Resource icons in tooltips

[zoot]

I've replaced resource names with resource icons in tooltips:

resourceicons.diff

resource-icons-small.tar.gz

[zoot]

For some reason, the icons do not show up under the "Insufficient resources" heading, but I suspect that is a separate bug:

[historic_bruno]

What's the motivation for this change? Other than it being possible

[zoot]

What's the motivation for this change? Other than it being possible

It makes it easier to find the cost info at a glance, as suggested here.

[Mythos_Ruler]

What's the motivation for this change? Other than it being possible

I prefer the resource icons. Other games do it precisely because it's easier to read at a glance.

[historic_bruno]

I can probably get used to it. It's annoying that the icons aren't aligned with the text though, can they be padded with a few pixels at the top or something?

[zoot]

The 'hovering' appearance is actually due to the icons being naively downscaled (by me), which leaves some barely visible edges. If I crop them more aggressively, I get this:

resource-icons-small2.tar.gz

[zoot]

If the commas are dropped, you get this:

resourceicons-wo-comma.diff

Edited September 12, 2012 by zoot

[zoot]

And without leading spaces

resourceicons-wo-comma-space.diff

resource-icons-small3.tar.gz

[Thanduel]

I agree that this is a postive change, wherever possible a "wall of text" situation should be avoided. Especially here for tooltips where you will likely need information quickly.

[ribez]

you can use icons also for 'hack', ' pierce', 'crush', 'walk' and 'run'?

[FeXoR]

Just want to say that still not all attributes are shown - neither on the build/produce button nor in the entities tooltips:

- Range

- Attack rate or time

- Number of attacks (like ships, (siege)towers, fortresses and Cevil centres)

- Maximum garrison space (only missing for build buttons AFAIK)

Additionally I would really like a description of what "armor" is. It's not at all clear. At least something like: "For each attack type the armor is subtracted from successful attacks but at least 1 damage is dealt ?per type?".

[BrynnOfCastlegate]

That works! It is much easier to find the resource cost with icons. I like it!

--Brynn

[Mythos_Ruler]

Just want to say that still not all attributes are shown - neither on the build/produce button nor in the entities tooltips:

- Range

- Attack rate or time

- Number of attacks (like ships, (siege)towers, fortresses and Cevil centres)

Wayyy too much to include in a tooltip. The tooltips are already too big.

- Maximum garrison space (only missing for build buttons AFAIK)

The garrison button needs to go into the garrison panel like AOK and AOM, so the pertinent information has room to be shown.

Additionally I would really like a description of what "armor" is. It's not at all clear. At least something like: "For each attack type the armor is subtracted from successful attacks but at least 1 damage is dealt ?per type?".

Uh, really?

[Zaggy1024]

And without leading spaces

If the commas are dropped, you get this:

I liked it with the commas and spaces, it makes it easier to tell which numbers go with which resources.

[historic_bruno]

I agree the tooltips are too long, but keep in mind that prior to adding that info, there was absolutely nowhere in the UI that allowed us to see attack and armor stats before training the unit. There is currently no mention of range anywhere, so I have no idea if my unit has a longer range than an enemy fortress or tower. This is really important info and should be shown somewhere. Also we have a lot of distinct units with difficult names, it's not always clear to me if a unit is ranged or melee - sometimes that's all I want to know!

I propose the following:

• Add an info / help button in the corner of each training / construction button (or use a modifier/hotkey)
  
• Clicking the new info icon opens up a well-organized stats sheet with everything the player could possibly want to know about said entity and a large portrait
  
• Link to list of entities and stat sheets elsewhere in the menu
  
• The training/construction tooltip shows only: unit name, description and iconified costs
  
• Clarify in the description(?) whether a unit has ranged or melee attack - could be as simple as showing an arrow / sword icon after its name
  
• For already existing units and buildings, add attack type and range to the stats tooltip
  

[Deiz]

I agree the tooltips are too long, but keep in mind that prior to adding that info, there was absolutely nowhere in the UI that allowed us to see attack and armor stats before training the unit. There is currently no mention of range anywhere, so I have no idea if my unit has a longer range than an enemy fortress or tower. This is really important info and should be shown somewhere. Also we have a lot of distinct units with difficult names, it's not always clear to me if a unit is ranged or melee - sometimes that's all I want to know!

I propose the following:

• Add an info / help button in the corner of each training / construction button (or use a modifier/hotkey)
  
• Clicking the new info icon opens up a well-organized stats sheet with everything the player could possibly want to know about said entity and a large portrait
  
• Link to list of entities and stat sheets elsewhere in the menu
  
• The training/construction tooltip shows only: unit name, description and iconified costs
  
• Clarify in the description(?) whether a unit has ranged or melee attack - could be as simple as showing an arrow / sword icon after its name
  
• For already existing units and buildings, add attack type and range to the stats tooltip
  

A modifier sounds like a better idea than a small icon on each button. However, it's then a hidden feature that needs to be shown to players, particularly existing players who may not read the 'Learn to Play' dialogue every release.

A separate GUI page that shows exhaustive information seems like a good idea. Ideally it should be Wesnoth-style, having a list of all of a civilization's units so players can quickly compare different units.

I'm not so sure about stripping down the training/construction tooltips. I don't think it should be necessary to go view the exhaustive information simply because you've forgotten a basic attribute of a unit, e.g. which of a civ's ranged units is fastest. The current tooltips make it quite easy to determine that because the stat rows are relatively consistent and you can just move your mouse across the whole row to see the speed for each unit.

[zoot]

I liked it with the commas and spaces, it makes it easier to tell which numbers go with which resources.

Here it is without commas with the resource icons in front of the numerical quantities:

Here it is with commas:

What does people prefer?

resource-icons-small4.tar.gz

resourceicons-flipped-wo-comma-space.diff

resourceicons-flipped-wo-space.diff

[Zaggy1024]

Here it is without commas with the resource icons in front of the numerical quantities:

Here it is with commas:

What does people prefer?

I like the one without the commas this time, but I think having spaces still looks better.

[zoot]

I like the one without the commas this time, but I think having spaces still looks better.

Like this?

It's possible to add a few pixels of padding in the icons instead.

[Mythos_Ruler]

A little bit of padding would go a long way. A couple pixels.

[Deiz]

I initially preferred the "[amount] [icon]" layout, but "[icon] [amount]" probably makes more sense as that's what the top bar already uses.

As padding in the image itself would effectively shrink it in both width and height, I think that's a bad idea. A trailing space or three ought to do fine.

[zoot]

I initially preferred the "[amount] [icon]" layout, but "[icon] [amount]" probably makes more sense as that's what the top bar already uses.

As padding in the image itself would effectively shrink it in both width and height, I think that's a bad idea. A trailing space or three ought to do fine.

Three? For the spacing between [amount] and [icon]? I already think one space looks too wide.

There is actually something in Unicode called THIN SPACE and HAIR SPACE which are narrower variants of a standard space character, but in the game they are rendered as questions marks.

[Cerridan]

I've implemented attack icons in tooltips:

My icons are pretty ugly but maybe the art team can come up with something better.

Here's the files:

AttackIcons.patch

AttackIcons.zip

Edited December 17, 2012 by Cerridan

[alpha123]

I would probably put the icons before the numbers, for consistency with the resource icons.