Hello. After playing with the 2.6 version of the game, I really wanted to thank you for the many improvements of the game and its revamped graphical interface: the battlescape looks really great, and is more elegant and more practical; and the geoscape interface and base management are greatly improved once you get used to it. I also appreciate some gameplay changes, like the the higher stunning effect of smoke grenades, and the differents prices of items in the market (buying > selling).
Of course, there are still minor glitches, imho. Just a few examples for your information:
1) Interface
a) The earth image (bottom of the screen) is nice, but prevents a correct reading of UFOpedia descriptions: too bright, really; better remove this background image when you have to read something (or remove transparency).
b) The new interface seem to use a kind of layer that adds some "dark grain" or some "dark pitch" over the GUI (it's difficult to describe it). It is a nice touch to menus, buttons, borders, etc., but I don't like it when it covers the base buildings and the background image used when starting a mission.
2)Gameplay
a) I miss the menu tips (will they comme back? or will they be integrated somewhere else, like during loading times?).
b) In battlescape, I slightly miss the reservation to crouch soldiers.
3) Police and typography
a) I am not fond of the use of UPPER CAPS, even in menu; moreover some text areas are too short, and text doesn't display well. Example: (on my screen), the title "UFO:ALIEN INVASION", over the start menu, is not displayed well -> the last N is slightly truncated (and I prefer the typo : "UFO:Alien Invasion").
b) Moreover, when you change the langage of the game, diacritics are very reduced, and some specific typo disappears. Example : in french, the letters "é è à ù ç â ê î ô û" (and their uppercase counterparts...) often ressemble letters with a simple dot over it. And the the « an » signs are not displayed. Many other languages use diacritics because this is meaningful for them, and I fear that they could have the same problem.
Notes:
* I don't criticize the change of the police; shifting from the old police to a more readeable one is a good idea, really;
* maybe this problem occurs only because the size of the police is a bit too high.
c) Many text areas are really too short; I often corrected my recently submitted translation by using synonyms or shortening sentences, but it is sometimes impossible. For example, the connexion dialog use the word "password", translated into « Mot de passe » (no other solution). But the french version only displays « Mot de pas... »; or the "Coronas" translated into "Couronnes" is truncated).
I can post more detailled descriptions of theses small issues in the bug tracker if you want. As I assume you noticed many of these points by yourselves, and I know that the v2.6 is work in progress that just need time. just tell me which one retain your attention. Thank you.