Other Curiosities when watching a replay or observing a game, clicking on the image placeholder in the production tab will automatically center the camera on that area specifically. Stage one training has a build order feature that is directly lifted form YABOT.
I don't know why you call that "Curiosities", it's just extra features. 1) The real curiosity is that if you click on something that's already on your screen, it doesn't move the camera at all ( it doesn't center on the unit/building). Probably a concern about the smoothness of observer cam for esports broadcasts. 2) It's the other way around, YABOT copied the beginner training missions in WoL. 2.0.4's challenges have exactly the same UI, same sounds and types of objective. Consistently enough.
1). If you've activated the "Follow Unit (Ctrl-Shift-F)" function during game-play or observation, everything you click on until you move your camera is centered and followed. The reason why clicking on objects when you're not following them doesn't center your screen is because if you have over 10 APM it would be a total mindfuck.
I was obviously talking about replays, not about when you actually play (who uses the follow mode while playing :D). You might want to take a look at the new feature in HotS and 2.0.4. You can now click on things in the production or unit tab and the camera is instantly centered on that thing. Not a mindfuck at all, but a weird behavior if you click on things that are on the same screen. Why not center every time you click (in an item in the production tab, not on anything in the game), was my question.
2). YABOT was far more comprehensive than anything used before it in SC2 challenges or tutorials. YABOT also took into account the metagame and was updated accordingly. Basically, Blizzard put a custom map-maker out of business and probably won't give them any credit. Granted, there probably isn't any money on the line for the custom map maker. [...]
Unless I'm mistaken, the mini-challenges from Blizzard are intended for beginners. No practice and no metagame here. OP was just talking about the UI design I think, not about the features. The day hasn't come that I will stop using YABOT for practicing builds, I can tell you that :D
Regarding the first one, does it just center on the object (off-screen object) or does it select it?
Let's say I'm observing a zerg making 60 Zerglings from 5 hatcheries, and I click on the zergling (60) button on the production tab. One of the 5 hatcheries is on-screen. What happens to the camera? Does anything happen to my selection if I have, say, a queen selected?
Other Curiosities when watching a replay or observing a game, clicking on the image placeholder in the production tab will automatically center the camera on that area specifically. Stage one training has a build order feature that is directly lifted form YABOT.
I don't know why you call that "Curiosities", it's just extra features. 1) The real curiosity is that if you click on something that's already on your screen, it doesn't move the camera at all ( it doesn't center on the unit/building). Probably a concern about the smoothness of observer cam for esports broadcasts. 2) It's the other way around, YABOT copied the beginner training missions in WoL. 2.0.4's challenges have exactly the same UI, same sounds and types of objective. Consistently enough.
1). If you've activated the "Follow Unit (Ctrl-Shift-F)" function during game-play or observation, everything you click on until you move your camera is centered and followed. The reason why clicking on objects when you're not following them doesn't center your screen is because if you have over 10 APM it would be a total mindfuck.
I was obviously talking about replays, not about when you actually play (who uses the follow mode while playing :D). You might want to take a look at the new feature in HotS and 2.0.4. You can now click on things in the production or unit tab and the camera is instantly centered on that thing. Not a mindfuck at all, but a weird behavior if you click on things that are on the same screen. Why not center every time you click (in an item in the production tab, not on anything in the game), was my question.
2). YABOT was far more comprehensive than anything used before it in SC2 challenges or tutorials. YABOT also took into account the metagame and was updated accordingly. Basically, Blizzard put a custom map-maker out of business and probably won't give them any credit. Granted, there probably isn't any money on the line for the custom map maker. [...]
Unless I'm mistaken, the mini-challenges from Blizzard are intended for beginners. No practice and no metagame here. OP was just talking about the UI design I think, not about the features. The day hasn't come that I will stop using YABOT for practicing builds, I can tell you that :D
Regarding the first one, does it just center on the object (off-screen object) or does it select it?
Let's say I'm observing a zerg making 60 Zerglings from 5 hatcheries, and I click on the zergling (60) button on the production tab. One of the 5 hatcheries is on-screen. What happens to the camera? Does anything happen to my selection if I have, say, a queen selected?
I can't check myself right now, but I seem to remember that it does select what you clicked on. And in this video it does too:
You've put a lot of effort in it, but this just seems so very much nitpicky to me... From my experience the new interface works really great. How you can call it 'not designed for pc' is really beyond me. Skyrim's interface is not made for pc, you should try that one... This one most definitely is and it works great with a mouse. Not once did I get lost in the UI. This update is so much better than the old 1.5.
On February 22 2013 01:42 maartendq wrote: I sometimes believe I'm the only one here who has never had a problem with B.net 2.0's interface from the beginning. It perfectly allowed me to do what I wanted it to do: play starcraft 2 and chat with friends.
At least we're two... But better be quiet about it.
Three, but dont let anyone know we are happy and excited.....
On February 22 2013 03:09 Hylirion wrote: You've put a lot of effort in it, but this just seems so very much nitpicky to me... From my experience the new interface works really great. How you can call it 'not designed for pc' is really beyond me. Skyrim's interface is not made for pc, you should try that one... This one most definitely is and it works great with a mouse. Not once did I get lost in the UI. This update is so much better than the old 1.5.
Oh man, I didn't even think about that. The new B.net is way better than Skyrim's interface. Or Borderlands one, which had the worst menus ever.
On February 22 2013 03:09 Hylirion wrote: You've put a lot of effort in it, but this just seems so very much nitpicky to me... From my experience the new interface works really great. How you can call it 'not designed for pc' is really beyond me. Skyrim's interface is not made for pc, you should try that one... This one most definitely is and it works great with a mouse. Not once did I get lost in the UI. This update is so much better than the old 1.5.
Oh man, I didn't even think about that. The new B.net is way better than Skyrim's interface. Or Borderlands one, which had the worst menus ever.
Oh why would you remind us about Borderlands interface. I honestly think Skyrim's interface was worse though. As far as lack of sense, it tops the recent list.
I think some of your complaints/points are completely non-issues.
As mentioned, the dice is a 2-point perspective, with the points being relatively close obviously.
Copy link seems more or less clear and intuitive and works as intended. If you paste it anywhere on battle.net (at least Starcraft 2 battle.net), anyone who clicks on it will be taken to that page.
The race icon changes are great. I could see swapping terran and random's colors though, or at least making terran gray or white. The new icons are so much easier to distinguish at a glance because of the different colors. I have no idea what you're talking about with the reference to a race's color scheme, aside from maybe terran. Protoss are mostly yellow, and zerg are mostly purple; those colors are perfectly suitable.
That said, I agree that game developers in general don't work on useability, accessibility, or efficiency enough on PC games. So many things make little-to-no use of keyboard shortcuts, and even when there is, there's oftentimes critical shortcuts missing that make it less useful. One of my biggest peeves is the the scenario where text size is not scalable, either at all, or enough. I guess Starcraft 2 is a big offender for this.
The biggest thing I hate about battle.net for Starcraft 2 is the engine used for the UI. As far as I know, the UI engine is essentially a modified [Adobe] Flash. I guess it make's someone's job easier by using it, but aside from the main downside, I'm sure it has some other really nasty downsides as well. The main downside I notice is that it uses a buttload of CPU processing power. I get more CPU usage out-of-game (near the start of the game) than in-game, which is ridiculous. If you have a slower computer (like minimum spec for running SC2) this is particularly noticeable, and really unacceptable in my opinion. Why the hell should a game perform faster and more efficiently than it's out-of-game UI?
AOL chatrooms were very popular but there was the scandal with pedophiles grooming children in it. Blizzard is probably being very careful about implementing chat features to ward off potential scandals themselves; especially considering the gaming population is overwhelmingly below the legal age.
On February 21 2013 06:02 derpface wrote: I bet your rl job is a auditor...
actually, I'm a contemporary classical composer.
If you ever wondered if there was interest Ina blog about your compositions, there is! From me. Haha. You should totally do a series on a piece you're writing. If you're not too busy that is.
AWESOME. Can I add two more? 1: The Victory sound is not affected by volume. I have my volume at 20% for casting and still this sound is REALLY loud. 2: The client doesn't remember which channels or groups I was in last time (that is, I had opened), so every time I log in I have to type the channels' names and for groups go to the groups menu and look for each one individually. I know featured groups are featured, but should they really be that much more accessible than my own clan, even when I'm not a part of them?
I found a little thing I figured I should post here?
When in profile/rewards/animations, there's a little question mark help thing at the top. When you mouse over it it tells you how to execute the unit animation, but it says "enter" no matter what your chat hotkey is set to. This is different from most the tips and things where it shows your specific key in a light blue/teal color.
On February 22 2013 15:28 plogamer wrote: AOL chatrooms were very popular but there was the scandal with pedophiles grooming children in it. Blizzard is probably being very careful about implementing chat features to ward off potential scandals themselves; especially considering the gaming population is overwhelmingly below the legal age.
hahahaha this actually reminded me of an experience from Broodwar.
I was playing a public game vs. AI and my ally starts a discussion relating to working out, bodybuilding, etc. which was benign enough at first (especially considering my screen name), but then he started to get a little weird, asking me what I wear to the gym, which definitely raised some eyebrows.
He then asks me if there is anything private I want to tell him, that I can tell him anything, even something that I would be afraid to tell other people. Puzzled, I declined his offer, at which point he then fantasized in alarming detail about how he would like to give me a backrub with scented oil. At this point I promptly left the game lol
You are right, there are definitely some weirdo pervs out there, even on Battle.net so it makes sense that Blizzard would see this as a potential liability, which is unfortunate because an easily accessible, social community adds so much to the game.