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Since the launch of Alpha 6 we have been working primarily on the long-needed interface overhaul, and today we are launching the first pack of changes. We had already added some minor changes in earlier updates, (like the new upgrade confirmation screen and information panel at the bottom of buildings), but today it is a complete overhaul of what is inside your town. So what exactly has been changed? - Build Menu - This is a long awaited change. Now it is more than just a build menu. It's also a convenient summary screen of all buildings you have in your town. It shows what is present and what is not, levels of buildings, their quantity, includes the ability to quickly locate a necessary building, and so one. Hopefully you will enjoy this. Now you will see why the building button has been moved to the right side.
- Minimap - Have you ever struggled to find lumber income buildings to upgrade them in the new town and instead clicked on stone or iron or food building first before locating the lumber? Well, not anymore. The new minimap helps distinguish one from the other. It may look overloaded at first, but you will get used to it and will find it quite helpful. It shows all the interesting stuff - idols, puzzles, monsters, chests, NPCs and so on. The minimap will also be bigger in the future, so those icons will be even more prominent.
- Buttons Style - Hopefully these are now more streamlined and noticeable, thus easier on the eyes.
- Building panels are gone - There are now brief details underneath the building, and control panel above a selected building, with a detailed info screen about the building when you click question mark button. The new design allows you to order units, upgrades, petroglyph tasks, and so on - with less clicks.
- Unit order screen - I have previewed the new unit order screen on twitter, but now you can actually try it. It allows you to order multiple units in one go.
- Upgrade order screen - This is similar to the unit order screen, but very helpful in showing which upgrade applies to what kind of units before you order it.
Keep in mind - while this is a whole lot of changes - this is far from what we actually plan to do. There is a world map screen which needs even more work, but even the town screen is only partially reworked. We will be adding further improvements as well. The update is rough and untested so make sure you report all bugs. Let us know what you think about these changes in the comments below.
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This post created by ignored player and thus hidden.
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The upgrade brings a lot of good things. Unit training is a lot easier and I like the new build menu. The town map is too busy. I agree with others - that it feels incredibly elementary. I can't see a reason to have so many little icons representing our resources. One would do. It would be nice if I could choose the icons I want to see and remove others. i.e. if I want to fish I can activate those icons, but if I am not interested I can remover them for the time being. I would like to see the excavation spot shovel icons disappear when the spot is depleted, and the conversation icon disappear where I can no longer speak to a character (those two characters that we speak to in order to obtain garden and forestry for instance). This does make some things incredibly easy, but there isn't really anything wrong with taking a few minutes and looking for stuff on my own :) If I can't find something, on build menu or in town, I can certainly click on a few items and find it. Hopefully we won't need any additional wording and/or direction in all of this. People comment that this game is not like original TTG. No - it's not. TTG made you think on your own. A few of the buttons are too bright - could tone down the color a bit. Otherwise .... it is all good. |
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This post created by ignored player and thus hidden.
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I like the new interface. The new features I like the most are - ordering upgrades for units - the new panel is intuitive and more efficient than it previously was
- showing monsters and chests on the minimap - now, at a glance, you can tell if your town has spawned a new chest/mob without the trawling back and forth. I find this is also handy in the dungeon-type monster dens, where at a glance you can quickly map your route to get rid of the monsters and be sure you have left none behind
- downgrading is now way more efficient - I found this particularly useful when my primitive stores went obsolete and a lot of downgrading was required
The only thing I don't like is the glaring almost plastic look of the new buttons - subtler would be better. |
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This post created by ignored player and thus hidden.
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The overhaul was well worth it!! so many things are so much easier now. I do have one suggestion (atm :)): when clicking on a building, it would be nice to know which units can be trained there and have a picture of the unit. At the moment I can build a dockyard in which I can build a cog ship, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it does. If I could see what it looks like, it would be a lot easier. For those playing this game for the first time, and those entering an age not played before, some basic info about the unit wouldn't go amiss: 
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This post created by ignored player and thus hidden.
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Tsunami makes an excellent point. Currently, the screen from which you order a weapon or armor upgrade displays the effect it will have on each different unit to which it can be applied--which is new and very useful. A similar display for a building that trains units would be what Tsunami is looking for, and that I also would appreciate. |
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