FreeOrion

Is there a reason you're making them 16x16 pixels again? There were a few 24x24 earlier, but the latest are smaller.

Regarding consensus on this, ignore my preference if it is not widely shared, as this is clearly a graphics / aesthetics issue.

I like these icons. Nice work.

Only one critic: the first two icons are very similar, you cannot really see a difference. Maybe the "tidal lock" could be in another color.

The reason is that in game they were shown at 16x16 and looked horrible when sized down. It won't be a problem to supply them in 24x24, since they're all done at 128x128. Personally, I prefer 24x24 to 16x16 - the icons are much more recognisable at that size, take a look:


All of them desaturated -30:



Sure, that's an option. But at 24x24 they're distinctive enough.

I forgot to mention, that "red" seems to be negative, but "tidal lock" isn't (or did I understand the tooltips wrong?).

You're right, tidal lock has positive and negative effects... the icon colours are fairly arbitrary. Of course, it would be possible to colour-code the icons (red: negative; blue: negative+positive; green: positive; yellow: other), but I think it's to restrictive.

i've added them in to trunk, and they work quite nicely.
I used the 16x16 because that's what i had. On seeing them in the game, it looked right. But now people can form their opinion in the context of the game.

I modified the mineral one to match the color of the minerals elsewhere.

The colors/saturation may need further tweaking, but this is a big improvement.

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If they are drawn at 24x24, they'll be about this big:

(This isn't a true representation of how actual 24x24 icons would look, as these are poorly stretched up from 16x16)

You can grab the icons at 24x24 here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/42824393/special_icons_24x24.zip.html

Here's a different concept for excentric orbit. The logic behind the icon is that the sun's strength depends on the position of the planet on its orbit around the sun.

There are several in-game issues with the planetary special icons:

(1) The last few pixel lines are distorted weirdly, see icon at Hertzsprung I (maybebecause there's some kind of invisible border?)
(2) Their position doesn't vary with planet size, which can make it hard to determine to which planet they actually belong; see icon between Hertzsprung III / IV
(3) They also can be overlayn by lower planets, see ancient ruins.

Lastly, the icons of RC6 are still 16x16; I've provided them in 24x24 above. Note that I haven't changed the color of minerals to red yet, but will do so soon. (I intend to change some other icons' colors also, but not before the end of next week.)

i mentioned that i think the 16x16 are a better size. no one has yet disagreed, until your comment, so why would they have been changed?

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Do you realize that in RC6 the special icons are displayed at 24x24, but scaled up from the 16x16 icon versions?

I prefer the larger icons as they are much easier to distinguish.

The problem with those icons is, that they are all mono color and appear very flat. At this size it's especially hard to distinguish one red from another red one for example.
Also the placement on the sidepanel, below the planets isn't very well chosen. They interfere with the planets themself. IMHO they should be put to the right, Maybe next to the planet names.

To improve the icons one could try to match the style of the resource icons to some degree. Add some light and shadow and maybe a second and third color. This will help to create a more diverse pattern. I think it's not that important what is shown on the icons. The player will have to learn their meanings anyway, so it has to be made easy for him, to remember and distinguish them.

To make my point, I've done a quick makeover of Silents icons. Adding some variation in contrast(light and shadow) and some color variation really helps to pop them out and distinguish them. I don't even know what each of those stands for, but it doesn't matter.

Absolutely, that's exactly what I tried to demonstrate in a previous sidepanel mockup.


I second that. Your modified icons look beautiful, although the meaning of some is now less clear;
but this is a significant improvement.