Denser Recall Unit Dialog

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josteph
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Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by josteph »

The Recall Unit dialog looks like this:
Screenshot_2018-11-24_11-16-19.png
Most of this information is redundant. Going through the columns:
  • The sprite of a unit is good to have.
  • The type of a unit is redundant. It is implied by the sprite.
  • The recall cost is the same for all units, so it's redundant.
  • The name of a unit... I don't know, maybe some players remember units by name, but I remember my units by their type and traits. So to me the name is redundant.
  • The level is implied by the sprite.
  • The XP is important.
  • The traits are important.
Now, I understand, having the type name and so on there is good for new players. I'm not arguing with that, but I'd like to have a more dense version of the dialog for veteran players. That version could be, say, a scrollable vertical list, each line listing five recallable units, each unit's listing consisting of its sprite, XP, and traits. That's it. (The other data would be in a tooltip.) This would fit many more units in a single screenful:
Screenshot_2018-11-24_11-38-03-mockup.png
Screenshot_2018-11-24_11-38-03-mockup.png (81.43 KiB) Viewed 8140 times
In fact, I can't do a mockup of this, but maybe display the XP as an XP bar, like when the unit is on the main map.

The unit preview pane and search box aren't affected by this proposal. Only the table would be changed.
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doofus-01
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by doofus-01 »

josteph wrote: November 24th, 2018, 11:53 am Now, I understand, having the type name and so on there is good for new players. I'm not arguing with that, but I'd like to have a more dense version of the dialog for veteran players. That version could be, say, a scrollable vertical list, each line listing five recallable units, each unit's listing consisting of its sprite, XP, and traits. That's it. (The other data would be in a tooltip.) This would fit many more units in a single screenful:
This would be some "advanced option" or a replacement of the current dialog? All the info in the current one could be useful in some circumstances, even if not in vanilla Wesnoth. And removing the name could help kill the illusion & atmosphere, for some of us at least.
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James_The_Invisible
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by James_The_Invisible »

The recall cost can be customized. For both unit types and individual units. (Granted, it is possible just since 1.13.0 but still.)
I personally like to have the unit's name and type shown but have no strong arguments for them.
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Iris
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by Iris »

When playing my own campaigns I assign custom names to units that have acquired special items (and which usually start out nameless because they are almost always undead) so I can find them and tell them apart from similar units in the recall list faster.
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josteph
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by josteph »

@doofus-01 I don't want to remove info that someone finds useful. I don't know if it'll be an advanced preference, or a zoom slider at the corner of the dialog, or whatever. Maybe it'll be a button that pops up a large dialog of unit sprites, and double-clicking a sprite in that large dialog closes that dialog scrolls to it in the recall list.

@James Okay, so the recall cost can be customized, but often it isn't. Maybe it could only be shown for (units/types/campaigns) that change it, then? This way campaigns that change it show it and campaigns that don't change it don't show needless info. On the other hand, maybe it's better for the interface to be uniform across campaigns. Hmm.

@shadowm I use the Unitmarker add-on for this, the screenshot shows what that results in, but point taken, name is useful.
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by gnombat »

josteph wrote: November 25th, 2018, 7:35 am @doofus-01 I don't want to remove info that someone finds useful. I don't know if it'll be an advanced preference, or a zoom slider at the corner of the dialog, or whatever. Maybe it'll be a button that pops up a large dialog of unit sprites, and double-clicking a sprite in that large dialog closes that dialog scrolls to it in the recall list.
That sounds like it would require a lot of extra clicks. Wouldn't it be simpler to just have, say, a "Brief" button and a "Details" button at the top of the Recall dialog to switch between the two views? Kind of like how the Windows file manager makes it easy to switch between different views whenever you want:
file-explorer.gif
file-explorer.gif (552.76 KiB) Viewed 8055 times
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josteph
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by josteph »

It doesn't sound too different, but I agree it would be simpler the way you describe.
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GunChleoc
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by GunChleoc »

How about having the level and XP above the recall costs and moving the type below the name? That would save 2 columns while preserving all the info. We have the necessary vertical space available because it's taken up by the sprite anyway.
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Re: Denser Recall Unit Dialog

Post by The_Gnat »

shadowm wrote: November 24th, 2018, 3:27 pm When playing my own campaigns I assign custom names to units that have acquired special items (and which usually start out nameless because they are almost always undead) so I can find them and tell them apart from similar units in the recall list faster.
I agree with shadowm. For most campaigns I play I name or remember the names of my heroes. I wouldn't mind if names were visible only after clicking an 'more info' button but I would like them to be available some where.

However, I recognise not all details can be shown and a change actually be made so if necessary I am willing to sacrifice the names. ;)
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