The forum is here for such thoughts

Indeed, the 'yes, but' is there, the work and pay-off is difficult. We'd have to have someone set up the forum locally, write integration code, update PBF to allow for an API-key to be accepted, you'd have to generate and distribute an API-key, and then we'd have to make sure that all stays working as the game evolves (which means setting up some automation, deploying that forum with the prerelease automatically, doing some testing around, perhaps manually). As you can see it's regrettably not quite just plug and play (so to speak )

It is a long term vision though for games to be 'cloud-save' capable and for stats to be recorded with players. In this case case there would be results pages viewable in-game, and by player. I think missing from that is just the concept of a clan.

It's a far-off effort, I hope it gets done in the next year or two. @ScratchMang is the suggestion about right in terms of what you're looking for, that it would fit your use-case if the stats were simply in-game?

Thanks for finding that @ScratchMang , unfortunately it would not be a just configuration change to integrate with xenforo, but it would be possible nonetheless. The initial and maintenance effort could be hard to justify unless the forum were to be very widely used.

Is there a limitation where using this forum (forums.triplea-game.org) does not fit your needs?

@ScratchMang the forum needs to expose a web-api and we have to add integration code into TripleA for it. If the forum has a nodeBB API and is just a different URI comapred to this one, then it's pretty feasible we could make it an option. If the forum is not just another NodeBB then I'm not sure we'll get to it.

Looking to the far-medium and long term, I'm hoping we can use "cloud-saves" that would not need a forum at all.

Ok, created a poll in the OP

I like the buttons idea, but that is not on the table just yet. Are we deadlocked on minimap position?

@Frostion said in Moving MiniMap to bottom of Action Panel:

@LaFayette In regards to what icons/buttons to what features that should be displayed below the Minimap, there could in game settings be a made a window/tab with check-boxes where one could enable and disable the different icons?

Oomph, that could get a bit complex. I'd vote we keep the icons to be the universal/useful ones. The goal AFAIK is to get useful views out of the menus and out of the action tab.

I feel like we need a philosophy of what kinds of things should be in the menus, what in an action tab, and what should be on the icons.

I do really like the idea of reducing the number of action tabs. It was convenient to add those, and it was a bit over-used (on Mac, the many tabs is very hard to use as it does not display in multiple rows). IMO getting to around 3 or 4 tabs is ideal, less is arguably better.

@Captain-Crunch Atlas Shrugged?

UX is an odd field. Ignorance towards it creates "interesting" issues: https://www.useronboard.com/how-united-onboards-new-users/

At the risk of being too serious, if you want to learn more about the field, this is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbu6G08n_Gw "Why UX is not only the Responsibility of the UX'er"

Just because I'm so jazzed from the learnings in DOET, I'll also mention it also has some long sections as well on the design of VCRs and ovens (gives insights why it's bad design that makes it so the clock is difficult to change). That discussion particularly carries over to software.. Some of lessons in VCR design is to have a 1:1 mapping for buttons and their functionality, hide controls that are not used often (cough our launch screen), show controls that are used all the time, and try to show only controls that are needed.

@Captain-Crunch

DOET is such a significant book it has an acronym

I really recommend the book to anyone (particularly to dev's and anyone that works on UI code). It is a bit of a textbook, it kinda seems dull initially, pages and pages are dedicated to the design of doors. It runs home the points well and is really insightful. It was a game-changing read for me, while reading it you can think about TripleA and a variety of usability improvements that could be made. It really is a first course in UX design, AFAIK introductory UX courses do use it as a text. Here is a PDF version: http://www.nixdell.com/classes/HCI-and-Design-Spring-2017/The-Design-of-Everyday-Things-Revised-and-Expanded-Edition.pdf

UX = user experience
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/ux-design

UX is a very broad umbrella, it is much more than just UI, it encompasses the many topics of how a user engages with a product. It includes usability research, information architecture, UI, interaction design, and a number more topics.

https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-is-user-experience-ux-design-everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started/