Revamped Battalion User Interface
As we get closer and closer to the public release of the new Battalion games, we thought we’d start showing off some of the game’s new features.
Schedule of Development Updates
For these development updates, we’re going to be covering a range of new features, units, terrain tiles, and scenarios and how they will be integrated into the story and what sort of gameplay opportunities it will create for the sequels and the multiplayer modes.
I’m going to try and get an update in once a week moving forward but please don’t hold it against me if I miss one. 
I thought I’d start off today by talking about changes we’ve been making to the in game user interface.
The Culprits
The in game UI that shipped with Nemesis was one of our least favorite parts of the game. When we got the opportunity to make the follow up games in the series, we decided that the in game UI was one thing we had to redo.
We identified the following as issues we wished to correct:
- The minimap didn’t handle large maps very well and actually ended up overlapping the game when the map was too big. We wanted to support much larger maps because user uploaded maps should be free to explore any scenario, large or small, and the minimap must be able to keep up.
- The recon panel was out of the way and kinda squished. Few people realized how much useful information was packed away into that recon panel because of its relatively hidden location and poor layout.
- The player portraits, one of the more awesome parts of the game, were being crammed into fuzzy scaled down shadows of their larger selves.
- The big buttons along the bottom of the game were pretty much just plain ugly. Utilitarian to the point of fault.
Improvement Through Iteration
We went through a lot of different ideas for how to lay things out. After the 13th or 14th start from scratch, what came out the other end was something that looks a little like this:
<3
That’s the new Battalion user interface as it appears in game. And we love it.
WT
“Undo Move.” THANK YOU!!!!! Also, in reference to the actual point of this article, very slick UI. Or, if you could undo moves in the first one, the fact that I didn’t realize it is also related to this article, I guess.
April 4th, 2009 at 3:34 pmurbansquall
Congratulations on finding that little easter egg!
April 4th, 2009 at 5:47 pmmanhoer
I preferred the old one… lolz. Sorry. =/ hides
April 5th, 2009 at 6:29 amtheRemix
i like the new one better. good job!
April 5th, 2009 at 10:36 amJudd
The UI looks really nice. I can’t wait to play!
April 8th, 2009 at 9:07 pmsquirrelyearl
Looks great! I’d definitely say it seems like a step up.
April 12th, 2009 at 10:32 pmwhat!
on freedom every names been take i typed hthththth and it said it was taken!!!11 what the heck!!!
April 25th, 2009 at 9:32 amMakoto Shinobi
The new interface looks a lot better than Nemesis had. Good job! Of course it takes a lot of time to think and build a new game’s own interface, but it was a worth a work to put on. Keep it up!
April 28th, 2009 at 6:49 amhipcheck
Wow once again looking really great. All of the improvements so far are looking amazing and much better for first time players. It looks so much easier to navigate through.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:48 pmGtaplayer
This is a really good game on Kongregate. but when will the proper version come out?
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:34 amBattalionAdmiral
The side panel looks way better, elegant even! I like how the new mini-map area looks like a compass. The new recon panel makes the description reading more fluid, very good.
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:00 pmNatedawg
Very simple… I like the new one
May 25th, 2009 at 7:13 amoldghost (Kong)
Loved it! Bye the way I couldn’t find “resources total” while trying to repair unit.
May 26th, 2009 at 7:24 pmTyreal2106
niiiiice dude, i love the new interface
May 29th, 2009 at 6:42 pmoffsides
After playing skirmish and reading up on what you’re doing, I have only 2 gripes:
1) The auto-end-turn feature (for me) is VERY, VERY, VERY BAD. Among other things, if you mess up your last move, you can’t undo it, and more importantly I often liked to look at the whole picture before clicking end turn to see if I’d missed anything or had any bits that I needed to compensate for. I don’t think it’s a bad option, I just never saw a way to turn it off. PLEASE make this feature optional – just let it be toggled in the options menu. 2) The scroll buttons are too big, especially the ones in the corners. Several times I had to scroll the map to select a unit because the pop-up scroll button would obscure it, but I was moving it back towards the middle and needed to be able to see the whole map as it was before scrolling. Also, it seems like the amount scrolled is fixes, and I’d rather have it be a slow scroll based on how long you hold the mouse down, but that’s less of an issue.
Overall, looks good – most of the changes are definitely for the better. Thanks, and hoping for a fast release (at least of the single-player stuff, which is what I’m really interested in).
June 5th, 2009 at 12:22 pmSup Dog!!!!!
i have an idea for some new unit types.I heard an idea for a heavy bomber and a frigate.I like those ideas but i think there should be a light tank too(smaller and cheaper than scorpions).A medic, a troop truck(a truck with like 2 or 3 guys in the back shoting when attacking or counter attacking),and i had an idea for like a dive bomber that drops bombs on all targets sounds like it would be helpfull in my opinion. I played skrimish like 50 times and im just amazed.A vast improvement in grapics,honestly i thought i was playing a Playstation 3 version.but the atomatic end turn idea is bad i like to look at my map first before i axcept the end button.And true the scroll buttons are very big but overall i loved the changes.I think that 95% of the changes are for the better.PLEASE use the light tank idea PLEASE in nemisis i wanted a light tank so bad.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:37 amurbansquall
Thanks for the comments guys. We’re working hard to get this guy done and we’re considering all the comments being left. Thank you!
June 8th, 2009 at 7:47 amSup Dog!!!!!
Sup Dog just had an idea for an attack helicopper ya that sounds good huh So urbanSquall how were some of my ideas please answer soon Read other Sup Dog!!!!! commits support Sup Dog!!!!!
June 8th, 2009 at 10:04 am