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New Intercept window for feedback


Chris

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As part of the milestone list I'm working on, most of the UI screens are getting a revamp. Often this is just visual or small tweaks, but on the Geoscape there are two windows that have come in for quite a lot of stick because they don't present enough information. I'm redesigning them now with the hope I can get them in V9. The first is the Intercept window, the second is the Launch Interceptors window.

Here's the proposed new Intercept window, launched when one of your squadrons closes to intercept range with a UFO squadron:

Intercept.png

Intercept2.png

Essentially this just provides more information visually for the UFOs, and gives you more information on whether your ships are up to combat. The combat fuel level being in seconds should be useful, and hopefully we'll mirror this on the air combat UI when we update it.

Comments welcome. I'll get the Launch Interceptors screen re-concepted up soon too.

EDIT - here's a new version that uses the actual art for the UFOs rather than the top-down art. Anyone have any comments on this? (the top-down art isn't detailed enough on some of the UFOs to be used in this window without the red tint).

Intercept3.png

Better or worse than the previous ones?

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I believe that the new interface capturing wonderful!

I think that Chris thought long over the useful and informative interface. This follows from the screenshots.

Therefore, I believe that nothing should not alter, everything is pretty compact and informative!

Chris, you're just clever. My compliments.

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Maybe two categories, one being cannon ammo and the other the number of missiles?

But what about with future tech? Not knowing how many different types of weapons we'll get makes this a bit hard to agree on, though some form would be nice. If it is only cannon and missile, you could label the ammo section:

Ammo

Cannon/Missile

60%/30%

And if there is more, perhaps have them colour coded? Though that might be very ugly... Personally I'm happy there is something, more would be nice but not necessary

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Personally I like the actual art, but will there ever be any ufo that has only 1 escort? just want to make sure those wont be confused with each other.

Will the actual art be available anywhere else? I assume inside the wikipedia. How visible will they be inside the ground missions? will we ever be able to view the roof by switching to a higher elevation?

There is no way to squeze both in somehow? toggle the view or have the actual art layered ontop of the topsown art? No that would probably be too cramped. I see benefits with both actual and topdown art. I can't really decide =P

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The top down view allows for easier recognition since, as AD said, that's how the UFO looks in combat.

However I'm a sucker for aesthetics so my vote goes to the lower option. It looks better on the gray background, doesn't sting the eyes, is more immersive and gets more value out of the great concept art you have. People will learn to associate concept art with top down views easily enough.

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I'll probably use the second one, to be honest. I like pretty things. Yes, some UFOs spawn with a single escort, but which one is the escort doesn't really matter all told. They're usually different craft so you can just remember.

Damn, I feel quite strongly about this, but it is your choice at the end of the day.

I don't get how the red is too glaring, it is quite tonned down. Also with practice, when people begin to learn weapon arcs etc. that will apply more with the top down view, so from the get go they are already formulating stratergies. Plus I think it looks like a rather funny formation to be flying in =p I guess I just don't like the angle.

Do you have a mock up where it is top down, but the UFOs are their regular colour, and not red? I think that might be a nice compromise... =]

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Wow, the next(ish) version is going to be great!

UFO picture

I think I'd prefer the ufos to have their picture taken from the same angle as the actual fight will be. That way the player will immediately think "oh no, that's the type that shot me down last time, better wait for more fighters to catch up". This will also help the player connect the name of the ufo with the image as they are listed together.

The angled shot is very pretty though.

Escorts

I don't think the "escort 1" and "escort 2" labels should be visible when there are no escorts. The appearance of the first escorted ufo will be more of a surprise then. ;)

Ammo

I guess you could solve the ammo-question by having it in percent with the possibility of hovering the cursor on the number for a small window containing all the weapons and their ammo. The drawback of doing this would probably be that the player doesn't need to do this elsewhere in the game, so may never try it. A small info-icon could be added next to the ammopercentage to draw the player's cursor in?

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Could the ammunition be broken down into short, medium, and long range maybe?

Grey out any range that doesn't have a weapon in that range equipped as well, that way a mig with full missile ammo won't look like it has 0% short or medium range ammo.

An f-17 would have 100% short (cannon) and 100% medium (sidewinders) with greyed or dashed out long range.

*edit* Probably need to add an explanation of what the three numbers represent as well.

Intercept3 mod.jpg

I prefer the angled and fully coloured images for the ships.

It is more aesthetically pleasing.

The only way the red ones would be an advantage for me is if they reflected any previous battle damage.

My only question is how it would look if the main enemy was much larger?

Do the pictures scale well?

The fuel being listed in seconds is a definite advantage over an arbitrary percentage or set value that means little.

I would change the Interception Successful! title though.

They have not been successful until the enemy has been shot down or forced to retreat to space.

Maybe "Engagement Range Reached" or something similar.

Intercept3 mod.jpg

577e7c80078fa_Intercept3mod.jpg.d86211cf

Edited by Gauddlike
Added picture
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I much prefer the actual art to the top-down silouette, as it also gives you a good idea of what to expect once you're on the ground: One should always be mindful about new players to the series and even a little bit of extra intelligence is useful to a newbie.

That said, please change the title of the interception: While it's not strictly incorrect that the interception is successful upon catching up to the UFO(s), something along the lines of the above suggestion of "Engagement Range Reached" is more suitable. In the end, you can still lose all of your planes, which no one would deem a success :)

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as for ammo, I like Gauddlike's idea, but I'd like to suggest another method if I might.

Now suppose we have a MIG and a F17 with their loadouts. Now this represents the location of all their weapons (and this idea gets too big if interceptors can carry more than 4 weapon points). What if we show the ammo in the same way? So:

airammo.jpg

Thoughts? (again I don't think this is necessary, I just like thinking of ways this could be done. Would be nice if it could be done though!)

airammo.jpg

airammo.jpg.211fb1a5325194de2776909c4e71

Edited by anotherdevil
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I definitely prefer the actual UFO art over the red top view.

What would be even cooler was if there was an overlay highlighting UFO weapons, weakpoints or similar that appeared once the UFO type or UFO weapon projects had been researched. It wouldn't need to have any significant impact on air combat but it would enhance the feeling that your combat pilots had increasingly more info as research progresses.

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