The backgrounds, the ships, the weapons fire, the red screen outline when something dangerous is happening - the whole game is suffused with glow and blown-out highlights. When systems are fully depowered, the system icon is almost invisible.Īll the interface problems are compounded by how "glowy" everything is. Again, the 3D effect is harming your ability to "scan" the game situation. Try counting how much spare reactor you have in Trigon vs. FTL does helpful things like flash up "no missiles" when you're out of ammo. I had missiles, did I need to load them into the weapon? I tried, but the interface feedback is poor. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't, and the only feedback was a vague "not working" sound effect. I also had problems using missile weapons. For a while I couldn't understand why enemy weapons were still firing after I thought I'd destroyed them. In Trigon, a damaged system is red and a destroyed system is. They even offer a colour-blind mode where additional icons are used to distinguish states like damaged vs. That "traffic light" system is intuitive and easy to see. In FTL, undamaged systems have a green icon, orange when damaged, and red when destroyed. Granted, that could sometimes be a disadvantage when I expect something to work like FTL and it doesn't but overall, I'm in a much better position to "get" the game than someone who hasn't played FTL.įor example, it's not obvious when you have destroyed an enemy system. I found many things baffling, and this is coming from someone who knows FTL inside out. It's tough to see at a glance how much power is in a system, for example. Instead, you have tiny icons and text, with poor contrast. Given that disadvantage, you really need to work extra-hard to create a clear interface. I can respect that, but it does mean you're already starting at a disadvantage in making your interface readable. This is a design decision driven by how you want the game to look. The isometric 3D viewpoint makes it fundamentally harder to "scan" the interface and understand what is happening. Trigon's is not, despite copying many design elements. Naturally I'm comparing it to FTL.įTL is a masterpiece of interface design its interface is highly readable and intuitive. The game in its current form has significant issues. It's interesting to see a new take on FTL, but overall I found it frustrating. Background: FTL is my favourite game, and I play it at the highest standard.
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