Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22095
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Honolulu, Hawaii
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The following post is available from me as a PDF file. Simply email me at Steve@PatternDiscovery.us and ask.
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Game Interface Design
(as of August 2, 2005)
I. Introduction
One of the most crucial aspects of making MWIF a great game is going to be the game interface. We already have a good start on the visuals: the map, the units, and window frames. Despite that, the range of things a player can do when playing MWIF and how easy it is to do them can determine whether he plays for 5 minutes or 5 years. Of course there are other aspects of the game that contribute to whether a player loves or hates it, but here I am concerned with the game interface.
By game interface I mean: the display of the map and units, the forms (a.k.a windows) that pop up during play so the player can make decisions, the forms that the player can call up to review status, the control the player has over how the forms look and what they contain, and lastly the keystrokes, mouse movements, and mouse clicks the player uses to control the game. Besides playing World in Flames itself, there are other aspects to the interface: loading/saving games, options, and other settings, communicating with other players either over the Internet or via email, and controlling the AI Assistant (AIA).
So, what I hope we can accomplish with this thread is design the game interface. You have all played computer war games before and have strong opinions on what is good and bad about their game interfaces. Most of you have played WIF as a board game and know what is required to move units and make decisions. If we combine our expertise, we should be able to come up with an excellent game interface design. I will accept nothing less.
As always, I will have the final say and do my best to make everybody happy. The hardest decisions will be deciding whether to include features that would enhance the game or exclude them because they will take too long to implement. To a very real degree, my call on each feature will depend on how many of you like it / want it / need it / can’t live without it versus how much effort it will take to code it. Let me know what you think.
II. Background
Instead of starting from scratch, we have the beta version of CWIF as a reference point. I could just go with its game interface and do no additional coding. That might be missing an opportunity for vastly improving MWIF. When Chris started writing CWIF 9 years ago, the state-of-the-art in computer wargames was much different from what it is today. Given all that has changed in terms of screen size, CPU speed, and available memory, we can be more ambitious in designing the interface.
Be that as it may, we should first start by looking at what CWIF contains. The following list is of the forms (windows) used in CWIF. Each one is accompanied by a short explanation of its purpose. Grouped below by game function, there are over 100 forms. I have omitted a dozen or so that are only used by the program internally. The notation “(map)” at the end of the purpose description indicates that the form includes a snap shot of the map area of interest.
Start of Game
Choose Scenarios...................choose scenarios, remote, watchers, free set up, extended game
Choose Options......................set optional rules on/off
Add Players............................add players to game
Bid..........................................current bids, bidding, countries available
Choose Sides..........................set who plays what
Password................................request player’s password
Setup......................................primary screen for setting up units
Declare War, Make Trade Pacts, and Lend Units and Resources
Declare War...........................declare war, align neutrals
Loan.......................................loan a unit to another player
New Trade.............................create trade agreement: resources, oil, build points
Pact Marker Move.................effects of moving a marker between offense and defense
Pact OD.................................choose offensive or defensive for a new marker
Initiative, Weather, Action Choice, and Switch Players
Init..........................................roll for initiative
Move First..............................choose whether or not to be 1st phasing player
Action ...................................choose action
Switch Player.........................change which player is active player
Entering Unit Orders
Main........................................master screen display
Game Map..............................detailed game map for moving all units and attacking
Globe......................................global map
Air Units
Setup Scrap............................scrap units
Air Resources.........................assign pilots
Air Transport Land.................put land units on a plane
Plane Role..............................choose fighter or bomber for a fighter/bomber
Air Attack...............................assign units to air attack, (map)
Air Combat.............................arrange fighters and bombers, results, (map)
Anti-Air..................................# of shots, (map)
Anti-Air Combat....................results, (map)
Land Units
Pick HQ.................................select HQ to use with Offensive Chit
Ignore Notional......................calculate attack odds with/without notional unit
Land Combat.........................choose table for land combat & resolve, (map)
Destroy Units.........................land combat results allocation
Overstacked...........................fix overstacked hex by destroying units, (map)
Breakdown.............................breakdown units, before and after
Reform...................................reform broken down units into a corps unit
Naval Units
CVP Classes...........................CVP classes by year for air units
Choose Carrier.......................place planes on carriers
Drop Off.................................embark and disembark units
Section....................................displays units in sea areas for moving a stack & dropping off units
Naval Interception..................choose to intercept naval units that are moving through
Naval Combat.........................overview of naval units in a sea area before combat
US Naval Combat..................US selects which units participate in naval combat
WIF Surprise..........................spend surprise points
Naval Combat Include Type...choose whether to include subs
Commit Subs..........................choose whether to commit subs
Naval Combat Results............affect results of naval combat: damage, destroy, abort
Convoy Info............................convoys by sea areas, and resources moving through
Split........................................split convoy points
Production, Reinforcement, Reserves, Reorganization, and Other End of Turn Stuff
Reserves.................................select reserves to activate
Add Minor Units....................add minor units to force pool
Fort Hexside...........................select on which hexside to build a fort
Reorganize.............................reorganize units using HQ
US Entry Pool........................overview and draw chits for Germany/Italy/Japan entry and tension
WIF US Entry.........................choose US Entry options, with overview
Production..............................review and set production
Production Undo....................cancel production and recover build points
Save Build..............................save build points, (map)
Save Oil..................................save oil points
Use Oil...................................use oil to reorganize units
Vichy......................................setup Vichy France
Destroy Factory......................select which factory type to destroy
Victory....................................display the final victory standings
Information and Overviews
Weather Report......................display current weather by weather zone
Weather Chances....................probabilities for each weather type by weather zone on next roll
Pool........................................overview of all the pools: production, force, etc.
Global Legend........................legend for global map
Action Limits.........................currently available actions
Note........................................attach a note to a unit
Distance..................................calculate air distance between points
Chart Land Combat................2D10 table
Pact.........................................overview of non-aggression pacts: garrisons and dates
Pact Markers...........................current offensive and defensive markers
Partisans.................................partisan overview
Relations................................overview of relations with other major powers
Trade.......................................overview of who is lending what to whom
Lending...................................review trade agreements
SB Losses...............................overview of strategic bombing losses
Resource Production..............overview of resources => factories => build points
Captured.................................list of factories and resources captured
Game About............................about MWIF
Player Interface Aids
Cnt List...................................jump to capitals on map
Dice........................................roll dice and see results
Game Options........................game interface options
CAP........................................set when to ask about using CAP
Select Units............................create filter for displaying units
Load Filter..............................load existing filter for viewing units
Save Filter..............................save a filter for viewing units to disk for future use
Load Options..........................load existing optional rule set
Save Options..........................save an optional rule set to disk for future use
Load Setup..............................load existing setup
Save Setup..............................save current setup to disk for future use
Communication with Other Players
Chat........................................messages to/from another player receive/send, reply/new
New Message.........................send a new message to another player
Send To..................................define a group to receive a message
III. Redesign
Yeah, I know, it’s a lot. To help you get started on your critique you might select one area, (say, Air Units), and think through what you will want to do with them when you play MWIF. How will you select targets for ground strikes? How will you check for enemy interceptors? How will you move the planes you are sending on a mission? Are there any helpful hints that you would like the program to tell you about your own units or the enemy’s?
You can choose an area that you have seen done really well in another game and tell us what was so good about it. Or choose an area of another game that you thought had a terrible interface, and tell us what to avoid.
Of special interest to me are your thoughts about the interface for playing over the Internet, playing by email, and working with an AI Assistant. The last two were not in CWIF so we are truly starting with a blank page for their interface design.
As some of you have probably figured out by now, I am very greedy in taking good ideas where ever I find them and building them into MWIF. The fact I never thought of an idea makes it even more attractive to me. Often I will take several ideas from different people and weave them together into one great idea. Even solutions that don’t work at all are of interest, because they usually identify a problem that needs to be solved.
This should keep us busy for a while.
_____________________________
Steve
Perfection is an elusive goal.
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MWIF Game Interface Design - 
Oh Mighty Designer 
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