Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: oboe on January 12, 2017, 02:48:20 PM
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A while ago a returning player gave a fairly harsh critique of AH3, saying among other things that the graphics or colors were visually assaulting. That stuck with me, and I believe one of the things he could have been referring to is the clipboard map:
(http://i.imgur.com/1NNsnL8.jpg)
For kicks, I made an attempt at reducing the clutter and busyness of the map above. I reduced the saturation and opacity of the land layer, changed the ocean color to be more consistent with a typical physical map, with coastal shallows depicted as a lighter shade of blue. I reduced the color saturation and size of all the map icons and removed the chess piece graphic because it has such a DOS-character set look to it and its redundant anyway; the color of the icon being an indication of the owning country. Radar coverage areas are shown shaded now rather that white circles. I chose a simple sans serif font for a cleaner look, and the labels are more tightly placed to the icons.
The map below shows all of the the same information displayed on the original above, it's the same scale and area shown. The reduction in icon and label font size think helped the readability a lot:
(http://i.imgur.com/Nj4VnTb.jpg)
I guess my wish would be for a more map-like clipboard map, with a less cluttered look.
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I am in favor of something along this line. +1 I have adjusted to the new icons etc but I must say I am not a fan of the style. It is cluttered and difficult to parse and just IMO doesn't look good.
Wiley.
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Very nice.
I like how the base info/alt is outlined in black. Makes it much easier to read.
Coogan :aok
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Most stunning difference indeed <S>.
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I like it alot. But the side icons is a necessary evil. Unless the map can coded to put a suffix to the base name. IE: A1 be comes A1B, A1K, or A1R.
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While I understand your suggestion "I like the radar display" your text & icon size are non starters. For me to read the text I had to make your map full screen.
Normally the clip board map is taking up less the 1/2 the vertical height of the screen.
HiTech
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OR a simple legend: ROOK = ORANGE, Knights =YELLOW in this case. Where the color name is just a Bar (couldn't make that happen in here)
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Anyway to make map icon FONT size a constant sized font? Or is that coding nightmare?
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A minor thing here, but the Spawn point color (yellow) does not contrast enough with the map background making it hard to read sometimes.
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Don't think the sector numbers need to be quite so prominent, but that's just a font size change.
How would you indicate disabled radar? As it is now, a red radar circle indicates that it is disabled, but still shows where the "flash-the-base" boundary is.
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Anyway to make map icon FONT size a constant sized font? Or is that coding nightmare?
Define constant size? Because I can think of at least 3 definitions.
1. Al lways the same size on screen.
2. All ways the same size relative to the clip board.
3. All ways the same size relative to the map.
Currently they are a combination of 2 & 3
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The main improvements in the above I see are the black outline around the font, the lack of a line on the dar ring, and the size of the icons. Shrinking the map icons alone would IMO be an enormous improvement, regardless of if the font size never changed. Another solution, make the font and font size adjustable?
Wiley.
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How would you indicate disabled radar? As it is now, a red radar circle indicates that it is disabled, but still shows where the "flash-the-base" boundary is.
Different color? Customizable for both?
Wiley.
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Define constant size? Because I can think of at least 3 definitions.
1. Al lways the same size on screen.
2. All ways the same size relative to the clip board.
3. All ways the same size relative to the map.
Currently they are a combination of 2 & 3
From my testing, I would have guessed it was option #1. I took screen shots of the clipboard at 3 different map zoom levels - one fully zoomed out, one at about the same zoom as the sample maps above, and one zoomed almost all the way in. In each case, the physical space in the image taken up by the airfield label "A118" was 57x19 pixels...I think a label that would change its physical size in response to the zoom level might solve the readability issue - you just zoom in until its readable. Or allowing users to change font and size of the labels themselves could work too?
For reference, I shrunk the map icons 50% from their original size.
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I did not read his request corectly, I was referring to the icons zoom.
Font size is #2 always ,same size relative to the clip board.
HiTech
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Well anyway thanks for weighing in, Hitech. Maybe using #3 for fonts would solve the readability size issue - you just zoom in until its big enough to read comfortably. I imagine everyone has their own method that works for them...
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A while ago a returning player gave a fairly harsh critique of AH3, saying among other things that the graphics or colors were visually assaulting. That stuck with me, and I believe one of the things he could have been referring to is the clipboard map:
(http://i.imgur.com/1NNsnL8.jpg)
For kicks, I made an attempt at reducing the clutter and busyness of the map above. I reduced the saturation and opacity of the land layer, changed the ocean color to be more consistent with a typical physical map, with coastal shallows depicted as a lighter shade of blue. I reduced the color saturation and size of all the map icons and removed the chess piece graphic because it has such a DOS-character set look to it and its redundant anyway; the color of the icon being an indication of the owning country. Radar coverage areas are shown shaded now rather that white circles. I chose a simple sans serif font for a cleaner look, and the labels are more tightly placed to the icons.
The map below shows all of the the same information displayed on the original above, it's the same scale and area shown. The reduction in icon and label font size think helped the readability a lot:
(http://i.imgur.com/Nj4VnTb.jpg)
I guess my wish would be for a more map-like clipboard map, with a less cluttered look.
MASSIVE +1.
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While I understand your suggestion "I like the radar display" your text & icon size are non starters. For me to read the text I had to make your map full screen.
Normally the clip board map is taking up less the 1/2 the vertical height of the screen.
HiTech
Full screen should be an option any way, I think. Best of both worlds. With bunched up bases having ONLY the clipboard to read is cumbersome sometimes...
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Reading base names has always been hard on some maps and or parts of maps in ah2 and now in ah3.
A +1 for any fix.
About half the time I have to right click on the field to read the name. Changing colors on some maps works and others it makes it worse.
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+1 on the wish. The example presented is a development target. Simple. Please start moving towards it.
Stunning and professional looking.
:salute
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Thank you for the kind words, guys.
Another idea I have for the clipboard map is a "Tooltip"-type information box that would pop up if you hover your cursor over a field. This tooltip box could contain status about the field, but only show those items which are disabled.
Currently if you place the cursor over a field, right click and select "A75 Status" from the popup selection list - you get a full report on everything regarding the field, country, HQ status, etc - and then you have to click to "close" when you're done.
I think it'd be much faster to just hover the cursor over the field and have the pop up box identify what's down at a field - that's usually what we're most interested in anyway - are Vehicles or Fighters still up, are Troops available, etc. And then it disappears automatically when you move the cursor off the field icon. A much faster and more efficient way to get information about fields in the conflict area:
(http://i.imgur.com/IABl01a.jpg)
<S>
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nevermind...
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Thank you for the kind words, guys.
Another idea I have for the clipboard map is a "Tooltip"-type information box that would pop up if you hover your cursor over a field. This tooltip box could contain status about the field, but only show those items which are disabled.
Currently if you place the cursor over a field, right click and select "A75 Status" from the popup selection list - you get a full report on everything regarding the field, country, HQ status, etc - and then you have to click to "close" when you're done.
I think it'd be much faster to just hover the cursor over the field and have the pop up box identify what's down at a field - that's usually what we're most interested in anyway - are Vehicles or Fighters still up, are Troops available, etc. And then it disappears automatically when you move the cursor off the field icon. A much faster and more efficient way to get information about fields in the conflict area:
(http://i.imgur.com/IABl01a.jpg)
<S>
I like it!!!
+1
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+1 for the proposition. Would be a major improvement on the actual clipboard map.
<S>
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Thank you for the kind words, guys.
Another idea I have for the clipboard map is a "Tooltip"-type information box that would pop up if you hover your cursor over a field. This tooltip box could contain status about the field, but only show those items which are disabled.
Currently if you place the cursor over a field, right click and select "A75 Status" from the popup selection list - you get a full report on everything regarding the field, country, HQ status, etc - and then you have to click to "close" when you're done.
I think it'd be much faster to just hover the cursor over the field and have the pop up box identify what's down at a field - that's usually what we're most interested in anyway - are Vehicles or Fighters still up, are Troops available, etc. And then it disappears automatically when you move the cursor off the field icon. A much faster and more efficient way to get information about fields in the conflict area:
(http://i.imgur.com/IABl01a.jpg)
<S>
The shaded radar coverage would be far less cluttered than the radar rings we have. One change I would prefer is to make the areas lighter, rather than darker. This would signify that radar on is like having the lights on and also would provide more contrast to icons, making them more visible.
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The dark outlining around base labeling text is a big plus to me. I find it hard to read sometimes depending on the background color of the terrain.
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Don't think the sector numbers need to be quite so prominent, but that's just a font size change.
How would you indicate disabled radar? As it is now, a red radar circle indicates that it is disabled, but still shows where the "flash-the-base" boundary is.
I didn't mean to ignore this question, Popeye. I would probably advocate for an empty (non-shaded) ring around the base if the radar is down. But the outline color of the ring should be subtle. Maybe a line of the same color as the shading.
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Hmm
(http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=384436.0;attach=26479)
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Very cool..
May be a good idea to keep the three letter abbreviation the same as the dot downtime command? Dont think its a big deal either way, folks should get the idea.
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Hitech has anyone lately told you that you are a rock star??
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:aok
He codes it in less time than it takes me to do a mockup. Also, great idea to show town status in the tooltip pop up. Very important info to know!
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Hitech has anyone lately told you that you are a rock star??
:salute
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Looks very cool. What does a radar that's down look like?
Wiley.
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Looks very cool. What does a radar that's down look like?
Wiley.
Red circle instead of black.
Also the Field Numbers fade out as you zoom out the map when they would start drawing over each other.
There was also a bug fix that was making the icons displaying 1.75 times larger on line then off line. The offline size was the correct size.
HiTech
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Hmm
(http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=384436.0;attach=26479)
Fargin' awesome!!!!
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:aok
He codes it in less time than it takes me to do a mockup. Also, great idea to show town status in the tooltip pop up. Very important info to know!
Crazy ain't it?
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Hmm
(http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=384436.0;attach=26479)
Could you make those circles brighter, instead of darker?
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Just installed Patch #16.
Clipboard looks really nice. Easier to read.
Coogan :aok
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Just installed Patch #16.
Clipboard looks really nice. Easier to read.
Coogan :aok
Agreed. This is a thousand times better. Only thing I would tweak is possibly lightening them by 5 or 10 percent. But a GREAT improvement.
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Was just online and people are sure talking about the change to radar! Some like it and some don't <shrug>. One even thinks the clipboard map looks more cluttered now. :O
The popup field info box works well, and with the fieldnames fading out now I find I'm spending more time with the map zoomed out - I'm getting the big picture of what's going on in game across the whole map.
On my in-game screen, the shading appears darker than the screenshot you've posted. I'm running default graphics options with gamma at defautl (1.0?) I think the lighter shading in your screenshot looks better.
Is there any way to make the shaded circles not additive? One concern I heard is when the radar coverage from two adjacent bases overlap, if both have radar out (shading=red), the additive nature of the shading makes it harder to see the red dar bars against the shaded area.
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POTW had generally the same response tonight, dark areas are too dark, oboe's original sea through blue would be better. And destroyed dar would work better as a red ring with no color fill. The map just got too dark overall due to the density of radar overlap and was almost unreadable and my gamma is 1.5. How the fonts and icons work when zooming is great.
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POTW had generally the same response tonight, dark areas are too dark, oboe's original sea through blue would be better. And destroyed dar would work better as a red ring with no color fill. The map just got too dark overall due to the density of radar overlap and was almost unreadable and my gamma is 1.5. How the fonts and icons work when zooming is great.
red ring or nothing at all that way looking at the map you can see a path through the radar because it is light.
the red is confusing with the red sector counter.
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red ring or nothing at all that way looking at the map you can see a path through the radar because it is light.
the red is confusing with the red sector counter.
The issue with no dar ring at all is that you can't see the "flash-the-base" boundary.
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The zoom fade touch is awesome
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The zoom fade touch is awesome
+1