tc01
Honored Guest
Posts: 3
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Post by tc01 on Jun 23, 2012 14:56:00 GMT -5
Would it be at all possible for the Star Traders engine to be optimized a bit more for tablets?
While I love playing the game (and Cyber Knights and Templar assault as well!) on my phone, I would prefer to be able to use the larger screen of my faster Transformer Prime to play games, and especially in landscape mode there are a few jarring things.
The main thing is that buttons are set to take up half of the screen if possible (I think?), and so in some menus they look ridiculously big and stretched. If you want, I can take some screenshots to show what I mean.
Perhaps some layouts, like the main menu, could be made screen-size specific?
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Post by Cory Trese on Jun 23, 2012 15:36:24 GMT -5
Something I am always working on, yes.
Tablet support has come a long way in all the games but there is much left to do.
I am aware of most of the issues (we test on a 10 inch, 7 inch and 5.7 inch tablets.)
Dual Orientation games like ST can be a lot of work to enable for that many screen sizes.
I think that as we go along we'll continue to make progress!
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tc01
Honored Guest
Posts: 3
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Post by tc01 on Jun 23, 2012 17:11:04 GMT -5
Something I am always working on, yes. Tablet support has come a long way in all the games but there is much left to do. I am aware of most of the issues (we test on a 10 inch, 7 inch and 5.7 inch tablets.) Dual Orientation games like ST can be a lot of work to enable for that many screen sizes. I think that as we go along we'll continue to make progress! Glad to hear! Yeah, I've meddled with Android development just enough to realize how difficult supporting orientations + screen sizes can be. Good to know you're working on it.  |
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Post by mordechai on Jun 24, 2012 3:18:01 GMT -5
Tablet support has come a long way in all the games but there is much left to do. I haven't noticed any problems on my Nook, although there is room to make it even better. |
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Post by kayvon on Aug 15, 2012 11:57:48 GMT -5
I was about to post this same request. "No," thought I, "I'll take the time to see if someone else has posted it elsewhen."
Tablet optimizations would be a very welcome improvement. I'd even buy a separate tablet-optimized version because I love the game. This is related to my other strong suggestion about streamlining how many clicks are required to access information. Every time I land at a planet, I need to click through several screens to view the conflicts before I know I can safely trade. Accessing that information could be quicker and displaying the current conflicts could be cleaned up quite a bit, especially on a larger tablet display.
In fine, it would be nice to VIEW TRADE CONFLICTS FROM THE EXCHANGE screen.
(I understand these suggestions are incidental to the gameplay itself, which is already fantastic.)
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Post by grävling on Aug 15, 2012 12:06:11 GMT -5
I put in a request for 'colour code the items in your hold based on whether it would break any embargos if you sell them'. It's now ST-460. Will this reduce your need for streamlining or are there other screens that are too many clicks away as well?
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Post by kayvon on Aug 15, 2012 12:22:50 GMT -5
Indeed it will, provided you can see the colors in the Exchange screen. Thank you. (Is there a way to view the huge list of ST-xxx?) Is there a similar request to color-code rumors and other outstanding information at the Urban screen? It'd be nice to make those stand out more, as they currently blend in with the standard flavored descriptions.
The tablet optimization and the information cleanup are separate issues, of course. Tablets provide a lot more real estate to show information to the user, which might be employed in displaying some status information. However, I understand that tablet optimization is probably a low priority since the largest share of the market comes from cell phones.
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Post by grävling on Aug 15, 2012 12:29:03 GMT -5
I don't know of any way to look at the ST database.
I don't think that Tablet support is a low priority -- the problem is that the Trese Brothers are two people, working in their spare time, supporting 3 games (which admittedly share a game engine). I am also not sure how many game tablets they own. This is a Not Enough Hours in the Day Problem.
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Post by kayvon on Aug 15, 2012 13:08:04 GMT -5
I understand completely. They're doing remarkably good work, as well. I simply meant that tablet priority is understandably lower than fixing bugs and bringing improvements that help everyone. Of course, I'll be thrilled when they eventually get to tablet optimizations.
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Post by Cory Trese on Aug 15, 2012 21:22:36 GMT -5
CK and TA share a common game engine -- ST is a unique and special creature.
The first generation was ST, we did a ground-up re-write to address user issues like permadeath, mathematical complexity, custom difficulty, mutable maps, etc.
Tablet optimizations have been an evolution more than a revolution but we do test on, and think about, tablets a great deal.
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Post by captain nemo on Aug 29, 2012 18:14:12 GMT -5
I put in a request for 'colour code the items in your hold based on whether it would break any embargos if you sell them'. It's now ST-460. That would be fantastic !! I could really use something like that |
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