[Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Screen"

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[Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Screen"

Post by Bad Player »

Demonstration. (Examine stuff, look at how much nicer the pretty office is.)

Basically, scrap the bars at the top/bottom of the "bottom screen" when examining an area/pointing out a contradiction in a photo. The problem is that for the normal bottom screen those bars are included in the 192 px height, but get excluded when examining, resulting in a bottom screen that is higher than 192 px. The magically-expanding bottom screen is distracting and ugly, especially since it causes the bottom screen to stretch beyond the "boundaries" of the player. The bars at the top/bottom of the bottom screen are also a different size from when you have the regular text-advancement box compared to when you're examining stuff, which just makes it even wonkier.
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Reecer6 »

I have to agree it looks nicer when the buttons are on top of the image, but the thing about that is that a lot of trials have been made assuming everyone will always be able to click on all of the screen. These buttons may cover up things you're meant to click on, or at least make it harder.
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Bad Player »

I have no idea what you're talking about. What "buttons"? The only thing covering the image would be the back button (which it already partially covers), and I can't think of any trials where that would be a problem.

EDIT: Okay, now I see it. The demonstration is not what it should actually look like. The bars should be completely deleted, not overlaid on the image. This is just a mock-up to show the idea that making the bottom screen a constant size is more visually appealing than having it constantly stretch and shrink. (There's no way to make a demonstration in-editor of what it'd look like without the bars. The only way would be a mock-up screenshot, but... meh.)
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Reecer6 »

Sorry if I misunderstood what you meant; I kind of didn't read into it very far and also really haven't paid attention to how examination in the player looks, so I just kind of assumed I did understand it. :/
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Unas »

I see your point, but I agree with Reecer6.
Since times immemorial, meaning since V1, the "point an area on a picture" action allowed specifying clickable areas everywhere on the picture, I certainly can't change that. It would be a major breaking of functionality.
Consider that having the full picture displayed with nothing over it is a non-negotiatable prerequisite : hiding any part of the picture is breaking the contract with the editor which allows you to set any area as clickable.

(In fact, it's true that currently the button takes something like 3px on the picture, which it probably shouldn't and I may fix - but it's unlikely that someone would make a clickable object only 3px high. Displaying the whole button over the picture, as you suggest, would however take up 22 pixels. That's far more likely to contain a clickable area.)

Now, we have two facts :
- The whole picture must be visible and clickable
- Some buttons need to be displayed along with it (currently only the back button)
This limits the options a little.

I'm open to discussions to improve the layout of course : if you believe that the buttons should be displayed on the side of the screen instead, why not. Or if they should be displayed between the two screens, maybe. Or they should be displayed over the screen, but hide themselves somehow when the player tries to examine what's beneath : great, but how to determine whether the user is trying to examine or to click the button ?

The question is much more complex than you seem to think ;-)
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Bad Player »

Then just put a small back button to the left or right below the screen. Heck, maybe it could go between the two screens or something. It'd still look nicer than having the bottom screen extend beyond the "boundaries" of the player.
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Calvinball »

It does look a bit funky. The best looking idea to me would be putting it to the right or something, so that way it fits within the "boundaries" of the player, though I have no idea what kind of programming tricks Unas would have to pull to change that part of the UI now that V6 is already released.
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by TheDoctor »

Or, you could simply expand the lower screen entirely. You would have extra empty space during dialogue, but it wouldn't look quite so awkward during investigation.
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Unas »

Okay, I'll experiment with putting the button on the side and other possibilities :)
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Bad Player »

TheDoctor wrote:Or, you could simply expand the lower screen entirely. You would have extra empty space during dialogue, but it wouldn't look quite so awkward during investigation.
This is possible, but Unas (or someone) would need to redo all the bottom screen graphics to make them bigger, expand the layout of the player itself, and it'd cause the bottom screen to permanently be bigger than the top screen. Removing the bars when examining and moving the back button out of the way just seems a bit easier to me.
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Ferdielance »

I should note that many of my engines and games rely on the possibility of a gigantic bottom screen. Part of the niceness of AAO is that you're not 100% restricted to AA format, and you can get some remarkable effects with judicious use of the extra real estate in evidence and the "touchscreen." Moving the buttons PROBABLY won't break this, but I just want to enjoin Unas to please remember the use case where the image is big!

Which, of course, can never be expected to look entirely nice, but currently works quite well...
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by Unas »

Of course, Being able to set any image and see it entirely is part of the "contract" with the editor I mentioned above, I won't change that.

I'm willing to improve the display for standard-size pictures, but not at the cost of breaking the display for everything else ;-)
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Re: [Feedback][P] Scrap the Magically-Expanding "Bottom Scre

Post by E.D.Revolution »

...or you could set your pic to be 162 px high. That'd solve that problem. -_-

If you do care about authenticity, you would realize the top and bottom 15 pixels are not used in examining a pic. If you do not care about authenticity, then there isn't much I can suggest here. It does look funky, but there isn't much I can offer to this problem that hasn't already been suggested.
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