The weapons buying/selling screen has some small UI issues.I want to browse through the weapons, or buy a few copies of a weapon to save for later- so rather than the refit screen, I use the buying/selling screen:
The problem:- All the weapon sprites are stacked into pyramids like fruit in an Uzbek bazaar.
- This makes them visually difficult to distinguish (unless you play 10hrs per day?)
- Visual recognition is critical because the name isn't shown unless I mouse-over a weapon.
- Thus I have to scroll through the window looking for it, and then mouseover the ones that might be what I want.
- To scroll the window, I put my cursor into the window and use the mousewheel. But then the weapon description pops up, and blocks my view of the other weapons in the window, so I cannot see as I try to scroll.
- Thus in order to scroll visually through the weapons, I move my cursor back and forth, or use the scroll bar, as in the pre-mousewheel era.
A case study:Escape Velocity weapons screen (1996 shareware game)
Starsector screen:
The Escape Velocity screen is easier to quickly interpret. Objects stand out from each other more.
Suggestions:- Show the weapon name beneath it. Description should remain in mouseover popup window.
-
- Have a longer delay before the description pops up? To facilitate easier scrolling through the list.
-
- Show a new picture of the weapon, not the sprite. The popup could show a scaled up version of the picture+ description. This is time/cost expensive for art development, but worth it.
What I mean by pictures:Look: The art in SS is really good and the style is awesome too. The more of it in the game, the more beautiful and polished it will be.
Why use art instead of the sprite?- It is more recognizable. Without clues like the shots we see in combat, 30 tiny different sprites are hard to keep straight. And the numeric info from sprite stacks isn't worth the visual confusion.
- Helps player recognize weapons they encountered in combat: The picture of the Thumper could show purple shots. The beams could be firing their particular colors. In combat a player (especially newbies) will tend to notice the ordnance/beam more than the weapon firing it. I'm still not sure which weapon fires every shot I see in battles. You shouldn't have to learn by rote memorization.
- It helps players better imagine the world of Starsector By showing the weapons in a non top-down view, players can better imagine what they look like. This fleshes out the world and makes it seem more immersive and 'real.' Look again at that SS concept art. Having an autocannon is more fun when you realize how cool it looks up close.
It would be great if the fleet screen showed ship pictures like this too. In Escape Velocity, while you watched the tiny, bland sprites fight it out, your imagination was able to supply the rest, because the game also showed ships in dialogs.
A game has "good" (i.e. effective) graphics so long as it provides enough for your imagination to inconspicuously fill in the blanks. Games like CoD where five artists make the soles of the players' shoes miss the point.
Since SS has such cool, original ship designs rather than boring "rocket ship" shapes, it's a bit harder for your imagination to supply the third axis from existing tropes. But with just one sprite and one painting, human imagination can extrapolate the rest. Then the battles become less battles between sprites, and more battles between 'real,' three dimensional spaceships. Example:
Spoiler
Starsector concept art
SS only has combat now, so many players are one of the following:
- Modders- creative types making their own worlds
- API hackers- pushing the limits of the engine with recursive von Neumann missiles etc
- Statcrunchers – Want to always win combat, and in the most efficient way. Play like crashing two spreadsheets together for a few months before moving on.
So perhaps not many players care about these intangibles now. As campaign and lore develop though, there will be more people who play in order to experience a new world. Establishing a rich setting through judicious use of art, sound, and storytelling can make a game into a creative expression similar to a film or book. My suggestion is made with this in mind.