Re: [Freeciv-Dev] gameplay

[Daniel Burrows <Daniel_Burrows@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Feb 03, 1999 at 10:21:08PM +0100, Reinier Post was heard to say:

  [snip--try Xaw]

  Ok.  Got that message. :-)  I'll stay with GTK+ though and see how to
make it nicer.

> > * Notifications.  There are many times when Freeciv displays fairly 
> > important
> > messages in the info box at the bottom without much fanfare.  I'd like an
> > option to display various types of messages in a popup box so that I don't 
> > miss
> > them.
> 
> In the Xaw client, this is configurable.

  Ok.  It is in the GTK+ one also.  I just overlooked that menu option.  I think
that it should be made into a tab of the Options dialog, but that's a trivial
change that I can probably do myself.  I apologize.

> 
> > * Unit movement.  I had 'smooth movement' or some such item selected, but 
> > units
> > still simply disappeared from one square and appeared in another.
> 
> Not so in the Xaw client.

  I think the problem is that there is smooth movement but it's so fast that
it doesn't appear smooth.  When I run over a networked X connection (with
the Xaw client and I assume the GTK+ one) I do see sliding pieces.

  The Xaw client is not so bad an offender as the GTK+ one but both could use
a slightly slower sliding, maybe with faster sliding as an option. (I tried to
implement a delay with the GTK+ client and failed miserably. :-( )

> > * Players.  The flags for each country are cute, but it's much easier to
> > quickly recognize a solid color.  I found it difficult to distinguish 
> > between
> > the various players.
> 
> In the Xaw client, this is configurable.

  Bleah.  I must have been asleep when I looked at the Options menu in the
GTK+ client.  My fault entirely.

  Actually, it would be nice if there was a "generic flag" that would be
the same shape for all tiles but a different solid color.  (The reason I thought
of this is that some tilesets look much nicer with transparency on, but the
solid-colored background obviously eliminates any hope of transparency)

> > * Balance.  In 1500 BC (or thereabouts) musketeers were dropped outside
> > my cities.  This doesn't seem so good to me.
> 
> Balance of what?  I don't understand your complaint ...
|

  No complaint.  Ignore that rambling..

> > * City displays.  I'm not sure here, the pictograms in CivI/II were useful 
> > for
> > getting an at-a-glance image of a city's production, but the numbers are 
> > nice
> > too.  Maybe you should include both in the popup window?
> 
> I don't know.  I have no complaint about te Xaw client in this respect.

  Ok, this is a real thought. :-)  I don't really have a complaint, and I
apologize if I gave that impression (I see how I could have).  I think that the
current method is entirely adequate, but if it could be enhanced with a
CivI/II-style pictoral representation of food production, resource production,
etc, it would be even better.

> > * City List.  It's wonderful, but I noticed two problems: first, when you
> > Change what a city is building, it deselects the city.  I don't like thi
> > behavior since I might want to do several things in a row with a city.
> 
> Try the Xaw client.

  Same behavior.  I think this is probably trivial to fix also, but I could
be wrong..

> > Second,
> > clicking on Buy doesn't give you a confirmation dialog, so if you might not
> > have wanted to buy the item after seeing the cost, you don't get a choice.
> > (could you just call the city_buy_item routine?)
> 
> ?  No such problem in the Xaw client.

  Sorry, this time there is.  Of course, you can argue that it's Correct
Behavior (after all, the buy cost is in the window if you know where to look),
but I think that a confirmation dialog would be nice so I can change what I'm
doing at the last minute. :-)

> > * Science report.  Is that list at the bottom of the dialog a list of techs?
> 
> I don't know.  Try the Xaw client.
>  
> > * Aesthetics.  I think that a lot of things in the GTK+ client need to be
> > redesigned to be prettier.
> 
> Well, aesthetics is the one reason the GTK client was created, I suppose.
> But it's brand new.

  Yes.  I thought I'd mention it though.

> > * Client control of server.  This is a big architectural change, I assume,
> 
> Not really, if you're happy with a simple method.

  Yes.  Silly utterance on my part.

> >   Nothing is hopeless.
> 
> I see you've been using the GTK client :-)

  Yes, I have to keep telling myself this.. :-)

  Sorry if I gave the impression I was complaining.  I was pointing out some
things that seemed like missing features/bugs to me.  Obviously, some of them
weren't. :-)

--
  Daniel Burrows

  Nothing is hopeless.

  PROOF:
(a) Assume the opposite.
(b) If something _is_ hopeless, then its condition can only improve.
(c) If its condition can only improve, then there must be hope for it.
(d) Therefore, nothing is hopeless.  QED.

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