it as he wants ?
Anyway, I also tend to move too using CTRL+G (Global Map appears) + right click in the area I want to go + ARROWS to find the right spot, and CTRL+G again to reduce the Global map.
What I'd like would be Keyboard keys to zoom in & out the map.
1 - make up a name and that is what is used. E.g., Maginot Line, Poland, England
2 - make up a name and an abbreviation for the major power is added to it. E.g., Fr Maginot Line, Fr North Africa, Ge Baltic States, Ge Kiev, Ge Rumania, Ge Lowlands.
3 - make up a name and both the major power and phase will be added to it. E.g., Fr Production France, CW Production England, US Production Atlantic, US Production Pacific, Ru Production Europe, Ru Production Pacific.
4 - something else I haven’t thought of that is how you would like it handled.
Make up a name as in 3, and let the possibility to the player to add or modify it as he wants ?
Anyway, I also tend to move too using CTRL+G (Global Map appears) + right click in the area I want to go + ARROWS to find the right spot, and CTRL+G again to reduce the Global map.
What I'd like would be Keyboard keys to zoom in & out the map.
You have that with the + and - keys on the keypad.
What I have been working on is getting the map view and screen layout capabilities working. They are mostly done and here are some screen shots.
The player has a lot of control about what appears where. In this screen layout there are 3 detailed map segments shown. The large one centered on Kaunas, and two small ones on Lvov and Odessa. Notice that they have different zoom levels. All the other toggles are per detailed map too, so you could have the rail lines, weather, names, units, hex control shown or not shown differently for each detailed map.
The map views list to choose from is under the control of the player - it is the list with the green background on the left. By left clicking on a map view, the detailed map that is currently active immediately refreshes - changing to that map view. The player can add, define new, redfine existing, and delete map views from the list. In this case, I was trying to work out where I was going to position my fighters behind the front line. Notice I still have the bombers to place. The cursor is over the Siberian unit SW of Kaunas, the units for that hex are shown in the units panel in the lower right corner.
Attachments
Screenlay..420061.jpg (447.09 KiB) Viewed 186 times
Here is another with only two detailed maps. The smaller one is of Vladivostock and shows who controls which hexes using the flags. because the scenario is Barbarossa, the Japanese flags are not shown.
I have the screen layouts and map views definitions associated with a major power, which is why these all begin with USSR. The idea is that when playing each major power you will have certain sections of the map that you want to examine. You could either use a single detailed map and cycle through all the map views for that major power (to review all the hot spots) or set up multiple detailed map views and cycle through different screen layouts. Each screen layout has a map view associated with each detailed map.
Again, this is all very flexible and you can set it up howsoever you like. I picutre having maybe 6 or 8 detailed maps on the screen at once for naval operations. For example, you would be able to see each major port within striking range of Gibraltar simultaneously on the screen.
The multiple detailed maps let you cut out the uninteresting portions of the maps and just having the interesting bits shown.
Attachments
Screenlay..420062.jpg (429.19 KiB) Viewed 187 times
Last in the series. This one shows the popup menu for the screen layouts list. The difference between include and retrieve is that include merely adds the screen layout to the list as another one you can switch to. The retrieve menu item actually make the transition to whichever screen layout you select from the disk. If it hasn't been obvious, these are all written out to disk and which map views and screen layouts are currently listed is under your control.
Another thing that I may be taking for granted you understand here is that the player can still scroll the map around howsoever he likes. The use of map views and screen layouts is totally optional. The little red x in each corner is for removing those lists from the screen. There are short cut keys for bringing them back and they can be selected from the main drop down menu too.
What I haven't implemented yet is saving a player's last screen layout as part of a saved game so when he restores the game, the screen layout comes back too. To go along with than is establishing a default screen layout for when a player starts a new game - that the player can modify it so the game always starts with the screen layout he prefers.
I also have to split apart several of these panels into component parts. Both the setup form and the units panel contain several pieces that I want to turn into separate little forms that the player can place wheresoever he likes. For the final product, I expect to have several screen layout designs available for the new player to choose from. Setting up the screen layout should not be a task thrust upon the unexpecting novice. However, as a player gains familiarity with the game and wants things "just so", this design should enable him to achieve it rather painlessly.
Attachments
Screenlay..420063.jpg (494.14 KiB) Viewed 186 times
Ok. I have a question regarding these multiple screens. (If it seems stupid, well, that's just my way...)
During movement (especially for long range movement, like naval or rail moves), can you drag and drop from one screen to another?
For example: I have a land unit in Odessa. I wish to rail it to Vladivostok (using two rail "moves" against Russia's limit).
Another example: I have a cruiser group in Gibraltar I wish to redeploy to the Cape of Good Hope.
In both cases I have the map screens set up to the zoom levels I prefer. I have one map centered on the moving units start hex, and another screen set up on the destination theatre. I drag the unit(s) from screen #1, and drop them on screen #2 (or #3, whatever).
Also, the active window (in Windows) has a habit of putting itself "on top". In your shot in post number 434 above, if I grab a unit (for rail movement) in #1 Map window, does window #1 become the "active" window, and plop itself over the #2 map window?
(The "work around" to the overlaying issue is to set the windows up like you have them in post number 435. They wont "overlay" each other because of where you set and sized them.)
ORIGINAL: mlees
Ok. I have a question regarding these multiple screens. (If it seems stupid, well, that's just my way...)
During movement (especially for long range movement, like naval or rail moves), can you drag and drop from one screen to another?
For example: I have a land unit in Odessa. I wish to rail it to Vladivostok (using two rail "moves" against Russia's limit).
Another example: I have a cruiser group in Gibraltar I wish to redeploy to the Cape of Good Hope.
In both cases I have the map screens set up to the zoom levels I prefer. I have one map centered on the moving units start hex, and another screen set up on the destination theatre. I drag the unit(s) from screen #1, and drop them on screen #2 (or #3, whatever).
Also, the active window (in Windows) has a habit of putting itself "on top". In your shot in post number 434 above, if I grab a unit (for rail movement) in #1 Map window, does window #1 become the "active" window, and plop itself over the #2 map window?
(The "work around" to the overlaying issue is to set the windows up like you have them in post number 435. They wont "overlay" each other because of where you set and sized them.)
Yes to all.
Moving a unit over long distances is a major benefit of having two maps. It's also nice when setting up the USA and placing some units on the east coast and others on the west coast. With only 1 map visible you have to either work with a very low zoom level (1 or 2), keep switching back and forth between 2 map views, or make all your decisions on 1 coast and then go to the other.
The little forms, panels, and lists are coded to always "remain on top". The maps are underneath. It the case of ties, last visited (clicked on by the cursor) is on top.
I have been consumed with upgrading the compiler I am using for MWIF to Delphi 2006 the past 2 weeks, but here are some screen shots from the graphics artist. They are drafts from work-in-progress for the skins for MWIF. We will be using 8 different color schemes that change depending on which major power is "on move".
Love the flexibility there.....
