More effort towards the user experience

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Shadow Empire >> Suggestions and Feedback >> More effort towards the user experience

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More effort towards the user experience - 6/26/2020 7:19:30 AM

eddyvegas

Posts: 125
Joined: 6/16/2014
Status: offline

Looking at the beta patches, I see lots of tweaking and fine tuning the game rules, but nothing towards the user experience. Ease of use. Fewer clicks. More intuitive interface. More hotkeys.

I'm going to chuck out a few examples so y'all see what I'm talking about.

When the final decision is made, the Decision tab should disappear automatically. This is one click I don't need to make. 100 turns is 100 clicks. Big tab blocking what I really want to see: the map.

Clicking the same tab you are in, in the Management tab, should close the MGT screen. I have done that intuitively, hundreds of times, expecting it to close the map. It doesn't. It should.

Build Road. Big ugly white screen blocks everything. Gotta move the mouse to the upper left, every time. Lots of ideas here. More buttons in the right click menu. Radial buttons.

New turn should put the pointer in Move Mode.

Need to adjust priorities in a zone? Click Call, adjust, confirm. Why do I need to click call? Shouldn't there be a dedicated button for this admittedly important action? Again, one extra click and mouse movement, getting in the way of playing the game.

I could go on and on. I think of 6 things that could be way better, user experience-wise, in an hour of playing this game.

Let me be clear: I have the best interests of the game at heart. This is not a bitch fest. I have spent the past week doing an interface mod (Graphic Mods forum) for the game, towards the same goal: better user experience. In the words of Woody Allen, I lurve this game, and want it to succeed on Steam when it gets there. But the thing is, you guys are a lot more forgiving of wargame developers over here, and that's understandable. Passionate developer, small budget, niche audience. But this is not a 47th rehash of the Battle of the Bulge. It's science fiction, and Civilization-like. That opens it up to a huge Steam audience, and they are not gonna be as forgiving as y'all.

So yeah, there are tons of UI gripes here already. (For example, the 'Delete all 27 traffic lights' button). Please work on some of them. Thanks for reading.

< Message edited by eddyvegas -- 6/26/2020 7:25:06 AM >

Post #: 1

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/26/2020 9:06:27 AM

Radagy

Posts: 333
Joined: 5/22/2004
From: Italy
Status: offline

(in reply to eddyvegas)

Post #: 2

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/26/2020 11:25:25 AM

GodwinW

Posts: 511
Joined: 6/5/2020
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: eddyvegas

Looking at the beta patches, I see lots of tweaking and fine tuning the game rules, but nothing towards the user experience. Ease of use. Fewer clicks. More intuitive interface. More hotkeys.

I'm going to chuck out a few examples so y'all see what I'm talking about.

When the final decision is made, the Decision tab should disappear automatically. This is one click I don't need to make. 100 turns is 100 clicks. Big tab blocking what I really want to see: the map.

Clicking the same tab you are in, in the Management tab, should close the MGT screen. I have done that intuitively, hundreds of times, expecting it to close the map. It doesn't. It should.

Build Road. Big ugly white screen blocks everything. Gotta move the mouse to the upper left, every time. Lots of ideas here. More buttons in the right click menu. Radial buttons.

New turn should put the pointer in Move Mode.

Need to adjust priorities in a zone? Click Call, adjust, confirm. Why do I need to click call? Shouldn't there be a dedicated button for this admittedly important action? Again, one extra click and mouse movement, getting in the way of playing the game.

I could go on and on. I think of 6 things that could be way better, user experience-wise, in an hour of playing this game.

Let me be clear: I have the best interests of the game at heart. This is not a bitch fest. I have spent the past week doing an interface mod (Graphic Mods forum) for the game, towards the same goal: better user experience. In the words of Woody Allen, I lurve this game, and want it to succeed on Steam when it gets there. But the thing is, you guys are a lot more forgiving of wargame developers over here, and that's understandable. Passionate developer, small budget, niche audience. But this is not a 47th rehash of the Battle of the Bulge. It's science fiction, and Civilization-like. That opens it up to a huge Steam audience, and they are not gonna be as forgiving as y'all.

So yeah, there are tons of UI gripes here already. (For example, the 'Delete all 27 traffic lights' button). Please work on some of them. Thanks for reading.

Agree with most. Definitely not agree that a new turn should put your mouse cursor in move mode.

Another one that stands out to me personally:

Open the SHQ inventory tab automatically if I open anything that costs resources, such as raising a formation or constructing a building or building a road etc.
Open the Profile tab automatically every time I am faced with a decision that deals with profile gain/loss.

Edit: oh yeah, and also a big one: In Move mode, add a tooltip popup of the recon you have on the moused-over hex (I like to select the unit detail tab when moving so to see the Recon on hexes I have to flip back-and-forth all the time.

< Message edited by GodwinW -- 6/26/2020 11:29:15 AM >

(in reply to eddyvegas)

Post #: 3

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/26/2020 12:19:54 PM

zgrssd

Posts: 3385
Joined: 6/9/2020
Status: offline

We have/had a poll for that:
https://www.vrdesigns.net/?p=2014

(in reply to GodwinW)

Post #: 4

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/28/2020 11:51:23 AM

ZiggyMaca

Posts: 41
Joined: 6/20/2020
Status: offline

I really what mouse wheel scroll to work in all scrollable lists.

(in reply to zgrssd)

Post #: 5

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/28/2020 12:30:29 PM

eddyvegas

Posts: 125
Joined: 6/16/2014
Status: offline

For example. That would be a good start.

(in reply to ZiggyMaca)

Post #: 6

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/28/2020 4:00:30 PM

Gozzon

Posts: 55
Joined: 6/20/2020
Status: offline

I really hope you could pan screen diagonally. Drives me nuts to have to pan first up and then left for example

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Post #: 7

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/28/2020 5:37:38 PM

eddyvegas

Posts: 125
Joined: 6/16/2014
Status: offline

Middle mouse hold + drag, as I see in other games, would do the trick.

Come to think of it, is middle mouse used for anything? I don't think so.

< Message edited by eddyvegas -- 6/28/2020 5:38:57 PM >

(in reply to Gozzon)

Post #: 8

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/28/2020 8:09:41 PM

zgrssd

Posts: 3385
Joined: 6/9/2020
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quote:

ORIGINAL: eddyvegas

Middle mouse hold + drag, as I see in other games, would do the trick.

Come to think of it, is middle mouse used for anything? I don't think so.

Middle Mouse today overlaps with the scroll wheel. Giving it a function, locks out the wheel and vice versa.

Only some programms with the proper historical debt like Word Processors or Browsers still have a function on it (vertical variant of the RMB drag).

(in reply to eddyvegas)

Post #: 9

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 6/28/2020 10:07:40 PM

eddyvegas

Posts: 125
Joined: 6/16/2014
Status: offline

That's simply not true. I have several games where holding middle button and dragging moves the map, while spinning the wheel zooms in and out. Those are 2 separate functions.

(in reply to zgrssd)

Post #: 10

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 7/22/2020 6:52:45 AM

eddyvegas

Posts: 125
Joined: 6/16/2014
Status: offline

So, hey, now that logistics has been fine tuned, and the game is eminently playable, I guess it's time to work on the UI and the user experience, right? Right?

(in reply to eddyvegas)

Post #: 11

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 7/22/2020 3:42:44 PM

willgamer

Posts: 902
Joined: 6/2/2002
From: Huntsville, Alabama
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: eddyvegas

So, hey, now that logistics has been fine tuned, and the game is eminently playable, I guess it's time to work on the UI and the user experience, right? Right?

A. Can anyone explain each option on the new traffic signs tab and give an example of when each might be applicable?

B. The suggestions thread is a veritable junkyard of UI improvements that could/should be made.

_____________________________

Rex Lex or Lex Rex?

(in reply to eddyvegas)

Post #: 12

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 7/24/2020 5:06:45 PM

jiltedjock

Posts: 2
Joined: 7/30/2014
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: eddyvegas

Need to adjust priorities in a zone? Click Call, adjust, confirm. Why do I need to click call? Shouldn't there be a dedicated button for this admittedly important action? Again, one extra click and mouse movement, getting in the way of playing the game.

I like and use your UI mod, thank you for that.

I disagree with this particular suggestion though. For me, doing things like clicking call is part of the game. It adds that bit more to the immersion. I have felt more immersed in the characters and emergent narrative of this game than I have in many more hours of Crusader Kings 2 because of little touches like this, that make you feel a little more like you are dealing with other characters in an organisational structure.

< Message edited by jiltedjock -- 7/24/2020 5:07:16 PM >

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Post #: 13

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 7/25/2020 8:56:19 AM

eddyvegas

Posts: 125
Joined: 6/16/2014
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Hi. I see your point. And it's a good one.

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Post #: 14

RE: More effort towards the user experience - 7/30/2020 10:30:48 PM

flamedeluge

Posts: 4
Joined: 6/20/2020
Status: offline

quote:

Middle Mouse today overlaps with the scroll wheel. Giving it a function, locks out the wheel and vice versa.

Speaking as a professional in software this is not the case. A grander issue appears to be that Vic seems to have developed his own UI framework, which is definitely not something I would recommend. Either Qt or WPF can be sufficiently tailored graphically to not appear to be a native app, but rather a game. Both would greatly improve the Ux.

(in reply to zgrssd)

Post #: 15