Color change of the movement orb

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fabi
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Color change of the movement orb

Post by fabi »

The pre 1.11 situation:

Green Orb: Unit not moved
Yellow Orb: Unit moved but still able to move/do more.
Red Orb: Unit not able to move/do anything more.
Blue Orb: Ally
No Orb: Enemy

Current trunk/master:

Same as above but the enemy got black orbs.

I want to suggest to change the colors into:

Green Orb: Unit not moved (no change)
Yellow Orb: Unit moved but still able to move/do more. (no change)
Red Orb: Enemy
Black/"off looking" Orb: Unit not able to move/do anything more.
Blue Orb: Ally (no change)
No Orb: Can't be

The current traffic light design that defines the orb colors is a bad choice.
Red color draws attention and is in general a warn signal. There is a good reason to signal "Don't go" by the red light on a street.

But this is not true for moved units in Wesnoth. It is more important to catch not moved units and enemies.
The orb looking like the enlightening effect is off (what the current black orb does already to some degree) is working well for me.
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Dixie
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Dixie »

I agree with this. Nothing more to add, really...
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Turuk
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Turuk »

Instead of a black orb, why not just no orb? If green or yellow indicates there is movement left for the unit, why not remove the visual noise entirely when its all been used?
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Doomchicken »

Wouldn't this confuse long-time players?
fabi
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by fabi »

Turuk wrote:Instead of a black orb, why not just no orb? If green or yellow indicates there is movement left for the unit, why not remove the visual noise entirely when its all been used?
The answer is that I want to use the same color coding for an alternative of the minimap unit display.

Currently, the units are encoded by the color of the side they belong to.
The new UI will feature a toggle button which switches between the side color encoding and the one of the movement indicator orbs.
For a more detailed discussion, see http://forum.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=39479
Doomchicken wrote:Wouldn't this confuse long-time players?
Yes, for sure. I consider myself being a long-time player and it took me some minutes to adapt to the different colors.
After the first half of the scenario it was okay, at the end I even felt better with the new colors.

Anyway, a long term player who can't stand the different encoding at all is able to change it back in the preferences file.
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Adamant14
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Adamant14 »

I like that idea. :)
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SkyOne
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by SkyOne »

fabi wrote:I want to suggest to change the colors into:

Green Orb: Unit not moved (no change)
Yellow Orb: Unit moved but still able to move/do more. (no change)
Red Orb: Enemy
Black/"off looking" Orb: Unit not able to move/do anything more.
Blue Orb: Ally (no change)
No Orb: Can't be
Eh, Red Orb for enemies?
Red color has been recognized like a symbol of side=1 unit as the magenta parts of units and village-flags for long time, so I think something different color for enemies looks better IMO. Actually, it doesn't really have to be an orb-shape for enemies, I guess... But I will follow the majority-opinion.
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Crow_T
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Crow_T »

Green yellow red is a common scheme in driving, so I think red fits for a unit that can't move. I test this several times daily on my commute :x An interesting but graphically intense idea imo would be to have a gradient, perhaps 8-10 shades denoting MP left. That'd be neat.
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doofus-01
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by doofus-01 »

The old traffic light made sense to me, and the colors were convenient (possibly because of my "colorblindness"):
1. Green & yellow look indistinguishable, but it is not that important.
2. Green & red look similar, but at least all the units are on the same side.
3. Green/red vs blue is distinct, and since I can't control the blue ones, this is more important.
4. Green/red vs nothing is most distinct, and is the most important distinction. The black ball is noise, but not too harmful.

So, I really don't like the proposed Red vs Green distinction, but if we aren't being forced to use it, then to each their own.
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nuorc
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by nuorc »

I don't really see a need for a change, but I guess I could handle it. ;)
Turuk wrote:...why not just no orb? If green or yellow indicates there is movement left for the unit, why not remove the visual noise entirely when its all been used?
Because, at least for me, it would change the appearance from 'friendly' to 'hostile'. In future that would depend on enemies having orbs, but right now an orb signals 'own unit' or 'allied unit', and I think it is usually easier to spot than team colors.
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Doomchicken
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Doomchicken »

nuorc wrote:
Turuk wrote:...why not just no orb? If green or yellow indicates there is movement left for the unit, why not remove the visual noise entirely when its all been used?
Because, at least for me, it would change the appearance from 'friendly' to 'hostile'. In future that would depend on enemies having orbs, but right now an orb signals 'own unit' or 'allied unit', and I think it is usually easier to spot than team colors.
The lack of orbs for enemy units is being removed anyway, so I don't think this would be a concern after the first game or two.
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SkyOne
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by SkyOne »

fabi, I don't think you will change this, but seriously, this is confusing at the same time with left and right click movements...:augh:
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doofus-01
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by doofus-01 »

SkyOne wrote:fabi, I don't think you will change this, but seriously, this is confusing at the same time with left and right click movements...:augh:
It seems going to Preferences->General->Hotkeys and assigning "Select/Move/Attack" to Mouse0Button1, and "Deselect Hex" to Mouse0Button3 restores the old left/right click behavior.

But...
fabi wrote:Anyway, a long term player who can't stand the different encoding at all is able to change it back in the preferences file.
I couldn't figure out how to do that. What is that option called? I didn't see anything obvious.

Thanks.
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fabi
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by fabi »

doofus-01 wrote:
fabi wrote:Anyway, a long term player who can't stand the different encoding at all is able to change it back in the preferences file.
I couldn't figure out how to do that. What is that option called? I didn't see anything obvious.

Thanks.
Adding this lines to your preferences file should do the trick:

Code: Select all

[images]   
        orb="misc/orb.png"
        enemy_orb_color=""
        unmoved_orb_color="brightgreen"
        ally_orb_color="lightblue"
        partmoved_orb_color="brightorange"
        moved_orb_color="red"        
[/images]
I have not tested it yet, please let me know if it works.
Duthlet
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Re: Color change of the movement orb

Post by Duthlet »

fabi wrote: I have not tested it yet, please let me know if it works.
It does not work for me.
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