Forums » Suggestions
Anyone who read the newspost is welcome to post comments, suggestions and ideas here.
"Soon" draws near (emphasis is mine):
"You'll also notice a "Proximity Warning" option at the bottom, with a distance. If enabled (it's a toggle) this will trigger an audible/visual alarm if a ship crosses that proximity threshold. In the short term, this'll be everyone.. but it's my intention to expand/change the functionality of Radar and such in the near future, so "stealth" type countermeasures will allow this feature to be bypassed by the evil pirate types."
"You'll also notice a "Proximity Warning" option at the bottom, with a distance. If enabled (it's a toggle) this will trigger an audible/visual alarm if a ship crosses that proximity threshold. In the short term, this'll be everyone.. but it's my intention to expand/change the functionality of Radar and such in the near future, so "stealth" type countermeasures will allow this feature to be bypassed by the evil pirate types."
Could some of the buttons (like the column header ones) please be expanded to fill the available space? That would make them easier to whack with the mouse. (if it wouldn't be too much bother, could that treatment be given to the station sidebar menu too? The ones like Ship Cargo, Ammo, etc. As they are they're really tiny and fiddly when they could be twice as big with the space available). Just filling in the gaps between those buttons.
Also, you don't mention much on the sorting of the Nearby Ships columns, but it'd be nice if we could sort by primary and secondary fields, e.g. sort first by faction, second by distance, or whatever else I wanted. That could be done by just making the primary sorting field the secondary when a new column is selected, so to do the above I could click Distance, then Faction, and I'd get neatly divided factions with the ships within ordered by distance.
The bigger buttons are most important to me, though.
The new interface mockups look cool. :)
Also, you don't mention much on the sorting of the Nearby Ships columns, but it'd be nice if we could sort by primary and secondary fields, e.g. sort first by faction, second by distance, or whatever else I wanted. That could be done by just making the primary sorting field the secondary when a new column is selected, so to do the above I could click Distance, then Faction, and I'd get neatly divided factions with the ships within ordered by distance.
The bigger buttons are most important to me, though.
The new interface mockups look cool. :)
Outstanding, team! /me applauds!
Now, the PDA is the perfect place for guild functionality as well. Voting, changing MOTD etc. It would be neat if some of the guild messages could be stored server-side, just in case you need more mesage capability a la the buddy message feature.
Actually, the buddy message feature would make sense to go in here as well.
I love the PDA concept, looks like RelayeR will, too - I remember her asking for this about a month ago. Coincidence?
Now, the PDA is the perfect place for guild functionality as well. Voting, changing MOTD etc. It would be neat if some of the guild messages could be stored server-side, just in case you need more mesage capability a la the buddy message feature.
Actually, the buddy message feature would make sense to go in here as well.
I love the PDA concept, looks like RelayeR will, too - I remember her asking for this about a month ago. Coincidence?
The notes part (which could have the always-welcome title of "Pilot's log" or "Captain's log") would benefit if it gave you the option to insert a date/time stamp, and had a search feature, because I know some of us are going to fill it up with so much info in so little time, dates and keywords will be required. The search feature could also be used in the mission logs ("agh, I know the NPC gave me the tip on an escort mission, but all 32 prior missions ARE escort missions! talk about needle in the haystack...")
As for the name itself, though it explains perfectly what it does, it should be changed to some much cooler-sounding name reflecting we're "living" some 2000+ years after PDAs. Of course, when you talk about it on the manual and tutorials, you say "Just think of it as your own PDA where all relevant information you acquire can be sotred for later reference". That way you have a cool name (too early in the morning to think of any XD) and you make it clear that it's supposed to work like a modern PDA.
As for the name itself, though it explains perfectly what it does, it should be changed to some much cooler-sounding name reflecting we're "living" some 2000+ years after PDAs. Of course, when you talk about it on the manual and tutorials, you say "Just think of it as your own PDA where all relevant information you acquire can be sotred for later reference". That way you have a cool name (too early in the morning to think of any XD) and you make it clear that it's supposed to work like a modern PDA.
Oh wow this is so nice and needed.
I'm organizing my thoughts and commenting some more
This PDA might be a logical place to enter nav points: you fly to some location, bring up PDA, go to mission notes, sub-tab Nav Points, click new and enter a short description line.
The nav point records sector and position much like an ion storm exit point. You could select a nav point and click "plot course" button to set a course from your current point to that particular sector after wich you have to fly manually up to that nav point (like in an ion storm).
It's a bit like /navroute save except it's dynamic from your current position and also gives an in-sector location.
I'm organizing my thoughts and commenting some more
This PDA might be a logical place to enter nav points: you fly to some location, bring up PDA, go to mission notes, sub-tab Nav Points, click new and enter a short description line.
The nav point records sector and position much like an ion storm exit point. You could select a nav point and click "plot course" button to set a course from your current point to that particular sector after wich you have to fly manually up to that nav point (like in an ion storm).
It's a bit like /navroute save except it's dynamic from your current position and also gives an in-sector location.
I don't like the sector list showing up in station, and five is far too few votes to merit any attention. Something like eight is far more reasonable.
Sounds great. Can't wait for when mousing over sectors on the map can bring up notes you write. >_> eventually(tm)
looks great. when can we have it?
(runs to set proximity alerts (genka alert: 10m, collecter bot alert: 200m, Strike force alert: 3000m, ...))
(runs to set proximity alerts (genka alert: 10m, collecter bot alert: 200m, Strike force alert: 3000m, ...))
is it feasible to allow lua scripts for the PDA alone?
how much trouble can we get into just using PDA commands?
how much trouble can we get into just using PDA commands?
genka, since you're more often than not the target of /mute, of course you'd say that. Five seems reasonable.
Ok, suggestions... suggestions suggestions suggestions... um...
1) I agree that we'll need to sort notes and stuff
2) Could we have a access to a panel that lets you define the radar and friendly fire stuff? I've been asking for this FOREVER. He's what I mean, it could go in a specific panel of the PDA: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/13605#171477
3) To rehatch part of an older post I made and is more appropriate in this thread:
"I think an all encompassing sector view is bad for a first person game, where a lot of the ways of thinking/strategy is based around the fact that your only functional view is first person. IMHO, players would fly their capships to a location, and then mark it ala
/navroute mark "<NAME>"
the location would be saved as "<SYSTEM> <?> <##> <NAME>"
and to compile a navroute for a capship, you would type
/navroute make "<NAVROUTE_NAME> <SYSTEM1> <SECTOR1> <NAME1> <SYSTEM2> <SECTOR2> <NAME2> <SYSTEM3> <SECTOR3> <NAME3>"
...or something like that. If you wanted to add multiple locations in the sector to the route, you could exclude the <SYSTEM> and <SECTOR> and have the game simply take the <SYSTEM> and <SECTOR> of the previous marker."
Those would be the basic commands if you're like me and prefer an old command style interface. Otherwise, you'd have a tap in the PDA all about navroutes. There'd be a panel with a list of inter-system navroutes, (double click to load one), and in another panel with intra-sector navroutes for capships and stuff. Basically, there'd be buttons for all the stuff I suggested you be able to do through "/" commands, and then a list with all your currently stored navpoints for a certain sector, and a way to view all the ones for different sectors. Doube-click navpoints from that list to have them added to an actual intra-sector navroute, and then you can drag them around in that field to re-arrange the order.
Well, that's it. Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope a dev or two will take a look at the last paragraph. That's the part I'd really like to see implimented.
-Calder
Ok, suggestions... suggestions suggestions suggestions... um...
1) I agree that we'll need to sort notes and stuff
2) Could we have a access to a panel that lets you define the radar and friendly fire stuff? I've been asking for this FOREVER. He's what I mean, it could go in a specific panel of the PDA: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/13605#171477
3) To rehatch part of an older post I made and is more appropriate in this thread:
"I think an all encompassing sector view is bad for a first person game, where a lot of the ways of thinking/strategy is based around the fact that your only functional view is first person. IMHO, players would fly their capships to a location, and then mark it ala
/navroute mark "<NAME>"
the location would be saved as "<SYSTEM> <?> <##> <NAME>"
and to compile a navroute for a capship, you would type
/navroute make "<NAVROUTE_NAME> <SYSTEM1> <SECTOR1> <NAME1> <SYSTEM2> <SECTOR2> <NAME2> <SYSTEM3> <SECTOR3> <NAME3>"
...or something like that. If you wanted to add multiple locations in the sector to the route, you could exclude the <SYSTEM> and <SECTOR> and have the game simply take the <SYSTEM> and <SECTOR> of the previous marker."
Those would be the basic commands if you're like me and prefer an old command style interface. Otherwise, you'd have a tap in the PDA all about navroutes. There'd be a panel with a list of inter-system navroutes, (double click to load one), and in another panel with intra-sector navroutes for capships and stuff. Basically, there'd be buttons for all the stuff I suggested you be able to do through "/" commands, and then a list with all your currently stored navpoints for a certain sector, and a way to view all the ones for different sectors. Doube-click navpoints from that list to have them added to an actual intra-sector navroute, and then you can drag them around in that field to re-arrange the order.
Well, that's it. Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope a dev or two will take a look at the last paragraph. That's the part I'd really like to see implimented.
-Calder
Five might not be much. It could be somewhat easy for a guild to silence someone just out of... well, being asses themselves.
On the first vote is entered, a logged-in count should be taked and 25% of that used for the mute count to reach rather than an arbitrary number like 50 (present) and 5 (where did that number come from?).
On the first vote is entered, a logged-in count should be taked and 25% of that used for the mute count to reach rather than an arbitrary number like 50 (present) and 5 (where did that number come from?).
30 are required at the moment.
mgl, I think you've already more than proven your complete lack of knowledge how the vote mute system works in the "OMG LOLZ I R ANGARY AT SPUCK AND MECHA!!!!11!" thread. There's no need to keep on presenting us with evidence of your ignorance.
mgl_mouser, you don't understand what Inc means. Have you even read the newspost? You aren't muted after 5 people vote to mute you, but after 5 people vote to mute you, a little mute symbol comes up in everyone's HUD and they can vote to mute or not to mute the person in question.
-Calder
-Calder
Person, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Not five for the mute icon. 25% of current online count. or some other percentage. Probably with a minimum enforced.
The mere fact that an icon shows up on your screen might be too tempting to just enforce the mute just to get rid of icon.
That hud icon might get distracting depending on the situation and you wouldn't want to to popup too often too.
The actual muting (pass the icon) should probably occur on 50% of online users. It would be tempting to say 50%+1 but even 50 is not representative of actual users given the guild bots presents.
The mere fact that an icon shows up on your screen might be too tempting to just enforce the mute just to get rid of icon.
That hud icon might get distracting depending on the situation and you wouldn't want to to popup too often too.
The actual muting (pass the icon) should probably occur on 50% of online users. It would be tempting to say 50%+1 but even 50 is not representative of actual users given the guild bots presents.
mgl_mouser, I think it shouldn't be 25% and 50%. You said about why it shouldn't be 50%, so it'd be better about 40% to mute someone. And IMHO it should be less then half of needed votes to show an icon.
So -- maybe 10% of online users' votes to show icon and 40% to mute?
***
As for notes -- why are they "Mission notes"? I think notes deserve their own tab in PDA. And I hope VERY VERY much that notes will be stored server-side (and mission logs too).
And of course we need more then a generic text-entry window, but it's a good start :) Oh, and will the copy-paste be introduced at last?
***
Did I understand correctly that in new UI the space interface and the station interface will be very similar? This is very good! I just hope the lacks of station interface will go. I hope we will be able to press t/T/g/G for selecting chat to speak (without this eeveel chat selector). I hope binds for station interface and space interface will be the same. I hope all UI elements in station interface will have shortcuts.
***
And I hope I'll renew my subscriptions soon after next update :) Great work, devs!
So -- maybe 10% of online users' votes to show icon and 40% to mute?
***
As for notes -- why are they "Mission notes"? I think notes deserve their own tab in PDA. And I hope VERY VERY much that notes will be stored server-side (and mission logs too).
And of course we need more then a generic text-entry window, but it's a good start :) Oh, and will the copy-paste be introduced at last?
***
Did I understand correctly that in new UI the space interface and the station interface will be very similar? This is very good! I just hope the lacks of station interface will go. I hope we will be able to press t/T/g/G for selecting chat to speak (without this eeveel chat selector). I hope binds for station interface and space interface will be the same. I hope all UI elements in station interface will have shortcuts.
***
And I hope I'll renew my subscriptions soon after next update :) Great work, devs!
Glad to see the PDA concept is well received :). I'm sure it'll be under permenant development, as we improve things add more interfaces. Please keep the ideas coming.
The whole voting thing will require tuning, of course, but at our current user levels the idea of "5 votes to post it the public (HUD messages)" and maybe "20 to pass the vote" seemed in the ballpark. We'll continue our policy of not allowing more than 50% of the votes to come from accounts that have characters belonging to the same guild, and that all voters must be paying players. If we need to make it percentages, that's fine too. It's all easy to do and will require some experimentation and tuning.. I think making the voting a more user-friendly and HUD-attention-getting function will probably make more users get involved, so reducing the pass-count from 30 to 20 (or 50% of users online, or whatever) might not be necessary.
So anyway, let's not get too bogged down in mute-voting numbers, I may post a separate thread about that down the road. Right now I'd rather get more ideas and feedback on items you'd like to see included in the PDA. We're doing a lot of work on that currently, so the earlier I get ideas (and the more they're hammered out here on the boards) the quicker they'll be mixed into development.
The whole voting thing will require tuning, of course, but at our current user levels the idea of "5 votes to post it the public (HUD messages)" and maybe "20 to pass the vote" seemed in the ballpark. We'll continue our policy of not allowing more than 50% of the votes to come from accounts that have characters belonging to the same guild, and that all voters must be paying players. If we need to make it percentages, that's fine too. It's all easy to do and will require some experimentation and tuning.. I think making the voting a more user-friendly and HUD-attention-getting function will probably make more users get involved, so reducing the pass-count from 30 to 20 (or 50% of users online, or whatever) might not be necessary.
So anyway, let's not get too bogged down in mute-voting numbers, I may post a separate thread about that down the road. Right now I'd rather get more ideas and feedback on items you'd like to see included in the PDA. We're doing a lot of work on that currently, so the earlier I get ideas (and the more they're hammered out here on the boards) the quicker they'll be mixed into development.
wow, sounds like (more) great things are in the works :D
.. this seems a good place to bring up some of my concerns about window dismissal; I'm sure it's been noticed that some in-flight windows (nav) can be dismissed easily using the same key that brought them up, while others (sector list) must be closed by pressing a button... hopfully the new PDA interface will make conglomerating all of these diverse behaviors much simpler
.. just please make sure the window can be easily dismissed in the heat of the moment
(and, is there even a shortcut for the "Launch" button? can we get one Soon(tm)?)
.. this seems a good place to bring up some of my concerns about window dismissal; I'm sure it's been noticed that some in-flight windows (nav) can be dismissed easily using the same key that brought them up, while others (sector list) must be closed by pressing a button... hopfully the new PDA interface will make conglomerating all of these diverse behaviors much simpler
.. just please make sure the window can be easily dismissed in the heat of the moment
(and, is there even a shortcut for the "Launch" button? can we get one Soon(tm)?)
Looks great. I think the following would make sense.
1-Mark th current place navmark bookmark whatever you call.
2-Download market prices from stations. and make it exchangeable. So that we mortals can share and trade market information for free or for some credits. Also the market prices should have a timestamp. That'd boost trading activity.
3-Not so PDA related but be able to share nav/bookmarks. Come on guys haven't you be using del.icio.us a all. :)
1-Mark th current place navmark bookmark whatever you call.
2-Download market prices from stations. and make it exchangeable. So that we mortals can share and trade market information for free or for some credits. Also the market prices should have a timestamp. That'd boost trading activity.
3-Not so PDA related but be able to share nav/bookmarks. Come on guys haven't you be using del.icio.us a all. :)