UI changes I would love to see in the expansion pack.

I second all of the above!

I know the Devs hate having to constantly work on the GUI (which I imagine is rather boring), but it's one of the most critical areas for enhancing game play. Unfortunately few people acknowledge (or even realize) when a game has an intuitive, easy to use interface!

The very first thing you mentioned above I constantly struggle with. Just last night on my probably hundredth time of firing up GalCiv I hit the Enter key on my keyboard to dismiss the production screen. I can't believe I forgot that the game doesn't have this! But I forgot because it's INTUITIVE to hit the Enter key or the escape key to close a screen. It's beome... well... natural!

My personal pet peeve is that screens don't dismiss themselves properly and often overlap. There's nothing more confusing then going to exit the research screen and finding that the exit button has changed to "done" and when you press it the project built screen pops up OVER the research screen which you can still see in the background. I'm always forgetting these screens don't work like Mitrosoft's windows and I'm constantly trying to grab a screen by the title bar and move it or click behind it to bring the rear screen to the front!?! Stupid Thrull!

Any way screens should fully dismiss before the next one pops up over the top of it... that's my story and I'm sticking to it

Like I say though, I feel for Brad and the other Devs who would rather be working on the AI, new gizmos, or features then trying to make a drop down menu work. (We appreciate your hard work guys! We really do!!! Every slider you fix and hot key you add makes Galactic Civilizations all that much better!!! ...and look how much it makes fanboys like me suck up! Disturbing...) LOL

One of my pet peeves is that when you launch a starship from a planet and go back the the main map to send it somewhere IT DOESN'T HAVE FOCUS (or isn't "the active position" or whatever the little segmented circle means) and I end up sending some totally unrelated position off to where it doesn't belong.

I did that with a Terror Star once and boy was I mad!

When I launch a ship, give it focus!


~SDC~

Pressing Enter to close a dialogue box or end a turn: We have to so the enter key ends the turn, which is why we took it out as a way to close screens...you end up accidentally ending your turn (no matter how aware you are of it).

Alphabetical List of ships in the Military Gov. Screen: It'll be in the Expansion.

More consistent mousewheel support - works in someplaces, not in others: We're trying to tackle those areas..it does get annoying when it dosent work but should

Keeping the mouse button pressed on an arrow will scroll through a list: Makes sense...depends on time, though.

Pull-down list in the planets screen for the different ordering modes (Social, Income etc): Yeah, drop-down menus would be quite time consuming...so It comes down to how fast the other stuff can get finished.

In the Planets List - show what is being built in the Mil/Soc queues. At present you have to click on a planet to bring it up: I'll talk to cari about this one...it may turn out to be an easy thing to get in (but it may not, I have to ask her ;)).

- When a Social/Military Project is completed have a different colour (say red or something that stands out) when a Galactic Wonder/Achievment or Trade Good is built: That should be do-able...but I'll have to see where things stand with our current priorities.

When a new tech is researched and the popup describes the tech, include what traits or abilities you get: OK, that one should be a no-brainer (I have to do that for the Tech-Tree Screen anyhow).

Equalisation option for the Mil/Soc/Res bars - ie set them all to 33.3333%. (Like the reset on the equaliser bars in WinAmp) - If time allows (and we can get it in without the screen looking cluttered).

Zoom out on the main map: Definatly something we'd ALL love to see, but also the most time consuming of all the feature suggestions. Probably not for the expansion pack.

Hyperlinks on the trade screen so I can see exactly what techs I am trading: Yeah, hyperhinks will get in for the Expansion Pack.

DMF: Makes sense...we'll change the functionality so that the last launched ship will get focus...unless anyone can come up with any "gotchas".

Again, It all comes down to time. All these ideas are great, but getting them in and properly testing them, as well as implementing new features to make the expansion pack worth downloading, take alot of time...so if we ever say "We'll try, but probably not." Its not that we're shunnin the idea, just that we have to prioritize things As always, though keep the ideas coming...we'll try our best to get all these great ideas into the game.

~SDC~

Hello All.

I have a problem with the GUI when one examines the purchase information for a ship or building. When I am asked if I want to buy, my brain sees the two potential answers as "yes", then "no". Unfortunately for me, the game actually displays "Cancel", then "Accept". I have blown my early game economy due to my not paying enough attention. I admit it is my own stupidity and/or laziness, but I really wish that the affirmation was the first option and the cancelation was the second.

Just my little GUI problem, no need to address it if I am in a minorty of 1.

My thanks for the great game, and the great community.

Wendy

One thing I would love is a pop-up that warns you that your next senate election is a turn away. It may just be me, but I always forget about them until it's too late. (Darn aliens distracting me. :)) A warning would give forgetful people like me a reminder to play around with the tax sliders and try to win that next election.

Actually, Wendy, that one doesn't bother me. I see it just fine.

But then, I was trained on the OS/2 version and it's like riding a bicycle.


~SDC~

Thanks for that BoogieBac! Great to hear the stuff that is making it into the expansion pack. Especially the hyperlinks on the trade screen. As long as that is there I am happy.
The rest of the stuff is just icing - and it's not like any of them are game-breakers or anything.

What about the space bar to shut dialog boxes? Not sure if that is used anywhere else?

Anyway - thanks again to the devs. Great support!

BoogieBac, when I read your concerns about having to develop all the GUI-gimmicks that users are used to (drop down lists, scrolling by wheel mouse, being able to drag a window, etc.), I am really puzzled.

You guys are Stardock, the WindowBlinds-guys. Why do you even bother design a custom GUI? If GalCiv ran in ordinary windows, just like any other Win32 application, then you would have all the UI gimmicks with no extra work.

That would look boring? Yes, but you guys are Stardock, the WindowBlinds-guys.

You could include a crippled version of WindowBlinds, a la Nintendo Desktop Manager (for those who don't know, WindowBlinds adds a nifty skin support to Windows). That would change the windows style to a GalCiv theme that suited the game.

Problem solved, the windowed version would be included, modders would rejoice AND you could sell more WindowBlinds.

One enhancement that would be of major use to me is to make the Planets panel shorter so I can get to the ships in orbit while the list is displayed. I often peruse Planets list to see who's building what and to check morale. But if I want to launch a Transport (something I very often do to regulate world morale), I have to exit the Planet list, find the system, launch, then go back to the Planet list.

Not what I would call ergonomically sound.


~SDC~

All I can say is zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom and once more zoom.

Two of my friends who tried game complained quite heavily that there is no zoom. And even if there wasn't zoom it would make sense to have default view on main map show little bigger area, i end game ships can fly out of view quite easily on one turn.

Also mine biggest complain is that there is no zoom. I need to have better overal picture (and be able to actually play in that view) or game turns into mindles clicking.

I would be happy even if they had to scratch every other feature in expansion back to just get that damn zoom.

I agree, as far as GUI goes, zoom is pretty much everything I'd want. It's so easy to lose track when manually moving fast ships currently.

either have a confirmation
or
after you destroy one colony, it shouldn't move to the next colony

When I first started playing galciv, I thought the button wasn't responding, cause same planet picture was up (same PQ) so I kept pressing destroy...hmm...
:notsure: Maybe user needs more education...(I.E. me)
where...bobo...