The definitive GalCiv 2 feedback thread

It's good. It's very good.

from GalCiv2 Forums
Let me start by saying WOHOO. This game is going to so rock. Even if you just took GalCiv 1's game features and stuffed them in here you'd have the best 4X strategy game EVER.

Is anyone else finding themselves holding down the mouse button to rotate the map and zoom in a lot? I just love looking at the planets and the new planet system has so much more potential.

I'm going to ignore the detail bug stuff like the fact that tiles with special itemsin them don't tell you what they are and go with more general stuff.

#1 The Interface. I want to be able to access the main screen buttons from any window. I like the planet screen and research screen being full screen but I don't like losing the turn button and empire info. So if that means they have to be dialogs again then so be it. But I always want to have access to at least the turn button and my empire $$$ and population and the like.

#2 The Interface part deux. I like how pretty the main UI is but it covers up too much of the map. I am running the game at 1280x1024 which helps but I still don't like how much of the game area is covered by the interface.

#3 The strategic map, the one where you zoom out the most, has huge potential to let GalCiv 2 appeal to a whole different kind of gamer. You need to make sure mode is completely playable. Show battles, make waypoints more clear, etc.

#4 With variable borders, can we hear a definitive ruling on how borders and culture and such are going to work?

#5 Crisper thumbnails. Please show thumbnails in top down view so we can see how they're going to look on the map.

Overall I am really surprised at how much better this game is over the first one since I thought the first one is so good. I am also surprised at how FAST!!! the game is, even on my "old" P4-1.2ghz setup. It's way faster than the first one.

I am excited to see how things progress.
6,004 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Add my voice for a smaller "main UI".

As to speed, yes it is very fast now, but be aware that when the missing features are added they will take a toll on the game's speed. (It did during the GC1 beta, too.)
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
How about like MOO3, with the interface being nested, so it only expands open with a click if you want to see it (to several levels)?

I was thinking that the 'radial menu' that a lot of RPGs use (like Neverwinter Nights) would be a more intuitive control menu.
Just point to things on the map and call up the radial menu for a choice of related menus. FYI, it's just a circle of linked options that pops up with context-sensitve menu icons where/what you click on.

I think having to memorize 'right click on the ship does this' , 'left click on it does that' works against seemless play.



Along the interface, I'm thinking that although it's much spiffier-looking, it's a little bland and busy. Probably it will need some special effects----e.g. 'holographic' media events on the map.
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Radial Menus and Nested Menus are very tricky to implement. NWNs menu system was generally poorly received as you couldn't get to what you needed quickly or easily (not to mention the high-light targets were too small to hit if your mouse was moving at any speed).

Nested menus (ala MoO3) are often too hard to find. I'm sure there were settings and options I never found in that game because it was in some nested menu that wasn't clearly marked as such or was lost amid a wash of other buttons and menus.

Having separate screens for different items makes it easier to keep track of (unless you get into the million screens problem some games do) for the average player. You want to get the information to the user in as few clicks as possible. In web pages I believe the general rule is you shouldn't have to click more than 3 times to get to any piece of information. The same should be true of games. The UI should facilitate quick and easy access to game features, not hide them away... especially in TBS games which are already rather complex.

I do want to second the idea though of a few persistent menus across all screens. Essentially those main buttons at the top of the main UI (Research, Shipyard, Diplomacy, Domestic Management etc...) should be persistent in some form across all menus.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

We will be addressing most of those issues.

As for #4, culture and borders will be determined by the zone of control as shown by the lines on the main map.  I believe that when someone else's ZOC expands to include one of your planets you'll get a warning before it culture flips, like in GC1.