Matrix Games Forums

..for some reason, I utterly hate the main font used in your family of games. I know it's a small cosmetic thing, but I just despise it!! Is there any way to change the fonts in the game in a mod or from our end?

ORIGINAL: Texashawk

..for some reason, I utterly hate the main font used in your family of games. I know it's a small cosmetic thing, but I just despise it!! Is there any way to change the fonts in the game in a mod or from our end?

There has been some discussion about the font among the designers. Some say that serif fonts have been demonstrated to be subconsciously easier to read and comprehend than other fonts. Others say that perception is everything, and it's just a fact that people tend to prefer sans-serif fonts in most electronic media, whether they're actually easier to read or not.

Players' thoughts would be welcome.

I'm a sans-serif fan. To me that are the easiest font family to read on a monitor. But that's just my opinion...

ORIGINAL: Mr. Z

...Some say that serif fonts have been demonstrated to be subconsciously easier to read and comprehend than other fonts...

I'm a designer by profession and the serif vs sans-serif legibility argument is marginally true of 'printed' rendition of type, but not of projected or pixelated rendering. Essentially serif fonts are only clear in a screen environment if they are anti-aliased, otherwise sans serif is much much safer to render and much more legible. Besides, the original research done on type legibility was from decades ago (1960's I think from a newspaper study) - well before computers were commonly used. And in that research Times New Roman (serif) scored something like 98% while Helvetica (sans serif), the next most legible font scored something like 97%. [:D]

Oh, I don't think it's not readable, per se, it's just not pleasing to my eye. I think it's just so... non-modern looking. Maybe that was a design decision made based on the look but it's just jarring to me. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE FOF and I will probably pick up COG:EE... just that FONT!!! AAaugh!

I think they should switch to Century Schoolbook.

I have to add my support for a change to a sans-serif font.
 
Took the liberty to make a mock up from a forum screenshot.
6 lines of text are Tahoma, a sans-serif font. Can you see the difference?
The background has been darkened some also.
 
Again, this is about 10 minutes of work with no real attempt to find the best font or settings.
 

 

ORIGINAL: Texashawk

Oh, I don't think it's not readable, per se, it's just not pleasing to my eye. I think it's just so... non-modern looking.

I thought that was for immersive effect.

I dont see the big deal.

I too think the current font is rather ugly and difficult to read.

Maybe switch to..... (damn I have forgotten the font type, all caps but the first letter of a word is larger)

maybe we should just put in the Font that the Nations of the time used, so each Nation would have there own Font/Style

I for one like the current font... 

I agree, change the font ASAP!
 
Could you please do this for Forge of Freedom to?

I can provide an alternate font file that you'all can swap for the default font.  Really though, the default font is just Times New Roman, it's not as though we're using something bizarre (and TNR was invented in 1932, IIRC, so it's not as though we picked some super obscure Gothic font).

Hey, I like it with Tahoma. It looks good. (I don't seem to have Century Schoolbook installed on the Win2K machine which is currently the COG:EE compile-machine, so I couldn't test that easily.) Maybe we'll switch to this as the new standard.

English111 Vivace BT would be a nice touch... although too hard to read. [:D]

If you could provide the file for Tahoma fonts, and a quick 'how to' for making it use that one instead of Times, I for one would DEFINITELY plug in the Tahoma instead of the Times New Roman.
 
TNR is fine for print media, but there is actually quite a bit of good (and recent) research on screen-based text that indicate that sans-serifs like Verdana or Tahoma are much easier to perceive.
 
I can agree that TNR has a bit more of a "period" feel to it, bu for me, I'd prefer to be reading Tahoma.

ORIGINAL: Lord_Stanley

I have to add my support for a change to a sans-serif font.

Took the liberty to make a mock up from a forum screenshot.
6 lines of text are Tahoma, a sans-serif font. Can you see the difference?
The background has been darkened some also.

Again, this is about 10 minutes of work with no real attempt to find the best font or settings.

Ok I like this font test, a lot easier to read for me.

ORIGINAL: Anthropoid
If you could provide the file for Tahoma fonts, and a quick 'how to' for making it use that one instead of Times, I for one would DEFINITELY plug in the Tahoma instead of the Times New Roman.

It's a very small file, and it's as easy as kiss-my-hand (a little Jack Aubrey phrase there) to swap out the font files, but I can't figure out how to upload it to the Matrix forums, as it only seems to accept .jpg's as uploads.

I'd put them in the downloads area of our website, but that isn't finished being put together yet. I'll ask Gil whether we have praeternatural powers as moderators to post .zip files somewhere in the Matrix forums.

I'm pretty sure we do! Don't we? Just...zip it up and attach it.

ORIGINAL: ericbabe

(a little Jack Aubrey phrase there)

Just finished the series. Excellent read, highly recommended, and WAY off topic.