Loading...
  OR  Zero-K Name:    Password:   

Loading screen tips images

62 posts, 3673 views
Post comment
Filter:    Player:  
Page of 4 (62 records)
sort
Hey, I've recreated style of tips on loading screens boxes and made a script that draws them quickly for you of any sizes. I hope it'll enable to make more loading screen useful tips images.

You can find it in my pull request here.

Right now I am collecting some screenshots to make screens with.

Some tips I thought would be useful:


Basic


Description Screenshot image Tip textbox Progress – am I satisfied
Common useful interface hotkeys, like F11, ctrl + F11, alt + F11 ~
quote:
When in game, you can toggle between lobby and game view using F11. Ctrl+F11 allows you to customize your UI layout placements. Press Esc to quit. Alt + F11 views list of additional widgets to customize your game. It is meant for experienced users.
surrender option, [Spoiler]
quote:
When enemy controls much more territority and you do not see any chance for victory, consider using [] Resign Vote under <Esc> menu.
Move/fight command modifiers - what alt does, what ctrl does ~
quote:
Movement commands such as Move and Fight can be issued by <***>. You can issue order in a fomation by holding left click and drawing a line. Hold Alt during drawing a line to make units move along the drawn path instead. Hold Ctrl to make units match the speed of the slowest unit. Ctrl + Left move command issues order with respect of relative distances at the moment of issuing.
Attack modifiers - area attack and special bomber attack [Spoiler]
quote:
Attack targets in an area by selecting Force Attack (F), then left clicking and draggin a circle. Hold CTRL to split the attack targets between selected units. Force attack a line on the ground by selecting Force Attack (F), holding ALT and then left clicking dragging a line. ← should be drawing Constantly attack targets in an area by selecting Area Attack (ALT + A) and left click dragging a circle. The ground will be bombed if no targets are visible.
how water/underwater changes things Made by TheMooseIsLoose
quote:
Shallow water slows down ground units. Units submerged in water are shielded from weapons unsuited for water warfare, but cannot cloak. Only amphibious units (insert amphibious background) can move under water. Amphibious bots also when submerged in water auto-repair.
physics consequences - fleeing makes you stronger, so does being higher, but only for certain weapons crabe on a spike, glavies chasing and retreating
quote:
The physics of warfare is simulated, so as a consequence it gives advantage to high ground units. Kinetic weapons gain range with height. Another consequence of physics is that retreating units have effectively higher range than chasing units, because bullets have travel time.
chickens basic knowledge (kill roosts to slow down tech advancement) [Spoiler]
quote:
If you have problems with stronger chicken units, consider playing more aggressively. Killing (*) Roosts slows down the chicken's “technological” advancement, but angers the hive, drawing the appearance of the Chicken Queen closer. Make sure to keep builders near the front, as dead chickens leave eggs to reclaim.
manual fire (D) units Krow bombing stuf intercepted by mass of boosted swiftsf.
quote:
Some, mainly expensive units, have special attack, which can be activated only manually by pressing (icon) D. The most common of those is Swift, which can get a short burst of speed to quickly retreat or intercept enemy bombers. Discover rest of them by yourself!
basic camera controls ~
quote:
advanced build queue [Spoiler]
quote:
Multiple structures can be queued by left clicking and dragging. Press Z and X to adjust their spacing. <Shift> - a line <Shift> + <Alt> - a rectangle <Shift> + <Ctrl> - an orthogonal line <Shift> + <Ctrl> + <Alt> - a hollow rectangle <Shift> + <Ctrl> on a unit - build a box around the unit. Hold Q to start construction and move on without finishing them.
Buildings’ placement elevation [Spoiler]
quote:
You can easily change building placement elevation by selecting the building and then: * holding <LeftClick> for few seconds to show terraforming UI and adjust height. Press <LeftClick> again to confirm. * pressing B and then use C or V to raise or lower the placement, respectively. Level set by the latter method saves between games for each building.
Material for 3 screens: Building modifiers (ctrl, alt, z, x) for grid building, Q for ghost building, Terraforming buildings by holding mouse or pressing B and C/V for elevation change. Ctrl for surround building and easy terraform wall. Terraforming options with modifiers, minimum unit passage depths and terrain delta.
quote:
You can easily change building placement elevation by selecting the building and then: * holding <LeftClick> for a few seconds to show terraforming UI and adjust height. Press <LeftClick> again to confirm. * pressing B and then C or V to raise or lower the placement, respectively.
General rules of paper rock scissor riot skirmisher raider air Split screen of all types representatives with hexagonal radar charts per unit type
quote:
No words, just radar graphs of each unit type with 6 fields: Speed/mobility, Durability, Attack range, Attack accuracy, Dps
How status effects of EMP, Disarm and Slow work represenatives of each damage type fighting together: zeus, moderators, fire walker and thunderbird.
quote:
Some weapons have additional damage effects. Resitance for them is proportional to the current health of units. There is slow which slows actions up to 50%, EMP which paralyses for fixed duration and disarm which disables enemy weapon. EMP damage counts as well as disarm. There’s also fire which can trigger burning effect for additional damage over time.
Tactical nuke silo explained
quote:
Tactical nuke silo is a factory that can build 4 types of single use rockets. Tactical nuke which deals single target burst damage, that excells at destroying long range defense buildings. EMP missile which disables for x seconds. Napalm missile which is good for harrasment against light units and economy buildings. Quake missile which is good to demolish terraformed walls.
tab window with units sharing [Spoiler]
quote:
In team games, cooperation leads to best results. Apart from strategy and communication, there are few mechanisms to help your teammates. Hold <Tab> for statistics window, where you can: * give 100 metal * give 100 energy * give selected units * enter avatar mode with both of players being able to control their units. By pressing respective buttons under teammate’s nick.
drawing on map and point making some cute drawings, any memorable replays?
quote:

Advanced

Description Screenshot image
quote:
Progress
commander differences and commander morphing some badass commanders
quote:
unit mini-icons design guidelines some icon representatives
quote:
shield mechanics (linking, drain energy) ~
quote:
armor mechanics - crabe some turrets, halberd ~
quote:
dominatrix mechanics ~
quote:
Stealth mechanics - units, energy costs, reveal, radar jamming [Spoiler]
quote:
In team games, cooperation leads to best results. Apart from strategy and communication, there are few mechanisms to help your teammates. Hold <Tab> to view overview window, where you can press following icons under teammate's nick to: * give 100metal, * give 100 energy, * give selected units, * enter avatar mode with both of the players being able to control their units..
Guard and circle guard with all its modifiers ~
quote:
all terraforming options with all modifiers explained ~
quote:
units transporters, ferry routes ~
quote:
What rezzurecting is and how zombie work ~
quote:
Overdrive effectiveness curve, energy efficiency ~
quote:
Athene's purpose ~
quote:
Retreat option and mechanics ~
quote:

Existing

F1, F2, F4 overlays existing
quote:
Useful overlays: <F1> views elevation with colorful isolines. <F2> after selecting a unit displays its pathfinding options. Red color means unit slows down while pink means the terrain is impassable. <F4> views economy elements such as metal spots and yield, geothermal vents and highlights reclaimable objects.
Economy basics existing
quote:
Metal is strategic and the most important resource. It is obtained from metal extractors and can be reclaimed. Metal production and excess are shared among allies. Energy can be produced in various powerplants at safety of your base. You should always aim to have more energy than your metal income. Excess energy in grid connected to metal extractors causes Overdrive, producing more metal with diminishing returns. Construction takes equal parts of metal and energy, while other actions like repairing cost only energy. Some units drain extra energy for operation.





Planet wars


I'd make some screens about planet wars basics, which could be disabled when PW is off and be enabled with greater frequency than other screens when pw is enabled. However, I am clueless about PW mechanics so I would need some help about at least basic subjects of:
  • win conditions
  • map overview
  • basic buildings and how they change game
  • turn based mechanics with windows for attack
  • factions icons and their mottos

Update old tips


  • mumble information on screen
  • replace queue screenshot with current heavy tank fac

If anyone wants to join me in this effort, you're welcome. We can setup common google drive or dropbox to accumulate screenshots for the tips.
+8 / -0
removed
+4 / -0
removed
+4 / -0

5 years ago
Minor nitpick: unit names should be uppercase (Swift, Caretaker...)

Ideas for the wubrior screen second line:
  • This works both on portraits and the units themselves.
  • [Space]+[Left click] an UI panel to configure it.
+0 / -0
removed
+0 / -0
removed
+0 / -0

5 years ago
In the metal one, replace "then" with "than".

I like short, clear tips, but on the other hand, some people's computers load very slowly, and reading this stuff is good so they have something to do while waiting.
+2 / -0
The mexspot and overdriven-mex pics are somewhat misleading because they look like unitpics of metal producing units (due to the border and green background) but are actually not. Not sure how to improve them though so it's okay.
+0 / -0

5 years ago
I'd recommend keeping out any explicit prices. For all I know those shots might still be there in 2 years. Prices tend to fluctuate.

+1 / -0
removed
+0 / -0


5 years ago
I think they would be better with no box around the logo.
+3 / -0

5 years ago
You could simply say "Additional factories are expensive/come at a cost, so try to make the most out of your first factory by assisting it with builders."
+0 / -0
the fact that you can assist in the first place is nice. and also that assisting means being able to spend more metals per time and therefore build faster (and to counter the widespread myth that building a nano = building faster without metal)
+0 / -0


"terraform can, beside of being awesome, be of strategic advantage as plasma-based weapons gain range with height."
+3 / -0


5 years ago
Yeah box around the logo is a bit disturbing.
+0 / -0
Maybe it's more consistent with menus, but personally I like previous design more. Also I don't think you have to be limited to 1 sentence per screen, you can put more detailed info. Maybe sometimes you won't read everything but you see every screen often, so eventually you'll know it all. For me for example the screens reminding about chat modifiers, F1,F2,F4 and space for putting in front of the queue were that more valuable because I kept forgetting about this stuff.

I would put 3 times as much text where it's justified. For example at screen featuring drawing:

quote:

You can:
hold ~ + Left Mouse Button to draw
hold ~ + Right Mouse Button to erase
hold ~ + Middle Mouse Button to put a quick marker
hold ~ + 2x Left Mouse Button click to put a marker with text

When markers build up you can press (rubbergum icon) to clear all drawing on your screen.



I'd also colorize words for hotkeys with standard coloring (like pale green), and standard coloring for common modifiers:
  • ctrl - light blue
  • alt - light red
  • shift - light yellow

I really liked that in original screens, that made them very clear and stood out.

I see that we can't really cooperate if we have different visions. I could agree upon the new border, but I'd keep the style of text most of the time. I've made some screenshots for backgrounds, we could share that. Maybe google drive or dropbox for sharing .xcf files?

I think I'll keep doing them my way and you could replace boxes under them later.

Here are screenshots

I'll keep posting them on steam.

DErankAdminmojjj I'd use the screen, but it's too low resolution.
+0 / -0
Please notice I keep updating the first post. Some critique on my tips and plugging holes/spellchecking would be much appreciated as it takes me a lot of time. I'll soon make good screenshots for the screens, that part will be easier.

I hope to finish at least 10 screens before steam release, also refresh old ones.

Cheers
+0 / -0


5 years ago
I have uploaded the xcf for my loadscreen concepts, your more then welcome to use the backgrounds, logos and whatever: https://mega.nz/#!SNkRASLT!nY7gjfoslyN3AIHtgtoNay5FdiwsOnccU6NPWYyC_y8

Unfortunately there is no way for me to save a gimp 2.8 compatible xcf from gimp 2.10 with this project, it uses grouped layers and other new features. So you will have to open it with gimp 2.10.
+1 / -0
CArankTheMooseIsLoose

After I saw that screen [Spoiler] now I know the origin of teal hex borders and I agree to replace them with new style boxes. The commonly used font here is Sans serif or Arial bold?
+0 / -0


5 years ago
FreeSans, the font that is included with spring
+0 / -0
Page of 4 (62 records)