[Kde-games-devel] Survey results and IRC meeting

[Ian Wadham]

Hi Everyone,

From: Mauricio Piacentini
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:45 AM
> I would like to schedule an IRC meeting next Wednesday
> so we can discuss the results, November 1st, 7:00PM, UTC.
> 
Unfortunately that's my sleep time, so I'll be unable to attend.
Australia has an impossible timezone, but we Australians are
used to it and it has some advantages, so please do not anyone
be concerned.

I have found the survey extremely helpful and illuminating.
We should have done this years ago.  In the open source world
we work in such isolation - not even any customers to talk to
... ;-)  Thanks, Mauricio, for yet another tremendous initiative!

Well I *do* have a few cents' worth to put in, so here goes ...

Survey: Maybe we could include a feedback form with every
game, in the KDE standard Help menu.  That way authors
could get feedback that is specific to their game from a broad
spectrum of players.

Old Games: I really don't like Dennis P's ideas about putting
all games in some kind of limbo until they look better.  And
calling it Classic or Legacy is a bit over the top IMHO.  KDE
itself is only about 4 or 5 years old!

Packaging: What many survey respondents seem to be asking
for is a "boxed set" of short KDE games that they can play in
a spare moment, with longer games supplied and packaged
separately.  So why not do that?  We could then concentrate
on polishing the boxed set re graphics and style, as already
seems to be happening with KReversi, KMahjongg and
card games.

Graphics: Everyone seems to agree that the graphics need
improving, but I do not see much specific recommendation,
other than going with SVG.  "Technology is the answer, but
what is the question?", as they say.  Presumably it is just as
easy to draw a crummy looking picture with SVG as with
any other technology, so let's rely on artistic skill first and
foremost.  So what is wrong with our graphics?  I cannot
claim any expertise, but I'll try to provide some personal
views, if only to stimulate discussion.

Colour choice:  Some KDE games use bright contrasting
colours for the pieces (eg. bright red and blue).  Some
less-saturated colours might be better.  KJumpingCube,
for example, looks quite good IMO if you choose paler
colours.  Klickety has the right idea IMO but could benefit
from a sharper division (maybe slightly sunken?) between
the tiles.

Jaggies:  Obviously these have to go.  They don't look
cute even in snake race, IMO.

Backdrops:  It seems to me that careful choice of a backdrop
can make a tremendous difference to the look of a game,
even without altering the foreground graphics.  Take KDE
3.4 KReversi, for example, and try the alternatives to
"Light Wood".  Incidentally, why not use an actual photo
of a wooden surface in such cases, to get a "natural"
look immediately, rather a computer-painted or
generated look?  I have been experimenting with the
notorious KGoldrunner graphics lately, and it is amazing
how much better they look (IMO) if they have a nice
background instead of those beige bathroom-tiles.

Buttons, Dialogs and Messages:  I know that all KDE Games
have to be proper KDE applications, with drop-down menus,
KMessageBox, KDialogBase, etc., but is this *really*
necessary?  It tends to give our games a bureaucratic, form-
filling look, suitable to an office or technical application.
Hey!  We're playing games, not filling out tax returns! :-)
There's scope here for some more jazzy looking stuff.
Flashing message boxes, fancy fonts, nice colours, etc.
Maybe in libkdegames ...  Even my accounting package
shows party balloons when you balance your cheque butts.
We ought to do better when you win a game.

BTW KDE colours are not necessarily good in a game.
What looks good in an icon or frame might not look good in
the large.  See Landscape->KDE Kool in KGoldrunner.  It
looks terrible and I am thinking of deleting it, but all colours
are copied (with an eye-dropper tool) from KDE icons :-)

KDE Main Menu:  This might be a SuSE thing, rather than a
KDE thing - I'm not sure.  The KDE Games are well-grouped
into menus, such as Arcade, Board Games, etc. but some seem
to be in the wrong category.  Also all the games seem to have
the game name and the description the wrong way round, which
makes it hard to scan down the menu and find the game you
want.  Shouldn't we have "KFoo: A puzzle game with bars",
not "A puzzle game with bars (KFoo)"?

All the best, Ian W.