Reimagining the scoreboard

NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
With all the discussion lately on how to improve ns2 there seems to be a focus on how to better communicate to rookies. The ns2 scoreboard, seen when pressing the tab key, has room for improvement. I have a few ideas, but they are imperfect. In this post I want to share those ideas and further discuss how to improve the scoreboard.

For reference, here is a picture of the scoreboard in ns2 from the ready room.
8OdntN5.jpg

Most of my ideas are just extensions of scoreboard improvements already seen on the Tactical Gamer Server. They function well for the purpose of the niche community that plays there. I have been wondering if some of those concepts could be put to use as something ns2 could benefit from.


1) Show what loadout a player has visually with icons.
Tactical Gamer has icons show on the scoreboard if a marine is carrying a welder, mines, and type specific grenades. For the aliens it shows if a player has a tunnel placed, and if it is open or not. This is a great feature because it gives the team better communication. It also looks very nice.

Here are the icons that are in use at tactical gamer.
Welder Icon
gMgmO42.png
Mines Icon
tqIEsfF.png
Cluster Grenade Icon
hiQz92g.png
Gas Grenade Icon
BnfuVWn.png
Pulse Grenade Icon
zHS8Krr.png
Open Tunnel Icon
MyKdhSD.png
Closed Tunnel Icon
iI96R5L.png

Examples of use:
  • You need to be welded, but there are no players nearby at that moment. You look on the scoreboard and you see Nordic has a welder. Nordic happens to be in the other room. You walk over there and ask to be welded.
  • If a commander sees a player with a shotgun, a welder, mines, and a gas grenade he might consider prioritizing him with meds because of the pres cost.
  • 3 open gorge tunnels are on the field. Marines kill one of the ends. How does a commander know which gorge needs to replace their tunnel? The one with the closed tunnel icon.
I admit those are not great examples, but let me show you some pictures from in game.
In this picture you see there are 2 open gorge tunnels on the field. One player is still a gorge, while the other died and is now a lerk.
NQzc7Jl.jpg

In this picture you see a skulk who has a closed tunnel. Marines killed the end that was placed in falls on biodome. This is useful information because he could go gorge again, and place a tunnel somewhere when the opportunity arises.
7LUvtl1.jpg

In this picture you can see some marines have a lot of equipment.
lm9f9CW.jpg

In this picture a lot of marine had bought grenades to kill a tunnel in falls on biodome.
ZqdaZUF.jpg

Those are just with the icons tactical gamer already has. There could be icons for Carapace, Regen, Celerity, Adrenaline, Phantom, and Aura. This could even be used so rookies can see what the good players upgrades are.

Bfb7sk7.jpg
nuQv10I.jpg

Tactical Gamer does not do this so I don't have real examples I can show you. We have it now but it is text. I am asking you, could this information be better communicated with an icon? Instead of saying fade, it would show a fade icon. Instead of saying JP/Shotgun it would show a jetpack icon and a shotgun icon in the same art style and format as idea #1. Would that be better? Or would you want the icon and the text? Or is the text fine as is?

Third idea was not well received. Putting behind a spoiler.


2) Letting players state lifeforms or khammander preference. Aliens only.

First look at some pictures so can visualize what I am describing.
Scoreboard without selection.
2zrpXd7.jpg

Example of scoreboard after selection.
H89kebx.jpg

Another example of scoreboard after selection.
1rkwdL6.jpg


Below is a quick 22 second video showing this in action. In the above pictures I edited out the additional scoreboard feature TGNS has that are unrelated to my suggestion.
In the video focus on the bubbles where people select their lifeform preference.

If you did not notice, I am speaking about the little bubble next to the lifeform. It starts out blank. If you click on it once it becomes a skulk. A second click changes it to gorge. The subsequent clicks change it to lerk, fade, onos, and khammander. One more click and it is blank again.

This is done entirely for planning purposes. It makes it become clear you will have a problem if your entire team wants to onos, or if 6/12 players want to gorge. Of tactical gamer we often use this to make sure we have a good mix of lifeforms. This would not be a rookie feature. Veteran players could use it to improve gameplay quality. This has been in use for months now on TGNS and it is incredibly valuable. It does not always get used but it does not have to be either.

How I imagine this would look in ns2.
  • As soon as a player joins aliens the blank bubble shows so players can select a lifeform preference.
  • Players select a lifeform preference by clicking on the bubble.
  • Each click changes the lifeform. First click is a skulk, second is a gorge, third is a lerk, fourth is a fade, fifth is an onos, 6th is a Khammander, and a 7th click returns to a blank bubble.
  • Players do not need to select a lifeforms preference.
  • Players are not locked into the selected lifeform.
  • The bubbles and lifeforms preference disappear 1 minute after round start. The information is no longer needed.
  • If nobody on the team selects a lifeform preference, the bubbles disappear at round start.
  • The bubbles are not present on the rookie only servers as described here.


What do you think of the 3 ideas I put forward? What they just clutter up the scoreboard too much? Do they improve the scoreboard?

What would you change about the scoreboard? What would you change to communicate with rookies better? How would you make it look better visually? How would you change it to improve the game for veterans?
«1

Comments

  • AeglosAeglos Join Date: 2010-04-06 Member: 71189Members
    Looks great. Not sure about grenade icons though, its not immediately clear although that may be just because I'm not used to it.
  • SamusDroidSamusDroid Colorado Join Date: 2013-05-13 Member: 185219Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    I'm not going to lie, while there are some good improvements to the scoreboard, it's at the point of being potential information overload when first opening. I had no idea what half those buttons did when I went back and played on their server not long ago.
  • videoPvideoP Join Date: 2014-04-06 Member: 195209Members
    edited December 2015
    Nordic wrote: »
    3) Letting players state lifeforms or khammander preference. Aliens only.

    I've been thinking about something like this lately, it would be a little more advanced though:

    Players could be able to specify from the readyroom their desired team / alien lifeform / if they want to command.
    This info could be used in conjunction with hive score to help balance the teams (this involves hive score being split up into marine/alien/marine commander/alien commander hive scores, like in the old NS2stats).
    But it could also just be used as you said, for planning purposes. It could also involve a way for the commanders to be decided by on by a vote, where the candidates are the players who selected they wanted to command that team.

    It's sorta complicated but I think a good UI could make it easy to understand.
  • SupaDupaNoodleSupaDupaNoodle Join Date: 2003-01-12 Member: 12232Members
    I think the K/D/A tallies should be removed entirely.

    I think it can be pretty demoralizing for new players to see someone with really high KDs.

    Since this game has such a high emphasis on teamwork, I think only the Score should be kept visible. Then we might get new players actually trying to increase their score by res-biting and harvester killing, rather than getting frustrated that they are 1-25.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited December 2015
    SamusDroid wrote: »
    I'm not going to lie, while there are some good improvements to the scoreboard, it's at the point of being potential information overload when first opening. I had no idea what half those buttons did when I went back and played on their server not long ago.

    If you actually look at the pictures I posted, not sure you did, I edited out most of those additional scoreboard stuff that TGNS has. There are at least 3 buttons on the scoreboard that are mostly function to help admin the server. I did not include those in my suggestions.

    I can agree that figuring out which grenade is what is hard, like Aeglos said, but that is also easily learned with time. At the very least you know that person has a grenade. The icons are pretty self explanatory and are not buttons so I don't think they are information overload.

    The bubbles would certainly be only be used by veterans because they are a bit more confusing. Is that what you meant by buttons, or was all the other fluff that TGNS has?

    We have found the bubbles extremely useful for planning purposes. Others have told me in PM's that it would be a great feature for NSL, gathers, and captains which is correct. I think it would still be useful in pubs. Pubs often lack organization. The bubbles would enable players to make ns2 more organized.

    In the short 22 second video I begin by asking the team to choose their lifeforms. That was a quick social gesture that prompted players to use the feature, and it is quick and easy to explain if a player does not know how to use it.
    Some servers are almost seem religious about using the Force Even teams vote. If the lifeform preference feature (the bubbles) was put into vanilla I could easily see it becoming a common earlygame habit of people asking others to choose their lifeforms.
    videoP wrote: »
    Nordic wrote: »
    3) Letting players state lifeforms or khammander preference. Aliens only.

    I've been thinking about something like this lately, it would be a little more advanced though:

    Players could be able to specify from the readyroom their desired team / alien lifeform / if they want to command.
    This info could be used in conjunction with hive score to help balance the teams (this involves hive score being split up into marine/alien/marine commander/alien commander hive scores, like in the old NS2stats).

    TGNS has another feature for the captains mode that I did not mention because I did not know how I would even try to put it into vanilla ns2.

    Here are some pictures.
    37ZnstL.jpg
    juNTYwh.jpg

    That is done all automatically. The TGNS mod collects data on how much each player plays a given lifeform or commander. The brighter the icon the more the player plays that role. The backend does not have much data collected so a lot of the players in those screenshots are not represented correctly yet. In time they will be. I think that is closer to what you are looking for though.
    I think the K/D/A tallies should be removed entirely.

    I think it can be pretty demoralizing for new players to see someone with really high KDs.

    Since this game has such a high emphasis on teamwork, I think only the Score should be kept visible. Then we might get new players actually trying to increase their score by res-biting and harvester killing, rather than getting frustrated that they are 1-25.

    I would not have a problem with that myself. I also think it might help teamplay a bit. In fact I really like the idea because it would free up space for the suggestions I have given in the OP.

    I can see a lot players getting upset about that too.
  • The_Welsh_WizardThe_Welsh_Wizard Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited December 2015
    I think this would help pub play a lot. Icons are small, easy, fast to understand and fast to distinguish from each other and superior to text in any form. Removing KDR would benefit it even more because more space for useful icons. Well and it is a lot easier to organize that lifeforms at round start so you do not start with 8 gorges.
  • krOozekrOoze Join Date: 2014-04-24 Member: 195593Members
    edited December 2015
    Like the idea. I constantly forget how many tunnels I have myself. Though all the information from 1) would be more useful for me on the map and not on scoreboard. I would like hours or SP visible on scoreboard too to judge balance of teams and the commander.

    Not sure about 3), though at least who gorges at start seems to be important for teams to communicate efficiently. Maybe instead of eggs comm could give free liveforms directly there too (e.g. free Onos to best player as a bid for victory)

    @Nordic Whats idea nr 2? There is 1) and then 3)?
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    krOoze wrote: »
    Like the idea. I constantly forget how many tunnels I have myself. Though all the information from 1) would be more useful for me on the map and not on scoreboard. I would like hours or SP visible on scoreboard too to judge balance of teams and the commander.

    Not sure about 3), though at least who gorges at start seems to be important for teams to communicate efficiently. Maybe instead of eggs comm could give free liveforms directly there too (e.g. free Onos to best player as a bid for victory)

    @Nordic Whats idea nr 2? There is 1) and then 3)?

    You caught me in my many edits. #2 was at one point an extension of #1. #3 was at one point what I mentioned to videoP until I decided not to mention it.
  • GoldenGolden Join Date: 2004-09-01 Member: 31169Members, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, WC 2013 - Silver, NS2 Community Developer
    I think a dropdown menu such as @Mendasp uses in NS2+ would work better for lifeform selection than clicking on a bubble many times. I do like the extra information this scoreboard gives.
  • BeigeAlertBeigeAlert Texas Join Date: 2013-08-08 Member: 186657Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    The scoreboard lifeforms is a nice idea, but I think it could be done better elsewhere. For example, I would love a way to specify preferred lifeform in the readyroom, or if I want to command, or are willing to command, so team balance can take that into account. There's so many times I've wanted to gorge, just for fun, but I know that when I get balanced onto a team, it's assuming I'll be playing my best as a fade.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Golden wrote: »
    I think a dropdown menu such as @Mendasp uses in NS2+ would work better for lifeform selection than clicking on a bubble many times. I do like the extra information this scoreboard gives.

    I was really hoping someone would propose a better way to do what I described. Thank you.
    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    The scoreboard lifeforms is a nice idea, but I think it could be done better elsewhere. For example, I would love a way to specify preferred lifeform in the readyroom, or if I want to command, or are willing to command, so team balance can take that into account. There's so many times I've wanted to gorge, just for fun, but I know that when I get balanced onto a team, it's assuming I'll be playing my best as a fade.

    Rereading videop's post and yours again, maybe there is something to this idea as apart of the new hive 2 system.

    When I gorge or command I typically lose because the hive skill system expects me to carry the team. If I stated a gorge preference, maybe it would only count half of my hive skill. Who knows.
  • BeigeAlertBeigeAlert Texas Join Date: 2013-08-08 Member: 186657Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    Yea, but then we have to worry about unscrupulous folks who will say they're going gorge, but then go fade so they can stack. :(
  • UncleCrunchUncleCrunch Mayonnaise land Join Date: 2005-02-16 Member: 41365Members, Reinforced - Onos
    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    Yea, but then we have to worry about unscrupulous folks who will say they're going gorge, but then go fade so they can stack. :(

    Come on...
  • videoPvideoP Join Date: 2014-04-06 Member: 195209Members
    Nordic wrote: »
    When I gorge or command I typically lose because the hive skill system expects me to carry the team.

    great point. this happens to me a lot since i usually like to gorge on aliens, but kill stuff on marines. this is another reason for hive score to be separated into alien/marine/alien comm/marine comm hive scores.

  • krOozekrOoze Join Date: 2014-04-24 Member: 195593Members
    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    Yea, but then we have to worry about unscrupulous folks who will say they're going gorge, but then go fade so they can stack. :(

    So going fade is considered stacking now? :)
  • NousWandererNousWanderer Join Date: 2010-05-07 Member: 71646Members
    krOoze wrote: »
    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    Yea, but then we have to worry about unscrupulous folks who will say they're going gorge, but then go fade so they can stack. :(

    So going fade is considered stacking now? :)
    Honor means welders and healspray only, bro.

  • krOozekrOoze Join Date: 2014-04-24 Member: 195593Members
    edited December 2015
    krOoze wrote: »
    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    Yea, but then we have to worry about unscrupulous folks who will say they're going gorge, but then go fade so they can stack. :(

    So going fade is considered stacking now? :)
    Honor means welders and healspray only, bro.

    Since when is axe and riflebutts considered stacking? :D
  • YojimboYojimbo England Join Date: 2009-03-19 Member: 66806Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    BeigeAlert wrote: »
    Yea, but then we have to worry about unscrupulous folks who will say they're going gorge, but then go fade so they can stack. :(

    I doubt this will be an issue Biege, it hasn't been in the past and I doubt it will be now, @Nordic is just providing a visual aid for rookies and regulars, I could even see this being put to effective use in comp play too!

    If this does go ahead, can I recommend matching the grenades to the icons, red = cluster, blue = nerve gas, white = pulse?
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited January 2016
    As an update to this thread, TGNS now has alien upgrades shown on the scoreboard. I thought I should show what that looks like.

    @rantology
    as69kuk.jpg

    The alien upgrades has great potential to help rookies learn the game. For one, rookies can see what upgrades the good players use. As a veteran I will ask why other veterans use certain upgrades. Secondly, I have seen rookies not using upgrades on the scoreboard. By knowing they don't have upgrades I was able to instruct them specifically how to do it.

    The sad part is that even after telling rookies how to upgrade, sometimes they ask me "Why do I need that?" If upto 30% more speed and 30% more armor is not convincing I don't know what is.
  • deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
    edited January 2016
    dont really see why having tunnels on the score board helps?

    dont get me wrong, looks nice but it has no real usage in the game
  • SupaFredSupaFred Join Date: 2013-03-03 Member: 183652Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    It tells the comm which gorge is able to drop a requested tunnel.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    You may not see the use, but in game it has proven itself useful.
  • WyzcrakWyzcrak Pot Pie Aficionado Join Date: 2002-12-04 Member: 10447Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Beyond color indicating closed-vs-open, the gorge tunnel icon's tooltip shows exit location name(s) and tells which exit will be destroyed if the player adds a new exit (exit priority often confuses gorges dropping additional exits).

    I regularly find all of the icons useful when playing on TGNS -- moreso than I anticipated, and I'm the guy who originally went to the trouble to add them.

    That having been said, they're commonly overlooked and irrelevant, but they're harmless during those moments. I haven't heard complains of folks struggling to consume the scoreboard's other information since adding them.

    Knowing which rookies have which upgrades is a fine boon to mentoring.
  • RedSwordRedSword Join Date: 2006-12-07 Member: 58947Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Good ideas.
    SamusDroid wrote: »
    I'm not going to lie, while there are some good improvements to the scoreboard, it's at the point of being potential information overload when first opening. I had no idea what half those buttons did when I went back and played on their server not long ago.

    Not sure if it is regarding the icon, but if so a tooltip (mini-popups when hovering mouse, as for badges) could solve that.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    RedSword wrote: »
    Good ideas.
    SamusDroid wrote: »
    I'm not going to lie, while there are some good improvements to the scoreboard, it's at the point of being potential information overload when first opening. I had no idea what half those buttons did when I went back and played on their server not long ago.

    TGNS has a lot of buttons on the scoreboard that are irrelevant to most ns2 servers. That is what Samus is referring to. I edited most of them out of the pictures I showed to suit my purposes. I would agree that all the little buttons that TGNS has could lead to information overload.

    But just the marine equipment and alien upgrades is a really good addition. Little tool tips would be even better.
  • WyzcrakWyzcrak Pot Pie Aficionado Join Date: 2002-12-04 Member: 10447Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    The tooltips appear on hover.

    Most of the TGNS-specific icons you edited out do not appear for players new to TGNS. They appear only after you're a regular on the server.
  • MoFo1MoFo1 United States Join Date: 2014-07-25 Member: 197612Members
    I wouldn't mind having the TGNS icons made vanilla. They can be pretty helpful. (especially seeing who has tunnels up)

    If hate to see kills assists and deaths removed though. Sometimes that's the only thing that will convince your team to concede when it's over.. Like when one Marine has over double the kills of the entire Alien team combined...

    Its also nice for a laugh sometimes, like when you go Lerk or Fade and end up with like 6 kills and 80 assists.

    I also don't think it would alleviate the feeling of being stomped. I've had times where it feels like I've been killed by the same guy like 20 times, but the scoreboard shows like 7-8 deaths. Not to mention you'd lose that feeling of accomplishment when you go from having 1-20 games to having 20-10 games.
  • FursFurs Join Date: 2013-09-20 Member: 188365Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
    I think more information like suggested could improve clearity and that might result in better games. Dont just assume ppl will abuse it, some ppl will abuse anything. And imo its one of the easiest things to add to ns2. Just add some tips in the loadscreen or somewhere about the options and how they work. You could even add it to the tutorial ;)
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited January 2016
    MoFo1 wrote: »
    If hate to see kills assists and deaths removed though.

    Uh, who said anything about removing those. I certainly did not. Looking at my pictures, it looks like I cropped out the K A and D headers but the numbers are still there.
  • WyzcrakWyzcrak Pot Pie Aficionado Join Date: 2002-12-04 Member: 10447Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    I was wondering same. I get it that this thread is about improving the scoreboard, and not about TGNS, per se, but TGNS certainly doesn't remove KAD from the scoreboard.
Sign In or Register to comment.