No tooltips?

This forum supports the Early Access Program for the PC for Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager (SPM). iOS, Android and Mac releases are still in development. SPM is the ultimate game of space exploration. It is the mid 1950s and the race for dominance between the US and the Soviet Union is about to move into a new dimension: space. Take charge of the US or Soviet space agencies - your duty is be the first to the moon. Carefully manage your budget by opening programs, spending R&D funds on improving the hardware, recruiting personnel and astronauts and launching space missions in this realistic turn based strategy game.

Moderator: MOD_BuzzAldrin

Post Reply
DTomato
Posts: 805
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:01 pm

No tooltips?

Post by DTomato »

There doesn't seem to be a tooltip popup when the mouse is held over a button. If so, it makes it much more of a pain to learn the game.
User avatar
Nacho84
Posts: 689
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:40 pm
Location: Brighton, UK

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Nacho84 »

Hello DicedT,

I'm going to cheat a bit here and repost an answer I just gave at the Steam forums! [:)]

The game UI is meant to be universal across desktop and mobile platforms. Notice that most buttons have text on them, and the ones that don't are quite graphical and consistent across the whole interface. For example, the icons in the lower bar, which are used as shortcuts to the agency's buildings, match the signs in the buildings themselves. These icons are quite descriptive as well (the helmet for the astronauts/cosmonauts, the headset for the flight controllers, the dollar sign for the Public Affairs Office, etc).

The other screen that makes heavy use of buttons without text is the personnel management screen, which features a bunch of icons in order to filter/sort the entries. This might seem daunting at first, but there are just a few of them. Once you figure out what they are, you no longer need to think about them.

We'll certainly consider adding tooltips if we get more reports about the UI being confusing, that's for sure, but notice that we did a conscious effort to avoid them while designing the screns. Not because we're lazy, but because we wanted the UI to be universal across all platforms.

Please let us know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Cheers,
Ignacio Liverotti
Lead Developer of Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager
Polar Motion

www.polar-motion.com
spm.slitherine.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PolarMotion
User avatar
FroBodine
Posts: 874
Joined: Sat May 05, 2007 4:13 am
Location: Brentwood, California (not the OJ one)

RE: No tooltips?

Post by FroBodine »

I strongly second the request for tooltips. Not knowing what ANY numbers mean, e.g. the three numbers next to each icon on the main base page, and the two numbers under each planet in the planet screen.

What the heck do these numbers mean? I don't know, there are no tooltips!

Dumbing down the PC version to accomodate the iPad version is no excuse, and a bit of laziness in my opinion. I'm sure the game is great, but no tooltips really turns me off to you guys.

If you are making a PC game, you should use a standard PC UI, and tooltips are standard in the vast majority of all PC games nowadays. Especially strategy/tactical games.
User avatar
Wolfe1759
Posts: 798
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2008 6:34 pm
Location: Shropshire, UK

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Wolfe1759 »

Agree - tooltips are a boon to a PC game why avoid implementing them just because the less able iPad platform version (which I didn't buy and isn't available yet) is incapable of utilising them?
"In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill." - Winston Churchill
User avatar
Nacho84
Posts: 689
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:40 pm
Location: Brighton, UK

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Nacho84 »

OK guys, I'll work on it. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Ignacio Liverotti
Lead Developer of Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager
Polar Motion

www.polar-motion.com
spm.slitherine.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PolarMotion
User avatar
FroBodine
Posts: 874
Joined: Sat May 05, 2007 4:13 am
Location: Brentwood, California (not the OJ one)

RE: No tooltips?

Post by FroBodine »

Thank you very much, Ignacio! I just don't understand how you could have gone a year through early access, and nobody thought tooltips were a necessity?
Casinn
Posts: 271
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:12 am

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Casinn »

Early access got some of those features one at a time, a bit easier to learn.
ezzler
Posts: 864
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2004 7:44 pm

RE: No tooltips?

Post by ezzler »

Definitely tooltips. Its a pain without them. I'm clicking all over the place.
User avatar
Nacho84
Posts: 689
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:40 pm
Location: Brighton, UK

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Nacho84 »

Hello guys, the 3D artist and myself set some time aside to prepare a UI reference guide, please fetch it from here.

We'll still add some form of in-game help, but hopefully the reference guide will provide you the info you need for now. Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Ignacio Liverotti
Lead Developer of Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager
Polar Motion

www.polar-motion.com
spm.slitherine.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PolarMotion
jjknap
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 6:42 pm

RE: No tooltips?

Post by jjknap »

Wow, what a nice reference card. You guys are great! [&o]
Bandred
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 6:13 pm
Location: Derby, UK

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Bandred »

Hello guys, the 3D artist and myself set some time aside to prepare a UI reference guide, please fetch it from here

Hi Ignacio,

I came across your link to the UI Reference Guide on Steam. It's a great document for those of us just starting out, so, many thanks for putting it together.

It might be useful if you could also edit your post on the Slitherine forum 'Suggestion-UI Interface' to add the link. I tried in my post, but was defeated by the Spam blocker (not enough posts) :)

Thanks again,

Mike
User avatar
Templer_12
Posts: 1706
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:29 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

RE: No tooltips?

Post by Templer_12 »

I'm one could dispense tooltips in BASPM.
If tooltips are implemented, then please optionally be switched off!

The UI reference guide is a great document.
I have found some I did not know until now.
HeinzHarald
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 11:40 pm
Location: Varberg, Sweden

RE: No tooltips?

Post by HeinzHarald »

Good document, but four of six icons/names are wrong in "Information in the lower bar".
User avatar
nico7550
Posts: 74
Joined: Thu May 30, 2013 3:44 pm

RE: No tooltips?

Post by nico7550 »

ORIGINAL: Casinn

Early access got some of those features one at a time, a bit easier to learn.
I just don't understand how you could have gone a year through early access, and nobody thought tooltips were a necessity?

Hi Casinn, for your information, some users have been asking for it some months ago. But choices had to be made...

Cheers
User avatar
IainMcNeil
Posts: 2784
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:01 am
Location: London
Contact:

RE: No tooltips?

Post by IainMcNeil »

Tooltips were not actually requested during the EAP, at least not other than a footnote on someones comments along with thousands of other minor requests. As we know they're important we've worked on them and we've almost completed adding them! Check out Ignacio's development update to see Tooltips in action!

Iain McNeil
Director
Matrix Games
Post Reply

Return to “Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager”