[Kde-games-devel] KPat Progress and Regressions

[Alexander Sopicki]

Am Montag 23 November 2009 23:34:53 schrieb Parker Coates:
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 17:17, Ian Wadham wrote:
> > On Tuesday 24 November 2009 5:31:27 am Parker Coates wrote:
> >> There's no need to use the word "game" to describe "a round of
> >> playing" in KPat, because solitaire games already have specific
> >> terminology for that: "deal". If we use this terminology, that frees
> >> up "game" to be "a named set of rules".
> >>
> >> That gives us this [1] [2]. Note that other actions have changed to
> >> match the new terminology. The layout has also been changed for better
> >> grouping. This feels right to me. Much more natural. I still think
> >> there's a chance that players will click "New Game..." when they
> >> really wanted "New Deal" but that mistake does no damage, is easy to
> >> learn from and will cost them at most one click.
> >>
> >> Unless someone has suggestions or criticisms, I think this is the
> >> version I'm going to go with.
> >>
> >> [1] http://imagebin.ca/view/4MhGwr
> >> [1] http://imagebin.ca/view/M874mVob
> >
> > Thanks very much for forwarding copies of those screen shots to me,
> > Parker.  Much appreciated.
> >
> > I think "New Game Type..." might be slightly clearer than "New Game..."
> > in the main menu (only), even though I usually hate the use of the word
> > "type", which is even vaguer than "game" imo.
> 
> I had considered this, but I didn't feel that adding a vague word like
> "type" was worth the cost of making the toolbar and menu texts differ.
> 
> > Using "Deal" seems odd at first, but as you say one could swiftly get
> > used to it.  "Restart Deal" sounds a bit strange though.  How do you
> > restart a deal, without reshuffling etc.?  How about "Replay Deal" or
> > "Start Again" or (American) "Start Over" (ugh, my English soul twitches,
> > but you can't fight City Hall) ... :-)
> 
> Wait. Are you arguing that "Start Again" is clearer than "Restart"? :P
> Maybe "Replay Current Deal" is less awkward? One thing to keep in mind
> is that this is a destructive action. Having a clear name is obviously
> important, but I'd rather err on the say of something to scary than
> something too friendly.
> 
> > Sorry to keep harping, but I still think you should include "Save..." and
> > maybe also "Load..." in the toolbar, if only as a buffer zone for quick
> > action guys like Aaron.
> 
> I'm really not keen on this. Save and load are pretty advanced
> features. Now that KPat can automatically remember the game state, I
> would doubt that more than 1 in 10 players ever touches them. I think
> sticking them in the toolbar could make KPat seem more complicated
> than it really is. As for Aaron "Reckless  Clicker" Seigo's issue,
> I've never heard it mentioned by anyone else. There is already the
> confirmation dialog, and I personally feel that's enough.
> 
> > Should "Save" have a "..." in the menu version
> > anyway?  I think it brings up a dialog.
> 
> Hmm. Good point. Technically, we use it as a "Save As..." action, so
> I'll change it to that.
> 
> Parker

Well, I ran into the same problem Aaron did but I didn't mention it because I 
used a workaround: I used the power of KDE to customize my toolbar. All I did 
was swapping the position of undo and redo. That way I can avoid clicking the 
new button most of the time. ;)

But thank you for looking into it. 


All the best,

Alex