Font size, and playing on a TV from a couch
StarControl Forums
I know this is blasphemy to many, but I play most PC games on my TV from the comfort of my couch. I know I'm not the only one though, given the existence of Steam Big Picture Mode.
I play Ur Quan Masters this way as well Given that SC2 was ported to the 3DO originally, which is the version UQM was based on, and the small size of monitors back then, its not surprising that UQM's text is large enough to read this way. UQM was even ported to the Wii and worked great!
I would really, really like to be able to play SC:O this way as well! My biggest concern with that is the font size - many, MANY modern games, even ones ported to a home console, have a tiny font with no option to make it bigger and more readable, making them un-playable in a typical TV/couch setup. This is because during development, the game is being created on monitors that are few feet from the devs' faces, and even when they check the game out on a TV for a presentation or something, its on a giant high-end TV so it looks its best. Well, some of us not only prefer to play from the comfort of our couch, but also can't afford (or just don't prefer) a giant wall-sized TV. The text ought to be readable on an average-sized TV (around 42 inches last I checked) at average viewing distance (8-10 feet), at least as an option.
I know it may seem very early in development to comment on this, but as a game dev myself I have seen all too often the trap that prevents making readable text for comfortable distance playing - the UI ends up finalized before the game is ever looked at on a normal TV at normal distance, and if and when its discovered the text is too small, its not possible to add an option to make it bigger because the text won't fit within certain UI elements if its made any larger.
I also point this out because I know Stardock is mostly known for 4X-style games where its pretty much required to be on a monitor+mouse+keyboard anyway, so the devs might not be used to worrying if the font is large enough, but Star Control is more of an action/adventure series that isn't so complex and ought to be playable like a console game. Speaking of, keeping this in mind early on will make porting the game to a console later much easier as well, giving the game a wider audience!
EDIT: I also originally asked about Gamepad support, but see in an another thread that it will be included anyway so, nevermind..., though I wondered how that would work when it was mentioned at one point earlier that Lander gun aiming was done via mouse...?
