OpenXcom Forum
OpenXcom => Suggestions => Topic started by: luke83 on September 17, 2013, 02:09:18 pm
-
Been thinking about some Solider status icons for some time after discussions with Daiky and others, the intent for these was for FOXC but i would also like them in OXC.
Bee playing around with some idea, obviously i need them relatively small and i think it would be best if they fade away after a few seconds to avoid getting in peoples way but still wanted to show some basic ideas.
Initially , this leads to more player feedback if solider is suffering Burn or Exhausted. Also i cant be the only person to waste TU's telling a unit to duck when they already where, there a Icon for that :P Eventually i am alsothinking Spell effects on units :P
Easiest solution would be to borrow the ones done from Baulders Gate but i am trying to resist that temptation :P Here is 3 of my first concepts, feedback on this is requested as i know its not as pretty as we would like ::).
-
just some other randoms ;)
also a alternative placement of these, you could have these displayed in the top status bar. ( i think this is the best option)
14x14 version added , i think i like the Top box idea the best :)
I invite anyone to draw some of there own, they dont need to be anything in particular, thats how i ended up with a man waving from behind a wall :P
-
These are actually a good idea!
Ones that could be used in XCOM vanilla:
Psi Control -- appears when the unit has been successfully psi attacked by the aliens during the mission, it doesn't go away, making it easy to remember who is a liability.
Panicking -- shows up when the unit has panicked and goes away a turn or two later.
EDIT:
Wounded -- shows up when the unit has a fatal untreated wound.
-
Well i do think its a good idea , even if my ART is not the best, tonight i did a few more whilst watching a movie.
-
Quick mockup of a OXC status bar with status Icons displayed
-
Just wanted to post a possible OXC version
-
I think it would be more streamlined if the icons were shown somewhere on the bottom interface bar, preferably on the rank picture.
Having said that, I would absolutely love to see which of my soldiers are critically wounded without entering their stats screen. Sometime you can even miss the fact that someone's bleeding to death.
-
Something like the X-Com Apocalypse status icons maybe, floating above heads.
-
Hmm i was thinking maybe a cliche heart beat on fatal wounds on selection of that soldier.
-
Nah, no icons-over-heads, it obscures the battlefield and looks VERY last decade. Upper bar or left-sided bar seems a good solution. Just make them graphically similar to the "aliens seen" icons.
-
I liked the idea (that came up somewhere to use the recoloring-routine to red-flash the body part with the fatal wound.
but yeah, left-side-of-screen icons for "own units that need attention" make very much sense.
-
but yeah, left-side-of-screen icons for "own units that need attention" make very much sense.
like this? https://imgur.com/zQ3mwwN,vYy1Jvw shows 1 wounded one controlled one stunned and two dead soldier
-
yeah, although I'd rather not see as many colors :) it's a bit too much angry fruit salad ;)
-
since warboy introduced the moddable interface i made the colors of the boxes moddable
but my codechange only exists on my harddisk
-
Yeah it's too much of disco there :) Status icons should be visible but not obtrusive (except maybe for fatal wound icon, I wouldn't mind if it was flashing all the time, it informs of a mortal danger after all - as long as it was only shown when clicked on the wounded soldier).
-
No flashing please. :)
-
yes there is a "disable icon animation"-option in my gui changes for a reason :)
-
So is this getting close to a possibility?
-
Interesting... ;) I think this addition will be very useful, especially for newbie players.
-
Y'know, I think I would like this!
Just my two cents: Making the status things on the left screen is a sweet idea, I just wonder if they will be Icons instead of Numbers, so we do not have the need for Rainbow Madness on the battlefield. Although if people prefer numbers, we can always have both (I think they will fit)!
Which brings me to my next idea: The Seen Enemy buttons should also have Icons depicting the unit type. I sometimes have trouble seeing what the heck an alien in a pitch black area is, so this should be useful if I'm firing in the dark and hitting either a Sectoid or a Cyberdisk but not sure which.
-
icons?
the number is like 9 pixel high thats not much space for any icon
i work with (non animated) colors and quite like it
for aliens i have 4 different colors
- real alien the current unit can see
- real alien the some other unit can see
- psi controlled soldier the current unit can see
- psi controlled soldier the some other unit can see
the "some other unit can see" boxes are great for the psi/mind probe squad in the back of the skyranger
adding special 4tile big alien (chrysdalid/celatid != big) icons
- real big-alien the current unit can see
- real big-alien the some other unit can see
is not a technical problem but i never needed that functionality
-
It's 9x13, to be exact. I sort of think otherwise...
I have made a quick mockup of four sprites that have the same dimensions of the number box, a Cyberdisc, a Snakeman, an Ethereal and a Muton.
The first attachment shows the icons as their original format. Yes, you are right, it is not much space to work with and it ends up being small. But it seems, at least to me, the windowed mode has doubled the pixel size, effectively making it look something like what I have in the Second attachment.
Keep in mind however that some people play OXC Fullscreen, and sometimes they have stretched the viewscreen to fit. That effectively makes those number boxes even bigger than before, so I think, even though it is somewhat limiting in pixel art, you will definitely tell which alien is which in those number boxes. You could even pair that with your current mechanic of "Current soldier sees alien vs Other soldier sees alien!"
Granted, there are also modded alien races, and since OXC doesn't recognize them as vanilla, they won't have a corresponding "detected" icon, so that would be when the numbers come back. Of course these icons could be added as extraSprites in a newly made ICON.PCK folder or something via Ruleset.
The Implementation may require a bit of graphical work, but the coding part seems somewhat easy (at least to me, anyway).
-
the icons do not scale with the resolution
you can see more (with the option enabled) like this https://imgur.com/WSGPfLn
you are correct that the size is doubled in regard to the source image but its still 9 pixel high even if the resulting icon box is 18 pixel
but i am not opposed to icons
coding c++ for a "moving target" (tftd) is not the highest priority for me at the moment but i keep the idea in mind
-
Well, honest mistake.
But hey, at least you can consider it!
-
Nevah. Modder-unfriendly. If you replace the aliens, you'd need new icons, besides, I fail to see the point of "alien ID" icons. You can see WHAT alien it is on the main screen, rite?
-
You can see WHAT alien it is on the main screen, rite?
Not if it is above you on a grav-lift and the spaces there are blacked out.
Also, what if it was a psi-controlled soldier instead? Would you rather prefer Falko's Rainbow madness method instead and risk possibly hurting your eyes?
-
lol
yeah i created the rainbow madness image to show all possibilities
1. how often have you huge amounts of mindcontrolled soldiers?
2. the color is moddable (you can set it to same as normal alien and see no difference)
3. the animation/blink is by default off
-
Not if it is above you on a grav-lift and the spaces there are blacked out.
Also, what if it was a psi-controlled soldier instead? Would you rather prefer Falko's Rainbow madness method instead and risk possibly hurting your eyes?
If you can't see, then you can't see, wouldn't the icon be a cheat? :)
I'm not a big fan of crazy mind-controlled icons, a different colored background to a normal "enemy spotted" icon would suffice to differ aliens from your own. The only icon I want bad, and want flashing is fatal wounds icon. :)
-
Any flashing icons, for any reason, will be considered an act of war. :P
-
Holy sheep, there should be options for these things!
- Which Icons to show?
- Flashing on?
- Color-coding on?
- etc etc.
Might be a tad harder to code, but I think it makes everyone happy.
-
- Which Icons to show?
hm how about numbercolor=backgroundcolor=>hide
- Flashing on?
there is a option di disable all animation - the animation is no different to the current oxc- alien boxanimation
- Color-coding on?
colors are modable so no problem