New stack and combat views in UI

by **noxx** » 17 Jun 2012, 09:29

Hi,

Seems the Mage client UI wasn't updated for ages.
So I made some changes to make it better.

First one is stack view at the center of game panel that prevents from moving eyes to the left to look at the spell and mouse to click done button. Since now control will be displayed in the middle though previous stack is still available.

Second one is combat view: previous one was removed (it was gray dialog if you remember) and replaced by arrows on battlefield. As for me it looks better and more user friendly.

All those changes will be available in our next release (0.8.6.r6 or 0.8.7).

by **jeffwadsworth** » 17 Jun 2012, 13:53

This really makes a huge difference. Especially the combat arrows.

by **North** » 22 Jun 2012, 09:20

The combat view was really necessary and it looks great.

I find the Stack View difficult to use. I don't know what to expect of it? It pops up in the middle of the screen and can't cast anything or use abilities to add them to the stack. Also, I can't target things nor can I inspect the battlefield. It looks great but the user experience is diminished. From this perspective, I think this needs some "redesign' in functionality.

by **noxx** » 22 Jun 2012, 09:44

Agree. Testing showed that stack dialog is not user friendly as it expected to be.

There is a small bug that it appears whenever you choose targets: dialog appears and prevents you from choosing anything - fixing it may help. Also I had an idea to show targets in the second row under main spell or ability.
Need to try it out. If it doesn't prove that it is useful, I'll remove it.

And sure, I'm going to make it configurable anyway, so players may turn it off whenever they want.

by **laxika** » 25 Jun 2012, 11:34

I really missed the arrows from MTGO and finally they are here.

by **noxx** » 25 Jun 2012, 13:24

Actually I spent and going to spend a lot on UI enhancements in this round.
Recently I was already requested some features from DOTP and mtgo, hope I'll be able to implement them soon.

What I'm going to do in nearest future is:
1) Make choose dialog better for cards like Primeval Titan and Diabolic Tutor
2) Add F2-F4 keys to skip phase\turn

Anyway any feedback, suggestions and ideas are welcome.
Let's make it better together

Best Regards,
Noxx