[edit] Sorry for misspelling Galaxy on the post title.. I always do that
I've finally finished the basics of the galaxy map rendering logic. I've decided to use billboards for the stars (and omit drawing planets as you can't see them anyway) at this zoom level. When you select a star, it will transition to solar system view, and as it auto-zooms into the star, it will fade out the billboard and fade in the actual star (eventually I'll use the god rays shader technique from GPU Gems on max visual settings or on the XBOX 360).

Anyway in this screen it will show an overview of the solar systems, as well as any units travelling between solar systems (that you are aware of), as well as any 'probes' sitting out in space (you need probes to see your enemy's movement).

The game is designed around the XBOX 360 controller (mouse support is easy enough to figure out), and here is the controls for the galaxy map:
Left Stick: Rotate galaxy from the center
Right Stick: X/Y plane camera movement
Left Trigger: Move Backwards (Zoom map out)
Right Trigger; Move Forwards (Zoom map in)

Anyway, at this screen the player will be selecting a star or unit to jump to, and I have a few ideas on how to do this, but none of it sounds very usable. My idea was to have a mouse show when you hold down the left bumper, and move the mouse with the right stick to select an item. If more than one item is near the mouse, it would first show a 'choose' screen to select which one you meant to pick. Another idea is to have a standard' selector' icon that can be positioned with the DPad but that sounds annoying too. Does anyone have any ideas on a nice natural way to allow selecting items on this screen?

Here's the reference video for it:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=C68VJiVXu9M


Any input would be greatly appreciated (on the UI, obviously my art sucks, but I have two local artists who are currently drawing some assets for me).

A mouse cursor controlled by thumbstick sounds quite annoying. Having a 'selected' planet that can be adjusted with one of the thumbsticks or the dpad is simple and intuitive enough.

What is the need for total freedom of movement of your galaxy/solar system view? Why does the player need to rotate on all axis? What information or benefit is gained from that capability?

I am assuming that the purpose of the galaxy interface is to show important information to the player about each galaxy, and facilitate quick transition to the solar system. If this is the case,it might be better to restrict the rotation of the galaxy to a single axis, controllable by one thumbstick, and let the other thumbstick control the selection box.

I've cleaned up the controls a bit. You need to rotate in the different views because eventually there will be display indicators for ships and other things going on. Rotating will help you see what's going on.

shows a bit more of a usable interface now, but I'm sure there are still tweaks to be made.

Hey good work there!

I watched that video you linked, good stuff. I would personally prefer the stars shrinking to points when I'm viewing the galaxy, instead of seeing huge balls of fire that seem to be lightyears across.

Also, putting labels in boxes might help the ui look better, and I would consider even putting some kind of outline around planets and stars that are visible/inspectable/what-have-you.

Also cool song