Vantha Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 (edited) The idea came from an age-old patch on Phabricator that let players cycle through the tips on the loading screen. We came to the conclusion that the loading screen was too laggy and often shown too short for this feature to be useful. So, I instead implemented a popup accessible from the main menu via 'Learn to Play' => 'Tips and Tricks' containing the (previously only) loading screen tips. There, players can take all their time to throughly read and browse through the tips. And I also enhanced its visuals by adding a new bullet point sprite, a subtle decoration below the title, and a new button style for the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons. So far, maybe half a dozen people have seen the diff Phabricator, which is why I decided I'd make this post before porting the patch to Gitea. Here is a short video showcase: sceenrecording.mp4 Any feature ideas, any opinions on the design? Of course, the tips will continue to be shown on the loading screen as well (with the new design), but without the ability to scroll through them. Edited August 23 by Vantha 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 5 hours ago, Vantha said: Any feature ideas, any opinions on the design? I have no notes. Looks nice. Maybe the Previous/Next buttons should be consistent with the rest of the UI. 5 hours ago, Vantha said: Of course, the tips will continue to be shown on the loading screen as well (with the new design), but without the ability to scroll through them. I think the loading screen tips were for something to look at as the map loads. The flip book idea is much better and allows people to browse the tips at their leisure. The loading screen should be changed to something more relevant to the upcoming match. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Itms Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 Looks very nice @Vantha 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan` Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 Agreed, really like it and will make a nice addition to the game. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vantha Posted August 23 Author Report Share Posted August 23 Thanks everyone. Appreciate it. 4 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said: Maybe the Previous/Next buttons should be consistent with the rest of the UI. The two buttons had the usual stone button style in older versions of the patch. I decided to create the new sprites to better blend them in with the parchment in the background. I'd like to keep them. 4 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said: The loading screen should be changed to something more relevant to the upcoming match. I like the quotes on the loading screen a lot, but they shouldn't become the main focus of the page. Maybe just add a list of players with their civs and connect status? Somewhat unimaginative, but at least relevant to the upcoming game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 7 minutes ago, Vantha said: I like the quotes on the loading screen a lot, but they shouldn't become the main focus of the page. Maybe just add a list of players with their civs and connect status? Somewhat unimaginative, but at least relevant to the upcoming game. Agreed, along with an image of the map and we're good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfHassen Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 If you could figure out how it might work, a tip showing at start up as a sort of "tip of the day" might be fun 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan` Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 6 minutes ago, ShadowOfHassen said: If you could figure out how it might work, a tip showing at start up as a sort of "tip of the day" might be fun Would make the time to game longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurken Khan Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 B- but what about the precious historical quotes? Like how sweet it is to die for one's country. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 2 minutes ago, Gurken Khan said: B- but what about the precious historical quotes? Like how sweet it is to die for one's country. "At my signal, unleash Hell." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfHassen Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 We could set it up that the loading screen shows something different if you play single player campaign like quotes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 23 Report Share Posted August 23 There's still room for quotes on the loading screen if we add something else (like map screenshots and/or player status). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunedan Posted August 24 Report Share Posted August 24 18 hours ago, Vantha said: a new button style for the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons Until you clicked them in the video, I didn't even notice that there are buttons. I believe the design would benefit from making them look more like buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vantha Posted August 24 Author Report Share Posted August 24 Yeah, some quotes might be a bit silly. But they're still worth keeping in my opinion. The only issue I can think of with adding a player table is that bots don't have a connection status and players with 'Random' not even a civ to show. So, while it'd definitely be useful and relevant for multiplayer games, for a causal singleplayer 1v1 such a table could become kind of pointless. 15 hours ago, Dunedan said: Until you clicked them in the video, I didn't even notice that there are buttons. I believe the design would benefit from making them look more like buttons. Valid concern. How about adding a subtle brown underlay to the buttons' base texture? Something like this: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 24 Report Share Posted August 24 42 minutes ago, Vantha said: Yeah, some quotes might be a bit silly. But they're still worth keeping in my opinion. I don't think they're sill at all. lol. I was just fooling around. I also think @Gurken Khan may have been ironic as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurken Khan Posted August 25 Report Share Posted August 25 5 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said: I don't think they're sill at all. lol. I was just fooling around. I also think @Gurken Khan may have been ironic as well. I do think some of them are silly/preposterous, but I'm all for keeping them as they add flavor. In doubt I just unpeace the rest of the originator by cursing at them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vantha Posted August 26 Author Report Share Posted August 26 I just opened a pull request for it: https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/6980 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 31 Report Share Posted August 31 On 26/08/2024 at 8:38 AM, Vantha said: I just opened a pull request for it: https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/6980 Regarding "too much text", isn't it possible to have a scrollbar on the parchment (if applicable). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vantha Posted August 31 Author Report Share Posted August 31 (edited) 5 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said: Regarding "too much text", isn't it possible to have a scrollbar on the parchment (if applicable). Yes, that's possible. Although, I'm afraid the default scrollbar style (which is white and yellow) won't fit the parchment background. I guess I could create a simple, black scrollbar in the same style I made the other UI elements. But, as of now, no tip text exceeds the limit (which would need a scrollbar) and it could be argued that the tips are intended to only be this short in length and not to go too much into detail.. Edited August 31 by Vantha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 31 Report Share Posted August 31 2 hours ago, Vantha said: Yes, that's possible. Although, I'm afraid the default scrollbar style (which is white and yellow) won't fit the parchment background. Better to have the functionality. And at least if its the same style as the rest of the game it has some consistency for the user, even if a custom style for the parchment would be visually nicer. 2 hours ago, Vantha said: I guess I could create a simple, black scrollbar in the same style I made the other UI elements. But, as of now, no tip text exceeds the limit (which would need a scrollbar) and it could be argued that the tips are intended to only be this short in length and not to go too much into detail.. I was chatting with Stan, and I was thinking I could really expand upon this feature and add an in-game manual of sorts, so scrollbar functionality would be really nice to have. This "manual" would delve deeper than the tips and tricks flipbook does/would and would help supplement the Encyclopedia. But wouldn't be as in-depth as a full hardcopy manual from the 1990s. So, if it's not hard to add the functionality, then I'd ask to go ahead and add it. If it would delay the Flipbook too much, then it can be left for a later iteration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurken Khan Posted August 31 Report Share Posted August 31 @wowgetoffyourcellphone I've only seen it written once in a forum reply that civs with MCs can only build CCs when they have a hero (don't know if had counts, too). I think that should be mentioned somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted August 31 Report Share Posted August 31 11 minutes ago, Gurken Khan said: @wowgetoffyourcellphone I've only seen it written once in a forum reply that civs with MCs can only build CCs when they have a hero (don't know if had counts, too). I think that should be mentioned somewhere. That's no longer the case in the base game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurken Khan Posted September 1 Report Share Posted September 1 26 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said: That's no longer the case in the base game. So whats keeping me from building a CC (current RC)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wowgetoffyourcellphone Posted September 1 Report Share Posted September 1 Just now, Gurken Khan said: So whats keeping me from building a CC (current RC)? Sorry duder, you're right. It took me a while, but I figured out it's still in the base game and it's controlled by templates/special/players/{civ}.xml. Indeed it takes a Hero to unlock Civic Centers for Ptol and Sele because of their Military Colonies. @Vantha That should definitely be in a Tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowOfHassen Posted September 1 Report Share Posted September 1 3 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said: I was chatting with Stan, and I was thinking I could really expand upon this feature and add an in-game manual of sorts, so scrollbar functionality would be really nice to have. This "manual" would delve deeper than the tips and tricks flipbook does/would and would help supplement the Encyclopedia. But wouldn't be as in-depth as a full hardcopy manual from the 1990s. I think me and @Vantha were kind of assuming that'd be a logical step seeing we already have a UI for an in game viewer. Although once the game get's out of alpha I would love to see a physical special edition like those old boxes of Age of Empires with fold out things and thick manuals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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