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Devnote Tuesday: User Interfaces and Workspaces


SQUAD

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Quick question, just for clarification: Everyone who was accepted into Experimentals has been notified, correct? So anyone not notified at this point should safely assume they were not selected?

BIG UP if this is about you!

due to your amazing mods, i want you have an access to the pre-release!

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Here's hoping the new UI code means a redesign of some systems. This gives me hope:

we’re planning to implement a number of features to improve the accessibility of the game, making the game easier for complete novices through a number of methods. Mike (Mu) has been coming up with some great and interesting ideas in this area and although nothing is definitive yet we should be able to bring you some news on this over the coming weeks.
The game really needs it.
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- Map mode is for navigation and maps usually are readable. But how are you supposed to navigate, when dark sides of planets and moons are as black as in the 'real' game? Please add some ambient light to map view of planets so that i actually know where KSC is at when it's on the dark side.

This used to drive me so crazy. I still hate it for other planets and moons, but now one of the first things I do is walk outside to the flagpole and plant a flag so I can see KSC from space at night. Well, I used too. Some mod that added city lights made this not so important.

- All flight controls should be without alteration also available in map view! Why? Simply because a lot of flying takes place in map mode to have better control of the outcome of burns. So i need to be able to see everything that i also see in 'normal' mode.

- Quit blocking input controls in map mode when navball is hidden. Thats so superfluous and r-worded!!! Best is quit hiding navball. Everytime when i launch something or switch to something i need to get that stupid navball up. Geezus!

This isn't so straightforward. I don't know how many times I've hit the damn engines and screwed up an orbit when all I wanted to do was tab to a new planet view. I don't have a good answer for this, but it's bricked a few missions when I was right on the line between having enough fuel/RCS or not.

Edited by Pestilence
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Quick question, just for clarification: Everyone who was accepted into Experimentals has been notified, correct? So anyone not notified at this point should safely assume they were not selected?

The processing for the applications is taking longer than anticipated, not all successful applicants have been notified yet. :)

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I preferred the old style of devnotes, but I understand if writing them like that was taking away from development time. I do think it's much better than it was last week though.

With the new way orbits are drawn, could this be the return of the Magic Boulder?

They're talking about the way orbits are visually represented in map view, not the way the orbits are actually calculated, so I doubt it. But with all the other things Unity 5 changes, it could happen. I hope they do bring it back. Which reminds me, I was making a video about the easter eggs in game. I should try to find the magic boulder in an old version...

Also, does this mean the bug with map icons not toggling when the Navball is down will finally be fixed?

- - - Updated - - -

Is there any chance of some screenshots of the new UI?

I think the idea was to keep it as unchanged as possible, just updating the code to Unity 5 and adding a few improvements along the way.

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Great devnotes to wake up to. I'm (still) excited about the new patched conics and hopeful that all the wonkiness will be wrestled from them. I'm curious about the staging interface, and wonder what will change. I'll be happy if hitting space will consistently (and only) activate everything in the next stage, no matter how much in-flight dragging around I do.

I like the new devnotes more this week than last. One suggestion: Still bold the names and always put handles after in parenthesis? Like this:

This week both Kasper (KasperVld) and Marco (MarcoSS) have started their university curricula again, and both in the Netherlands! Marco is there to obtain his master’s degree in Game and Media Technology, while Kasper is shooting for his master’s degree in Criminology. We wish both of them the best of luck! They’ll still be around here of course, unless they’re meeting up for drinks as students often do.
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I get where you're coming from, but think of this:

A rocket in KSP is usually designed top to bottom. Usually.

Hmmm, I guess I am an odd-ball. As I design the payload first, then the rocket to carry the payload. :cool: However, the suggestion to reorder the numbering is a good one, but once you've launched a few times, you begin to understand the process... Sometimes trial and error (and as I did, ignored the tutorials for the first three weeks I played the game) is the best teacher!

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Hmmm, I guess I am an odd-ball. As I design the payload first, then the rocket to carry the payload. :cool: However, the suggestion to reorder the numbering is a good one, but once you've launched a few times, you begin to understand the process... Sometimes trial and error (and as I did, ignored the tutorials for the first three weeks I played the game) is the best teacher!

The emphasis is on the posiTtion of the key part of each stage being analogue to the actual rocket. Meaning, if you dump your lower stage, it is also in the bottom in the staging diagram. That makes pperfect sense.

What would he cool though would be the staging diagram being drawn inside the silhouette of your current rocket, with the stage numbering being positioned exactly where it is on the actual rocket. Completely useless, but would look cool :)

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Hmmm, I guess I am an odd-ball. As I design the payload first, then the rocket to carry the payload.

No that's the "correct" way to do it, and it's the way that the reverse ordering of stages encourages. It's also "top to bottom" as the post you quoted says. At least, usually the payload's on the top! :D

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Aside from all the ongoing work on the game’s interface, we’re planning to implement a number of features to improve the accessibility of the game, making the game easier for complete novices through a number of methods. Mike (Mu) has been coming up with some great and interesting ideas in this area and although nothing is definitive yet we should be able to bring you some news on this over the coming weeks.
It-looks-like-you-re-trying-to-build-a-rocket-Woul.jpg
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If you want to make the game more accessible to novices, I'd recommend a full tutorial mode for career, with lots of pop-up hints and a very forgiving budget. And yes, KSP definitely needs a proper manual--I'm sure you guys at squad could hold a competition to get free help from the community. :)

For accessibility, maybe have a graphics option that works for colorblind people.

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I preferred the old style of devnotes, but I understand if writing them like that was taking away from development time. I do think it's much better than it was last week though.

They're talking about the way orbits are visually represented in map view, not the way the orbits are actually calculated, so I doubt it. But with all the other things Unity 5 changes, it could happen. I hope they do bring it back. Which reminds me, I was making a video about the easter eggs in game. I should try to find the magic boulder in an old version...

Also, does this mean the bug with map icons not toggling when the Navball is down will finally be fixed?

- - - Updated - - -

I think the idea was to keep it as unchanged as possible, just updating the code to Unity 5 and adding a few improvements along the way.

I may be mistaken, but I've heard that Squad removed the Magic Boulder because, from an update in the code, all objects placed in orbit would have to appear on the map, which would ruin its mystery. This may just be a fabrication from my own mind, however.

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I may be mistaken, but I've heard that Squad removed the Magic Boulder because, from an update in the code, all objects placed in orbit would have to appear on the map, which would ruin its mystery. This may just be a fabrication from my own mind, however.

i dont think it will be that hard to put in a gameObject to float above a body and not appear in the map by not designating an orbit to it and just freezing its local distance from the body

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i dont think it will be that hard to put in a gameObject to float above a body and not appear in the map by not designating an orbit to it and just freezing its local distance from the body
I'm sure you could whip up a mod to do that in no time.
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i dont think it will be that hard to put in a gameObject to float above a body and not appear in the map by not designating an orbit to it and just freezing its local distance from the body

Half the fun was [i assume, I started playing too late] searching for the boulder. If it was floating in the same spot, it'd be too easy.

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Half the fun was [i assume, I started playing too late] searching for the boulder. If it was floating in the same spot, it'd be too easy.

i never saw the other easter eggs changing places but it could be done with a few lines of code anyways

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Wow. Great revision on the format, much nicer than last weeks. A really good read overall, and while i dont console game much anymore with not having a new gen console and having my laptop instead, im still really happy to hear that Squad is looking to expand their user/player base.

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