Campaign summary/Journal

[Zyxpsilon]

Gee... this went rather well. :wink:

 

Next batch of five!

 

http://s23.postimg.org/abdavc0ef/TLTag_UFO_Shotdown.png --- http://s9.postimg.org/jw8qjfjpn/TLTag_UFO_Escape.png --- http://s4.postimg.org/jtq2r2xm1/TLTag_XCom_HQ_Defense.png --- http://s11.postimg.org/z4husmh1r/TLTag_Alien_Base_Assault.png --- http://s16.postimg.org/iehi0d0xd/TLTag_Exalt_HQ.png

 

1) UFO Shot Down 2) UFO Escape 3) XCom HQ Defense 4) Alien Base Assault 5) Exalt HQ

 

:D

Edited August 29, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

I've added in a few more of the icons. I like the more stylized ones for exalt, council, terror, abduction, etc, but the UFO ones don't really fit the theme IMHO. They look to me out of place on the map as they're a little too textured compared to everything else:

 

Council/exalt:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/QhTcMkS.jpg

 

 

 

UFO:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/B2bZnQc.jpg

 

 

 

Also I'm not sure about the black bursts around the icons, it looks ok on the abduction ones, I think, but detracts a bit from the others, especially exalt IMHO.

 

In other news, we can determine the sub-type of the council mission so it's possible to have specific icons for bomb missions, for example. I don't know if the other sub-types need distinct icons, but bomb missions are pretty distinctive.

[Zyxpsilon]

I've been thinking about the events list and how the current type of strings are getting assembled. And it feels somehow indirectly "repetitive" after awhile.

Sooooo, i wonder if an optional system could be used to show some of these default elements via simple glyphs (instead of phrases) like those...

 

http://s3.postimg.org/qjrkv8v6r/Projects_Completed.png

 

I something starts ( ! ).. has just finished ( Green Checkmark).. for Research and/or Foundry projects.. and if some Items have just been built.

 

There are a number of other visual principles that could be considered as well... but let's first find out if such stuff is feasible or even necessary in your opinion, TT! ;)

[Zyxpsilon]

Their overall sizing looks fine as they are, IMO.

 

We could simply remove both the "Mountain & Trees" (or keep the bigger Mountain only, in a corner) overlay from the UFO (Land & Crash) versions?!? The Escape version was designed with the red-zig-zag overlay in order to mimic some kind of trajectory feeling.

 

I was just about to mention the Alien Base Assault to you also... the yellow triangular insert is a bit too much. The plain white Alien face should be enough, i guess. Even the flashy twirl on Exalt could be deleted -- and use just the Logo itself. Their HQ was designed with one thing in mind only; "They even managed to replicate our Hologlobe!" :smile:

 

The Black-Bursts were added to provide contrast when any such events are coincidentally placed on or near the Satellite-Radars animation. If we discard some... we'll probably have to do the same for all the others too. Hard to decide but i feel the thematic approach either has such backgrounds for everything or not.

 

Council missions would be easy to make distinctives. But as you stated earlier *adding* stuff to the generic "City-Scape" style might distract even further.

 

I'll try some extra samples tomorrow. Bombs or Nodes, etc.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Ok -- so i went for the "more stylized" UFO versions as you asked, TT. They're integrating a bit better on the Burst effect and really don't have much details. I felt such white edges on a plain grey hull would render correctly on the HUD. Left to right... Land, Crash, ((Overseer)), Shot-Down & Escape.

 

http://s11.postimg.org/c7j76ei3z/TLTag_UFO_Land_2.png --- http://s2.postimg.org/8ixh95yit/TLTag_UFO_Crash_2.png --- http://s17.postimg.org/ey31tkgh7/TLTag_UFO_Crash_Overseer.png --- http://s18.postimg.org/b6r85jkhx/TLTag_UFO_Shotdown_2.png --- http://s10.postimg.org/yhfl12ew5/TLTag_UFO_Escape_2.png

 

EDIT... Added a special "Overseer" Crash version above!

 

I also made a few Council types as you requested... L-R = Zhang, Durand, Hive & Bomb.

 

http://s10.postimg.org/f3er1dnfp/TLTag_Council_Zhang.png --- http://s28.postimg.org/656nn5qnt/TLTag_Council_Durand.png --- http://s18.postimg.org/954iwiqo5/TLTag_Council_Hive.png --- http://s8.postimg.org/63s9enish/TLTag_Council_Bomb1.png

 

Re-done the Alien Base Assault version without the head-tag symbol...

 

http://s10.postimg.org/bdorjc7ad/TLTag_Alien_Base_Assault_2.png

 

I'll continue with any of the others later on! :wink:

Edited August 30, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[Zyxpsilon]

Some more! I didn't expect to be sooooo inspired by the variety of Council missions. :wink:

 

http://s15.postimg.org/v58dpa207/TLTag_Council_Marazuki.png --- http://s15.postimg.org/z2vneootj/TLTag_Council_Van_Doorn.png --- http://s18.postimg.org/73rimbsb9/TLTag_Council_Thorne.png --- http://s1.postimg.org/bnlu61jd7/TLTag_Council_Carlock.png ---http://s15.postimg.org/l484tpeav/TLTag_XCom_Hangar_Defense.png

 

1) Marazuki "Observatory" 2) VanDoorn "UN" 3) Thorne "We want You!" 4) Carlock "Spit Effect" 5) XCom-Hangar_Defense

 

I'm at a lost of ideas for the Carlock version... Poison, water supply... any suggestions for *IT* ?!? EDIT... see above!

 

Finalized the Exalt set... but i really couldn't fit any Covert Extraction or Data Recovery "symbols" on these. Had to use simple Letter-Combos.

 

http://s2.postimg.org/tkzdy7ckl/TLTag_Exalt_c_X.png --- http://s15.postimg.org/n19gc0ucn/TLTag_Exalt_d_R.png --- http://s22.postimg.org/dw7w3rf6l/TLTag_Exalt_HQ.png

As a result, their HQ had to be revised too... to maintain proportional Logo effects. The initial HoloGlobe version wasn't crisp enough, i think.

 

 

In the meantime, the world of reality has given us a wild opportunity to develop our stuff much more "easily". XCom2 release date has been confirmed for -- Hold on to your hopes & wishes -- February 5th 2016!! Good or bad news... i feel we'll be able to knock out all of the planned features (and maybe more...) of "Summary ++" within the next five months without any stress and/or competition from the big Firaxis title.

 

Would you want the entire set of images (once fully completed) duly converted to SVG? I dunno how you process the ingame resources for these... but i know that SVG can translate much better to the Texture2D principles when attached by the engine as Flash components.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Zyxpsilon

[tracktwo]

I don't need SVG, no, just PNG is fine for these complex icons. I'm not sure about the exalt ones with the letters, it might just be better to use the originals without distinguishing the two mission types on the icon. Sorry I've been a bit slow in responding, I'm going to be getting back to working on this in another few days, I have another little mini-project to complete first.

[Zyxpsilon]

Then, it means we'll get to use the previous "Twirly Yellow effect" for both Exalt mission types. I also recommend the second HQ (right above) for them since the reddish Hologlobe is more easily detectable. Satisfied with all the rest? AFAIC, these constitute the whole set but if i skipped anything just remind me what it would be.

 

Don't be sorry for taking on other small projects of yours aside for this biggy Mod... as i mentionned we now have a full-blown FIVE months (before XCom2 is officially released) to continue our various tasks on fine-tuning & creating each aspects (Timeline, Graphs & Summary).

 

Btw... the Timeline is currently Beta... and i've detected something strange (( or coded as such! )); the gathering of data seem to be processed in off-setting intervals. I'm in late-game stages and the Yearly gap is cycled with a slight delay. I think the per-session re-building function isn't (presently) designed to "package" the entire campaign at once. Or maybe, this is because you have yet to include some of the other buttons (END, Start, etc) that would allow more navigation options within the Timeline track-down steps. Anyway, somethin' to examine later for optimal encoding of the process i guess.

 

Has XMTS specified to you yet what he has in mind for the variety of Graphs he suggested earlier?

[Zyxpsilon]

Hello TT... hope everything goes well on your stuff (JumpStart & all). :D

 

I took a glimpse at the "U" code file and from what i could detect -- there might certainly be a way to insert the symbols i suggested earlier.

 

By just replacing a few strings with some direct calls to such IMG sources (if the code can integrate declaration blocks for them). I understand the whole custom work could be a bit too much but as a formal option it would possibly optimize the rendering of all these lines, IMHO.

 

Most of these images can be found into the "MissionControl" SWF structure. I also re-purpose (with resizing, vSpace, etc) some of them (for ReCLR) to show up on the menu Buttons... so that means the HUD can deal with the calls. What i don't know though is if *YOUR* code can handle the same principles with indirect dispatch of various UI elements. I suspect it would. If we can put special tags on the Map to represent all of these mission types, i can't see why we wouldn't be able to adapt the text area to some custom stuff of our own.

 

Even the Panic "rectangles" could be personalized to indicate -/+ glyphs, etc.

 

Still, the Credits.. Buy/Sell.. Monthly.. functions will have to be activated which really shouldn't stop us from trying to add extra cool items to the HUD -- while maintaining an optimal context for everything.

 

Anyway... just think about it -- for now.

[tracktwo]

My plan is to replace all those hardcoded strings with localized ones read from a .int file. My personal preference is to leave everything as minimalist plain text, but by moving them all to .int files they can be completely customized with whatever html tags you like to adjust colors and insert images (assuming you have a img path to the image you want). Basically, they should be able to be entirely revamped with a ReCLR for the campaign summary. This will also allow translation to languages other than english if anyone cared to do so.