Alternative food icon

[Jan]

Hello,

Just discovered the game and looks amazing. Didn't yet played much to have a gameplay feedback.

One thing that came up is how the food supply icon is being represented now, by a meat icon.

I would like to suggest to replace it by an icon that reflects variety of food resources being used in the game, that includes berries, wheat, fish.

If single icon has to used then wheat feels better fit as this one can be cultivated, and won't eventually finish, which is the case for meat that comes from hunting.

[Deicide4u]

The meat food icon is how the food is being represented in other similar, historical RTS games.

[Seleucids]

1 hour ago, Jan said:

ould like to suggest to replace it by an icon that reflects variety of food resources being used in the game, that includes berries, wheat, fish.

Can you show us an icon that you want ?

 

The current icon, although not descriptive, has been the convention for many years and the players are used to it. Another idea is just write the English word

Food: 300

[TheCJ]

1 hour ago, Deicide4u said:

The meat food icon is how the food is being represented in other similar, historical RTS games.

just because others do it, doesnt mean we have to 

19 minutes ago, Seleucids said:

Another idea is just write the English word

Even if the player changed the ingame language? or would that be a translated expression? Then we would also have to change the other resources for consistency. 

 

I like the idea of swapping the meat icon for wheat, since wheat is the most used food source in the game.

[Seleucids]

15 minutes ago, TheCJ said:

Even if the player changed the ingame language? or would that be a translated expression? Then we would also have to change the other resources for consistency

I think l10n folder contains the translations for "Food"

[TheCJ]

might run into a spacing issue with languages that have exceptionally long names for "food" and players with small screens, no?

[Jan]

I don't have strong preferences over specific icon, rather I would just prefer not to have a red "steak" icon all over the place as I am long time vegetarian (please don't laugh).

Single icon that combines wheat, berries, meat and fish is probably the best one to satisfy everyone.

I have been asked for an example icon... So it could be a pack of wheat, like this one from civ4. If such change (or some other alternative) wouldn't make it to the master branch as a default icon I would be still very happy if there would be an in-game option to use less "meaty" icon.

Edited yesterday at 11:36 by Jan

[TheCJ]

1 hour ago, Jan said:

as I am long time vegetarian

Thats not an argument.

Even if everyone was a vegetarian, the icon for "food" could still be meat, just like the icon for "saving" on your pc resembles a floppy disk, even though nobody uses those anymore.

The purpose of the icon is to convey the meaning "food" in a way thats easily understood and requires little space on the screen. A meat icon fulfills both those qualities regardless of whether a player eats meat or not. Or was it confusing for you, because you didnt automatically make the connection "food - meat icon"?

 

A wheat icon would work just as well, so theres no technical reason to change it. Your personal preference is indeed a valid argument, albeit not a very strong one.

I find the argument that the icon should resemble the most common food source in the game a lot more convincing.

[TheCJ]

2 hours ago, Jan said:

Single icon that combines wheat, berries, meat and fish is probably the best one to satisfy everyone

good thinking, but icons cant be too complex either, since then they are hard to understand at a short glance

[Deicide4u]

8 hours ago, TheCJ said:

just because others do it, doesnt mean we have to 

Change for the sake of change is useless. 0 A.D. is already unique in other ways. 

[Boudica]

Maybe the game should ask about your dietary preference at the start. If you are a meat eater, a piece of meat will be used for the icon. If you are vegetarian, it will show an omelette as the icon and hunting will be disabled for you. If you are vegan, it will broadcast a message telling everyone about that for your convenience.

[Gurken Khan]

11 hours ago, TheCJ said:

I find the argument that the icon should resemble the most common food source in the game a lot more convincing.

So wheat it is. At least that's what my peeps overwhelmingly eat.

In earnest, I think a mod would be fine for changing icons etc, I don't see the need to change that in vanilla. I don't eat meat myself, but also I'm not habitually committing genocide IRL...

As an aside: a while ago I had a suggestion to increase the visibility of the berry bushes, alas the art department failed to appreciate it:

[TheCJ]

6 hours ago, Deicide4u said:

Change for the sake of change is useless. 0 A.D. is already unique in other ways. 

Indeed. But sticking to what other rts are doing just for the sake of being the same is useless aswell.

[Deicide4u]

8 hours ago, Gurken Khan said:

I don't eat meat myself

How is that working out for you? This is a real, honest question, btw.

[Jan]

> Your personal preference

Yes it is definitely a personal preference matter. That is why I am perfectly happy having only an in-game option to change this, rather than changing the default.

Another thing is a historical accuracy. I am not an expert here (or even advanced), but I read multiple times that in majority of ancients civilizations (except the mountain ones) proportion of meat consumption was much lower than it is nowadays. Technically it is well represented already in 0ad in its gameplay, where majority of food is being sourced from farms. So it is only the icon that diverts from this due, as I believe, the "standard" food icon that was coined by AoE.

Anyway, as I feel there might be many voices of not supporting such a futile change, I would focus my feedback just on adding an in-game option for "alternate food icon". Eventually then will be easier to survey gamers about their preferred icon, in case community would be considering changing the default.

> How is that working out for you? This is a real, honest question, btw.

I think it is better to move such a question into separate topic.

Edited 8 hours ago by Jan

[Seleucids]

@Jan it's easy to make a mod which changes the food icon. This way you can have it any way you like, immediately, without having to debate or wait till next release. Try it yourself 

[Gurken Khan]

19 minutes ago, Deicide4u said:

How is that working out for you?

Fine.

Spoiler

Around 2000 we had a series of BSE, swine fever, nicotine chickens and Creutzfeld-Jakob sheep (because they were forced to cannibalism, which their digestive system just isn't made for) and it made me think that maybe I should cut back on meat, maybe once a week. I did that for ~two weeks and had the feeling that I "sneakily" was served meat when I didn't ask for it, like highly processed pig being in all kinds of meals. So I went stubborn and didn't it meat at all. I also didn't want to give that industry any money.

I eat cheese and a bit of fish (with certificate, for what it's worth), also much less risk that something like CJD is transmitted. No problems arose from it; for reasons my blood is regularly checked in a lab and nothing ever came up. I never felt like a chunk of dead animal is an indisputable part of a meal, there's other tasty stuff, I don't miss it habitually, culturally, whateverly.