From kde-games-devel Tue Jun 12 19:35:19 2007 From: Martin Heni Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:35:19 +0000 To: kde-games-devel Subject: Re: [Kde-games-devel] kbattleship and welcome screen Message-Id: <200706122135.19526.kde () heni-online ! de> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-games-devel&m=118167658616769 Johann convinced me to try a welcome screen in kwin4, because it already has an introduction screen without real function. I have implemented an example version there. I noticed the following things while doing it: 1) I was not really fond of the idea when Johann approached me. However, I have to admit that since kwin4 has the welcome screen I ONLY start the games via the welcome screen. So obviously it is useful ;-) 2) There is clearly the problem on reinventing the wheel. I think this point should not be underestimated. Making a complex layout with graphic elements is in my opinion well beyond the necessary and should be avoided. However, what is possible is some simple buttons which can be done easily with Qt graphics elements. Kwin4 introduced only one new and small class (buttonsprite.cpp) to do all of this. [There is some additional code for the event handling, which usually shouldn't be necessary but due to a bug in kwin4 or Qt QGV events are not relayed properly to my QGraphicsItems.] 3) What I think is a useful approach is to not duplicate all options of the game in the welcome screen but make it like a shortcut/bookmark or whatever quick start thing. Make a handful of buttons for the most important game type. No or only small hierachy, no or small layouts. For example, although kwin4 is network aware I decided to not put the network stuff in the welcome screen. The reason is that if you set up a network game this is not a one click quick process anyway. However, what I want to do fast is to quickly play a game against the AI. So this is possible in the screen. Maybe have a look at kwin4 to see yourself (but keep in mind that the graphics is not yet final) 4) The desktop games in KDE are in my opinion in the middle of what some of you wrote: As part of KDE they should behave like a KDE application. As games they should be fun and can have some nifty graphic features. Although it is always difficult to sit in the middle I think this is alright for the games. We just have to be a bit careful what we do. I think some graphic buttons are alright as long as the rest of the game is KDE style. A fullscreen only OpenGL application I personally would not want in kdegames. 5) Despite unifying the games I actually would leave the decision of the welcome screen to the game. If it fits the game do it, if not don't do it. I can't see why this would confuse the users too much. With KDE 4.0 out we probably get some user feedback on this and can see whether we have to enforce a commen style _______________________________________________ kde-games-devel mailing list kde-games-devel@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-games-devel