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

Post edit history

Why Zero-K's User Interface sucks

To display differences between versions, select one or more edits in the list using checkboxes and click "diff selected"
Post edit history
Date Editor Before After
12/16/2018 10:34:34 PMCHrankAdminDeinFreund before revert after revert
12/16/2018 10:33:04 PMCHrankAdminDeinFreund before revert after revert
Before After
1 @psaniac @Connetable From your perspective, you're completely right. You want all the functionality right at your fingertips and the screen to show as much information as possible. As someone who has played hundreds if not thousands of hours that's exactly what I'd expect. When you design a user interface for people who spend thousands of hours training you get: 1 @psaniac @Connetable From your perspective, you're completely right. You want all the functionality right at your fingertips and the screen to show as much information as possible. As someone who has played hundreds if not thousands of hours that's exactly what I'd expect. When you design a user interface for people who spend thousands of hours training you get:
2 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg/1920px-Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg 2 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg/1920px-Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg
3 \n 3 \n
4 But Zero-K is firstly a game and not a profession. It should be accessible to people who just want to tinker around for a few hours in their free time. Of course as much functionality as possible should be retained without having to change any settings, but the user interface should help the player along the way. Powerusers like you can already and will always be able to adjust their settings for maximum efficiency. 4 But Zero-K is firstly a game and not a profession. It should be accessible to people who just want to tinker around for a few hours in their free time. Of course as much functionality as possible should be retained without having to change any settings, but the user interface should help the player along the way. Powerusers like you can already and will always be able to adjust their settings for maximum efficiency.
5 \n 5 \n
6 @psaniac More colors allow you to display more information. More colors also mean you have to learn what each color means. Besides that, color is a very helpful tool to guide the player's eyes. Color should be used in a very targeted way, to accentuate the most important information on screen. That means recognizing whether a unit is good or bad or whether your economy is doing well or struggling. If you introduce more team colors, you're putting the difference between Enemy #1 and Enemy #2 on the same level as differentiating friend from foe. 6 @psaniac More colors allow you to display more information. More colors also mean you have to learn what each color means. Besides that, color is a very helpful tool to guide the player's eyes. Color should be used in a very targeted way, to accentuate the most important information on screen. That means recognizing whether a unit is good or bad or whether your economy is doing well or struggling. If you introduce more team colors, you're putting the difference between Enemy #1 and Enemy #2 on the same level as differentiating friend from foe.
7 \n 7 \n
8 [quote]If some player says "help me" in chat, the people who use default settings won't know where that player is. [/quote] Once a player has been playing the game enough to be in the position to help out his allies, I think we can expect him to do the single button press at the top left that allows you to turn on advanced team colors. I think we should also introduce small shading differences between allies by default, but they really have to be small unlike the current colors. The goal of the defaults is visual consistency, not maximizing information. 8 [quote]If some player says "help me" in chat, the people who use default settings won't know where that player is. [/quote] Once a player has been playing the game enough to be in the position to help out his allies, I think we can expect him to do the single button press at the top left that allows you to turn on advanced team colors. Still, I agree that small shading differences between allies be a reasonable default, but they really have to be small unlike the current colors. The goal of the defaults is visual consistency, not maximizing information.