Gear Lists

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Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Progress Report

Doing a lot of experimentation. Please withhold feedback until I post here with a version I'd like you all to review.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Feedback Wanted Again!

Okay, fixed a lot of little things, and several big things.

General improvements:

Table now has a small column gap between sections: Defense, Status, and Abilities. Should be a tad more visually pleasing. Does not affect sorting capability. If it's not better than before, I'll just restore it, no problem.

Fixed the table's ability to sort. This took a while because I had to consider a few things:

Feedback about ability columns. I decided to design it around 4 columns - not because we have items with 3 abilities and then some items with penalties, but because I've divided all known (and quite a few "future possibles" such as dash) abilities into 4 different types. These are: uniform, item specific, monster specific, and penalties. There is quite a large amount of flexibility in this sorting system, and before critiquing it, read the documentation about it here - GearList Documentation - it's in the 3rd section, in the "Level 3: Updating the Templates' CODE with New Values" section. Penalties can easily be expanded to match the "bonus" abilities (like penalty uniform, penalty monster, penalty item) if we ever see a lot more of them, which I kind of actually hope for.

But Nova, you say, what about weapons whose abilities can cause status like FoV? I plan on making a table just like the one in that documentation, with a value of 7 and above in column B (actually, A could be better...hmmmmm). Why? Because one day they might make it so things that physically contact, say, mercurial mail have a chance to get shocked. This example should shed some light on the flexibility of the system. Seems complicated? Maybe - but this part of the code will rarely change once in place, unless the game updates with really really new stuff. Like to the point it wouldn't be SK anymore. So I wouldn't worry about that.

Fixed list entry to be a little more intuitive/thoughtful - instead of just filling in slots, you have to pick which slots to use and fill. This drastically reduces the amount of space used within pages, and is pretty easy to understand (I think) when you're just copy/pasting from an existing code, which most editors (new and old) tend to do. I'll finish up the documentation on the "parameters" when a few more things are sorted out.

The documentation for parameters is missing - yes. I have not completed it yet because I want to get a few more things done, namely the layers of switches for ListDefense and ListStatus (I don't like using a bunch of different ones - see the "See Also" section of the documentation).

I put a lot of thought into icons based on feedback here and in-game. I've come up with a solution I hope everyone likes.

The GearList Documentation has a lengthy explanation about the icon logic in the Showhide: Icons. You can also see several of these icons in action on the Armor/5 Star page.

Before moving forward with the template, I'll wait for feedback. I'll be doing some touchups here and there, but nothing major.

Tl;DR:
Well too bad you have to read something long! Read the GearList Documentation , look at the Armor/5 Star page, and let us know what you think. A general "at a glance" opinion first, then "after I spent half my life reading the documentation" opinion second would be ideal. MAKE SURE you expand all the panels, I have a lot of information tucked away in these things.

Note: the wording of the documentation is as if we're finished, so, no, there are no lists for trinkets/swords etc. yet, it's just worded that way now so I don't have to change it later. I think that's the only "inaccurate" thing in the documentation at the moment. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, opinion on the "No Abilities" image? I like how it fits into the table. I figure it's okay to use because we have a lot of images that we're being very clear about how they're NOT REAL in the note (below the lists).

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Feedback

This thread is starving! Feed it feedback!
I know you're there Bopp. I saw you just a minute ago in another thread.

Bopp's picture
Bopp
caught

Yeah, I tend to neglect the hard threads that require actual thought. Anyway, http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Armor/5_Star looks great. The No Abilities image looks fine to me.

The health bonus icon is a little jagged.

At the risk of irritating you, let me reiterate my opposition to detailed damage bar measurements (5.05 bars, etc.). They increase the tedium of editing the wiki, while adding no practical benefit to the end user.

I have inspected the source code for Armor/5_Star. The template seems really easy to use. I don't foresee any problem...

I have glanced at the GearList documentation. It is extremely long. Very few editors will read it. But it's nice to have detailed documentation I guess.

The "Adding Values: ListAbilities (Armor, Helmet, Shield)" show/hide is so wide that I have trouble even reaching the "show" to click on it.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
@Bopp

Still hungry~

What about the icon visuals (the purpled armor icon for shadow and the status-colored armor pics etc.?) You said the page looks great, I am just makin sure I'm not jumping to conclusions about things.

I've found that quantifying the bar visuals is fairly easy - the game only uses 22 of what I call "extremely detailed values" - and only a few of these 22 are used for the higher-star items. I felt like I could discern the value of the bars at a glance, didn't need to count pixels every time, but that's just me and how my brain works. This system remains solid unless the game changes these visuals (which it didn't even with the UI update), or someone uploads an image that isn't at heat level 1. The value of these entries is to sort the most intense armor items to the top - dread skelly has a little more than, say, divine. We know from previous comments in this thread that these tiny stat differences don't really matter when taking a fiendish stapler to the face, but I'm very certain that gamers out there concern themselves with being "maxed out to the max" would appreciate this sort of data. And tbh, with other games and wikis, the sort of user that even bothers to look at a wiki tends to be this type of gamer.

I'll clean up that documentation page more later.

Bopp's picture
Bopp
response

The icon visuals look great. The only thing I can say is that the purpled shadow icon is a little low on contrast. Perhaps the background should be slightly darker? (I haven't inspected the RGB values, figured out a darker shade in that hue, or anything like that.)

Yes, only about 5 damage defense bar lengths are used in the 5-star items. And yes they're pretty easy to measure once you learn them. But a new wiki editor has to take time to learn them, so it's a bit of an obstacle to attracting new editors. But this is not a big deal for me.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
@Bopp

yeah the shadow contrast also bothers me, was using the same two colors that the purple shadow damage icon uses in-game. But since we're throwing "using real icons" out the window for the sake of consistency in a user-made table, I can make the colors a bit more...obvious.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Progress Report

I have not forgotten this project - I've been having people look at it whenever I can (on this page) and feedback has been interesting and mostly "wow yes."

When I'm no longer so busy irl, I'll do grit work on this again. Other more pressing wiki projects surfaced. In the meantime, try using the categories implemented with a recent gear item infobox overhaul (we have not added damage bonus vs. X or similar abilities yet, only defenses and status offense). See the Category for Armor, Category for Weapons, and similar.

Major decisions to make regarding the gearlist system (similar issues as before, but summarized from thread and in-game feedback to refresh participant memory without reading through the massive thread):

Use either all our "faux" icons, or go back to perk icons and use text for the ability column so people can use CTRL+F. Wait what? yes - just one ability column. Pros: less complicated coding, easier auto sorting, and CTRL+F searching, and looks more "official." Cons: table width issues, not as tidy looking. Personally my concern with this is being official - but we can always have a disclaimer at the top that screams "these icons are modified by users and are not seen in game. They are used on this wiki for clarity blahblah" because people like the faux icons too. I am very certain we should not mix faux and official icons, well, at least...as little as possible.

If we do text for abilities, I will make the table 100% width and have the ability column "auto" - this should simply force smaller screens (like phones) to scroll right/left to see it, but not a lot of change for standard screen sizes.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Progress Report

Significant changes have been made.

It's been a while...because reasons! The system has been worked on today. Please read the notes below and make sure you are seeing the most recent version of this page.

===============================================================================================
Changes:
===============================================================================================

- Replaced various custom icons with functional CTRL+F functionality. Sorting and list entry were getting a little complicated . This change improves functionality as well as ease of new item entry to the list. A side note, penalizing ability texts are pink to match in-game text color and draw attention to them.

- went back to using perks for defenses and status resistances. In-game icons are just better than custom ones, as discussed in this thread and in-game.

- status weakness icons are significantly smaller than the resistant icons, to enable easier visual distinction. They are roughly the same size as the relevant visual within the perk icon shield. Thoughts on this?

-Show/Hides in the name column and simplified tooltips in the other icon columns provide comparability, while the table simply groups properties together in a rather binary fashion. The reason for this is emphasized above the table.

-Extensive explanation about how to use the list has been made in relation to these changes, at the top of the page.

-These changes mean the minimum ideal functionality of the table as it is now requires around 1127 pixels, which isn't too many more than the goals mentioned previously in this thread. This is simply unavoidable in a table with this much information, especially if you want to keep it as functional as possible for most browsers.

===============================================================================================
Suggested:
===============================================================================================

- Add star levels below the item name in the name column to the right of the icon. There's room for it and it should help keep the lists very clear if all star levels are all on the same page. This would be more useful to new players who are not aware of item patterns and typical naming. IMO this would just add clutter.

===============================================================================================
To Do:
===============================================================================================

- Possibly have all armor items on one page, vs. Armor/5 Star, Armor/4 Star, etc. This will increase load time for some users but be generally more convenient for ability searches and general comparisons. We can test this after the other items have been updated to reflect template changes. EDIT: changes have been made. There are still individual pages with armor items, but I have fused them all into one as well - test your load times here. If all goes well, we will replace the list on the Armor page with the lists in Armor/All. Various notes will be retained, of course. Just focus on the lists.

- Improve table header (yellow row at top of table). The text bores me, but if other people like it, it will be left as is.

- Get feedback on these changes. This part is up to you guys. Thoughts?

- If you think it is good (well, the entries shouldn't change much from this point on, so we need help with that regardless) and want to help, please help make entries for helmets and shields. This will not only reduce the workload, but also find kinks in list entry that might not be as intuitive as we thought. Just generate a page like Helmet/5 Star and work with examples to build the lists. We can merge/delete as needed.

Documentation so far can be found here.

Sciger's picture
Sciger
I really REALLY like the

I really REALLY like the format. @.@ One can fairly easily guess upon first glance that the shield indicates resistance and the regular icons indicate a penalty towards that status.

I admit, I was slightly confused at first as I wanted to know what the resistances/status amounts were but I figured out pretty quickly that if you click 'show' by each individual armor, it gives more information. If possible, might want to make it a little more clear as not many may figure that out quickly.

EDIT: Just noticed that you can hover over each status symbol and it says how much it is increased/decreased by low, med, etc. Disregard that 2nd paragraph. |D

Overall, I really love this new format. It's way cleaner.

Cheshireccat's picture
Cheshireccat
Love it!

It's the clearest, cleanest iteration so far. Very easily understood. Text communicates the difficult concepts and benefits. You can see the dropdowns for the images.
It looks funny on a low-res window because of how the boxes scale at different rates, but that's a nitpick.

Is it possible to make a "Show All" for the name column to expand all of the images at once?

I say publish.
--Chesh

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
@Cheshireccat and general

I know that there is a "show all" option for some browsers on some websites, but as far as I know our current version of mediawiki is incapable. But hey, the future is bright for that!

Hilariously, if you have your browser set to not load images, the table loses sortability. But super fast load and ctrl+F still works!

Before we publish, I want to get all the lists done and scanned for errors. Then we'll implement them like BAM. We should have a note at the top of the affected pages saying

"this page has been updated with a new table! Please let wiki editors know if you find mistakes. You can also suggest ideas that you feel will improve the table LINK TO HERE."

Bopp's picture
Bopp
screen shot

For your information, here is a screen shot using a window that is about 1,000 pixels wide. This screen shot also gives you an idea of how much vertical page space I can see on my laptop. (I hope that I'm seeing the current version.)

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/File:BoppNovaster2.png

I know that this kind of design involves compromises, and it's hard to make everything look perfect in all situations. Have you considered adopting some aggressive abbreviations for the abilities in the final column: ASI+1, fiend-2, etc.? (Have we been through all of this already?)

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Bopp

We have been through it all already. The raw width of the table is as stated, some computers will do weird things (especially if the user has chosen a different viewing font size etc). We've reached the point of having to "put our foot down" when it comes to that table size issue. You could try controlling the size of your window and scooching the table over so that the search bar area to the left of the page is offscreen, then stretch the right side of your browser window as far right as you can. IMO that search bar+navigation field should be at the top (like custom made bunkbeds, so much room for activities!) but that is out of my power. It is as small+simple as it's going to get with various standards.

Aggressive abbreviations are not ideal and do not fix the problem everywhere.

We could use feedback on tables regarding weapons. Check Bomb/All for the best current examples of this GearList type we have. Feedback so far seems to be in unanimous favor of a single status column. These "offensive" gear lists should have fewer width problems than the defensive armor/helmet ones because the items have fewer lengthy abilities.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
Current Most Major Concern

My current most major concern is the table sorting the items - should it sort by intensity, or not? Many people whom I've asked to look at the table are instantly confused by this, but then understand quickly once they read the "about gear lists" thing.

Pros for sorting by intensity: obviously, instantly find "the most powerful" item. This is more important for certain weapons than defensive items. This is also just generally fun information.

Cons for sorting by intensity: for larger lists, sorting for multiple aspects can shove stuff near the bottom because it is (even if slightly) weaker. This is especially apparent with the snarbolax coat and poison/ice searches.

Pros for sorting binary (simple yes/no grouping, but retaining tooltips of course for those who still like their numbers): items are clustered together clearly and consistently across multiple column sorting.

Cons: people are going to assume it sorts by intensity, because most people do not read the directions for things (the "about gear lists" thing at the top). Also, this is just a standard thing for lists to do. It is expected.

I am in favor of the binary sorting (as it is now) for several reasons:
1) the point of the table is to find things with properties you desire, THEN compare them. If items don't group together clearly, this contradicts the goal.
2) the minor differences between items of the same damage defense type are typically insignificant. Consider also the factors of heating and depth and stratum fallout issues. We want players to understand that you go after basic defenses X(s), if there are X monsters dealing dmg type X with X status, with preference for abilities over defenses in most cases. Thus a "does this item have this and this" search is ideal.
3) many of the weapon stat bars are horribly misleading considering the differences in combat style (like the haze bomb damage bar, or charge attacks). Sorting these by intensity would be largely pointless.

We would have to make the "warning" about how the list does not sort by intensity very clear at the top of the page if we stick with the way it is now.

Thoughts?

Exiled-Gremlin's picture
Exiled-Gremlin
late comment

nicely done Novaster, numbers are very much appreciated than bars, the most clear view on armors I've ever seen

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
More Progress

Most inputs for lists are done, only shields remain. What's left is to tweak aesthetics and then we can publish.

I have finally decided, after much thought and feedback, to let the table sort ascending/descending based on value, except for the status resistance values. This is just expected behavior for a sorting table.

But why exclude the status resistance values from this behavior? Because the darn thing just groups so weirdly if you don't equate everything to the same value (thus making it essentially binary) - since most items offer the same level of resistance, and mousing over/comparing items is prudent to do, this is for the best of everything. The other option shoves items like the Snarbolax Coat (which has high status resistance, not max like most items) way down into a confusing mess and the table is much less useful this way. Another option is to sort lowest values to the top, but that is out of the question by this point - too many feedbackers want highest to sort to the top first. What's worse - missing an item alltogether, or choosing an item that has a few pixels less of a resistance, when that doesn't make a huge difference anyway?

Here are visuals showing the different sorting behavior for the status columns. This is clicking freeze first, then poison for both "sorted" examples.
Note: browser is zoomed way out to get the bad sorting of the snarbolax coat within the screenshot range, and they're all the same zoom for easy comparing. So they shouldn't be used to compare sizing issues, JUST sorting issues.

Default Order (unsorted)

Sorting BAD - snarbolax shoved all the way down there because it has slightly lower values

Sorting GOOD

I can think of a few ways to fix this, but none that I know how to code (like, prioritizing matches with previous sorting commands within the page). Or let it be "binary" - this solves the grouping problem. The problem persists with the other columns, but due to the nature and large amounts of those values, missing items doesn't seem to be a problem.

The convenience of sortable lists degrades with higher item population numbers, at some point in the distant future (if more items continue to be released), we'd need to seriously investigate the ability of our wiki to have a search query, which I mentioned here.

Please scan these lists for errors. My friends and I have already found a few, there are likely more. I'd like to publish this so that it's immediately accurate and functioning correctly.

An important change: I'll be changing the output values to be whole numbers to feel "more like SK," since SK doesn't really use decimal numbers for anything that players see. These whole number values are the exact, total pixel count for the bar it represents.

Dracora-Speaking's picture
Dracora-Speaking
:O

We are extremely close to being able to publish. Before we do...

As always, make sure you are seeing the most recent version of a page you wish to give feedback on.

1) Please read the "about gear lists" informative show/hide that will be on every page to guide new users. It is full of tips and tricks for things that may or may not be intuitive to all ages. Would you add or change anything about this guide? (Like how to load without images if you really want to, though again, this loses sortability because the button for sorting is an image for our wiki). Here is a link to it.

2) Please state any major concerns with the list system itself. Do you see any problems down the road that have not already been outlined? Do you have any solutions to these problems that have not already been compromised? Do you have a brilliant new, better compromise? Say so :D

3) Any suggestions for how the list should look, or any spacing issues you see. Are whole numbers a good idea? And so on.

4) Any major suggestions for list content. We have ruled out certain things like alchemy path (which amusingly is somewhat covered by combat style for weapon lists), accessory slots, acquisition, and so on. The lists cover stats, name, and abilities for sorting, and they are ordered by Date of Release when in default, so they contain relative DoR information as well. TBH I can't think of anything else we should put in the lists, they're pretty packed!

5) Scan lists for entry errors. The list system has completed entries for all combat items. We are looking for mistakes in entry and any items that we may have forgotten to put in the list. We are NOT including any reskins. Here are the pages that need scanning:

-Armor
-Helmets
-Shields
-Trinkets

-Bombs
-Handguns
-Swords

6) Anything that should go on the pages that aren't the lists. I plan on giving a nice bit of notes, history, and quantity counts. At the top will temporarily be a notice about the changes asking the general userbase for feedback, which I will make a forum node for - this node will link here for the curious, but I like to see issues that non-editors have. This is, after all, for everyone.