[Dev Blog] Closer Look at the New UI

Another instalment of Desktop Tuesday, get it whilst it’s hot folks!

http://stonehearth.net/2014/04/08/desktop-tuesday-closer-look-at-the-new-ui/

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wow… again with the first! and the being the first!?!

first

i can’t get over how dead sexah the UI is becoming…

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It’s just new UI, seriously!

shakes head

Whilst I don’t condone your use of the word “sexah” I have to agree that it is coming together very nicely, and is looking pretty polished!

Can’t wait to be able to get hands on with this update!

Those be fighting words!

What you don’t realise is that @SteveAdamo has User-Interfaciphilia.

eeeeeuuuwww!!! :confounded:

edit: I like the town management button.

Your utilization of the word “just” is highly disputatious!

im not sure thats a “thing”… but i’ve begun the petition process to make it so…

and while i love the entire UI breakdown, these particular items really stood out:

Town management. Clicking this button brings up a screen that summarizes all the stuff you have, all your citizens, and what they’re doing
Crafter management. Clicking this button brings up a screen with all your workshops. You’ll be able to see what your crafters are working on and manage their crafting queues without scrolling around the map and clicking on them individually
Military management. Clicking this button brings up a screen that shows all your military groups and their assignments.

cant wait to see these in action… :+1:

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petition?? Better go to the doctor before it is too late :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

What are those 3 buttons top right?

Debugging tools…

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A definite improvement, although I want to see how the individual unit UI works alongside it.

My only criticism is that the town management icon shown looks a little… I dunno. Weird? Scary, even? Those white eyes… Maybe a little Warcraft-y town hall icon or something would work better?

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Quick suggestion to RadEnt…

I feel that the old hammer button had a lot of “personality”. I mean, the current UI looks fine and all, but it doesn’t feel as, well, familiar. Maybe you could hover over the hammer button and the UI icons would appear?

Ah well, maybe I’m just insane and rambling, but great work! :wink:

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What really stood out for me was the word

Dwarf Fortress

When I think of this game I always think of Dwarf Fortress but “Cuter”, easier and proper graphics instead of something that looks like it is from DOS. Could this be a hint of what is to come? Or am I being too optimistic?

Those two dark rectangles on the ground are stockpiles. No more giant blue rectangles!

this change really does do quite a bit to draw the player into the world…

We also change the display to highlight the things you’re managing, in this case we highlight all the zones and make the stockpiles’ contents transparent so you can more easily click on the stockpiles themselves.

ahh, very slick! just noticed this in the screenshot… :blush: i’m still not sure what the use case for the “none” checkbox on a stockpile would be? unless… to stop future additions to the stockpile, perhaps?

There is definitely a certain charm to that hammer, but these still look pretty good! It might be a bit clunky having the hammer appear above it all as well.

A downside to this might be that it’s better to have the buttons always displayed?

Who even knows, we’re both crazy.

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Yeah, I think having the buttons always present works out better overall. In general, the fewer buttons you have to push to do something the better, although obviously you don’t want too much UI clutter either.

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Does the “none” option deselect everything? Probably just make things a little quicker if you only want one or two items to be stored there?

Maybe.

I mean, I might be trying to bring order to chaos here.

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i’m guessing that’s what All does (toggles all checkboxes “on” or “off”)…

which is why i was confused about the None box… it might be that it effectively “locks” the stockpile, so you can leave certain items to be stored, but temporarily halt the use of that particular pile?

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So they are suspenseful debugging tools?

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