Cruiser Command User Interface

[Siretu]

Hey, that looks very interesting.

One thing worth talking about is your minimap. In your version, it works different from the current one in the fact that you cant see the entire space at once. I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it's worth discussing.

Some other things that I'm unsure on is the curved hull/shield and main/weapon capacitors. I know they're probably placeholder, but I think they're a bit unclear. Also, having the commad card at the bottom with only a few abilities means we will probably have to have a different mechanic for the consoles(especially the upgrade console) because we cant fit it all on there. Having a pop-up command card would look weird in my opinion.

Finally, with this design, it's not really clear what would happen if you select an enemy ship. If that is no longer possible, we remove a big part of scouting, in forms of finding out their current shield and energy levels.

[WhyteDragon]

To address each in turn:

I designed the minimap like that with the idea in mind that it would allow for a rotating camera angle more easily. Objects on the minimap move relative to your camera angle, allowing a bit of a superior understanding of directions than when your camera angle is chaotic yet your minimap is static. It also would hide the map wrapping concept, though I'm not quite sure this would be 'necessary' in a sense. It would also make things like mirror mining more difficult. There is only point to making the minimap like that if we alter the perspective of small ship pilots. I also imagine that when utilizing interior view, you would have a normal map visual instead.

The design in the hull/shield and main/weapon capacitor is purely aesthetic. To me, it looks more 'linked' in a sense and sort of implies an 'overlap,' as shields protect hull.

Regarding the command card for consoles, I can see what you're getting at. The only ones that would be 'safe' would be Weapons (Single, Tri, Penta burst/kinetics + Missiles) and Science (Energy Transfer, Purge Core, Load Yamato) in the end. However, do you necessarily have to have a static number of spaces on the command card? I understand it might be more problematic, but you don't necessarily have to have the same four ability slots in the same four positions every time you use a different ship or console. Those four slots could easily turn into sixteen, or three if you wanted to design it that way, right? Another thought would be that instead of using a pop up, you could simply raise the height of the command card section while on a console to match that of the minimap and BC stats to allow more space But, maybe in the end that's all a bit overly complicated... hm...

Regarding scouting, do we necessarily have to make it 'click to get information?' I know a while back there was a bunch of discussion regarding creating a scanning console to see the stats of an enemy battlecruiser. Heck, you could even just make it such that health, shields, and energy are all numbers associated with the typical health bar you would normally have in SC2. I don't get why scouting has to be done by click selecting the enemy ship if we're going about GUI changes.

[Red-Rocket]

could also do a system sort of like Supreme Commander Or Planetary Annihilation where you could just click or zoom the minimap to full for more details because this board is gonna be huge right?

[WhyteDragon]

could also do a system sort of like Supreme Commander Or Planetary Annihilation where you could just click or zoom the minimap to full for more details because this board is gonna be huge right?

That actually brings up a really notable point!

Ship speed to map size ratio. The battlecruiser still feels unnaturally fast for what it is in the SC2 setup, even if it's a necessary evil. Perhaps considering increasing map size and small ship speed while retaining normal battlecruiser speed would be beneficial in terms of game play, especially since targeting across wraps would presumably not be an issue?

Also, I find it amusing how we shifted from user interface to standalone discussion. xD

[Red-Rocket]

theres alot of things we could re open up, like Warp capabilities or in the sc2 universe its known as a "jump" because BCs are so fast, they should be much slower then what we have now, and maby increase CD of BC

[WhyteDragon]

Did more stuff because I felt like it. Also, I redid the BC stats on Power because I forgot to include core. I just wanted to get a general idea of what other people were thinking in terms of GUI for console, so I threw out my own thoughts. I honestly think that improving from the popup window and command card would be superior, combining them both into the same section. Also, upgrades is rather bland but I simply wanted to demonstrate what I meant by changing the section around. I have also adapted both assuming the 'expansion of the command card area' while on consoles.

Power


Upgrades - Skeleton Frame

[zakhennahr]

In terms of ships seeing better above them, I think Whyte touched on this idea in an earlier post (or I may have misread it):

If your miner is looking left in the current version, it could easily be changed in a future version such that the actual angle of the view changes to reflect the direction your ship is looking in. This way, you always have a slightly harder time seeing behind your ship, which I personally think makes full sense. Put your back against an asteroid or your BC for protection miners, then mine away and enjoy the nice(r) view in front.

This would make any direction be a safe or unsafe direction to engage in for the wraith. Do you go in from farther away from the BC, or do you go in from in between the miner and the BC in case the miner pointing away from their BC assuming that direction is safe?

[Siretu]

I dont know if I touched on this before somewhere (I know I've talked about it on skype), but there'll be two different camera modes. I mainly thought of them from the BC, but they'll probably be applied for the small ships as well.

Mode 1: North is always north and the ship can rotate around on the screen. This is how the outside in space currently works.

Mode 2: Ship always faces the same direction and the camera follows your ships rotation. This is basically how the inside currently works. No matter how much the BC rotates, the inside is always facing the same way.

This means that you can pretty much choose where to have your little blindspot. This makes more sense in the Battlecruiser since you have to be able to run around inside, which is hard if the ship keeps spinning around.

[Red-Rocket]

hullo, if we keep the normal bird eye view layout i would like to suggest that in maybe the top left corner we could have a small box that shows the view opposite of the outside/inside view that we currently are viewing that way if a guy was doing some quick refining he could see the outside and notice that corvette coming in for a run, or the BC that is coming after them, that way surprise attacks wont be as devastating (still will be incredibly damaging) if the person is paying attention

[Siretu]

I dont think that is necessary because of the seamless zoom, but I might be wrong. It is something to look into when the game is bit further along.