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Friday Facts #246 - The GUI update (Part 3)
A really strange debate started as a continuation of FFF-238. I insisted that the button order should obviously always be OK Cancel, as in any UI I see around.
But little I knew, that this is actually specific to windows, and on Linux or macOS, the order is reversed:
Eventually, we figured out, that we are not the first one trying to solve the problem.The solution we are now experimenting it sounds like a bad idea: "Make it so much different and Factorio specific, that the way it is done in your specific system will not interfere with your muscle memory". Which brings me to the load game dialog mockup:
The load game dialog is currently the first dialog we are trying to implement with the new tileset and the mockup Albert created recently. The mockup looks like this:
The idea is, that all the dialogs will have this flow from left to right, on the very left, you go back, on the very right, you continue to the next window. The same logic would be consistent in all the dialog windows. Options for example, have only the Back button in 0.16:
It is currently quite weird, as it is not clear whether it is confirm or cancel. Actually, if you press Escape you exit the options without saving it, but if you press "back" you confirm the changes. So these will also have cancel on the left and confirm on the right. Escape is the same as clicking back.
Please note, that all of the pictures are work in progress.
Hopefully you are not getting tired of hearing about the GUI, because this game sure has a lot of them, and the next one to talk about is the Map Generator GUI.Since we will have high-resolution spreadsheets for the GUI, all the mockups below are done on 200% UI scale, so they are scaled down on this page. You can click each image to see it in full size. You will notice things were moved around quite a bit. The seed and the replay toggle were moved to the top since they are not part of the preset. Then the preset dropdown, the reset to default button and the description, which are visible at all times so you know what you are editing. Everything inside the tabs is part of the preset.
A new tab is the Enemies tab. The generation settings (Frequency, Size, Richness) are moved from being hidden in the terrain settings, to it's own category. Also the important Peaceful Mode is right at the top.
Finally the advanced tab contains the rest of the settings. Map width and height will now also be part of the preset.
The map exchange string can help you save all your settings in a string, but more importantly to share it with others. Clicking one of the buttons opens an in-window pop-up. The pop-up can be closed just by clicking outside. Player can use the "copy to clipboard" button, but can also copy directly from the textbox.
Now for the neat part: the map preview will be part of the map generator window. Clicking the "Preview" button expands the window (possibly with some quick animation). You can then change the settings as you like, then click Update to see the new map. You can have the map update automatically as you change the settings, by enabling the option. "Real-time update" is off by default since the preview generation can be a bit slow, and having the preview constantly flickering as you change the setting would be pretty annoying. Notice that the "Preview" button has a warning icon next to it (in the images above). Hovering over it will give you a warning that the preview can spoil the exploration part of the game and should be used to understand the settings. My hope is that the majority of players will open the preview, play with the settings, then close the preview and re-roll the seed before pressing play.
(click to view full size) We plan that almost every widget in this GUI (and the of the game) will have tooltips briefly explaining what everything does, since for example not even us developers know what Enemy base Richness actually does any more. As a bonus, here is a mockup with all the ores showing their richness. As always, let us know what you think on our forum.
[ 2018-06-08 13:27:26 CET ] [ Original post ]
Ok→Cancel versus Cancel→Ok
A really strange debate started as a continuation of FFF-238. I insisted that the button order should obviously always be OK Cancel, as in any UI I see around.
But little I knew, that this is actually specific to windows, and on Linux or macOS, the order is reversed:
Eventually, we figured out, that we are not the first one trying to solve the problem.The solution we are now experimenting it sounds like a bad idea: "Make it so much different and Factorio specific, that the way it is done in your specific system will not interfere with your muscle memory". Which brings me to the load game dialog mockup:
Load game dialog
The load game dialog is currently the first dialog we are trying to implement with the new tileset and the mockup Albert created recently. The mockup looks like this:
The idea is, that all the dialogs will have this flow from left to right, on the very left, you go back, on the very right, you continue to the next window. The same logic would be consistent in all the dialog windows. Options for example, have only the Back button in 0.16:
It is currently quite weird, as it is not clear whether it is confirm or cancel. Actually, if you press Escape you exit the options without saving it, but if you press "back" you confirm the changes. So these will also have cancel on the left and confirm on the right. Escape is the same as clicking back.
Please note, that all of the pictures are work in progress.
The map generator GUI
Hopefully you are not getting tired of hearing about the GUI, because this game sure has a lot of them, and the next one to talk about is the Map Generator GUI.Since we will have high-resolution spreadsheets for the GUI, all the mockups below are done on 200% UI scale, so they are scaled down on this page. You can click each image to see it in full size. You will notice things were moved around quite a bit. The seed and the replay toggle were moved to the top since they are not part of the preset. Then the preset dropdown, the reset to default button and the description, which are visible at all times so you know what you are editing. Everything inside the tabs is part of the preset.
A new tab is the Enemies tab. The generation settings (Frequency, Size, Richness) are moved from being hidden in the terrain settings, to it's own category. Also the important Peaceful Mode is right at the top.
Finally the advanced tab contains the rest of the settings. Map width and height will now also be part of the preset.
The map exchange string can help you save all your settings in a string, but more importantly to share it with others. Clicking one of the buttons opens an in-window pop-up. The pop-up can be closed just by clicking outside. Player can use the "copy to clipboard" button, but can also copy directly from the textbox.
Now for the neat part: the map preview will be part of the map generator window. Clicking the "Preview" button expands the window (possibly with some quick animation). You can then change the settings as you like, then click Update to see the new map. You can have the map update automatically as you change the settings, by enabling the option. "Real-time update" is off by default since the preview generation can be a bit slow, and having the preview constantly flickering as you change the setting would be pretty annoying. Notice that the "Preview" button has a warning icon next to it (in the images above). Hovering over it will give you a warning that the preview can spoil the exploration part of the game and should be used to understand the settings. My hope is that the majority of players will open the preview, play with the settings, then close the preview and re-roll the seed before pressing play.
(click to view full size) We plan that almost every widget in this GUI (and the of the game) will have tooltips briefly explaining what everything does, since for example not even us developers know what Enemy base Richness actually does any more. As a bonus, here is a mockup with all the ores showing their richness. As always, let us know what you think on our forum.
[ 2018-06-08 13:27:26 CET ] [ Original post ]
Factorio
Wube Software LTD.
Developer
Wube Software LTD.
Publisher
2020-08-14
Release
Game News Posts:
506
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Overwhelmingly Positive
(164072 reviews)
The Game includes VR Support
Public Linux Depots:
- Factorio Linux64 [306.86 M]
- Factorio Linux32 [300.1 M]
Available DLCs:
- Factorio: Space Age
Factorio is a game in which you build and maintain factories. You will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies. In the beginning you will find yourself chopping trees, mining ores and crafting mechanical arms and transport belts by hand, but in short time you can become an industrial powerhouse, with huge solar fields, oil refining and cracking, manufacture and deployment of construction and logistic robots, all for your resource needs. However this heavy exploitation of the planet's resources does not sit nicely with the locals, so you will have to be prepared to defend yourself and your machine empire.
Join forces with other players in cooperative Multiplayer, create huge factories, collaborate and delegate tasks between you and your friends. Add mods to increase your enjoyment, from small tweak and helper mods to complete game overhauls, Factorio's ground-up Modding support has allowed content creators from around the world to design interesting and innovative features. While the core gameplay is in the form of the freeplay scenario, there are a range of interesting challenges in the form of the Scenario pack, available as free DLC. If you don't find any maps or scenarios you enjoy, you can create your own with the in-game Map Editor, place down entities, enemies, and terrain in any way you like, and even add your own custom script to make for interesting gameplay.
Discount Disclaimer: We don't have any plans to take part in a sale or to reduce the price for the foreseeable future.
Join forces with other players in cooperative Multiplayer, create huge factories, collaborate and delegate tasks between you and your friends. Add mods to increase your enjoyment, from small tweak and helper mods to complete game overhauls, Factorio's ground-up Modding support has allowed content creators from around the world to design interesting and innovative features. While the core gameplay is in the form of the freeplay scenario, there are a range of interesting challenges in the form of the Scenario pack, available as free DLC. If you don't find any maps or scenarios you enjoy, you can create your own with the in-game Map Editor, place down entities, enemies, and terrain in any way you like, and even add your own custom script to make for interesting gameplay.
Discount Disclaimer: We don't have any plans to take part in a sale or to reduce the price for the foreseeable future.
What people say about Factorio
- No other game in the history of gaming handles the logistics side of management simulator so perfectly. - Reddit
- I see conveyor belts when I close my eyes. I may have been binging Factorio lately. - Notch, Mojang
- Factorio is a super duper awesome game where we use conveyor belts to shoot aliens. - Zisteau, Youtube
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Linux (tarball installation)
- Processor: Dual core 3Ghz+Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.3 core. DirectX 10.1 capable GPU with 512 MB VRAM - GeForce GTX 260. Radeon HD 4850 or Intel HD Graphics 5500
- Storage: 3 GB available space
- OS: Linux (tarball installation)
- Processor: Quad core 3GHz+Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 4.3 core. DirectX 11 capable GPU with 2 GB VRAM - GeForce GTX 750 Ti. Radeon R7 360
- Storage: 3 GB available space
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