/tg/Station 13

Sorry for the confusing title, wasn't sure what else to call it.

Anyway, i was taking a break from commissions to play around with an idea i had. What if the lights in the hacking menu were represented by images rather than flavor text? I think it'd be more immersive.

Here's a proof of concept i came up with. What do you think? Should it be implamented? Can it be implemented?

Good concept, though it doesn't work if you're colourblind. Are there many colourblind players?

Cheimon wrote:Good concept, though it doesn't work if you're colourblind. Are there many colourblind players?

I'm so colorblind the army recruiters told me to fuck off when they saw the test result.

Cheimon wrote:Good concept, though it doesn't work if you're colourblind. Are there many colourblind players?

I didn't account for that... but they could go by the order of the lights, "Light 1 is shock, light 2 is shoot, light 3 is controband. ect."

Or just have both?

Text + Visuals

I don't like the color system to begin with. It's just a stupid thing you need to memorize for absolutely no reason. Would be better if it was just "Electrification is on" "Nonstandard equipment is enabled" etc instead of "red light is blinking" or whatever the fuck. You can also have the graphic, although I would argue it would be better if it was like a lit symbol instead of just a colored light.

Knowing what the light means is part of becoming a t r u e e n g i n e e r. I like it that way, and I wouldn't be against visua.s

Just label each light and problem solved.

MisterPerson wrote:I don't like the color system to begin with. It's just a stupid thing you need to memorize for absolutely no reason. Would be better if it was just "Electrification is on" "Nonstandard equipment is enabled" etc instead of "red light is blinking" or whatever the fuck. You can also have the graphic, although I would argue it would be better if it was like a lit symbol instead of just a colored light.

It's like learning which fictional guns are which, or how the different coloured slimes work, or medicine names. They are part of making the UI less immediately friendly, to reward immersion and putting time into become skilled at certain parts of the game. The difference between me and a good hacker is that I have to check the wiki when I forget what a particular light means. Same thing that stops me from being a good chemist, I can't be bothered to memorise the recipes. Encouraging players to specialise in what they're good at (which is what making them memorise things does) seems like a fundamental design principle of the game.

I mean sure, I'd be up for calling medicines burnbruteamol, but lots of people wouldn't and it's not an awful system. Same with hacking and lights.

I'm colourblind and I think this is a cool idea

tgui uses FontAwesome icons now, that might be (yet another) option.

I think having the labels wouldn't be so bad, here's a mock-up i made for a door hack display.




I might actually make a display for the bolts themselves too... with sounds...

EDIT: Also, if i do try to implament them, they won't be this big or as rough looking, this is just a rough mock-up/proof of concept.

Pretty cool, but they don't look like lights you would see in a maintenance panel tbh.

The Ultimate Chimera wrote:Pretty cool, but they don't look like lights you would see in a maintenance panel tbh.

What would that look like then?

What would that look like then?

Something like this.

The Ultimate Chimera wrote:

What would that look like then?

Something like this.

Can't tell if trolling...

Nope, most things electrical use led lights, like that.

The Ultimate Chimera wrote:Nope, most things electrical use led lights, like that.

They're designed to look like LED lights...

Cuboos wrote:

The Ultimate Chimera wrote:Nope, most things electrical use led lights, like that.

They're designed to look like LED lights...

Well, they don't.

They look like traffic lights, and whats with the wing nuts?

kazeespada wrote:They look like traffic lights, and whats with the wing nuts?

Make it look more mechanical?

The idea i was going for was something similar to this

I've seen similar things done behind a maintenance cover.

these nerds are just being too critical
i think it looks neat

I can still change the design, it's not that big of a deal.

I suppose I would expect it to really look like LEDs on a circuit board with a mess of wires between them. Not fussed about the design much, though.