Making defense and movement rates more obvious

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Dave
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Making defense and movement rates more obvious

Post by Dave »

It's been a long-standing usability issue that defensive values and movement rates aren't always immediately obvious, especially to newer players.

I've implemented features to try to fix both of these problems. Footprint images can now be configured so that the image displayed depends on the movement speed of the unit over that terrain. My initial implementation shows the footprints in red, but I'm hoping an artist will do something better. :)

I seem to remember someone (Darth Fool?) posting some footprint images like this sometime ago, but I can't seem to find them....

The second thing I've done is made it so that on the hex selected, the defensive % of the unit is displayed, along side the turns to get to the hex, if applicable.

Screenshots demonstrating these new features are below. Suggestions are welcome.

David
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turin
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Post by turin »

Very cool. Even though I know where the box is, it takes time to look over there and back. IMHO this will help.

---

Personally, for the movement footprints, I think it should show one pace for each movement point it takes. (1 pace=2 footprints). So, if you have good movement (1), it looks like the footprints are of someone running, but if you have. really bad movement, it would look like someone dragging their feet and taking really small steps. I think that for >3 movement points, it could show the same image, since rarely do units have more than 4 moves on a hex and still be able to move there at all...

IMHO, this would be fairly easy to do (just a bit of copy'n'paste), but what do I know? :) I'll see what I can do.
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Herkum
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Post by Herkum »

For moving onto the various hexes, could you include the MP cost as well? It cannot hurt.
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Post by Dave »

Herkum wrote:For moving onto the various hexes, could you include the MP cost as well? It cannot hurt.
That's what we're going to use the number of footprints to show...

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Post by AT »

Very nice. Making it toggleable would be even better :)
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Post by Dave »

AT wrote:Very nice. Making it toggleable would be even better :)
We can make it toggleable if there are seriously people who after trying it decide they really don't like it.

David
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Post by Doros »

I've always thought this kind of thing would be a great idea. I'm a big fan of keeping frequently used information where you're going to be looking.

It'll be really useful already, but I think it would be even better if, when the cursor was over an enemy unit, it displayed text like this for the enemy's defense %. This would make it much easier to decide who to attack, especially for new players.

Thanks!
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Post by Ankka »

This is great. :D
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Post by Attila »

Dave wrote:
AT wrote:Very nice. Making it toggleable would be even better :)
We can make it toggleable if there are seriously people who after trying it decide they really don't like it.

David
I could see getting kind of annoyed by it after a while, but I don't realize the percentage and move types for a couple of months. I think this would be a great benefit to new players

What about going back to the quick help. But only movement and defense ratings, and still having the same larger help?
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Re: Making defense and movement rates more obvious

Post by ott »

Dave wrote:I seem to remember someone (Darth Fool?) posting some footprint images like this sometime ago, but I can't seem to find them....
See http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 6&start=15 for the thread.
Suggestions are welcome.
It would be great if mousing over hexes that are not reachable clearly indicated this fact more directly -- perhaps with a different image altogether, like footsteps overlaid with a cross, or red footsteps.
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Post by Herkum »

Going back to the number of steps for MP cost;

The footsteps are not always easy to see, the bright lettering that you used for the defense values are easy to read. For myself, it is more obvious if you use numbers instead of the number of foot steps. This would be especially true for beginners who are new to the interface.
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Post by turin »

Question about the footprint images - why are they 48x48? It appears they get scaled up when displayed in-game. Is there a reason they are 2/3s as big as they need to be?

If they were full size, they would be IMHO easier to make look good with multiple footprints...
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SL
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Post by SL »

Personally, I think the clearest way to show the MP cost for each hex would be to just show the MP cost as a number, in front of the footprints. I'd make it smaller than the normal numbers, and optional, though, since it might get annoying if you already have the MP costs memorized.

But I'm not sure it's really needed, personally. Of course I've only been playing for two or three days...
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Post by Dave »

turin wrote:Question about the footprint images - why are they 48x48? It appears they get scaled up when displayed in-game. Is there a reason they are 2/3s as big as they need to be?

If they were full size, they would be IMHO easier to make look good with multiple footprints...
I don't think there is any good reason for them being 48x48. They should be changed to full size.

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Post by silene »

I thought it was a good idea at first. But when I played a game, I just got really confused: I was wondering why my Spearman (the cursor displayed "50% (2)") needed two movement points to move over grassland. It took me a few seconds to remember that the displayed value is in fact supposed to be the number of turns needed to reach the position, not the movement rate.

In my opinion, the information as it is now displayed can be rather confusing (how many people actually played with this change?). Maybe only one data should ever be displayed at a given time: the defensive value if the hex is reachable, and the turn count if it is not. That way, the confusing "50% (2)" would never get displayed, there would only be "50%" or "(2)".

Last point: on my laptop screen, I don't see the difference between normal and slow footsteps. Maybe use a brighter red? Or another set of footsteps.
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