Topic Experiment: Interaction Menu
This board is threaded (i.e. has a tree structure). Please use the Reply button of the specific post you are referring to, not just any random button. If you want to reply to the topic in general, use the Post button near the top and bottom of the page.
In Response to Clonkonaut
I'd like to have the menu structured in a sensible way (so more important items are easier to see) but agree that having all that information in a menu is easier to grasp (so agreeing with Zapper here).
The menu is a place where you get all information about any given object and all options available. No need to have multiple sources of information. Redundant information would be okay though.
The problem with floating icons are, unfortunately, numerous. First of all, when does a specific icon show up? All the time (so damaged buildings would always show health bars)? Or at what specific action during the game? With Anno (and all other top down, isometric view style games), this is much easier, as health bars or icons seldom overlap with other game content or can show up when you select a specific building/unit. In OC, we'd have to define that specific moment of 'now show information' (which right now is the voluntary press of E in front of an object).
The next problem is how many of these icons show up? A complex structure like a pump might show you so many things at once, it gets confusing and annoying just looking at it (I actually dislike the floating light bulbs for electricity buildings, these are often distracting and seldom useful).
The biggest problem is always iconography / semiotics. Pictures alone will often not be unambiguous. Something that you think speaks clearly might confuse other people. Coming up with a fitting icon for a certain information is a hard task. Even for 'simple' things (think of the common 'Save' icon for example, depicting a floppy disc; for the current young generation, this picture carries no meaning whatsoever and they have to actually learn that this will save your work).
The menu is a place where you get all information about any given object and all options available. No need to have multiple sources of information. Redundant information would be okay though.
The problem with floating icons are, unfortunately, numerous. First of all, when does a specific icon show up? All the time (so damaged buildings would always show health bars)? Or at what specific action during the game? With Anno (and all other top down, isometric view style games), this is much easier, as health bars or icons seldom overlap with other game content or can show up when you select a specific building/unit. In OC, we'd have to define that specific moment of 'now show information' (which right now is the voluntary press of E in front of an object).
The next problem is how many of these icons show up? A complex structure like a pump might show you so many things at once, it gets confusing and annoying just looking at it (I actually dislike the floating light bulbs for electricity buildings, these are often distracting and seldom useful).
The biggest problem is always iconography / semiotics. Pictures alone will often not be unambiguous. Something that you think speaks clearly might confuse other people. Coming up with a fitting icon for a certain information is a hard task. Even for 'simple' things (think of the common 'Save' icon for example, depicting a floppy disc; for the current young generation, this picture carries no meaning whatsoever and they have to actually learn that this will save your work).
Powered by mwForum 2.29.7 © 1999-2015 Markus Wichitill