UI Tweaks in the IDE Please
hillelc
Member Posts: 56
Hi:
I've been using GS now for a few days and really enjoying myself. I've noticed some minor UI nits that if fixed would make me way more productive in the IDE. Feel free to add (or disagree) as you see fit:
* preserve state - i shouldn't have to constantly resize the left panel (attributes, behaviors, etc.). Every time i navigate away the panel resets to its default width. I should be able to set it once, and have it stick to that width, even across sessions.
* multi-select actors to drag to tags - there's some wonky non-traditional behavior here. Shift sort of acts like command, command does nothing, and using the keyboard doesn't do what it should. Just copy the Finder for the right behavior.
* scene inspector should include per scene actor list - when i go to a scene, the inspector should default to the scene scope, not the game scope. additionally there should be a pane in the scene scope to show actors (and it would only show actors that are present in that scene). I have dozens and dozens of actors and scrolling through to find the right one is pretty unpleasant.
* next actor (p2) - often i have to cycle through all the behaviors for every actor in a scene. would be nice if there were next/previous actor buttons that would just move to the next one in a scene, instead of me closing out, and then clicking on the next actor
* scroll position - the ide should retain scroll position in the inspectors even if i navigate away briefly. (open/closed states on attribute buckets should be preserved as well)
* collision area - when you set the collision area to a circle instead of a rectangle, you can't see the circle in the canvas, so you can't judge how to not overlap the sprites. It's basically guesswork and testing.
* scenes menu (p2) - the scenes menu doesn't function like a normal menu. Clicking and holding doesn't reveal the menu. you need to click and release and then the menu appears. A nit I know, but still should be fixed.
* media - it would be nice if i could sort/type ahead in the media panes. I have lots and lots of images and getting to the right one is tough. Also, the default sort in the view and in the menus (in behaviors) isn't even alphabetical, it's based on the order in which i added the assets, which may or may not be useful.
* accelerator to prototype - would be nice to be able to command click (or shift or whatever) on an actor and go to the editor for its prototype instead of its instance.
* layers - i can't seem to access an actor that's behind a bigger actor without moving things around. this can be tough. need an affordance to select items that are behind others.
* non-visible actors - i can't select a non-visible instance of an actor in the canvas. i should be able to select it somehow.
That's all I can think of for now. I'll keep adding to the thread if I remember any others.
That is all.
--hillel
I've been using GS now for a few days and really enjoying myself. I've noticed some minor UI nits that if fixed would make me way more productive in the IDE. Feel free to add (or disagree) as you see fit:
* preserve state - i shouldn't have to constantly resize the left panel (attributes, behaviors, etc.). Every time i navigate away the panel resets to its default width. I should be able to set it once, and have it stick to that width, even across sessions.
* multi-select actors to drag to tags - there's some wonky non-traditional behavior here. Shift sort of acts like command, command does nothing, and using the keyboard doesn't do what it should. Just copy the Finder for the right behavior.
* scene inspector should include per scene actor list - when i go to a scene, the inspector should default to the scene scope, not the game scope. additionally there should be a pane in the scene scope to show actors (and it would only show actors that are present in that scene). I have dozens and dozens of actors and scrolling through to find the right one is pretty unpleasant.
* next actor (p2) - often i have to cycle through all the behaviors for every actor in a scene. would be nice if there were next/previous actor buttons that would just move to the next one in a scene, instead of me closing out, and then clicking on the next actor
* scroll position - the ide should retain scroll position in the inspectors even if i navigate away briefly. (open/closed states on attribute buckets should be preserved as well)
* collision area - when you set the collision area to a circle instead of a rectangle, you can't see the circle in the canvas, so you can't judge how to not overlap the sprites. It's basically guesswork and testing.
* scenes menu (p2) - the scenes menu doesn't function like a normal menu. Clicking and holding doesn't reveal the menu. you need to click and release and then the menu appears. A nit I know, but still should be fixed.
* media - it would be nice if i could sort/type ahead in the media panes. I have lots and lots of images and getting to the right one is tough. Also, the default sort in the view and in the menus (in behaviors) isn't even alphabetical, it's based on the order in which i added the assets, which may or may not be useful.
* accelerator to prototype - would be nice to be able to command click (or shift or whatever) on an actor and go to the editor for its prototype instead of its instance.
* layers - i can't seem to access an actor that's behind a bigger actor without moving things around. this can be tough. need an affordance to select items that are behind others.
* non-visible actors - i can't select a non-visible instance of an actor in the canvas. i should be able to select it somehow.
That's all I can think of for now. I'll keep adding to the thread if I remember any others.
That is all.
--hillel
Comments
[Scene]
[Layers] list all the actors(down arrow)
...if you click once...the actor's handles are shown in your scene view
if you click twice you can edit the code
if you[+] you add a new layer
then you can add your actors to the layer instead of the bg
[Attribute] section--you can change things too.
do a lot of exploring, try everything ...enjoy
MH