0.4 UI thread

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Vezzra
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#46 Post by Vezzra »

The Silent One wrote:However, trying them out ingame I find that they work well at 32x32, ... and not at all at 20x20. So either I / we accept that they don't look optimal on small sizes, or I remove the colony part of the icon and just leave the arrow style markers.
Well... "don't work at all" and "don't look optimal" s'not the same thing, ya know? ;)

If an icon doesn't work "at all" at a certain size we can't use it. Question is, what do you mean by "doesn't work at all"? Is it just that the decrease and the bombarded icons are indistinguishable at the small size (in which case only the bombarded icon needs to be changed), or does that mean that all of those icons are unrecognizeable at the small size (in which case we need new icons for all of them)?

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The Silent One
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#47 Post by The Silent One »

Vezzra wrote:Well... "don't work at all" and "don't look optimal" s'not the same thing, ya know? ;)
That logic :)
Overall, I guess it's a subjective thing. They are distinguishable at 20x20, but do they look agreeable? Decide for yourself:
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sitrep icon size comparison.jpg
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Dilvish
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#48 Post by Dilvish »

The smaller ones look fine to me. I can't make out as much detail as I can with the larger ones, but they still look fine.
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#49 Post by Vezzra »

Yep, looks fine. As there's no colony decreased icon example, I can't tell how well it's distinguishable from the bombarded icon however. Maybe place the "bombardement indicator" in the center then on the right...? Dunno, just an idea...

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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#50 Post by The Silent One »

Vezzra wrote:As there's no colony decreased icon example, I can't tell how well it's distinguishable from the bombarded icon however.
(Still) A good point, I checked and they look too similar at 20x20. I'll see what I can come up with to differentiate those two better.

Another idea I have about the sitrep that I'd like to discuss: how about if the sitrep showed, instead of a generic research icon, the actual icon of the researched technology? While this certainly doesn't work at a small icon size, we could do this for players that use a large sitrep icon size (say >= 32 px).
I did a quick implementation, see below:
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show sitrep icons on sitrep.jpg
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#51 Post by Dilvish »

The Silent One wrote:Another idea I have about the sitrep that I'd like to discuss: how about if the sitrep showed, instead of a generic research icon
At least my initial reaction is that I would I prefer having the generic icon, to make it very clear to my brain that there is a researched tech notice.

A good point, I checked and they look too similar at 20x20.
If you are intent on not relying on color to distinguish them, and are not content with the current shape distinction, then I would really strongly second Vezzra's suggestion of moving the bombardment blast/modified-arrow to the center rather than being on the right.
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MatGB
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#52 Post by MatGB »

I quite like the idea of the tech icon in the sitreps, but it might make sense to first make sure all the techs have an icon ;-)
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#53 Post by Dilvish »

MatGB wrote:I quite like the idea of the tech icon in the sitreps, but it might make sense to first make sure all the techs have an icon ;-)
Well, if the consensus heads that way I suppose I can push my brain to exercise some of its hypothetical plasticity.
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#54 Post by The Silent One »

Dilvish wrote:Well, if the consensus heads that way I suppose I can push my brain to exercise some of its hypothetical plasticity.
To accomodate (not only :wink: ) your brain cells, I would suggest an option in config.xml that allows to switch between generic and the specific icons. And frankly, I do agree with your point that the tech icons are not easily distinguishable from other items of the sitrep panel; however, the reason for that is that the tech icons do not have a uniform look anymore, but are mixed with ship parts which look completely different from the original icons, and more like the other sitrep icons.
MatGB wrote:... but it might make sense to first make sure all the techs have an icon ;-)
I know, there's much to do ... :)
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#55 Post by The Silent One »

Dilvish wrote:If you are intent on not relying on color to distinguish them, and are not content with the current shape distinction, then I would really strongly second Vezzra's suggestion of moving the bombardment blast/modified-arrow to the center rather than being on the right.
I think that the colors (red/pink) were just to similar, so now I switched the color of the blast-ended arrow to a bright blue, which I think works better (see below). I'm not so fond of moving the arrow to the middle because it will make the distinction between "colony bombarded" and my current version of "colony destroyed" harder.
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colony_bombarded.png
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#56 Post by The Silent One »

Well, I guess the icons below do work better.
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colony_bombarded.png
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colony_decrease.png
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colony_destroyed.png
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#57 Post by MatGB »

Yeah, they look good.
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Vezzra
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#58 Post by Vezzra »

The Silent One wrote:Well, I guess the icons below do work better.
So, these are your most current suggestion, which should supersede all prior versions, right? Why is there no colony_increase icon? Shouldn't this also be done with a centered arrow...?

Aside from that, yeah, look fine! :)

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The Silent One
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#59 Post by The Silent One »

Vezzra wrote:Why is there no colony_increase icon? Shouldn't this also be done with a centered arrow...?
Easy, my friend. Naturally I did the other ones in this fashion as well, I just didn't get around to uploading them yet, and the forum allows only 3 attachments per post.
When I upload the icons I will also replace the "ancient_ruins" icon of the greetings message with the free orion logo if there's no objections.
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planet_colonized.png
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planet_captured.png
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colony_growth.png
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Re: 0.4 UI thread

#60 Post by Vezzra »

The Silent One wrote:Easy, my friend. Naturally I did the other ones in this fashion as well, I just didn't get around to uploading them yet, and the forum allows only 3 attachments per post.
Oh, sorry, I thought you maybe forgot :oops:

Concerning your new icons: they look fine, I like it :)
When I upload the icons I will also replace the "ancient_ruins" icon of the greetings message with the free orion logo if there's no objections.
Sounds like a good idea.

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