Oolite Bulletins

Well the really hard part of the numeric gauge development is finished so I'm starting up this thread on Needle(speedometer) style HUDS. Many of the same ideas used to create the numeric gauges can be used for needle gauges so as soon as Numerics are released I will immediately start building needle gauges. This will give lots of time for you to post your thoughts and ideas. What do you want? What do you like? Post it all here.

As the numeric hud is done I'm starting on the needle gauges. Any ideas about the size, placement, what should be displayed or not displayed as a needle guage, if you prefer speedometer or the moving pin type style for certain gauge types, and your thoughts,etc. If you have a layout in mind you could always draw it as well. In the next few days I will start the designing.

I think that energy banks would be a good candidate for needle gauges. One doesn't usually need to see a precise data on exactly how much energy is there, so a numerical isn't necessary, and several could be clustered together in a small "subpanel" sort of area of a display. The movement as energy is used and replaced could be a good visual dynamic, and it could be done in as small a space (or perhaps smaller) than the current bars.

Cabin and laser temp could be possible candidates for dial or moving pin gauges.

For speed and altitude or range to a target I definitely would prefer numerical. Shields, numerical is good, but the pie charts were something that I thought showed them particularly well.

Is it possible to show the data in more than one place? Like a numerical value on the upper section and maybe an "analog" display of some sort down near the bottom? Typically, an HUD is critical data so you don't have to look down during combat or tricky manoeuvres, but aircraft and spacecraft usually have intentional redundancy on at least the most critical items so the pilot's eyes don't have to keep looking back and forth. When you're fighting or docking, you use what's on the HUD screen, and at other times you might use the gauges or whatever displays on the panel.