[Mark]

Hey all,


I've been working on the systems in the game for the past few months. There's still plenty to do there, but I decided to take a break from it to work on implementing the Engineering UI.

I feel like I've made enough progress on it to warrant showing a video.
View the video on YouTube

At the moment I am focusing on functionality. Though I am happy that it looks nice, there will be a lot of animation work (transitions, feedback) to add before release.

Technicians are not implemented in the UI yet, I am working on those next.

Let me know what you think.


Thanks for reading!

Mark

[Blaze]

First impression: too many blinking lights.
Second impression, after making the video full-screen: there are not too many blinking lights.

I like it.

The basic info is on the nodes themselves, while detailed info is in the info pane on the left. You only need to look at info on left if you need strict details.

A few questions:
1. Does the red blinking of the nodes mean they are being damaged? The yellow blinking of node's icons mean that they are being used?
2. Operation says Online even if the node is not. Shouldn't it say Offline, then?
3. Operation in yellow means that it's at max energy input?
4. Changing preset displays a big red message. Can you try changing it to a colder color, so it doesn't seem so alarming? Maybe you can use such brief red messages to display other like a node being destroyed.
5. Can you decrease the input of energy into nodes by right-clicking on the lines, like you increase it with left-clicking?

[Dusk]

Love it. I actually have been most interested in the engineering part of the game so seeing this progress on it is really cool. I like the addition of the visual confirmation for a preset being selected, but it seems a little in your face with the big red background and all, which is fine but it may be a bit of a nuisance when things are really hectic. I have a few questions but it looks like Blaze asked most of them already lol, good timing there. One thing I do want to ask is if the pulsing of each connection has any meaning or if its just flair, it doesn't seem like a real problem but it did make the diagram a little disorienting for the first few seconds, but that may just be because I wasn't in full screen.

all in all looking forward to getting the chance to overload my ship's engines. Can't wait to hop in game when it's ready!

[Mark]

First impression: too many blinking lights.
Second impression, after making the video full-screen: there are not too many blinking lights.

I like it.

Thanks. You really do have to see the UI full screen, it is too detailed for a small window.
As Dusk mentioned too, the pulsing on the power wheel connections might be a little over-done (it is just for flair, to make the UI a little more dynamic looking).

The basic info is on the nodes themselves, while detailed info is in the info pane on the left. You only need to look at info on left if you need strict details.

Exactly, I will also make be making it clearer which system is currently selected by highlighting it's node on the power wheel.

A few questions:
1. Does the red blinking of the nodes mean they are being damaged? The yellow blinking of node's icons mean that they are being used?

Yeah, exactly. Again these are early and crude animations, I intend to improve them significantly.

2. Operation says Online even if the node is not. Shouldn't it say Offline, then?

I haven't hooked this into the game logic yet (though the colour of the icon is). Well spotted.

3. Operation in yellow means that it's at max energy input?

Yeah, and brown is below minimum power.

4. Changing preset displays a big red message. Can you try changing it to a colder color, so it doesn't seem so alarming? Maybe you can use such brief red messages to display other like a node being destroyed.

Absolutely, the red is a little alarming. I will change it.

5. Can you decrease the input of energy into nodes by right-clicking on the lines, like you increase it with left-clicking?

Yeah, that's how it works currently. The mouse wheel will work later on as well.

[Mark]

Love it. I actually have been most interested in the engineering part of the game so seeing this progress on it is really cool. I like the addition of the visual confirmation for a preset being selected, but it seems a little in your face with the big red background and all, which is fine but it may be a bit of a nuisance when things are really hectic. I have a few questions but it looks like Blaze asked most of them already lol, good timing there. One thing I do want to ask is if the pulsing of each connection has any meaning or if its just flair, it doesn't seem like a real problem but it did make the diagram a little disorienting for the first few seconds, but that may just be because I wasn't in full screen.

all in all looking forward to getting the chance to overload my ship's engines. Can't wait to hop in game when it's ready!

Thanks man.

The pulsing of the connections is just flair, to make the UI look less static. I will tone it down though, it's probably a bit over done.