Wow, how oppositive....so much energy here to allow any changes at all.
But fine, since there is at least one person, that asked why.
Here is a short explanation:
First of all sorry for the use of "me" and "you". "You" means developers. I like this personalized dialog style.
Ok, the menu is RUSSIAN. Dunno why, perhaps because i have a russian keyboard layout.. no option to change the language in the settings in game. MS style, I understand.
Sorry also if the pictures I provided look like crap,.. i am kinda customizing the OS for Litestep now, so I use old paint.
And yeah, please do not stand on the side of an error if you wish for the error to be corrected. The Good and The Better are enemies, as people say. If somebody else flames, I wont answer them at all, cause I didn't post the first post to make people angry, I posted it to make things better... If they are good for you, live with it.
And last but not least, I am talking about experience and feel here, not about designing rules. In design, rules are based on feel anyway, and experience IS personal. If its so, you better listen to those who see it at first time, since they didn't GET USED to it.
The best environiment should be invisible,seamlessly integrated to the user, with no obstacles, only what cant be avoided, should interfere , to be overcomed and learned. Its all about problems and solutions to become better. We are talking about efficiency here, and although overcoming the obstacles gives power, this power is present only to overcome the obstacles; and if such power is not transferable on other things, its a WASTE.
Example 1: Linux now - its intuitive and efficient. Read mail - several of clicks, customizing kernel configuration - several hours. If you wish to do more complex things, you got to overcome that NEEDED complexity. But there are no meaningless things.
Example 2: Just try to read a e-mail in DOS.
Now back to the subj.:
0. The decorative objects are quite huge, yet this screen is an action screen, unlike "Ufopedia". Tell me, why we don't use 320X200 screens now? Why is the HDTV coming? To see the details, to see more AND better. Still the screen looks same at 1280x1024, as it looks at 800x600.
Look at THIS site at 320x200 and at 1280x1024. The decoratives will go down in size(quantity) or up in details(quality), depending on their goals.
The other question is if designer really wanted to add this details...., or he just didn't know that.
1. The task grouping isn't ergonomic. Why such a big status bar and what do mails have in common with time? Time, money and settings belong to different levels.
2. Just answer a simple question.... what do this buttons forget there?
I discovered them when I was trying to concentrate on the screen, thinking "that cannot be, they couldn't cut what a player needs, to manage bases and PR". And then - eurica! :=) No intuition here, only mustering.
3. The last but not least... are you aware that there is a conflict INSIDE the interface. Status covers part of the map. Why not to make it dissapear if unneeded or move it somewhere else.
Personaly, I see only better graphics, because of the Q2 engine, more items and cool music, but the price of 250Megs is definately too high for this.
Other bugs:
- Some screens (Item view in UFOpedia, text scrolling screen) make 100% CPU load on Athlon3200+ and GF6800! Definately a bug.
- Russian translation seems to be made in "one pass" over night, translators brain overload with resulting errors, like misspelling, wrong text and text of one button covering several neighbor buttons included.
Well, thats a picture of XCOM 1, made 2 minutes ago:
Copying is not an option, but study how "LOOK" and "ACTION" planes are nicely seperated; how "meaning" meets "good look".
Of course, thats not perfect. Nothing is perfect, but there are indeed many things to learn from.
Again, sorry if my way of talking is making you aggressive, you copy me wrong.
Thats not all, but we can talk(work) further if you, guys, appreciate this way.
BTW the music is just GREAT.