I'm looking for some GUI design ideas. Which games have the best / most user friendly screens: 1) for starship component placement? 2) for component research? Thanks
I always liked the way ascendancy did their research and ship building Other than that, Masters of Orion 2 was also good
Sword of the Stars Check out the new game Sword of the Stars for a nice research UI. Their ship design screen is also pretty good, but it takes a little getting used to and might turn off new users. Actually, the whole game is pretty damn good. Gamespot just reviewed it here, and gave it a 7.4, which I thought was a little low. There's a demo on Fileplanet. I actually enjoy the game more than GalCiv2. It has great real-time tactical combat (unlike GalCiv2, which feels like an animation on top of a simulation). The 4 races are so different it almost feels like you're playing another game when you switch. Lastly, if you decide to buy a download-able version online, use GamerGate instead of Direct2Drive.
For component placement placement, I'm partial to the Mechwarrior 4 semi-restricted hardpoints system. At the very least, it kept the graphics from doing goofy things like firing lasers out of missile racks. List of drag'n'drop components on one side, and a schematic with open hardpoints taking up the rest of the screen.