HexScape

[Lyrgard]

Originally Posted by Perfect Hell

[/B]The error was due to admin privileges always being verified anytime a change is requested in program files where it was installed. Moving the program to a less strictly controlled location fixed all issues. Thanks for the help, and carry on!

The next version of HexScape won't have this problem. Admin privilege will only be needed to install the game, and not to run it (it is safer this way).
The data will be stored in the user directory, removing the need for admin privilege and allowing different user to use differents data.


A little update on my work on the new GUI :

Apart from markers, everything is fully functionnal. The button on the left bottom commands the view mode (Tree for the view fixed on the map, the plane for free camera movement, and the eye for point of view)
On the bottom right are the dice.
The chat displays player and observers present in the game (with a little tower icon for player and an eye for observer), as well as chat, action and dice result of players. A little icon at the start of each chat line show which type of line it is (chat/game action/dice result)


I know it is not the most beautifull gui, but I'm not really good for grahisms. I tried to make some black&white hexagon based theme. If someone with better ui design skill than me want to lend a hand, I would gladly use the help.
What I would need are static images of the game screen (like the screenshot in this post. You could use it and modify it) with a beautifull gui that I'd be able to use for HexScape. So only some knowhow in image editing tools are needed, are a better artistic sense than me (not hard !)

Any feedback on this screenshot would be greatly appreciated. Be the more honest you can, don't tell you like it if you don't, it won't help me. You the players will the ones using this GUI, so let's try to make it the best we can !

[White Knight]

I don't want to nitpick--you are doing an incredible job and I really appreciate all the work you are doing. My one suggestion:

Most newer display screens are much wider than they are tall. I think having the cards on the left side of the screen and the dice and chat on the right would be cleaner, leaving the middle for the map display. Right now it just seems like everything is cluttered in the middle of the screen.

[Lyrgard]

Thanks for the comment, White Knight. You're not nitpicking at all, and comments like that are EXACTLY what I want.

The current GUI is like you want, with the cards at the left and the chat on the right. And it feels cluttered, at least for me. I totally agree that most newer screens are more wide than tall. It is because our vision is more wide laterally than vertically. That's exactly why I changed the place of the cards to be at the bottom.
If needed, I could try to make them use less vertical space (armies usually use less than 6 cards, so being able to display 9 like in the screenshot may be a waste. I could put the number and buttons for each cards at the right of the picture instead of at the bottom).
Another problem is the chat. It takes a lot of place. The fact that I added a list of the player connected to the game takes more place. But I think knowing who joined the game is important. What do you think ?
Still, the chat need to be at least this large, or else it feels cramped. I can add button to mask the player list, ou the chat, if needed.
Try to imagine the screenshot without the chat, and I think you'll agree that it leave a good view on the battlefield

Lastly, all the GUI parts won't grow when you resize the game window. That means that on a bigger screen size, you'll have a bigger place to see the map and the figures. This screenshot was made with the game window not maximized, but around 1400px wide. I'll take a screenshot tomorrow with the window maximized.

I really think that having the maximum horizontal space available is the best solution to better see the game.
Do others think like White Knight that I should use the left and right part of the screen for menu ?

[Bengi]

I rarely need to look at the cards. Could you make the cards minimized with the option to expand them to look at them?

[Lyrgard]

Originally Posted by Bengi

I rarely need to look at the cards. Could you make the cards minimized with the option to expand them to look at them?

That what I planned. If you look at the screenshot, you'll see that what is shown of a card is only a picture. The powers are not displayed. The image of the card allow to immediatly see what card it is, and it is also the area where the markers will be displayed.
The eye button under the image will open the card in big, to be able to read the powers.
Is that the behaviour you want ?

[Porkins]

A little arrow button that would collapse the card icons you are showing down to a toolbar would be neat.

[SlipperySlope]

I like a lot of the new look!

I do agree with what folks have said in one way or another. The cards and chat together are a bit overwhelming. Visually they look great but pull the eye in different directions.

It would be great if you could push a button and make the cards pop up, then push it again and make them be minimized, like Porkins said.

The chat area seems pretty large (wide). Is there any way to shrink it? I like the fact you're using opaqueness to make the board below show through. Maybe make it a bit more faint still? You might experiment with eliminating or toning down the white background, which makes the panels "pop." Maybe play with positioning, like right middle instead of right top?

Keep up the good work!

[Lyrgard]

@SlipperySlope : yeah, I like the opaqueness too ^_^ I can try to play with the number a little, I guess.
What do you exactly mean by "eliminating the white background" ? where ? This background is absolutly need anywhere there is text, or else if you have a shadow tile under it, you won't see the text.


@all (I hope no member has that name XD)
Ok, I thought about what you all said, and I propose you a new layout :

First, on a small screen (1280px wide) :


and in a bigger screen (1920px wide, quite standard nowaday I think) :


I made the "view mode" and "dice" area on top of each other, I reduced the width of the army cards panel, and the chat now has the place to be at the bottom right. The chat is still as large, but less tall.
Sure it is still a little cramped on a small screen (but... it is a small screen afterall, and I think it stay playable), but I thing it is quite good on a larger screen.

What do you think ?


As a side note, I wanted to let you know that normally, all the component I use are compatible with android. So, once I get out a stable working version, I may look into porting it to android. How awesome would it be to be able to play HexScape on your tablet ?

[Lyrgard]

Here is some preview on the card detail popup. This popup allow to see the card and read the powers as well as to manage the markers, or do some action like giving control of the card to another player.


Not done yet : action to give the card to another player, and small icons of the markers on the card in the normal game screen (small card at the bottom left).

This popup will be opened when you'll click on a card. It closes when you click outside of it.

[Porkins]

Nice.

[GrimlockDubs]

Hello, and congrats on such an amazing feat of bringing Heroscape online in the best way ever, and I'm sure they'll be using it for their online tournaments soon! My only concern here, as I have just downloaded it today, is that some of the character data is missing and therefore won't let me load some of my armies. The only ones it would show me, as it only showed the first error and not all the ones involved were that the blade gruts were missing info, not sure if it was the models or the cards, and tornak was missing his card data. Both are in the 1st Master Set or 1st Expansion Set, so the problem shouldn't be there, and I downloaded the main assets file and the wave 1 assets, so if they were in the bundles then it should be working? Did I miss something or is it a problem on my end? Because the armies that don't have characters with any missing data load perfectly! So it is just an unknown amount of characters that I seem to be unable to use, hopefully I can get help but otherwise you are doing a perfect job in keeping the community alive and thanks again so much for this!!

[Lyrgard]

Hello @GrimlockDubs , and welcome to this forum ! I'm honored that your first post is for HexScape

Could you show me the content of the army file you're trying to load ? If possible, could you send me a screenshot, or the exact error message that is displayed ?
We'll definitively find a solution to your problem !