Ideas for optional GUI features.

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Peter
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Ideas for optional GUI features.

Post by Peter »

I have been playing BZFlag for about two years nearly and been going on the forums for a while to , when ever I am on the " Enhancements " section of the forum , I see that almost none of the ideas are considered as a possibility , for the reasons that they are either to radical or not that good.

I have put together some ideas for optional GUI features , the way they could be turned on or off or ajusted is by the GUI menu in the main menu. I hope these are alright and arn't to bad.

For the second attachment entitled "Idea for new GUI" you will see four differences....

#1 Is a small red circle , this is a `danger spot` , it would change between the colors red to white , white indicates that the are no shots around you , when it is white there are no shots within ten units (standard BZFlag units) , and when it goes red this indicates that you are very close to receiving a direct hit from a shot. The changing process blends into each tone as it changes. This would have a variable of what radius it would consider dangerous and not dangerous.

#2 Is a circular aim instead of spuare aim, some might find this easyer for aiming , this would have a variable of which you wanted to have , a square or circle aim.

#3 Is a box next to the circular aim , this displays the height of which the tank is at , this would have no variable other than on , or off (off being not displayed) , but you would be able to view the other version of the the height display if you set your aim to square.

#4 Is the box with the number 38 in it , this would display the tanks speed , something that might be useful if you needed to do a certain jump on a map that your are used to. This speed display is available in two stlyes the one displaying digits or the one displayed in the first attchment, the one in the second link has red displayed as how fast you are going , the higher the speed the longer (or taller) the red bar is.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this long post , and please leave your comments on any changes you think i could make to make it better.



PS: You will need to zoom in on the image to see the images clearly (it was saved as a jpg so it could be attched)
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Post by JeffM »

#1 this would be called a cheat
#2 tried it, people didn't like it.
#3 how is that different then the current height display?
#4 why would anyone care about the number? there are no speed limits.
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Post by Peter »

->#1 What would be called a cheat ?
->#2 What did you try and people didnt like?
->#3 It is isn't displayed on a line.
->#4 "why would anyone care about the number" , I would say it is at the same level as usefullness as the option to have control panle tabs left or right , i dont think anyone even cares about that feture....


...but thanks for your reply
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Post by Grace F »

PETER wrote:
JeffM2501 wrote:#1 this would be called a cheat
->#1 What would be called a cheat?

-Jeff is referring to your "Danger Spot" idea. I agree with him, people should just use the radar. It's why it's there, isn't it?
PETER wrote:
JeffM2501 wrote:#2. tried it, people didn't like it.
->#2 What did you try and people didnt like?
-Again, Jeff is referring to your "Circle Curser". If this was already in game, I'd still stick by the square style curser we have now.
PETER wrote:
JeffM2501 wrote:#3 how is that different then the current height display?
->#3 It is isn't displayed on a line.
Their still the same thing :?
PETER wrote:I would say it is at the same level as usefullness as the option to have control panle tabs left or right , i dont think anyone even cares about that feture....
Im sry, I don't understand what that means :P
PETER wrote:the higher the speed the longer (or taller) the red bar is.
I think there may be something you left out.
Like, how fast do you have to be going for the red bar to hit MAX?
There are no real measurements on it to tell you how fast your going anyways :P
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Post by Peter »

Well I would have thought it would have been obvios that if the red bar was at the top it would be 100% speed and so forth :P .

There is an option on the GUI setting to have the message bord tabs on the left or right side of the message bord.

I know the height bar and height box display the same information , it is just that the height bar loks good with the aim box , i just thought a height box would fit in tith the circle better.
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Post by Grace F »

PETER wrote:Well I would have thought it would have been obvios that if the red bar was at the top it would be 100% speed and so forth :P
100%? What speed is that? Some servers have different speeds, some are 20-30 and others can be up to 70-100. So 100%.....ok you're going the fastest you can for that server. So yea :P Perhaps some measurements on the side will help.
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Post by BinarySpike »

1. if all players had this then it wouldn't be a cheat now would it Jeff? It's usefulness only takes away from skill. I don't like it.

2. I would use circular aim over square aim any day.

3. The height should warp "around" the circle, also should the compass.

4. This is useless for keyboard users, as it would "hop" from the bottom to the top. Except of course if there was very little friction.


About circular aim. I am very tired of square aim. I mean it's ok, but it totally is horrible looking. That's the first thing all my friends ask about when I start up bzflag... other than "How can a tank jump?!?"

Also it would improve my aim on lasermania... that's all I'm worried about... :lol:
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Re: Ideas for optional GUI features.

Post by ducktape »

PETER wrote:
#1 Is a small red circle , this is a `danger spot` , it would change between the colors red to white , white indicates that the are no shots around you , when it is white there are no shots within ten units (standard BZFlag units) , and when it goes red this indicates that you are very close to receiving a direct hit from a shot. The changing process blends into each tone as it changes. This would have a variable of what radius it would consider dangerous and not dangerous.
what not just use your radar?
PETER wrote:
#2 Is a circular aim instead of spuare aim, some might find this easyer for aiming , this would have a variable of which you wanted to have , a square or circle aim.

#3 Is a box next to the circular aim , this displays the height of which the tank is at , this would have no variable other than on , or off (off being not displayed) , but you would be able to view the other version of the the height display if you set your aim to square.
A destroyer has already made something like this: http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p ... ght=#98209

it sounds kinnda like a waste of time to me. i mean a speed bar? why would u need that for jumping. if its your favorite spot I'm sure u can nail it just fine

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Post by hlfmnhlfamazing »

#1 Is a small red circle , this is a `danger spot`
I don't think i'd use it, but I could see it's usefulness for those who wanted to turn it on.
#2 Is a circular aim instead of spuare aim
I think this is a fantastic idea. I'm sure the devs will want the square to be default, but an option for a circle aim would be really nice.

I would honestly like to turn it completely off. Not everybody needs aim.
#3 Is a box next to the circular aim , this displays the height of which the tank is at
Seems redundant to me.
#4 Is the box with the number 38 in it , this would display the tanks speed
Given that the tanks only move at two speeds, fast or slow(hit the a button) this isn't really necessary except in maps that have a permanent momentum setting.

Or, unless you're playing with one of those game controllers that has a gas pedal. Wouldn't that make bzflag fun! Variable speed tanks! But will those even work with BZ? Hmmmmm.........
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Post by Peter »

Erm , I dont know how to tell you this , but tanks can go at any sped from 100% to 0% (motion-less) of the allowd speed on that map.
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Post by joevano »

PETER wrote:Erm , I dont know how to tell you this , but tanks can go at any sped from 100% to 0% (motion-less) of the allowd speed on that map.
not if they are playing with the keyboard...
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Post by Peter »

Well duh :P
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Post by A Vicious Muffin »

PETER wrote:Well duh :P
Very good answer.... :roll:

#1. Why not use the radar? And if you were either on a no-radar map, had jamming, or for some reason turned it off, would it really help you? You would know they were close, but you wouldn't know where, which is more important.

#2. I think an option might be good, but in my opinion, it would be harder to aim because instead of general areas where you can place your mouse to make you stop and turn, these ares would become more precise and make it tougher to do these things.

#3. We already have that next to your cross hair (I don't really know what to call this). Okay, I'll admit that it might be useful if you are sitting too far away from your computer or have bad eyesight, but what would happen when the height gets too high?

#4. Some people do use the keyboard, and it would be utterly useless to them. Unless you can think of something to respond to that, that is fact. I don't even care how fast I'm going, because usually I'm going as fast as possible, only slowing down when I'm being shot at, when I dodge.

Good ideas, but I already like the way BZFlag is right now.
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Post by Peter »

Okay , I just meant for them to be optional features , so some might use them some might not , in the same way that some use radar and some don't , some use a big mouse box , some use small , some use keyboard some use mouse. You get my point , different minds different settings.
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Post by A Vicious Muffin »

But the problem is, one of them is considered a cheat, to Jeff, and it is to me too. Not a very good one, but a cheat all the same. And the other ones, excluding the circular aim, are useless to most players, as I explained in my previous response(ie; We already have them or we wouldn't need them).

The only fairly good idea in my opinion is the circular aim, which I don't particularly like, but if players want it, there should be an option for it. The problem is, someone's already done this.
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Post by Peter »

That is your opinion , some might like the other ideas.

Also why would the "danger spot" be a cheat? Obviously it would have no effect with IB.
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Post by A Meteorite »

PETER wrote:That is your opinion , some might like the other ideas.
Jeff's and the other devs' opinions is what goes. Some things just won't happen and they won't happen for certain reasons.
PETER wrote:Also why would the "danger spot" be a cheat?
Because it takes away most skill needed to dodge and otherwise play. If everyone knew when they're going to get hit, playing would be quite pointless indeed.
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Post by Peter »

I know jeff's and the other dev's opinions is what goes , and they probably said no for a good reson. Oh well , back to map making.
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