Commander ability

[azaron]

A nice idea, but it would probably work best with a limited pallet of high- saturation colors. the minimap contains a lot of dark and gray space that would render most low- saturation colors almost unreadable or difficult to see. Plus, high saturation will draw attention more easily. Also, you could maybe throw in just a couple of standard brushes to use to ensure some uniformity so that each commander would be at least basically understandable to everyone in certain circumstances while still being able to maintain their own style.

Examples:
Pallet:

Smaple brushes (the black parts would be transparent):

Just a couple of thoughts.

[madpeople]

i think;

you could add a saturation bar below the colour bar too

which inevitably leads to
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/5889/mapdrawing2yl3.jpg

ok, you could draw other things on that map...

edit, ooh a pallet... though i would think we would have to choose some nice colours, is that salmon and grey purple (violet?), and brown orange, not just ordanary orrange?

interesting idea with the brushes, you could just click to make stars around sectors etc, but i think jsut a basic one will do

how about the one above for a version like shift+f6, and have a big version which takesu p loads of room like f5, drawing on a small thing may be a little hard, having a big one to draw on, and a little version of it for reference may be good.

[Jell]

Short of choosing the colour, we have to choose where the drawing goes, and whether it will even get done.

I preferred the drawing directly on the mini-map with an on/off toggle so you don't have an enormous map that takes half of your screen, and you don't have a screen that people toggle on only every so often (because it takes yet more room off their screen) and thus never see.

I'm not sure I see the use behind the sample brushes. A pencil tool does just fine, no?

[madpeople]

the thing is, i would probabbly never turn on the map drawing if it was on the mini map, i need that to rip to sectors etc, i need to see the little dots by the sectors, if a dot appears for a second and then dissapears, i check f6 to see what it was, i've had many cons and miners because of this. if someone has drawn a big line over where the dots are, i wont be able to see them, and then there will be cons building which i could have stopped.

- we want it to improve the effectiveness of a team, not degrade the players performance.

also, drawing on a small thing is a bit of a pain, you can fit more on a bigger pallet.

also, right click gives eraser tool, shift+right click wipes everything completely?

[Aoreias]

I'm going to have to speak out against this idea, actually. The reason that it works so well in other games is because commanders need a finer level of resolution to direct people. When you talk about the minimap you're basically looking at 12-13 data points, instead of a field like you'd find in Savage. F3/F6, and clicking on a sector works just as well.

[Spunkmeyer]

Exactly. Nice idea in theory, but the minimap isn't complex enough to warrant this.

I want to go back to apathos and Ozzy for a moment. They are both correct, even though Oz was being sarcastic.

Alleg needs to be "dumbed down" seriously for higher quality games. Dumbing down the "interface" however is not the same as "dumbing down" the gameplay. There are things in there that exist only to make the game more complex and their abstraction/removal won't cost anything in terms of gameplay.

Something along the lines of what apathos is proposing can actually SIMPLIFY the game.

Think about how much less confusion there'd be and how much coordination would soar if the commander's plan was laid out bare for all to see, and everyone could sign up to something so you knew what everyone is doing at a glance.

As Jell says, the interface for this needs to be well-thought out so it won't be abandoned. If you turn into a book-keeping nightmare, it won't be used. If I had to type in "Probing Kik and L'sau" and then had to remember to go back in and clear that when I'm done when I know half the team isn't bothering, then I'm not gonna bother either. However if a simpler interface could be designed (context sensitive, menus, pre-built commands, games smart enough to track if what you are doing matches your current activity and remind you otherwise.... etc) then I'd be more than happy to use it.

Working out that interface is difficult, but a commander's TO DO list that the players can interact with is a fantastic idea.

[Clay_Pigeon]

I think the same effect could be handled with a well thought out minimap pane. The key is to avoid feature creep to keep it from becoming a burden. Maybe 4 colors, 1 (or 2) pen sizes, a small eraser, a clear button, and a few simple stamps (like a medium arrow, a big X, a probe icon, and a miner icon). Only the commander would have/see those tools.

-T

[madpeople]

i can see it as usefull, because when someone asks where is l'sau you can put a nice little circle on the sector...
or directing bombers to go to here, then here via here, then to here - simpler to draw a line than type it all out

though i do not want it on the current mini map, i want that grafiti free

[Badger]

I think this idea sounds nice and all, but I am not sold on it.

My question is, how does this compare to the current system we have? We can command the team, a sector, a group, or individual pilots. We can tell them to goto a sector, to a waypoint in a sector. They can also accept/decline the command.

The one thing it is lacking is the ability to draw a visible line. What if a feature like this was added to the command screen? So the comm can draw lines on the screen, maybe if drop some icons or something?

I think the mini-map is small and would be tough if you start adding drawing onto it.



If anything, add the drawing ability to the current sector command screen system. Maybe tweak it to make the interface easier to work with if anything.


My .02

[vlad13]

To me, the minimap drawing is a great idea in other games because all you do in other games is kill things, pretty much. Suppose you want to probe a sector, or defend something or nan a bomber, or kill miners, you can not specify either of this on a minimap drawing, so you draw something and then you need to say it, which is really not much of a improvement over the current tactic. Not to mention what happens if you draw something and the enemy bbr rips somwhere else, you have to draw it again. And then people will say "I didn't defend the base cause you didn't draw it on the minimap".

Point is a drawing does not give you an action, just a direction to fly in.