[Idea] Consistent displaying and selecting of items

[hcmffm]

In Vectorblade, we have…
…the menu for showing several menu items choosing options (Play, Options, Info, Calibration).
…the shop for showing several shop items and choosing and buying items.
…the status screen for showing several info “items”.

As of beta 18, all these menus look very differently. I wonder, whether this could be made more consistent.

The basis could be a widget which shows several items with the following features:
– Widget supports both text and graphics.
– The item in the middle is highlighted. When pressing a button this item is selected.
– Other items are darkened. The further away from the middle, the darker the items.
– The first entry and the last items of the list are lines “————“. These lines indicate the end of the list.
– Once the top or bottom of the list is reached the appropriate arrow is darkened. If the user tries to scroll more a sound is played to indicate that the list cannot be scrolled.
– There are arrows at the top and the bottom of the list to indicate that the list can be scrolled.

In the main menu the widget could show three items only and look like this (three items visible):

     ^
------------
& Play        <--- Highlighted
$ Options
     V

or like this (one item displayed, only):

     ^
& Play        <--- Highlighted
     V

In the shop the “widget” could look like this:

     ^
(II) Shot 2
(I) Shot 1
(+) Rate +
(x) Bullet + 100 <--- Highlighted
(+) Speed +   50
(+) Speed-    50
------------
     V

In the status screen this widget could look like this:

  ^
  ^
-----------
ENSIGN
Lives 1
Shots 3823
Enemies killed 893443
Lorem
Ipsem
Dolor
Lorem
Ipsem
Dolor
  V
  V

Notes:
– Here, no item is highlighted.
– Double arrows indicate that here paging applies (not scrolling)

 

Possible advantages
+ Consistent look and feel
+ Gives the game an even more professional touch.
+ User would understand the game more easily.
+ Desktop: Graphics (screen with movie, astronaut, and control desk) and menu are separated which might look cleaner.

 

What do you think?

• This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.
• This topic was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.

[Malban]

Hi,

while this is a good and professional idea – I will not implement it – or at least not now. I will probably have months left until I burn “final” cartridges – so I don’t say I won’t do it, since it is a very good idea.

But right now I want to get Vectorblade “finished” or get to a state where I can say – “soo,  that is it”.

The current system is working and at least “ok”. For the moment I do not want to change a “running system”, for the moment I want to get everything in a state where it works as intended.

I hope I will be able to do that in the next couple of weeks. After that when I am “content” with the game – I can add flowers and do beautifying.

—

Well I did a lot of beautifying the last weeks – but most of that was
a) either unfinished and on my schedule anyway
b) or really “small” stuff, which I could do in a matter of minutes

The thing you suggests, is somewhat bigger. I’ll need days for that, there are a couple of not obvious reasons why it is a bit more complicated. Mostly it has to do with having four banks and the data for Vectorblade is distributed amongst all four banks.
And for the banks 0+1 every VIA access is “different” from normal. Therefor all sound/draw/joystick routines are different.
A widget you suggests must either be implemented at least twice, or all data that the widget is supposed to use must be in the same bank – and that would mean a rearranging of all (or at least much) data.

Both alternatives are not really appealing – it’s certainly not unsolvable… and yes I might do it – later – when nothing else is in the queue…

Thanks for all the thoughts you put into this.

Malban

[hcmffm]

Thank you for your open words and sharing your thoughts. I sort of expected that my suggestion would mean quite some effort – effort which should better and first used to progress the overall game.

Perhaps as a good solution are some minor changes to the existing lists. E.g. display static arrows which indicate scrolling (single arrow) and paging (double arrow). I’ll have a closer look and will make some more suggestions.

Again, thank you, Malban, very much for your being open to suggestions and your explanations.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by hcmffm.

[GeoAnas]

What do you think?

Slick and Elegant! I am with U, so that makes 2 of us 🙂

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I hope I will be able to do that in the next couple of weeks. After that when I am “content” with the game – I can add flowers and do beautifying.</p>

Please, take your time…I am certainly very thankful for the giant progress and everything you did so far!

Again, thank you, Malban, very much for your being open to suggestions and your explanations.

Agree again. I also feel very comfy to post my own suggestions here (even though many of them have been already explained) without any fear of misunderstanding or hard feelings. Malban was -is- always very helpful, kind and -most important of all – open to suggestions. As for him being eager to explain…His ultra detailed blog as a trove of information about and around Vectrex, is a solid proof of this.

[hcmffm]

I’ve just realized that you can scroll the “Achievement” screen, too. Up/down arrows would be a really good idea, here.

[hcmffm]

Scrolling and paging of the status info and the achievement list has improved a lot. Thank you, Christopher, for this effort.

Single and double arrows
Currently, there are single and double arrows used as indicators for the list:
– Status info uses double arrows
– Achievement list uses single arrows
Both lists use paging for displaying the various items. In Status info the item at the very bottom is displayed again on the next page at the very top. This means that some items are displayed on two pages.

Suggestions:
– Use single arrows for both lists (the double arrow is not helpful for the user I think).
– When paging in status info the item at the very bottom should not displayed on the next page at the top, again.

Note:
The list in the shop scrolls item by item and doesn’t display items pagewise. So the list in the shop is different to the list of achievements and the status info.

[Malban]

Single and double arrows
Currently, there are single and double arrows used as indicators for the list:
– Status info uses double arrows
– Achievement list uses single arrows
Both lists use paging for displaying the various items. In Status info the item at the very bottom is displayed again on the next page at the very top. This means that some items are displayed on two pages.

My thought behind that was:

– the status info is a list of items, and one scroll “>>” jumps “several” items
– one achievement is “one item”, so one scroll “>” only scrolls one item

Actually it doesn’t really matter to me – if you think they both should be the same I’ll change it (please again a small hint 🙂 ).

 

– When paging in status info the item at the very bottom should not displayed on the next page at the top, again.

Actually that also was on purpose – but if you think it is better to do “strict” scrolling I can change that easily.
As a “paranoid” user I feared, that I might scroll to far and miss a line when I scroll – so I made sure at least one line is the same, so I am assured I do not miss anything…

 

[hcmffm]

Actually it doesn’t really matter to me – if you think they both should be the same I’ll change it (please again a small hint 🙂 ).

For me it’s a kind of paper with writing on it that you scroll. So I think that a single arrow would be the right choice in both cases. But I’ll have a second look and will post, again.

Actually that also was on purpose – but if you think it is better to do “strict” scrolling I can change that easily.

Thank you for changing the scrolling in beta31. I think without repeating a line it looks good – except the “Shots fired” and the “Shots hit”. On the second page it says just “hit” (“Shots” is missing).

[Author]

Posts