Change the used raster font

[Kasuha]

I understand that the raster font KSP uses in many cases is part of its look and feel but I must say I don't think this particular selection is very good. Many of the lowercase letters are ugly, not very readable, and particularly "v" letter looks completely like an "u". Yes I know "u" looks different, but it looks like a "different u", it does not make "v" any more readable.

I am rather sure there are other, better readable raster fonts which could be used for the same purpose. I was designing raster fonts back in the era of 8-bit computers and while I admit that designing raster font for 4-pixel width (5-pixel including the space) is challenging particularly because of the "v" problem, there are ways how to make it readable. And by adding just one pixel to the width all problems are solved, you can have font which is readable and beautiful, at least compared to the font in use.

Now why I am talking about it? Because I always wondered why people are naming their ship versions "Mk1", "Mk2" etc ... till I realized that the usual standard "v1", "v2" just doesn't read right. Any many other names don't, you just need to avoid using "v" if you want your ship name to not read funny.

[Bobe]

you just need to avoid using "v" if you want your ship name to not read funny.

Isn't that a solution right there? If it bothers people that much, I'm sure they can figure out a different way to name their ship variations.

I don't use "v" or "Mk", I just go with the standard Roman numerals.

[Kasuha]

I don't think not using a character can be called a solution. A workaround, yes. But rather uncomfortable.

"v" is just the worst case but it's not the only bad character. "s" is another good example, it looks all screwed up, the only improvement is that you don't mistake it for something else.

And besides, all these characters are scaled up anyway. It's not like increasing their pixel width by 1 would mean they'd have to become any larger on the screen or lose their pixelated feel. They'd just become better to read.

And yes, I also go with Roman numerals. The downside is, they don't sort well. That's nothing more than yet another not-really-good workaround.

[vexx32]

My question is... does it have to be a raster font, really? I mean, you could get a perfectly good vector font for this kind of thing, that retains the look and feel they seem to be going for, without the messed up letters.

[Kasuha]

I think it is irrelevant whether the font is truly raster or if it is a vector font with raster look and a square for each pixel. Both lead to the same screen look. The matter is how individual characters are composed of these pixels/squares, that's what I'd like to be improved.

[Creeperchair]

The '\' & '/' are pretty bad.

[mattinoz]

Like Xerox photocopiers the whole games industry just seems to ignore the last 20years of interface development.

The bad fonts, massive buttons, chunk scrolling and inconsistent layout all remind me of a misspent youth.