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Re: SDL interface ideas


Hans Ronne wrote:
> 
> [...] most of Xconq's games are too
> >complicated for a single map to be able to display everything
> >that the player needs to know, and thus we need to be able to add
> >auxiliary displays.
> 
> Not sure I agree here. Multiple maps was a necessary evil on the mac before
> we had offscreen graphics. [...]

Hmmm, how did that word "single" get in there?  What I meant to say
was that the map proper doesn't show turn number, materials in your
treasury, current advance being researched, etc.

> >Panels will always be opaque.
> 
> Do you mean it's impossible to have translucent panels? One thing that I
> think would be very suitable for translucency is the unit info and
> mouseover panes, provided we have a bold font in a glowing color that is
> visible against most terrains. This would give us back some valuable screen
> real estate. Too bad if it can't be done. Perhaps this text could just be
> drawn in a glowing color in the bottom part of the map, without having a
> separate pane for it? This would make things very simple, and also neat.

If a panel is semi-permanent, then sooner or later the action is
going to end up trying to happen underneath it.  Even a text-only
display is going to be a problem, and what if there were buttons
with images in the panel?  You'd be seeing a battleship in the
water, but actually it's just a button to build one.  While there's
no obstacle to trying translucent panels as an experiment, I suspect
we'll just rediscover what the commercial developers have apparently
discovered already - permanent see-through displays don't work well,
the main exception is HUDs in flight simulators.  (HUDs work because
they are very thin and light, so nothing is obscured.)

> This seems like an excellen idea. I would add to that a minimalistic game
> pane, also within that single bottom row, which just shows the game turn
> and your own progress bar. No need to show progress bars for other players,
> as is now done. This is really cheating, even if it doesn't do much harm.

This was motivated by practical experience in multiplayer games,
so you know who to yell at to "hurry up" 1/2 :-) .  The people who
take the longest to play are always the ones who are completely
oblivious to the passage of time - and the fidgetings of their
speedier opponents!

Stan

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