> Incidentally, having 256 bitmaps is not especially necessary since the > code for rotating a bitmap smoothly is well known. It might save the > artists some time to implement bitmap rotations in the client code (make > sure it does bi-linear interpolation for rotated pixels!) so they only > have to draw the bitmap once and not 'tune up' each degree of the > rotation (assuming they do that in the first place.) > My client doesn't come with 256 bitmaps, it has one 80x80 ship bitmap it scales and rotates on the fly using native windows SetWorldTransform function. Planets also come in larger size too, they are just scaled (not rotated). Goal has been to make bitmaps 4x larger than needed so can support up to 2000x2000 tactical and galactic maps someday :). > Although this may seem like a scary idea, a reworked client could use > one of the commonly-available, portable graphics engines, such as Ogre. > In particular Ogre provides access to the full range of transformations > available in 3D. While the game itself is not played in 3D, there are > effects which could be implemented using such an engine (lighting, > parallax starfields, etc.) > Gregory Hermann (spelling?) is working on netrek GL which uses Ogre I believe, you can get it off the netrek sourceforge site. Not sure if it's in a working state at the moment. But the screenshot of the 3d klingon battlecruiser was quite nice. Of course, netrek is a 2d game so any 3d stuff is gonna be..limited at best. Or just plain distracting. > The delay is inherent in the sound itself. The attack rate for the > phaser sound is too low (i.e. the volume does not rise fast enough.) > That is just my opinion though. > Well phaser sound is 1 second long and the phaser sound begins .01 seconds into the sound file, reaching maximum volume at .15 seconds. Sound for other people's phasers is shorter, at .6 seconds, with sound starting .03 seconds into the file, reaching maximum volume at .09 seconds. Was it other's phasers that you think was too delayed? I can chop .02 seconds off the front. > occur.) The current 'rows of settings' with some being clickable, some > being just informational does not fit any standard paradigm and looks > clunky, even if it IS functional. > That would take a massive redesign, something I'm not really wanting to do. I find it easy to use anyways. May not be pretty but it works better now than it ever has in terms of options listed correctly, options actually working as they supposed to, and the ability to save options. > Hmm, for some reason window dragging was on in my game. I don't > actually have a problem with the default window placement personally, > but I can imagine that there might be two or three 'popular' > placements. The options UI could let the user select from these > pre-canned profiles, rather than having to edit the RC file. > Definitely would want to do this if tactical/galactic become resizeable, will want a set of default window placements for set sizes, ie 500x500 tactical, 750x750, 1000x1000. As for the current state, about the only big thing I've seen is some people prefer playerlist under tactical, and some prefer it under galactic. I prefer it under tactical so I made it the default (I think it's the other way around in netrek xp mod version off playnetrek.org). > The client could do a check and if the screen resolution is less than > the size needed to show the window with decorations, turn them off, but > only in the case where there is not enough room. Alternately, the title > bar could be left on by default, but a 'fullscreen' option presented > which eliminates the decorations (and expands the window to the full > screen size.) This is a more standard paradigm for removing window > decorations, and may be less offensive to users. > I agree with Jimmy, less window border clutter, the better. As mentioned earlier, resizing windows and having everything scale is quite a large task, but a goal nonetheless. > Tip of the day are great. Another thing to consider is creating a help > file appropriate to the OS. Such a help file could include the newbie > guide as well. Here I am specifically thinking of a windows help file > or a web page which is launched in your default browser when you select > 'help.' > Ok, I think we actually do a good job on help. Hitting F1 brings up a windows help file covering the client basics. The metaserver window links to newbie guide, rec.games.netrek, netrek homepage, dogfight manual and netrek faq. The netrek xp documentation in the docs folder is also up to date. I'm really not sure what else to add help wise. > I don't know offhand, I'll have to go browse through the code - it's > been a while since I made a CreateWindowEx() call as I've been doing > embedded Linux programming for the past 5 years ;) > Patches welcome! The source is hosted on sourceforge as well. It can be found at: http://netrek.cvs.sourceforge.net/netrek/client/netrekxp/ > BTW, please take all of these suggestions in the best light. I'm not > disparaging your efforts or questioning your judgement. These are my > honest opinions on the subject. > Well thought out opinions are always welcome. Bill