[Kde-games-devel] Here, there be feedbacks

[Pierre]

On Friday 08 August 2008 12:04:06 Richard Hartmann wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I upgraded to KDE4 and decided to do some bug hunting for KDE
> games. Poor Johannes will probably have had a heart attack when
> he saw his issue counter jump from 2 to 20 ;)
>
> First of all, let me say that I really like the games in KDE. They
> do feel a _lot_ more polished.
>
> One thing I am noticing over and over again is the lack of
> consistency between the different games and with the overall
> KDE design principles. An incomplete list of those issues is
> below.
> There might be very good reasons to do something the way it was
> done. Maybe I just can't see that reason in particular case. On
> the other hand, different programs having the same design
> principles is a Good Thing.
>
> Now, for the list
>
> 1) Kdiamond and KSpaceDuel have no 'View' menu item. But
> they offers 'show toolbar' and 'show statusbar' under 'Settings'.
> This is different from standard KDE.
>
> 2) Some games offer you to change the hotkeys, others don't.
> Some let you edit notifications, others don't. knetwalk and
> kdiamond even let you edit your toolbar.
>
> 3) kdiamond starts a game immediately when you open the
> application, most others wait for you to press a button.
>
> 4) kbreakout has an overlay with 'game paused', kblocks simply
> pauses the game without telling you this is the case.
> Note that kmahjongg etc blanking out the field is a Good Thing
> that should remain different.
>
> 5) Kmahjongg offers a demo mode. Other games like
> kspaceduel and kjumpingcube don't (you can set them to have
> the computer play both sides, but still). I would argue that it
> would make sense to add an explicitly labelled demo
> functionality to every game that has an AI. And that the user
> should be able to stop/continue the demo at any point in time,
> taking over any side he/she wants to.
>
> 6) kblocks has a 'get new themes' button in the settings,
> kbreakout does not.
>
> Long story short, I think the games should present themselves
> in a more uniform way. Maybe there should be some basic
> design documents and guidelines?
>
>
> Also, I am not sure what to file bugs & wishlists for the
> highscore against. Does anyone know?
>
>
> Please note that I am not even halfway through with the games
> and will probably file a lot more. If you get a dozen small reports,
> please don't be annoyed. I just learned that for these things,
> actual reports/tickets/whatever are a _lot_ better as you can't
> lose track of them :)
>
>
> Richard
Hi Richard

Thanks for these reviews, it's really nice :)
When you review Konquest, you can contact my directly on IRC (pinaraf on 
freenode) or on Jabber (pinaraf at jabber.fr) if you want, I think "direct" 
communication ease such reports...

Pierre