Colony Ship update #38 - Demo update #5

[Black Angel]

Why not do it like AoD and have overlapping squares for movement and attacks/actions?

Too disco floor.

Why not? Should be a spectacular view once you let the bodies hit the floor.

 

[Mr. Hiver]

Maybe a combination. Mouse pointer tool tip shows tiles or an icon when pointed at any position, but when you put it over your character it shows all the tiles you character can reach and take actions from so you get a quick overview that disappears when you move the pointer away from the character. That way you dont have to search for each tile with the mouse pointer.

Maybe... mouse pointer shows several adjacent tiles, not just one.

 

[agris]

This keeps looking better and better Vince. The snippets of text are mostly straight forward and without any hints of violet, other than the previously mentioned shuddering etc. I have to second Hiver's recommendation of using real chemicals, i.e. chlorine, rather than "poisonous gas". Ammonia, sulfuric or phosphoric acid, anything that is quasi-realistic and doesn't feel gamey appears to suit your setting.

Looking at the screens and reading the comments about the red squares does make me wonder what sort of options I'll have to tune the feedback levels during combat.

I am digging everything so far, but I still wish you would remove those red squares on the ground. They make the screen look so clustered and ugly. You have beautiful environment design. Do not ruin the it with those squares appearing during combat.

We didn't have a chance to improve the GUI yet and the list of things I want to change is very long but I suspect it will be done last. Overall, the red squares represent your attack range which is kinda important. The text messages do tell you if the target is out of your range but it would be nice to have a visual indication as well.

Before I jump in with some suggestions, can you briefly talk about what combat overlays and information you intend to be customizable - including character outlines? I think there's broadly 4 classes of feedback levels:

• Always On
• Always Off
• On Hover
• On Toggle

I can't help but look at that last image and be a bit worried about the information clutter and all the icons everywhere. I can tell that underneath all the status icons/shields, outlines and ground overlays (keeping the basic gui panels on top/left/bottom) there's good artistry there, but it's hard to appreciate underneath the clutter. I think if you make it a goal to both present all the information a player could need, while at the same time letting the veterans remove some of the always-on stuff, it would be appreciated by your fans. Hell, I would appreciate it.

 

[Vault Dweller]

This keeps looking better and better Vince. The snippets of text are mostly straight forward and without any hints of violet, other than the previously mentioned shuddering etc. I have to second Hiver's recommendation of using real chemicals, i.e. chlorine, rather than "poisonous gas". Ammonia, sulfuric or phosphoric acid, anything that is quasi-realistic and doesn't feel gamey appears to suit your setting.

Looking at the screens and reading the comments about the red squares does make me wonder what sort of options I'll have to tune the feedback levels during combat.

As many as humanly possible. The red tiles will be gone soon.

Before I jump in with some suggestions, can you briefly talk about what combat overlays and information you intend to be customizable - including character outlines? I think there's broadly 4 classes of feedback levels:

• Always On
• Always Off
• On Hover
• On Toggle

Right now it's always on, always off, only when in cover or blocked by a wall or object.

I can't help but look at that last image and be a bit worried about the information clutter and all the icons everywhere. I can tell that underneath all the status icons/shields, outlines and ground overlays (keeping the basic gui panels on top/left/bottom) there's good artistry there, but it's hard to appreciate underneath the clutter. I think if you make it a goal to both present all the information a player could need, while at the same time letting the veterans remove some of the always-on stuff, it would be appreciated by your fans. Hell, I would appreciate it.

That's the idea. We want the player to be able to turn things on and off as needed, including the textbox itself.

 

[agris]

Right now it's always on, always off, only when in cover or blocked by a wall or object.

Sounds good. I'll leave you this anyway, maybe it'll be useful.

[GUI Element: Preferred default, other options]

Character outline: off, on hover, on toggle
Movement range: always on, on toggle
Weapon range: on hover+on toggle, always on
Cover status (environment):  on hover+on toggle,
Cover status (character): on hover+on toggle, 
Character status (shield bars): on hover+on toggle

So visualize your last screenshot with Titus wielding Flyapart (heh) with the default scheme above. You have a clean battle field with only the movement grid shown and no icons over the enemies heads or littered in front of cover objects. As you move the cursor over the battlefield, the red squares are drawn when that location is within range, and stop when out of range. You pass your cursor over an enemy and you see their cover status and applicable energy shield status. There's multiple enemies and no clearly superior choice, so you hold ALT and get the full feedback level shown in the screenshot. Then you rebuild the lighting

screenshot