Friday Facts #246 - The GUI update (Part 3)

[pleegwat]

Also, next to the seed, there is a...shuffle button? I guess that's OK if you think about it enough, but perhaps the circular arrow would be better?

Circular arrow means reload, which makes some sense. How about a pair of dice, or is that too icony?

[Jürgen Erhard]

Cool !

Setting the frequency to minimum gives you very few ore, setting the size to minimum gives you no ore at all. How does one makes the difference between very few and none at all with the new sliders ?

THIS. I do like that you don't need two clicks to change a setting, but I dislike the lack of explanatory *visible* text.

[nevniv]

Definitely looks nicer than before. I like it!

I'm not sure the green buttons can't just be rectangular and still get the point across but that is just me being persnickety.

I'm anxiously waiting to try the new campaign. I like having goals to achieve, like the achievements, so even if it's something easy I'll play it. After I fire the rocket I never go nuts building anything big... I tend to fizzle out until I think of what to do in the next playthrough.

[DethBringa]

New UI's in games that I've played a lot are not always welcome. Change isn't always a good thing. This time however its OMG sexy and makes the flow WAY more logical. 100% behind implementing this!

[ABDUZEEDO]

I would like a 2 options in RaildWorld to be able to put the ores farther and more spaced,
being able to leave the rail world more difficult with ores farther and spaced between them.

[xfir01]

While overall I love the new look, one thing that stands out are the toggles for things like Pollution or Peaceful mode.
It's not immediately clear whether they're enabled or not, i.e. Is enabled when it's to the right or the left? Whereas a checkbox is obvious.

[Saiph]

"Hopefully you're not getting tired of hearing about the GUI....". No way! For a game like Factorio, the GUI is really important. For new players who might be a bit overwhelmed by all of the materials and components in the game, a well-designed GUI can help them find their way around and learn how to play the game more quickly. And for experienced players, who just want to build as quickly and efficiently as possible, a well-designed GUI will let them do the things they want to do without getting in their way. Hopefully you guys can design a GUI which helps both types of player.

And the more you show us your ideas, the more feedback we can give you about whether we think the ideas work. I'm really liking the mock-ups you're been showing us so far.

One day, we will have computers where you sit down in front of them, and put on a skullcap with sensors which will allow you to control what goes on on the screen just by thinking about it. Effectively there will be no more GUI. But until that day comes, we will have to rely on our trusty keyboards and mice. And while we do that, the more chance we get to exchange views on GUI design, the better it will make Factorio.

Good luck guys, and keep up the good work!

[MiniHerc]

I have a request -- currently the Map Exchange string is copy-able to the clipboard. Could you make it so that we can save it to a preset of our own? (So that it appears in the drop down menu). With very few exceptions, I always generate maps with the exact same settings, and it would be soooooo handy not to have to click the sliders/drop downs every time, or find the Map Exchange String and manually paste it in.

We were looking into it. Unfortunately the interface was getting pretty complicated with a lot of gotchas. So in the interest of time we decided to keep it simple and keep new features to a minimum.

All you need to do is to move the circled buttons a bit to the left and add a new icon with a floppy disk icon (save), have it popup a dialog asking for the name of the new preset. Nothing that complicated.

Edit: And then of course when on a modified non-vanilla preset, have a button for deleting that preset. hm.

[daniel34]

Enemy richness was the amount of purple orbs a base dropped in the past. Its a legacy option wich can be removed
But Im pretty sure you guys still remember if even I do

I thought the same for a long time (and it was a widespread assumption at the time), but last year I experimentally tested it and found that richness has no influence on the number of alien artefacts spawned. In fact, it does not influence anything as far as I could tell.

I summarized my findings here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/427520/d ... 6678103012 (as of 0.14.21, but I doubt it would have changed since then)

AFAIK it only did something pre-0.7.0 when aliens were humanoids and spawners/worms looked like towers and turrets, it controlled how dense the alien base was spawned, with pretty obvious results.

[MiniHerc]

Enemy richness was the amount of purple orbs a base dropped in the past. Its a legacy option wich can be removed
But Im pretty sure you guys still remember if even I do

I thought the same for a long time (and it was a widespread assumption at the time), but last year I experimentally tested it and found that richness has no influence on the number of alien artefacts spawned. In fact, it does not influence anything as far as I could tell.

I summarized my findings here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/427520/d ... 6678103012 (as of 0.14.21, but I doubt it would have changed since then)

From curiosity, I googled 'Factorio spawner richness' and on the results page, it had this text... but when I went to the site, that text was nowhere to be found. Relevant or something random?

[denspb]

The Enemy tab (at least in Steam version) could also have a have a warning label if current settings would disable some achievements.

[daniel34]

From curiosity, I googled 'Factorio spawner richness' and on the results page, it had this text... but when I went to the site, that text was nowhere to be found. Relevant or something random?

Haha, Bilka just changed it: https://wiki.factorio.com/World_generator#Richness

For enemy bases, the richness setting does not have an effect. [3]

And links to this reddit comment:

Richness is a flat number that is added to the evolution percentage when looking for what to spawn. So, if richness is for example 0.1 and evolution is 0.5, enemies will spawn as if evolution was 0.6.
However, I just looked into it further, and the richness that can be added on top is capped by a prototype property: max_spawn_shift. This is 0 for biter and spitter spawner. So the enemy base richness does... nothing.
So, the devs seriously don't know what richness does if the option exists and changes nothing (in vanilla)

[purdueme91]

I hope one area for a GUI/interface that gets looked at is the electricity supply/demand. It should be on its own button for one thing. And the whole satisfaction/production graph is just confusing. My big gripe is that when I'm in deficit, how many power plants do I need to add?

My suggestion is a graph like a car speedometer. When the needle points straight up, you are in perfect balance, total supply available=total demand required. When the needle rotates CW or CCW, it shows how much surplus or deficit there is in the system with a numeric counter underneath. And the surplus/deficit over time should be able to be charted.

I would also like to be able to easily filter/search for items in the production tab. Not as big of a deal in vanilla but some of the other mods have so many items that trying to find the exact one you want can be a headache.

Otherwise, the updated menus look great and can't wait till 0.17 comes out.

[dimex]

To bad i can no longer see if i select "only in starting area" or "minimum", now i only have the sliders but nothing telling me what it means

[Ohz]

I didn't know it was possible, I am very stupid, and I am very happy you thought of this:
THANK YOU

You are amazing

[Tankh]

My god you guys... this looks amazing.

It's damn near GUI-porn... but don't let it get to your head just yet! You have to be consistent about GUI quality all the way to the end, but I have no doubt you will make it there in good shape =)

[mmppolton]

i love see the who map befor starting i got mess up so may time the map gen need work watter is alway too much or too little no mather what i pick

[Jap2.0]

New resource system confirmed?

fff-246-mapgen-preview-02-tooltips.png (950.84 KiB) Viewed 7278 times

[deer_buster]

Suggestion: With the presets, give us an option to save current settings as Custom Presets

[Ghoulish]

More changes for the better Cant wait to see what you'll be doing with the electric info screen!