Colony Ship update #45: the Armory

[AwesomeButton]

I preferred the left one. Why do people rather have it on the right side? The left side is more intuitive and natural because most people, after all, read from left to right. I don't understand where the preference for that change came from.

Don't be afraid to shamelessly clone a more successful game. "Oh, so it's kind of like Disco Elysium" is something you want people to be saying. Right.

Most of us around here are used to scanning the screen from left to right, so I think the text area should be on the right. The "main area" is the picture, it is the place where the player is supposed to glance at the picture while using the dialogue. If you put the dialogue on the left, the will narrow down on the dialogue and miss the picture.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

I have amblyopia in my left eye, so if it's on the left I can see the whole screen while reading, but if it's on the right I can only see the text box. But I doubt any of you autists care.

 

[razvedchiki]

good sir, please rename the folk that took up arms against the ships current authorities from "mutineers" to "noble revolutionaries".
thank you.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Don't be afraid to shamelessly clone a more successful game. "Oh, so it's kind of like Disco Elysium" is something you want people to be saying. Right.

Why y'all are so obsessed with Disco? This feature is obviously stolen from Shadowrun Returns. And it is good, because, you know, cyberpunk, associations, et cetera. "Oh, so it's kind of like Shadowrun Returns" IS a selling point.

 

[Infinitron]

I have amblyopia in my left eye, so if it's on the left I can see the whole screen while reading, but if it's on the right I can only see the text box. But I doubt any of you autists care.

Well fuck, they could make it customizable. Left, right, bottom or top. Still you have to decide on a default.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I preferred the left one. Why do people rather have it on the right side? The left side is more intuitive and natural because most people, after all, read from left to right. I don't understand where the preference for that change came from. During the dialogue, the most important thing and what you will be reading is the dialogue.

That's what I thought too. The focus is the text, not the picture.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Well fuck, they could make it customizable. Left, right, bottom or top. Still you have to decide on a default.

This is the first (and possibly last) time I've ever given Infinitron a brofist. Bravo, good sir!

 

[Infinitron]

Why y'all are so obsessed with Disco?

My nightmare is that this game will come out someday without anybody noticing or caring, despite all the effort that went into it, like Beautiful Desolation. These days I feel like it's the most likely occurrence, even. If there's anything Vault Dweller can do to avoid that fate, he must. So if there's a toss-up between two options, copy what a more popular game has done. It's a no-brainer.

 

[Thac0]

Artistic decisions should not be made on the basis of: You want this game to look more like something its not so it might trick more people into buying it.

In fact I think this was a large part of what made Beautifull Desolation fail. The game looks like a classical isometric rpg on the tin, from graphic to UI. If you look through the negative reviews its all people who expected Fallout and got an adventure.
Stasis looked a lot more like the horror adventure that it was. You want to be precise in your marketing when selling a niche product.

That said nothing wrong with a side toggle. Seems like an easily enough implementable accessibility feature.

 

[Efe]

stop trying to goad him into mediocrity by hanging an omen of doom above his head.
so far game looks great except one thing

 

[Verylittlefishes]

In fact I think this was a large part of what made Beautifull Desolation fail. The game looks like a classical isometric rpg on the tin, from graphic to UI. If you look through the negative reviews its all people who expected Fallout and got an adventure.

Yeah, Russian negative reviews are mostly about it.

 

[luj1]

I'm fine with vertical, though I think it makes more sense to have it on the right side.

"Base building", you say.

You read from left to right. And as others have said during dialogue the focus is on dialogue.

In base building games its on the right because the focus is on what's happening on the screen.

 

[luj1]

Don't be afraid to shamelessly clone a more successful game. "Oh, so it's kind of like Disco Elysium" is something you want people to be saying. Right.

Like the 1:1 carbon copy Clam Man? Nah, you're just an idiot. Just follow your vision VD

 

[luj1]

My nightmare is that this game will come out someday without anybody noticing or caring,

Yeah that's not gonna happen. "My nightmare" ... yeah you are fake

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I'm fine with vertical, though I think it makes more sense to have it on the right side.

You read from left to right. And as others have said during dialogue the focus is on dialogue.

Infinitron probably reads from right to left, no?

 

[MRY]

I’ll post the links when I’m on a PC but this isn’t some never analyzed question. As with characters per line of text, it’s been studied and the wisdom is on the right. If you can’t wait for me to post, just google it!

 

[MRY]

https://www.searchscientist.co.uk/images-on-the-left-text-on-the-right
https://www.problogdesign.com/blog-usability/why-post-images-should-be-on-the-left/
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/peo...ent/should-the-image-be-on-the-left-or-right/
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questi...a-product-picture-on-the-left-or-on-the-right

Anyway, my own quick argument here is that it takes much less time to process an image than the text. It's unreasonable to expect the player to read all of the text before looking at the image, and you don't want him to have to jump back and forth. So the image comes first, then the text. That also means the text doesn't need to describe things in the image. Also, since the image persists over multiple pages of text, the player will need to "end" with his eyes on the text after the first screen, so you want him to start with the image. (If that makes sense.)

So I would default left for image, right for text.

 

[Efe]

text does not obscure the image so they are not exclusive with each other.
you are already looking at the image before initiating text most of the time.
text could very well be describing things not represented in image, as seen in previous screenshots text describing lights and text on computer console.
text options cause changes in image, thus choices end with your eyes on image. see how easy it is to pull shit out your ass?

 

[Jrpgfan]

RPGCodex, the only place on the internet where you can have meaningful discussions about RPGs. Like whether the dialog box should be on the left or on the right. Left to me

 

[conan_edw]

I prefer right. Can't it be an option for the player to choose from?

 

[xuerebx]

That's what I thought too. The focus is the text, not the picture.

The aesthetics of the game are very pleasing to the eye, so it's a good thing that people want to see the picture first, and then the text.

Vince posted the two alternatives on the official forums:

versus

 

[MRY]

Well, huh. I'm not sure now. Something about the orientation of the portrait and perhaps the skills being flush to the right makes me prefer the left column slightly.

Meanwhile, I have an unrelated suggestion: I would have the two henchmen have their weapons drawn and be in fighting stance. I think it would add a light dynamism to the figures in the scene.

 

[CappenVarra]

since Shadowrun Returns and Disco Elysium use the right side, AoD should use the left side just to differentiate - since it's going to be much better than both of those

 

[razvedchiki]

its just feels natural on the left.