Forums » Android
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: UI feedback
With screen glow on, ice asteroids glow a garish pink. So I turned it off (the default), and they look fine.
The on-screen joystick is just awful. What I wanted, when I tried to use it, was an ability to swipe anywhere on the screen - think, the scrolling mechanic everywhere else in Android. With the joystick I couldn't even fly around the starting station with any sense that I had good control of the spacecraft.
The pure accelerometer controls I'm very happy with, however - and with the default angle set to 'upright', VO becomes a great game to play while lying down. I have just some small complaints about this mode:
1. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is quite large, and I hold it by the sides (where the fire buttons are). So the Activate/Flight Mode button, which is dead center and along the bottom, is quite awkward to get to. An in-game observer would wonder why I always turn slightly before I jump, enter a wormhole, change flight modes -- it's because I have to reach for that button.
2. The combat move of strafe-in-a-circle-while-firing requires that my left thumb and forefinger both press precise spots on the left side of the screen. It's awkward to begin with, and then I mess up. Meanwhile, the right side of the screen is taken up by a joystick that I never use.
3. The mission button along the left is too narrow for a touch interface. After a few failed attempts, I only used the wide mission button along the bottom. As the majority of the screen doesn't respond to touch (touching empty space or the HUD has no intended effect) all of these buttons could be visually smaller and kinesthetically larger: in the case of the mission button on the left, it could be left at its current size but any touch events in a larger area around it would activate it -- there's nothing else that a user could mean.
4. I'd like to not have to type in my password.
5. I'd like some basic touch controls to see and hail other players when I find them.
6. There's no soft menu button, but there should be, for infrequent features like changing the camera.
7. There should be two sets of control scheme settings: w/o keyboard, and w/keyboard. I want to use the keyboard controls when I attach the tablet to the keyboard, and accelerometer controls otherwise; an Android user with a slide-out thumb keyboard could want accelerometer controls in either case.
The on-screen joystick is just awful. What I wanted, when I tried to use it, was an ability to swipe anywhere on the screen - think, the scrolling mechanic everywhere else in Android. With the joystick I couldn't even fly around the starting station with any sense that I had good control of the spacecraft.
The pure accelerometer controls I'm very happy with, however - and with the default angle set to 'upright', VO becomes a great game to play while lying down. I have just some small complaints about this mode:
1. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is quite large, and I hold it by the sides (where the fire buttons are). So the Activate/Flight Mode button, which is dead center and along the bottom, is quite awkward to get to. An in-game observer would wonder why I always turn slightly before I jump, enter a wormhole, change flight modes -- it's because I have to reach for that button.
2. The combat move of strafe-in-a-circle-while-firing requires that my left thumb and forefinger both press precise spots on the left side of the screen. It's awkward to begin with, and then I mess up. Meanwhile, the right side of the screen is taken up by a joystick that I never use.
3. The mission button along the left is too narrow for a touch interface. After a few failed attempts, I only used the wide mission button along the bottom. As the majority of the screen doesn't respond to touch (touching empty space or the HUD has no intended effect) all of these buttons could be visually smaller and kinesthetically larger: in the case of the mission button on the left, it could be left at its current size but any touch events in a larger area around it would activate it -- there's nothing else that a user could mean.
4. I'd like to not have to type in my password.
5. I'd like some basic touch controls to see and hail other players when I find them.
6. There's no soft menu button, but there should be, for infrequent features like changing the camera.
7. There should be two sets of control scheme settings: w/o keyboard, and w/keyboard. I want to use the keyboard controls when I attach the tablet to the keyboard, and accelerometer controls otherwise; an Android user with a slide-out thumb keyboard could want accelerometer controls in either case.
A couple of my comments amount to "I haven't heard of DroidButtons or all of this Lua modding". In fairness, these are the instructions to follow, to begin to use that mod:
http://vo-wiki.com/wiki/Plugins_Draft_by_Spades#Android
I'm a programmer. I expect to do some modding myself, now. I still don't want to do all of that :-/ How about, a mod is a zip file with a bit of XML and a distinctive file extension (so that the Android browser can invoke VO when downloading such a file), and VO does the bookkeeping?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1733195/android-intent-filter-for-a-particular-file-extension
Anyway, don't let this point get lost in all the remarks above: VO is _awesome_ on the Galaxy Tab. I've been playing it shortly before going to bed, and am really enjoying myself.
http://vo-wiki.com/wiki/Plugins_Draft_by_Spades#Android
I'm a programmer. I expect to do some modding myself, now. I still don't want to do all of that :-/ How about, a mod is a zip file with a bit of XML and a distinctive file extension (so that the Android browser can invoke VO when downloading such a file), and VO does the bookkeeping?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1733195/android-intent-filter-for-a-particular-file-extension
Anyway, don't let this point get lost in all the remarks above: VO is _awesome_ on the Galaxy Tab. I've been playing it shortly before going to bed, and am really enjoying myself.
Thanks much for the feedback, glad you're enjoying it :).
Of course, it is always a work in progress, and this kind of perspective is helpful. We're looking to add a lot more configurability to the interface, the current setup was intended to give "some workable defaults" while we were able to deal with a lot of the other platform issues.
I suspect that a lot of people will have very different views on control layouts, especially depending on play style and how they fly. For instance, I never have problems Activating.. in the PC version I'm usually turboing and instantly hitting Activate as I reach the distance limit, or carefully timing the recharge rate to get a full battery for a jump. So I'm either on the turbo button (and thus unable to steer anyway), or pausing off of turbo just briefly to recharge and Activate. Plus, I pretty much only fly in physics mode, which definitely colors my view of control layout.
It used to be a hassle to Activate while docking, so we added the auto-dock not too long ago.
Anyway, I'm all for configurability. A completely configurable internal soft button-layout would be our ideal. The challenge is then distilling the options down into some "common case" defaults that will appeal to most people, who haven't the patience for doing their own configuration and want something simple. I have some ideas for that as well; but there's always a challenge in finding the balance between "simple" and "room to grow".
The latest APK version should have a soft Android "Menu" button, which also doubles as "Mission" when launched.
Please feel free to keep posting thoughts. I'll check back and re-read when we do the next pass on the user interface.
Of course, it is always a work in progress, and this kind of perspective is helpful. We're looking to add a lot more configurability to the interface, the current setup was intended to give "some workable defaults" while we were able to deal with a lot of the other platform issues.
I suspect that a lot of people will have very different views on control layouts, especially depending on play style and how they fly. For instance, I never have problems Activating.. in the PC version I'm usually turboing and instantly hitting Activate as I reach the distance limit, or carefully timing the recharge rate to get a full battery for a jump. So I'm either on the turbo button (and thus unable to steer anyway), or pausing off of turbo just briefly to recharge and Activate. Plus, I pretty much only fly in physics mode, which definitely colors my view of control layout.
It used to be a hassle to Activate while docking, so we added the auto-dock not too long ago.
Anyway, I'm all for configurability. A completely configurable internal soft button-layout would be our ideal. The challenge is then distilling the options down into some "common case" defaults that will appeal to most people, who haven't the patience for doing their own configuration and want something simple. I have some ideas for that as well; but there's always a challenge in finding the balance between "simple" and "room to grow".
The latest APK version should have a soft Android "Menu" button, which also doubles as "Mission" when launched.
Please feel free to keep posting thoughts. I'll check back and re-read when we do the next pass on the user interface.