Unit Depictions on Screen

[Anendrue]

I can't take it anymore. This is looking better and better everyday. I could give up beer for this.

Hmmm... maybe we need a WiF Addicts forum? [X(]


[&o] Keep up the outstanding work, this is absolutely awesome. [&o]

[dhatchen]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: tigercub

I must say it`s all looking very good shannon great work a pat on the back!

Thank you. They more people I make happy, the more copies of the game will be sold.

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map. Now, the Screen Capture function removes the cursor from the screen shot, or you would see that the leftmost units (a stack of 3) are under a cursor and moving around with the cursor. The 2-6 mechanized, 4 GD, is shown twice. Once it is dropped on the map, it

I use JASC Paint Shop Pro 9. Its screen capture allows cursor or no cursor on full screen, client area, window, object. Its area capture doesn't show cursor, but I just do a window or client area capture and use the picture crop function. You can save it in every graphic format you didn't want to hear of (Recognizes 62 file extension types). Its about 100 USD.
I find it indispensible for user manual writing.

danh

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: dhatchen

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
Now, the Screen Capture function removes the cursor from the screen shot, or you would see that the leftmost units (a stack of 3) are under a cursor and moving around with the cursor.

I use JASC Paint Shop Pro 9. Its screen capture allows cursor or no cursor on full screen, client area, window, object. Its area capture doesn't show cursor, but I just do a window or client area capture and use the picture crop function. You can save it in every graphic format you didn't want to hear of (Recognizes 62 file extension types). Its about 100 USD.
I find it indispensible for user manual writing.

danh

Thanks. The graphics guy has already told me I should get something better for screen capture. But that just doesn't have much priority in my life at the present. When I do get around to really needing professional looking screen shots (e.g., for manuals), I'll keep your suggestion in mind.

[c92nichj]

A comment on the low res pictures of planes. would it be possible to have them resemble the other units.
LND from top as shown in the screenshot.
Figthers from the side in profile.
NAV diving
ATR from top but having their tail to the north.
This will make it very easy to see what type of planes that an icon represents.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: c92nichj
A comment on the low res pictures of planes. would it be possible to have them resemble the other units.
LND from top as shown in the screenshot.
Figthers from the side in profile.
NAV diving
ATR from top but having their tail to the north.
This will make it very easy to see what type of planes that an icon represents.

Yes, I agree. Right now I am limited to my own graphics skills. Having me do them would be a waste of my time and produce a poor product.

It is low priority on my list of things for the graphics artist to do.

I am being very careful with choosing the tasks I assign to the graphics artist - his productivity is not as great as I would like. His quality of output is very good though. Therefore, I give him one assignment at a time and wait until that is complete, before handing him another - I don't want to confuse him with having several things to worry about simultaneuosly.

[Froonp]

I second the remark of c92nichj.
You could also improve the visual of WiF FE by showing the right number of engines on bombers.
Cost 2 bombers : 1 engine.
Cost 3 bombers : 2 engines.
Cost 4 bombers : 4 engines.

Cheers

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: abj9562

I can't take it anymore. This is looking better and better everyday. I could give up beer for this.

Enjoy it while it lasts... after the glitzy maps and counters are finished there will be a long period where nothing will seem to happen. That's because Steve will be busy under the hood making all the pieces work together.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

ORIGINAL: abj9562

I can't take it anymore. This is looking better and better everyday. I could give up beer for this.

Enjoy it while it lasts... after the glitzy maps and counters are finished there will be a long period where nothing will seem to happen. That's because Steve will be busy under the hood making all the pieces work together.

Not completely.

I want to revise almost all the forms that are used in the user interface, roughly 100 of them. I have done the scrap and the setup form, and am almost done my first serious pass on the start of game screen. For the start of game screen I have collapsed what use to be a half dozen separate forms into one comprehensive screen where all the bits and pieces about starting a game can be performed. CWIF kept popping up different forms and having the player fill them out one at a time. It was difficult to see the whole picture of what was going on. With the single screen composed of separate panels, it is clear what needs to be done to to get a new game underway.

Here is a current screen shot of that. For this screen shot, I had to slice off part of the bottom. The colors haven't been reviewed by the graphics artist and will undoubtedly be changed to something more in keeping with the 'skin' that he will come up with for all the forms.

This is the first screen you see when you start the program. If you want to restore an ongoing game, all the most recent ones will be listed in the blue panel on the left. You just click on one and it will load the saved game.

Starting a new game requires a series of things to be done. The black panel provides directions for what haas to be completed next:
Mode of Play,
Scenarios,
Current Players,
Optional Rules,
Choose Major Powers - which player plays which major power(s) in the selected scenario.

However, you can review all the scenarios, enter player names, and set the optional rules in advance. That is, you can examine all the panels and make your selections/enter names in any order. The OK buttons will only be enabled in the fixed sequence listed above. When you click on one of the radio buttons in the Mode of Play section, the Scenario OK button will be enabled. When you click on Scenario OK, the Add Players OK button will be enabled. When you click on the Add Players OK button the Optional Rules OK button will be enabled, ... the last task is to Choose Major Powers.

Then the game begins with all the information in place for setting up players, countries, scenario specific details, units types, and communication capabilities.

[Greyshaft]

Will the 'Optional Rules' section have a link to the Help screen so (for example) a player can easily determine whether chosing 'The Queens' means:

A. The Wives of the Heads of State try to resolve the whole war with Diplomacy over a cup of tea.
B. The British Army relaxes its homophobic attitude and thereby increases its number of available land units.
C. MWiF uses an alternative soundtrack for National Anthems. Germany get "Bohemian Rhapsody", Russia plays "Somebody to Love", and USA has "We Are the Champions".
D. The Allies get a couple of extra fast transports.

I vote for Option 'C'.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

Will the 'Optional Rules' section have a link to the Help screen so (for example) a player can easily determine whether chosing 'The Queens' means:

A. The Wives of the Heads of State try to resolve the whole war with Diplomacy over a cup of tea.
B. The British Army relaxes its homophobic attitude and thereby increases its number of available land units.
C. MWiF uses an alternative soundtrack for National Anthems. Germany get "Bohemian Rhapsody", Russia plays "Somebody to Love", and USA has "We Are the Champions".
D. The Allies get a couple of extra fast transports.

I vote for Option 'C'.

That option will be colored lavender, which should convey all necessary information.

CWIF had a short text description for each optional rule. When the cursor was over a rules option, a 'hint' was provided. This is standard practice in a Windows application interface. I will retain that and also add the ability to right click on an option to get more information.

The right click will bring up a menu with one item: "More Details". That in turn will bring up a modal (you have to close it before you do anything else) text box with more of the gruesome details. I do not want these to be long winded explanations, though in some cases they will have to be. For example, the Convoy in Flames option [which I was just looking into adding this morning] has a lot of rules changes, all of which should be at least mentioned in passing. They won't be described as thoroughly as in the Rules as Coded (RAC).

I probably will also modify the Start Screen to include going to the tutorials and other information sources included in MWIF: RAC, Scenario details (# of players, how many should be on which side, and which countries they should play), setting up for internet play, setting up for PBEM, ... possibly more.

[dhatchen]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

Will the 'Optional Rules' section have a link to the Help screen so (for example) a player can easily determine whether chosing 'The Queens' means:

A. The Wives of the Heads of State try to resolve the whole war with Diplomacy over a cup of tea.
B. The British Army relaxes its homophobic attitude and thereby increases its number of available land units.
C. MWiF uses an alternative soundtrack for National Anthems. Germany get "Bohemian Rhapsody", Russia plays "Somebody to Love", and USA has "We Are the Champions".
D. The Allies get a couple of extra fast transports.

I vote for Option 'C'.

That option will be colored lavender, which should convey all necessary information.

If you need more colour options, you can watch the 70's movie "Zorro, the Gay Blade."[;)]

If you haven't seen it, it is reasonably humourous.

[IKerensky_alt]

2 things:

It could be great to have the rules number after the option in the choose option screen. Of course a hyperlink to the game help/manual would be even better

Counter would be 10 time nicer with a clipped corner style, the added advantage is a better reading of the map and the situation with more of it showing between counter. And that way I would really feel like I am playing home

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Greywolf
2 things:

It could be great to have the rules number after the option in the choose option screen. Of course a hyperlink to the game help/manual would be even better

Counter would be 10 time nicer with a clipped corner style, the added advantage is a better reading of the map and the situation with more of it showing between counter. And that way I would really feel like I am playing home

Space is at a premium for the counters. Rounding the corners and addnig 3D effects steal pixels from the high resolution graphics. Expanding the counter size (maximum resolution is 96 by 96) reduces the number of hexes visible on the screen at every zoom level.

[Manic Inertia]

Hi Shannon!

Like everyone else here, I'm really looking forward seeing WiF on my computer: fantastic work so far, I reckon!

Will the Heavy Weapons upgrades from PatiF etc be in the game?

The other thing I wanted to say was I always found those tiny white boxes above each counter in CWiF really ugly, and rather confusing!

That said, I'm sure they're necessary, but is it possible that some status's can be indicated in a different way? A little while back someone suggested that units that are out of supply could be designated with a giant 'S' across the counter, for example .. is that doable?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Manic Inertia

Hi Shannon!

Like everyone else here, I'm really looking forward seeing WiF on my computer: fantastic work so far, I reckon!

Will the Heavy Weapons upgrades from PatiF etc be in the game?

The other thing I wanted to say was I always found those tiny white boxes above each counter in CWiF really ugly, and rather confusing!

That said, I'm sure they're necessary, but is it possible that some status's can be indicated in a different way? A little while back someone suggested that units that are out of supply could be designated with a giant 'S' across the counter, for example .. is that doable?

I started a new thread today on the Start Game screen. In it I included the latest on the add-ons and optional units/rules.

I haven't gotten to the status boxes yet (small boxes above each unit counter). They need a through review. However, the basic principle behind having them seems right.

The status of units changes during the course of play - sometimes during a turn, sometimes during an impulse , and sometimes during a phase or even subphase of an impulse. To make large/dramatic changes to the unit seems excessive (the large S for example). There are a lot of these changes occuring and there can be cases where one unit has multiple status changes at once. A simple example is a unit that is both disrupted and out of supply. Add in the other possibilities - being transported by an air/naval unit, currently available for movement (e.g., during rail movement it is in a city), is providing HQ support, just paradropped and does not currently have a ZOC, ... there are a lot of details. The details are different for land, air, and naval units too.

I want to look at what Chris did for CWIF and rethink everything. As a player I know that disruption occurs often and is important. It should be indicated more forcefully than having one of 6 equal boxes colored in. I also worry about players who are color blind being able to distinguish subtle changes in color in the status boxes.

I'll get to this task eventually, and (as always) solicit comments from the forum members on any design I propose.

[hakon]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

I second the remark of c92nichj.
You could also improve the visual of WiF FE by showing the right number of engines on bombers.
Cost 2 bombers : 1 engine.
Cost 3 bombers : 2 engines.
Cost 4 bombers : 4 engines.

Cheers

Perhaps showing all 4 engines on the He177 is demanding a bit too much?

[Dunedain]

Those are some very fine looking counters there, Shannon.

As far as the flag issue, the way that is often handled in computer games is that there
will be a separate version for sale in Germany, and everywhere else the game will have
swastika flags. For example, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (FPS from id) had nazi flags
all over the place, paintings of Hitler on the walls in the castles and such. It really
made for an authentic believable atmosphere in the game. But the German version didn't
have that (I assume it was replaced with other germanic style flags, etc.). Now, Matrix
probably doesn't want to go to the hassle of doing that, so I understand going with another
type of flag to represent Germany and then only having to release one version of the game for
sale here and in Germany. As long as it's easy to replace the German flag graphics with
accurate historical ones that will look perfect, as if the game came with it, then that's fine.

Too bad the red doesn't show up that well on the SS unit counters in the computer version.
I bet it looks great on the real counters, coal black with blood red letters... tasty!

Hmm, I was thinking, maybe a slightly less dark shade of solid red lettering, combined with
the natural darkening effect to the eye that the black around it has, would actually make the
red letters both easier to read and yet still look pretty accurate to the real counters?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Dunedain

Those are some very fine looking counters there, Shannon.

As far as the flag issue, the way that is often handled in computer games is that there
will be a separate version for sale in Germany, and everywhere else the game will have
swastika flags. For example, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (FPS from id) had nazi flags
all over the place, paintings of Hitler on the walls in the castles and such. It really
made for an authentic believable atmosphere in the game. But the German version didn't
have that (I assume it was replaced with other germanic style flags, etc.). Now, Matrix
probably doesn't want to go to the hassle of doing that, so I understand going with another
type of flag to represent Germany and then only having to release one version of the game for
sale here and in Germany. As long as it's easy to replace the German flag graphics with
accurate historical ones that will look perfect, as if the game came with it, then that's fine.

Too bad the red doesn't show up that well on the SS unit counters in the computer version.
I bet it looks great on the real counters, coal black with blood red letters... tasty!

Hmm, I was thinking, maybe a slightly less dark shade of solid red lettering, combined with
the natural darkening effect to the eye that the black around it has, would actually make the
red letters both easier to read and yet still look pretty accurate to the real counters?

Thanks.

I have put the red on black problem aside for the moment. I did play around with it for a while but I have moved on to more important issues at the present. If you want to explore your idea using a graphics package and report back something that works well, .... I would only need the RGB values for the 'red' and I could modify a CSV file to try them out.

If not, I intend to have the graphics artist review all the unit counters eventually. He might have a solution readily at hand. Right now, I am keeping him focused on the items on the critical path for a beta test version.

[Caranorn]

ORIGINAL: Dunedain

Those are some very fine looking counters there, Shannon.

As far as the flag issue, the way that is often handled in computer games is that there
will be a separate version for sale in Germany, and everywhere else the game will have
swastika flags. For example, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (FPS from id) had nazi flags
all over the place, paintings of Hitler on the walls in the castles and such. It really
made for an authentic believable atmosphere in the game. But the German version didn't
have that (I assume it was replaced with other germanic style flags, etc.). Now, Matrix
probably doesn't want to go to the hassle of doing that, so I understand going with another
type of flag to represent Germany and then only having to release one version of the game for
sale here and in Germany. As long as it's easy to replace the German flag graphics with
accurate historical ones that will look perfect, as if the game came with it, then that's fine.

The "authentic believable athmosphere" related to the Castle Wolfenstein game really makes me laugh. That was one of the silliest representation of Nazis I've ever seen. That's not really what the 3rd Reich was like (yes, propaganda activities always had hundreds of flags etc., but day to day life those outward signs were less obvious (yes they were present, one of my maternal grandfather's duties as city clerk was to wander around town and note who wasn't flying the flag as prescribed, who didn't have his Hitler portrait at home etc.)).

As to the flags in game, I think Steve has opted to include three flags for any country that will be acceptable anywhere. It is expected that some players will create alterante graphics (which I'd recommend not housing on the Matrix site (no direct links to a NAZI_FLAGS.COM type of site either;-))). Just to stay on the safe side, some of those modern legislations can be pretty silly, but no need to get into trouble over them either.

[Dunedain]

Caranorn: When I said believable atmosphere, I was merely referring to the fact that in
a castle and other facilities controlled by nazis one would expect to see nazi flags and paintings
of Hitler in some places on the walls. I was not commenting on the frequency of those paintings or
to the historical accuracy of any other aspect of the game. After all, it's a first-person shooter
from id software, you don't expect a realistic simulation of WWII from that, do you? haha