Suggestions Megathread #2

[gabriel.dac]

Suggestions thread #2

I said in the past that I'd be quitting. I'm going through a complicated phase in my life and I said I'm not gonna be testing anymore. However, I still have some free time to give you guys some suggestions. After this, I really think I won't be visiting this site as often, so this can be like a goodbye thread :p. This is my second big suggestions thread. The first one can be found here:

http://universesandbox.com/forum/index.php/topic,13382.msg135075.html

Well, here my new ideas. I'll not be repeating the same ones from the other thread or others that I know Dan has already read and replied to:

Right click menu

Now in Alpha 12, both a left click and a right click on an object do the same thing. They both open the properties window, right? My suggestion is: Make the right click temporarily open that small list with the informations of the body right next to it, just like in US1. I don't think it is necessary to have two mouse buttons doing the same thing, so why not? That feature is something I really miss. Also, in that right click menu, there must be the distance to the parent object. That is an information that is very important. At least to me, of course.

Properties menu of objects

1. Dan himself agreed that the properties menu looks rather overwhelming and should be made simpler. We should make the "Basic" tab (the most important one) less long. For instance, it is about time we move Position Lock and Hide Rotation items to the "Actions" tab. The purpose of that is, as I said, to make the "Basic" tab more simple and to make the "Actions" tab longer (there are too few items in that one, it is almost not even worth having a whole tab for them).

3. Make the fields with the numbers less wide. There is a lots of empty space below and above the values in the fields in every item that I find rather unnecessary. I'm kinda tired of having to scroll so much.

4. This is actually a question: Is it really necessary to have, in the "Basic" tab, items such as Relative Body and Orbital Parent? They are usually the same thing. The same can be asked regarding Velocity and Velocity Relative. I don't believe that Velocity Relative is such an important information. They occupy an important section of the properties menu (they are at the top of the "Basic" tab).

UI

1. In the settings menu, merge Ambient and Ambient Adv into one. Two tabs for what is pretty much the same thing is unnecessary.

2.Now that Ambient Adv is removed, create the tab "Actions", and take the list of actions from "Simulation" and add it there. It totally deserves its own tab for many reasons. The simulation actions are more interesting and are used quite often. Also, when the game is lagging and you want to delete particles/dust, you won't have to scroll to do so (scrolling takes time when the game is laggy, and you never know for sure if you've scrolled enough, because you know, lag).

3. When you open a new simulation, a small loading window appears. That window should have rounded edges (this is just a minor suggestion :p). Also, I'm fed up with that boring loading icon (that rotating circle). Add a planetary system, for example. It'd be cooler and more relevant. A spiky star and three planets.

Solar System simulation

This simulation is literally a mess. There are way too many irrelevant objects in it, like 2004 4XA 192. You can leave them. My idea here is: Modify the trails of the minor objects. Make them dimmer and shorter, so the trails of the planets are going to be more visible. The solar system simulation looks way too dirty, if that makes sense. Make the trails of the minor objects shorter (that also includes Ceres, Pallas, etc.)


Infrared and Ultraviolet vision.

View > Body Colors. You can choose Realistic, Acceleration, Mass, etc. My suggestion is: Add Infrared and Ultraviolet view. When a body gets hot enough, it starts glowing red, right? But before that, it is glowing in near-infrared. An infrared view would allow you to see objects that are hot, but not hot enough to glow in the visible spectrum (example, bodies at 500ºC). I believe that'd be very educative. A tutorial on Blackbody radiation would also be interesting.

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That's what I can think of right now. I might think of more stuff later. Feel free to tell me what you think.

[WitheHole18]

To me they are all good ideas and improvements.
Especially the simplification of the solar system.

[smjjames]

We should have a single suggestions megathread though....

[gabriel.dac]

To me its kinda pointless to post that wall of text as a reply to another thread. I decided to start my own  And the main purpose of this thread is for the devs to see, but if you wish to post, feel free

[gabriel.dac]

Well, I hope someone has read this

[Dan Dixon]

Chris actually pointed this thread out to me... so we've both read it.

These are really good ideas... And already worked on cleaning up the Solar System with Alpha 12.1, but we need a way of hiding less important labels. UI point 1 was also addressed in the last update.