Articuno64
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I finally got something that I felt comfortable showing a bit of today, so I sent my work on the client to Brain. I develop on Windows, and all Brain had to do was download the Linux version of XULRunner and the client worked perfectly for him right out of the gate. This was very exciting as portability often presents a huge problem with projects.
Anyway, Brain started giving me some good suggestions on the team builder interface, and after awhile I thought this would be good to post here.
<Brain> how are the team/current team/box/current box things going to work
<Brain> do you just click on a team and it shows in current team
<Articuno64> team and box are single-selection listboxes
<Articuno64> yeah
<Articuno64> the selected team displays in the current team window all the pokemon
<Brain> does it also become your default team for battle?
<Articuno64> and the large pane on the right is going to list all the pokemon from the generation, with the search box in the bottom right corner
<Articuno64> yeah it does
<Brain> maybe it'd be better to decouple the functionality
<Brain> I don't know
<Articuno64> yeah i hadn't thought about that
<Articuno64> somebody could be editing another team
<Articuno64> or just browsing
<Brain> like, you have a "set default" box to check
<Brain> is the box system really the best way to organize pokemon
<Articuno64> i'm not sure
<Brain> maybe it would work to just have one searchable list of pokemon you made
<Articuno64> i think it's probably intuitive to pokemon players but on the other hand, it could probably do a lot more with search parameters
<Brain> and the possibility to tag pokemon
<Brain> tagging is a bit like having boxes, except a pokemon can be in more than one box
<Brain> and I think that's useful
<Articuno64> hmm
<Brain> it could also unclutter the design a bit
<Brain> like you only need one list, not box and current box
<Articuno64> what do you mean by tagging
<Brain> you assign keywords to the pokemon you create
<Brain> like "uber", "uu", "tournament_name", "experimental"
<Articuno64> ah right
<Brain> and then you can just list all pokemon that are tagged experimental
<Articuno64> i could see that being more flexible but also needing more explanation for most users
<Brain> I know, that's what I'm thinking too
<Brain> maybe a box system is more intuitive to pokemon players
<Articuno64> i just realized there is no delete pokemon button
<Brain> lol no there isn't
<Articuno64> but all the buttons are so nicely lined up right now, another button would mess it up!
<Brain> and no new pokemon button
<Articuno64> there's add to team and add to box though
<Brain> yeah but what if you're editing a pokemon, how do you start a new one
<Articuno64> since a new pokemon action needs a species parameter
<Articuno64> you can't change species in the pokemon editor
<Brain> also drag and drop would be a very good ui feature
<Articuno64> yeah XUL seems to have support for that, i really hope it works well
<Articuno64> that was what i originally had in mind and the reason for the list of all the generation's pokemon
<Brain> you know, as a compromise between boxes and tags, you could have "meta-boxes", like "all pokemon", "electric pokemon", "pokemon in teams", "recently made/used", etc.
<Brain> "rental pokemon" ;)
<Articuno64> when you mentioned decoupling the 'default team' thing from the team that is shown in that window, it made me think that maybe the challenge window should just have a listbox of your teams available with the current one selected by default, so it is more explicitly shown which team you'll use if the battle starts
<Articuno64> hmm
<Brain> yeah that's an idea
<Brain> in place of the "edit pokemon", I'd put a row of buttons, "new", "edit", "delete" and "copy"
<Brain> I can see copy being useful
<Articuno64> yeah probably
<Articuno64> you don't mean copy as in a virtual clipboard, just making a duplicate right then and there, right?
<Brain> yeah
<Brain> so you can make a variation
<Articuno64> i think i'm going to make an inside scoop thread and paste a screenshot and our conversation
<Brain> yeah go ahead
<Brain> what do you think of the idea of "rental pokemon"
<Articuno64> it's a fantastic idea especially for new players
<Brain> they'd be pokemon with decent sets that can be added to teams right away
<Brain> and if you want you could copy them in your box
<Brain> and change stuff
<Articuno64> i was planning on having the right pane full of pokemon that you can drag and drop but they were just going to be blank besides the species
<Articuno64> but maybe it's more intuitive and helpful if they're rentals
<Articuno64> yeah that's awesome
<Articuno64> i'm totally doing that
<Brain> at first I thought the right pane was the pokemon editor
<Articuno64> ah yeah i can see how you'd think that, it would sorta cascade down in granularity from the left
<Articuno64> teams -> pokemon list -> pokemon
<Brain> you could have blank pokemon and each pokemon would be expanded in a bunch of rentals
<Brain> or the rentals would be indented a bit
<Brain> for organization, you know
<Articuno64> is there really a need for blank pokemon if there are rentals though?
<Brain> well, yeah, I think so
<Articuno64> if someone didn't want to change all the fields they could also hit the new button
<Articuno64> that you suggested
<Brain> if you leave blank fields it can raise an error
<Brain> okay yeah
<Brain> be sure to allow the user to type out the pokemon instead of going through a list
<Articuno64> yeah
<Brain> lists are neat at first, when you become a power user they're infuriating
<Brain> lol
<Articuno64> totally lol
So I'm guessing most of you aren't going to read the whole log. One thing Brain and I decided was that the large pane on the right would be great to have rental pokemon in that users could drag and drop or add to their teams with the buttons. The search box in the bottom corner also allows you to type in the pokemon names instead of searching through the list manually.
Feedback?
Anyway, Brain started giving me some good suggestions on the team builder interface, and after awhile I thought this would be good to post here.
<Brain> how are the team/current team/box/current box things going to work
<Brain> do you just click on a team and it shows in current team
<Articuno64> team and box are single-selection listboxes
<Articuno64> yeah
<Articuno64> the selected team displays in the current team window all the pokemon
<Brain> does it also become your default team for battle?
<Articuno64> and the large pane on the right is going to list all the pokemon from the generation, with the search box in the bottom right corner
<Articuno64> yeah it does
<Brain> maybe it'd be better to decouple the functionality
<Brain> I don't know
<Articuno64> yeah i hadn't thought about that
<Articuno64> somebody could be editing another team
<Articuno64> or just browsing
<Brain> like, you have a "set default" box to check
<Brain> is the box system really the best way to organize pokemon
<Articuno64> i'm not sure
<Brain> maybe it would work to just have one searchable list of pokemon you made
<Articuno64> i think it's probably intuitive to pokemon players but on the other hand, it could probably do a lot more with search parameters
<Brain> and the possibility to tag pokemon
<Brain> tagging is a bit like having boxes, except a pokemon can be in more than one box
<Brain> and I think that's useful
<Articuno64> hmm
<Brain> it could also unclutter the design a bit
<Brain> like you only need one list, not box and current box
<Articuno64> what do you mean by tagging
<Brain> you assign keywords to the pokemon you create
<Brain> like "uber", "uu", "tournament_name", "experimental"
<Articuno64> ah right
<Brain> and then you can just list all pokemon that are tagged experimental
<Articuno64> i could see that being more flexible but also needing more explanation for most users
<Brain> I know, that's what I'm thinking too
<Brain> maybe a box system is more intuitive to pokemon players
<Articuno64> i just realized there is no delete pokemon button
<Brain> lol no there isn't
<Articuno64> but all the buttons are so nicely lined up right now, another button would mess it up!
<Brain> and no new pokemon button
<Articuno64> there's add to team and add to box though
<Brain> yeah but what if you're editing a pokemon, how do you start a new one
<Articuno64> since a new pokemon action needs a species parameter
<Articuno64> you can't change species in the pokemon editor
<Brain> also drag and drop would be a very good ui feature
<Articuno64> yeah XUL seems to have support for that, i really hope it works well
<Articuno64> that was what i originally had in mind and the reason for the list of all the generation's pokemon
<Brain> you know, as a compromise between boxes and tags, you could have "meta-boxes", like "all pokemon", "electric pokemon", "pokemon in teams", "recently made/used", etc.
<Brain> "rental pokemon" ;)
<Articuno64> when you mentioned decoupling the 'default team' thing from the team that is shown in that window, it made me think that maybe the challenge window should just have a listbox of your teams available with the current one selected by default, so it is more explicitly shown which team you'll use if the battle starts
<Articuno64> hmm
<Brain> yeah that's an idea
<Brain> in place of the "edit pokemon", I'd put a row of buttons, "new", "edit", "delete" and "copy"
<Brain> I can see copy being useful
<Articuno64> yeah probably
<Articuno64> you don't mean copy as in a virtual clipboard, just making a duplicate right then and there, right?
<Brain> yeah
<Brain> so you can make a variation
<Articuno64> i think i'm going to make an inside scoop thread and paste a screenshot and our conversation
<Brain> yeah go ahead
<Brain> what do you think of the idea of "rental pokemon"
<Articuno64> it's a fantastic idea especially for new players
<Brain> they'd be pokemon with decent sets that can be added to teams right away
<Brain> and if you want you could copy them in your box
<Brain> and change stuff
<Articuno64> i was planning on having the right pane full of pokemon that you can drag and drop but they were just going to be blank besides the species
<Articuno64> but maybe it's more intuitive and helpful if they're rentals
<Articuno64> yeah that's awesome
<Articuno64> i'm totally doing that
<Brain> at first I thought the right pane was the pokemon editor
<Articuno64> ah yeah i can see how you'd think that, it would sorta cascade down in granularity from the left
<Articuno64> teams -> pokemon list -> pokemon
<Brain> you could have blank pokemon and each pokemon would be expanded in a bunch of rentals
<Brain> or the rentals would be indented a bit
<Brain> for organization, you know
<Articuno64> is there really a need for blank pokemon if there are rentals though?
<Brain> well, yeah, I think so
<Articuno64> if someone didn't want to change all the fields they could also hit the new button
<Articuno64> that you suggested
<Brain> if you leave blank fields it can raise an error
<Brain> okay yeah
<Brain> be sure to allow the user to type out the pokemon instead of going through a list
<Articuno64> yeah
<Brain> lists are neat at first, when you become a power user they're infuriating
<Brain> lol
<Articuno64> totally lol
So I'm guessing most of you aren't going to read the whole log. One thing Brain and I decided was that the large pane on the right would be great to have rental pokemon in that users could drag and drop or add to their teams with the buttons. The search box in the bottom corner also allows you to type in the pokemon names instead of searching through the list manually.
Feedback?