Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Gratuitous Tank Battles Challenge Browser

cliffski

I’ve been working on the challenge browser for GTB. There is still more to do in terms of making it look pretty but there is a clickable screenshot below. Basically there is a scrollable list of challenges just like in GSB, some of which will be user-made maps, some just armies and deployments on existing maps. Clicking any of them brings up the details window from which you can play attack or defence with that challenge,

Unlike the simple username in GSB, GTB shows you the posters emblem, their username, general and regiment name, and the idea is to build up more recognition of especially good map designers and players. You can immediately tell if the map is made by a newcomer, or someone who clocks 500 hours in the game :D

Also, the details shows a list of comments that players of the challenge have left as feedback for the poster, and hopefully as a bit of explanation for other players. With luck, there should be some good, lively debates about the pros and cons of new maps here :D

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It needs prettying up, for sure, but this is the layout, and the content. Thoughts?

9 thoughts on Gratuitous Tank Battles Challenge Browser

  1. I’ll be honest, i think it looks good as is. Maybe clean things up a little but honestly I don’t play your games for the beyond perfect U.I’s. I play them because they work, they’re fun and they don’t sacrifice usability and features for aesthetics.

  2. Looks great and I can’t wait to make an emblem :D I just wonder if the ID number will confuse those non-indie game people?

  3. I think it looks good. But please try to implement extended sorting and filter mechanisms, one big problem i had with the GSB challenges was that there were thousands of them and it was hard to find those i wanted (think of looking for specific ID’s, filter by difficulty, release date, map size, player, those who are similar to another one etc.) or to get an overview (grouping challanges by some criteria could help there). Sorting alone doesn’t help much once you have a big amount of challanges.

    Anyway, keep up the great work, i’m really excited about the game and i’ll definitively buy it =)

  5. This: “extended sorting and filter mechanisms”.

    Maybe a minimap preview, if it can be fit in?

    Generally looking good.

  6. You need a filterbox, grab and download mame32 here to see what I mean:

    http://www.mameui.info/

    You input text into the box and then it filters the list so only games/challenges with the text you input from some field show up.

  7. Maybe add a space or comma to every 1000 value on the stats window so it is easier to quickly read how long the match lasts or how much something is there.

    When there are 6 or 7 zeros in a row it is hard to read how many there actually are without any kind of helpers.

    Also maybe a possibility to color the map name text and options to use bold, italic and underline so the map names stand out from each other more and are easier to remember. Just like in Trackmania.

    I personally find it a bit dull when a colossal list of maps pops in front of me and I’m scrolling through it and every single name looks the same to me.

    OH YEAH! ALSO RATING SYSTEM! 0-5 STARS OR SOMETHING! RATING SYSTEM IS A MUST HAVE! MAKES IT EASIER TO DIG OUT THE TRULY QUALITY AND AWESOME MAPS.

    Or any kind of rating system by which you can sort the list and find the best custom maps to have awesome fun.

  8. Oh yeah and search. By ID number with wildcard * or/and with map name with wildcard. That also makes it easier to find maps.

    And some sort of favorite feature so that you can list the maps you like the most on in your favorites so you can easily find them and try to beat them over and over again and improve your score on it.

    Also maybe play times and how many have rated the 5 stars (or whatever) so people can judge by themselves is the map good if they see a map with 5 stars, 10 000 ratings and 1 million play times and 5 stars, 1 rating and 10 play times.

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