The main UI explained

[Battlefront.com]

NOTE! graphics and naming conventions related to the UI are preliminary. Therefore, this thread should be seen as a discussion of the general UI and behavior of the interface, not an in depth "it will absolutely be in the game this way and here are all the ways it impacts gameplay" type discussion about individual elements.

Now that I have had a chance to explain the new Commands interface, it's time to talk about the rest of it. Here is a shot of the main UI that sits along the bottom of the screen and behaves, in many ways, just like you're used to in CMx1. However, there is a lot more going on!

The component pieces are:

1. Non-unit Interface - this area shows buttons which correspond to various parts of the game that do not have to do directly with the currently selected unit. The little numbered buttons along the bottom toggle the buttons in groups of 3, thus allowing for 12 possible functions. Currently we don't foresee the need for more than 4-6, but the room is there if we need it to be.

2. Commands Panel - I've already explained this one in some detail here so you can check that out if you want more info.

3. Organization Panel - shows info related to the organization of the unit. The unit's position in the Order of Battle is displayed as either a graphical or a NATO type icon. In this example we have 1st Squad, 2nd Rifle Platoon, A Company. The blue dot on the right signifies whether the unit is Core, Attached, or Assigned. This has implications for C&C as well as Campaign play. Basically, Core can be relied upon better than Attached, Attached more than Assigned. The rank of the current Leader of that unit is shown in graphical format.

Below the rank/formation stuff is a rainbow indicator light that shows Suppression Level. The more bars you see, the worse off your unit is. The Suppression Level goes up and down depending on combat conditions and the unit in question. Better units will see their Level go up slower and down faster compared to a worse unit.

Below this is a LOS check button which allows the unit to check LOS independent of any selected Command. This is no different than CMx1. We just wanted to have a graphical button instead of just a hotkey or menu option like before.

4. Unit Info Panel - this is the meat of the unit's attributes. This is too tough to boil down into a few sentences so I'll post separately about what all this stuff means. Some of it should look familiar to you guys anyway

5. Soldier Panel - This is where you get your information about the status of the Soldiers within the unit. There are three columns which allow for up to three Teams of Soldiers. In this example we have a Rifle Squad that has two Fire Teams by default. A "task oriented" organization might have it divided up into three Fire Teams, so the space is there for this when need. Each Soldier is represented by his primary weapon, his speciality ("MOS" in US military lingo), and health status indicator. The latter is either Healthy, Lightly WIA (Wounded In Action), Seriously WIA, and KIA (Killed In Action). Serious WIAs and KIAs are dropped out of the display of the parent unit.

For all non-Squad units this display changes quite dramatically. The first column is filled by the Soldiers (up to 7) and the other two columns are replaced by a display detailing whatever that unit is. The other possibilities are HQ, Heavy Weapon, and Vehicle. The UI for these three other types of units is fairly similar, but tailored to the specific needs of the different categories. Within each category the formatting is identical, though the information displayed will vary from unit to unit. For example, all Vehicles have the same basic UI, but a M1A2 SEP Abrams will have a few differences from a M1A2 Abrams to reflect things like 2nd Gen FLIR targeting capabilities vs. 1st Gen FLIR found on the stock M1A2 model. I'll post info about these things in the weeks to come.

6. Controls Panel - the familiar CMx1 "GO!" and VCR buttons are here as well as "PAUSE" and "RESUME" for RealTime play.

Well... there you have it in a nutshell!

Steve

[ November 07, 2005, 02:51 PM: Message edited by: Battlefront.com ]

[junk2drive]

I saved the picture this time. Had to copy and paste the link though.

[Sergei]

You've got to practise on your UBB-fu...

[MikeyD]

I notice in panel four Sgt. Johnston id described as 'SOLID". That implies he can also occassionally become vaporous and airy

That little LOS icon is intriguing indeed. 'Relative spotting' is one of the most anticipated changes in CMx2.

Hmmm... no more camera movement tools (up/down/rotate), or do they pop up when you hit the bottom-right arrow?

And finally some unsolicited design advice. I'd prefer 'readable' to 'pretty' so you might want to reconsider the all-too effective 'digital camou' pattern behind the weapons list.

[ November 07, 2005, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

[Battlefront.com]

Yeah yeah yeah... I know, typos matter when it is a URL/IMG

Mikey,

I notice in panel four Sgt. Johnston id described as 'SOLID". That implies he can also occassionally become vaporous any airy

Heh. Well, that is the Morale indicator.

That little LOS icon is intriguing indeed. 'Relative spotting' is one of the most anticipated changes in CMx2.

Hmmm... no more camera movement tools (up/down/rotate), or do they pop up when you hit the bottom-right arrow?

Correct. They took up way too much UI space. We are instead going with a more standard FPS/RTS type mouse/keyboard interface. When we did the CMx1 UI there really wasn't much out there in terms of standards. Now there are, so we're going to go with 'em as much as possible.

And finally some unsolicited design advice. I'd prefer 'readable' to 'pretty' so you might want to reconsider the all-too effective 'digital camou' pattern behind the weapons list.

All artwork is preliminary

Steve

[ November 07, 2005, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: Battlefront.com ]

[junk2drive]

2 outta 3 quotes, you're getting better at this.

[Dillweed]

Well i'm excited, but thats nothing new. I'm intrested in panel 4. Seems pretty self explanitory. Wonder what that PDA like thing is, or the dark shape to its left...

[Battlefront.com]

2 outta 3 quotes, you're getting better at this.

DOH! Not by best day with UBB, that's for sure

Steve

[junk2drive]

All fixed now and thanks for the insight into the future.

[M1A1TC]

Originally posted by Dillweed:

Well i'm excited, but thats nothing new. I'm intrested in panel 4. Seems pretty self explanitory. Wonder what that PDA like thing is, or the dark shape to its left...

Thats a Commander's Digital Assistant, or CDA. I hope the leaders in CM:SF use the latest Windows upgrade

BTW, Steve, that looks great. I really like the layout. But how is the camera controlled? And I agree, can you put the weapons on a black backgound?

I think that picture is Pocket Sized Forward Entry Device (PSFED)

BTW, I dont think SGT Johnston would be using PSFED. I think these are used by Lts and above, not some buck-sergeant

[ November 07, 2005, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: M1A1TankCommander ]

[Midnight Warrior]

1. Non-unit Interface - this area shows buttons which correspond to various parts of the game that do not have to do directly with the currently selected unit. The little numbered buttons along the bottom toggle the buttons in groups of 3, thus allowing for 12 possible functions. Currently we don't foresee the need for more than 4-6, but the room is there if we need it to be.

I am hoping that some of these buttons will be used for configuring the mousewheel and stepping to other units. I like not having to use the keyboard and running things with the mouse (lazy I guess)

[Battlefront.com]

Camera controls are similar to any FPS/RTS game out on the market today. Keys control general direction, mouse controls camera point of view.

The little icon on the left is the PRR (Enhanced Personal Role Radio), which is just one of the squad radios in use today. From what I can tell the Army is still trying to straighten out what to standarize on after soldiers and Marines realized that their low level communications equipment was too few and not very good. As far as I know there are still many different COTS (Consumer Off The Shelf) products being used even right now.

The two I see as having won significant contracts are the EPRR (Enhanced Personal Role Radio) and PRC-6745, both of which list Thales as the prime contractor. We're watching what develops and will pick whatever radio appears to be standard and model that.

The icon on the right is the RPDA-88 (Rugged Personal Digital Assistant). Again, the military is experimenting with a lot of different models made by many different companies. However, it appears this one, by Israeli based Tadiran Communications, is to become the standard PDA. The prime contractor is General Dynamics and units are already in service in Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as other places).

Steve

[Thomm]

With respect to the weapon icons: I think you should not go for photo-realism where it hinders recognition. Better come up with a (more or less abstract) symbol that is *instantly* recognizable, even if it is a caricature of the weapon.

For now these icons are a pixel swamp.

The health bars are quite small. Maybe setting the background color of the weapon icon to a color corresponding to health state would convey the information better.

The color coding of the movement commands is maybe counter-intuitive. I would select "red" for the "most dangerous" form of movement, namely "speed". Orange fits "Firepower" very well. Cohesion could take "blue", cover "green", caution "yellow"?!

Best regards,

Thomm

[GSX]

You know the best thing here. The news that I can use my mousewheel to zoom.

I dont care about anything else, thank you BF for entering 21st Century gaming and making my day.

Oh when youclick on the PDA thing, do you get the map?

[Cpl Steiner]

I'm interested and slightly confused to notice that the basic infantry unit is still the squad like in CMx1. I'm sure I read somewhere on the forum that teams would be the basic manoeuvre elements in CMx2. I had kind of pictured in my head MG gunners covering rifle teams etc. as they moved by leapfrog towards an objective. Is this all going to be handled by the TacAI? Also, will we still be able to detach a team when necessary? If so, I would also like the option of keeping all MGs in one team, like in CMx1, but this doesn't look immediately apparent from the way the Stryker squad is portrayed, with two identical teams and a SL.

[aka_tom_w]

I thought Steve said you could split squads into team

(maybe even 3 teams?) BUT it would cost you

the cost would be loss of command and control or longer command delays (or something)

I would guess that the image of the user interface (UI) Steve posted would in no way imply the player can't split up the teams, I would say just the opposite it implies the teams can be split. BUT it also makes sense that they don't automatically start out all split up into fire teams... IMHO

-tom w

[Cpl Steiner]

aka_tom_w,

You are probably right. I was just digging to see if Steve could clarify some of these issues. How specialists are split between teams will be an interesting topic. I noticed in the MOUT AAR thread that SAW gunners are supposed to bring up the rear etc., so I would expect some variations on how the squad can split down. Perhaps the SL can form a team on his own with the SAW gunners.

[Nicdain]

A couple of questions for Steve:

1. Referring to the #5 "Soldier Panel", will there be also units made of single soldiers, i.e. one leader (platoon leader), one sniper, etc.?

2. The different status of soldiers (Healthy, Lightly WIA, etc.) will be also represented in some way in the soldier figure or only in the status bar?

3. The "GO!" button is the small arrow at the bottom of panel #6?

thanks

Niccolò

P.S.

This game is growing more and more interesting but the slow undressing of CM:SF features reminds to me a strip tease!

[Battlefront.com]

The graphics are all placeholders, so don't worry about that yet. When we show you screenshots that have been worked on by an artist or two (instead of me), then you can pick it apart

I've already explained the way Teams work in great detail. It's far too time consuming to recreate that info, so I'd suggest a Search. The short of it is you control the Squad, the TacAI controls the Teams within the Squad based on the Commands and terrain. In no situation, ever, do you command individual Soldiers. When a unit contains only one Soldier you are still controlling a unit of one Soldier, which for practical purposes is one in the same from the player's perspective.

If a Team has 1 man, then the Team has 1 man. There is nothing special about that, unlike in CMx1. That's the beauty of the new 1:1 system.

Squads can be reorganized for specific tasks, such as clearing a house. We have two options on how to make this work and we aren't deciding on which one to go with until the game is further along. User customization of the Team's organization is not one of those options. The Army is very specific about who goes where in what situation.

Yeah, the little arrow placeholder button in the Controls Panel is the "Done" button for when the player is through watching the turn.

Steve

[Bil Hardenberger]

Steve, how will the UI change for the Real Time mode? I know you will be able to pause, but will you be able to rewind, etc?

Bil

[aka_tom_w]

Originally posted by Bil Hardenberger:

Steve, how will the UI change for the Real Time mode? I know you will be able to pause, but will you be able to rewind, etc?

Bil

Don't think so

Rollstoy

Member

Member # 1522

posted November 08, 2005 08:05 AM

Steve, can you, by the way, detail, why a (limited) replay option is not possible for SOLO real time playing, please?!

Is it for technical/performance reasons, or gameplay reasons?!

Best regards,

Thomm

Posts: 996 | Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged

Battlefront.com

Administrator

Member # 42

posted November 08, 2005 11:27 AM

quote:

Is it for technical/performance reasons, or gameplay reasons?!

Both. I'm not rulling it out forever, but it certainly isn't something we are planning on adding.

Steve

[Bil Hardenberger]

Thanks Tom.. I really need to figure out how to use the search one of these days

Bil

[Vedric]

Correct. They took up way too much UI space. We are instead going with a more standard FPS/RTS type mouse/keyboard interface. When we did the CMx1 UI there really wasn't much out there in terms of standards. Now there are, so we're going to go with 'em as much as possible.

I don't post here often but if you were to review my post history you would see how perfectly this fits into my concerns with past CM games and the future of the series. I must say fantastic!

Will keyboard commands be user configurable? This is an absolute must have. Integrating the raw number of commands CMSF will have into an intuitive interface is a tough challenge. Doing so in a way that works intuitively for everyone is impossible.

I'm unsure how you guys have been using the new UI but I can give you a perfect example of how i would use user configurable hotkeys based on the UI information released. First, if camera movement is being done with the arrow keys I would change these to "esdf". Next I would change the "mcsa" in the command panel to "qwrt". Other non command panel functions would also be bound to keys near my primary "esdf" location. This locks my left hand in place never needing to lift and move my hand anywhere else on the keyboard or having to look down at the keyboard while doing so.

My right hand will obviously work the mouse and might even be used for command panel actions. If taking my hand off the mouse and using the keypad is faster i will learn that but honestly I don't like the idea of having to remove my hands from the interface .. base or foundation. The keypad is an acquired skill ive yet to acquire .

UI scaling is another issue that needs to be addressed. Digital flat panel screens are everywhere and im sure you're aware they truly only look good in native resolutions. This sounds harmless but when you consider the larger panels with resolutions of 1600 x 1200 or higher the UI can shrink to a near useless size. Civilization 4 is a prime example of this. On my 1600 x 1200 LCD the "G" part of the GUI is simply too small.

I'm very much looking forward to CMSF.

Vedric

[c3k]

Steve,

What are the various icons in area 4?

In area 5, under the "SL" and "TL" column, what is the cylinder? Ditto for the next column, headed by the single "TL".

Thanks,

Ken

[flamingknives]

As I read it, the column to the right of the pictures of the small arms covers individual attributes.

Presumably:

SL is Squad Leader

TL is Team Leader

The Cylinder under the SL looks like a Javelin ATGW

the gubbins under the TL (2nd fire team) looks like an ACOG scope, which to me indicates a designated marksman.

Area 4 seems to be additional equipment. In the given picture this looks like a Javelin, one reload for the Javelin, a radio of some description and a personal data gubbins.