Lean advanced game option

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:24 pm

Sorry for my 3rd suggestion topic in one day but the Dutch Trainset v2 alpha got me playing OpenTTD again. And then I run into remarkable stuff

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I know the advanced game options have been subject of many discussions. But when I look at it it's still messy and not very readable. For instance, my fresh installation of OpenTTD r24093 renders me a screen with advanced options where the text continuous beyond the box border. I find that annoying, even though I can guess what it says at the end.

What strikes me most is the elaborate mix-up of boxes to confirm an on/off option together with an orange explanatory text. Look at Airports never expire, green is yes and red is no. Is there really a need to add the text if the colour explains it already? And if so, can't they be combined so that a red button always has the text No on it and green button the text Yes?

And wouldn't it be a good idea to change the order of buttons and text around?

Airports never expire [Yes] | [No]
Place trees on the map:
- Everwhere [Yes] | [No]
- Ony in rainforest [Yes] | [No]
- Nowhere (sawmills won't work!) [Yes] | [No]

Of course all buttons neatly aligned in a column and with multiple choices where only 1 input is possible selecting one option automatically cancels other conflicting options.

Lastly, in the parameter window for NewGRF's you see a more detailed description below. I think it's good to provide such a more detailed description below the advanced options list too.

planetmaker · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:35 pm

Lalala ... search ... lalala ... sticky ... lalala :-)

Might be considered part of viewtopic.php?f=33&t=58835 and http://wiki.openttd.org/Todo_list#GUI_. ... s_redesign

Hyronymus wrote:

Is there really a need to add the text if the colour explains it already?

Definitely. Welcome to the world of no-colour :-)

EDIT:

Hyronymus wrote:

And wouldn't it be a good idea to change the order of buttons and text around?

I don't mind as much the order of value and setting description but the setting values should IMHO be somewhat aligned. Thus a roughly tabular way to present adv. settings might be suitable. Though otoh we do have exactly that now: controls are left and values are right.

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:06 pm

I stand corrected there :oops:

. But when I look at your links it's much suggestion and little action.

Didn't think of colour-blindness btw but I automatically embrace helping the blinded for colours

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planetmaker · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:13 pm

Hyronymus wrote:

But when I look at your links it's much suggestion and little action.

That's quite true:

Quote:

This page contains a list of available tasks. This list is composed by OpenTTD developers considering a single criterion: The tasks require no detailed knowledge of the OpenTTD source code. As such this list aims for people who want to get involved with the development of OpenTTD

And wrt colours: I'm daily reminded of that issue at work when I talk to collegues and show some graphs... coloured lines only get me so far - it requires use of differently shaped lines to make the distinction clear to the important people :-)

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:28 pm

I'm happy to be a thinker in this but I'm not that good at creating mock-ups of what I mean (also because this forum doesn't support HTML tables).

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:22 am

Back with another thing I noticed: there are some options in the Advanced Settings menu that perhaps are better off at the game function it effects. Like the option to define the thickness of graph lines in the graphs. Isn't it possible to add a button for thicker graph lines on every graph?

Digitalfox · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 11:57 am

Not good at mockups also, but having some tips on some of the options would also be really helpful

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 12:48 pm

Digitalfox wrote:

Not good at mockups also, but having some tips on some of the options would also be really helpful

When I'm back home I'll spend some time on a mock-up. No easy way (for me) doing that stuff on a laptop computer.

Alberth · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:27 pm

Use it as a small table for holding paper, scissors, and some glue, and make a photograph

planetmaker · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:32 pm

Hyronymus wrote:

Digitalfox wrote:

Not good at mockups also, but having some tips on some of the options would also be really helpful

When I'm back home I'll spend some time on a mock-up. No easy way (for me) doing that stuff on a laptop computer.

Everything I do OpenTTD-related, including playing, I do from a laptop ;-)

FooBar · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:00 pm

My only computers are laptop computers. Plug in a mouse and it's not much different from a desktop.
I've noticed from the desktop at work that even RSI issues are no different

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:57 pm

Notice the generation gap

? You'll have to wait until tomorrow or I get grumpy.

Rubidium · **Joined:** Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:15 pm **Posts:** 3706

planetmaker wrote:

Everything I do OpenTTD-related, including playing, I do from a laptop ;-)

Cool oven you got!

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:43 am

As promised, here my mock-up of a lean advanced game options menu.

Attachment:

Basic.png [ 4.69 KiB | Viewed 1226 times ]

Of course there are more things you can set but I believe that every option can be changed to a simple yes/no question.

Rubidium · **Joined:** Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:15 pm **Posts:** 3706

Hyronymus wrote:

I believe that every option can be changed to a simple yes/no question.

True, but for e.g. the year the coloured newpaper appears there might be a tad too many yes-no questions.

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:01 am

Rubidium wrote:

Hyronymus wrote:

I believe that every option can be changed to a simple yes/no question.

True, but for e.g. the year the coloured newpaper appears there might be a tad too many yes-no questions.

Good point, for that one will need an input field:

Attachment:

Basic.png [ 5.07 KiB | Viewed 1219 times ]

Transportman · **Joined:** Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:34 pm **Posts:** 980

I think for the date format you could better use round selection thing (don't know the official name), that indicates that it is one out of a selection. With a row of yes/no it looks like you can have multiple yes and no's, while it is actually only one yes and the rest no.

Hyronymus · **Posted:** Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:03 pm

Transportman wrote:

I think for the date format you could better use round selection thing (don't know the official name), that indicates that it is one out of a selection. With a row of yes/no it looks like you can have multiple yes and no's, while it is actually only one yes and the rest no.

That's why I wrote earlier that the game must detect the number of options and automatically grey-out all but one. S for 3 options you have 2 grayed out and 1 active (which one by default is up to the devs). And for the date I think a pop-up box as it currently works will do.

Eddi · **Joined:** Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:14 am **Posts:** 4582

i don't like the settings being on the right side. it may make it difficult to see which setting belongs to which entry, if the lines are very long and very empty.

also, for selecting different values a "radio button" is usually available, instead of independent yes/no selections...

PaulC · **Posted:** Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:22 pm

I honestly don't see how this "yes/no" format improves on what we have now.

If anything it's more confusing, and it's only going to add a significant amount of bloat to the menu.

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