Stores screen updated UI for comment!

[Chris]

OK, so I'm sitting down and trying to get the major screen for our new UI revised and ready to be implemented (once the rest of the code is done at least).

The easiest of these is the Stores screen. What I've aimed to do with the updated UI is to:

1) Make it clear why it doesn't do anything until you capture / manufacture some items.
2) Stop it being quite so overwhelming.

As such, there are three "sub-screens" in the design.

http://www.xenonauts.com/devimages/stores1.jpg

Screen 1 is what is show if there are no items in the base stores. Pretty self explanatory really.

http://www.xenonauts.com/devimages/stores2.jpg

Screen 2 is the "Sell" screen, which is shown by default when you load up the screen and there is something in the stores. This has all the functionality of the current stores screen, but minus the awkward columns for Transfer also shoehorned in there too. The base is selected by the dropdown in the top left corner.

http://www.xenonauts.com/devimages/stores3.jpg

Screen 3 is the "Transfer" screen, which is shown when you click the Transfer tab in the "speech bubble" menu in the bottom left. Again, this has all the info you need to transfer items from one base to another without the extra columns from the Sell functionality mixed in. The bases in question can be chosen from the two drop-downs.


Overall, I think the changes are pretty simple but they should make the screen both prettier and more intuitive. Hopefully I'll have the updated Personnel screen later today too.

[Gorlom]

Looks great.
I'm just wondering if there will be support for any mod that decides that the starting equip will not be free. Will it be possible to buy starting equipment then? (Game is lacking a possibility for a "buy screen" for such a mod) Would it be possible to add such a buy screen yourself somehow or would that need to be coded into the game from the start?

[Chris]

The lack of a buy screen would be fairly terminal to that. The best you could do would be add starting Workshop projects with whatever cost and 0 build time for the items you wanted to be "buyable".

[Gorlom]

But... hiring soldiers and techs/scientists has a 3 day transfer delay right? darn it! I can't figure out how to get a consistent delay in the workshop =(

[Max_Caine]

Regarding transfers: While it would seem clear to me from the screen that the left-hand side is from:, and the right-hand side is to:, you may want to clarify that slightly - possibly by an arrow or other indicator.

EDIT: Had another look at the screen and I can now see it's bi-directional. In which case, people might mistake the left hand side for from:, and the right hand side for to:.

[Buzzles]

New stores screen = Phwoar.

I especially like the drop down arrows though

I have one suggestion, which was touched upon in the new Research UI: as the game progresses and Xenonauts tech increases, would it be possible to have more items/details added to the image? Ie, like a PDA replacing the terminal, some extra bit of tech or electronics resting on top of those crates on the right etc...

[Ace]

Doing great, keep on rolling.

[Loki]

I would love to see a buy screen too. But the new design is great.

[Jean-Luc]

Looks good, nice and simple.

[Ogilvy the Astronomer]

That guy had better stub out his cigarette if he's around munitions!