[Kde-games-devel] Here comes Kubrick

[Ian Wadham]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:33 am, Parker Coates wrote:
> On Feb 18, 2008 2:14 AM, Ian Wadham <ianw2 at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> > Hi everybody,
> >
> > ...It uses OpenGL graphics and I am hoping it will become KDE Games'
> > first 3-D game.
> Sorry, but I think KSudoku has you beat by a few months.
>
Curses, curses!  I'd forgotten there is a 3-D part of KSudoku ... and I've
had Kubrick sitting on my desktop for two years ... Damn, damn!

> > ...hence the name Kubrick.
> Congratulations on the name. It's probably the best named application
> in all of KDE. It just works on several levels.
>
Thank you, I am consoled ... :-)  And he was my favorite director, too.

> > Any other suggestions are welcome.
> Here's a (rather large) list of issues/potential improvements I
> noticed while playing around. Don't interpret this as being too
> negative.
>
Not at all.  Honest criticism makes for progress.  I only hate it when
members of my local LUG start saying "XYZ sucks", "PQR sucks big time"
or even "KDE bloatware".  Now *that's* negative ... :-(

Anyway, I'll just reply to some of the points and take the rest on board.

> - The toolbar is huge. 13 is a lot of buttons. I  had to maximise the
> window to 1152 pixels just so see all items. Fortunately, I think a
> lot of them could easily be removed.
>
> - The "Next View"/"Previous View" interface is awkward. I there are
> only three different views, why not give them names and let me jump
> directly to them.
>
> - As Mauricio pointed out, the initial flood of "You're doing it
> wrong!" dialogues is a bit frustrating.
>
Well, you can click on "Do not show this message again".  But yes,
as Mauricio also suggested, the mouse usage should be much more
forgiving.
 
> - If my drag and drop stops on the same sticker it started on, I
> shouldn't get a warning dialogue. The move should just be ignored.
>
Agreed.

> - It be pretty neat if when starting a move by dragging from a
> sticker, arrows appeared on the four adjacent stickers to indicate
> "drop points" for the four possible rotations.
>
Nice idea.  It should be better than blinking the slices.

> - Watch your moves in progress should definitely be enabled by
> default. In fact, I don't really see why one would ever want to turn
> it off.
>
If you are going for a time record?  Also it gets irritating when you
are doing a string of limited-move puzzles.

> - "Clear tumbling to zero" might make more sense if it were name
> "Reset orientation" or something similar.
>
> - The right button drag interface is convenient when one wants to
> re-orient the cube, but I think sometimes a less discrete way of
> rotating the cube would be convenient. Maybe the middle mouse button
> (or CTRL + left button) could be used to freely rotate the cube, much
> like the left mouse button does in KSudoku.
>
Tumbling will probably go, except for the Main Demo.  It is not a good
way to view a cube/brick you are solving.  I think we do need arbitrary
rotations, but that means we have to have a "sync" or "reset" so that
Singmaster notation and other keyboard moves remain meaningful.

Singmaster has UDLRBF for Up/Down/Left/Right/Back/Front faces of the
cube, but what *are* they when the cube has been arbitrarily rotated?  And
besides, many solving recipes begin by saying how to orient the cube, then
go on to say L'URU'LUR'U' etc.

> - The text "DEMO - Click anywhere to stop" would probably make more
> sense as "Demo - Click anywhere to begin." 
>
I guess it should say "Demo - Click anywhere to begin playing".

> - I'm not that familiar with Qt/OpenGL internals, but if possible,
> anti-aliasing would be a nice option.
>
> - I'm also curious if an option to remove perspective could be useful.
> Sometimes I find the skewing of the faces to be a little bit
> distracting. But then again, who knows; maybe I would find a lack of
> skewing just as distracting.
>
The perspective definitely requires tuning.  It's a bit "fish eye" at present.
Also the lighting and light-reflection are a bit off at times.

> - The "Go" menu should probably be renamed "View".
>
> All in all, excellent work Ian. Well done.
>
Thanks very much, Parker.

All the best, Ian W.