Socket update

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Erik wrote:

Here's another update on the sockets and a WIP link. For colour blindness are those sockets fine without the ornaments?

I might just use the the old link but slightly thinner, like in Facelickers image.

I'm not sure now, do you intend to add a colour blind option in the option menu which would show those socket designs when activated, or do you intend to replace the old design with these?

Because, sadly to say, I really don't like the flat design of those sockets.

They don't fit in to the art style of POE in my opinion, while the old one did just fine.

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FaceLicker wrote:

Now if you guys think this is perhaps a bit too much, how about making it an option? A simple 'Larger Sockets' checkbox would suffice.

I'd love to see this added though. I don't need the quality percentages (too much clutter imo) but with the current system its very hard for me to see if sockets are connected on items on the ground.

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Erik wrote:

Here's another update on the sockets and a WIP link. For colour blindness are those sockets fine without the ornaments?

I might just use the the old link but slightly thinner, like in Facelickers image.

These look better..
But the current sockets are more original and refined. What about try to mantain the style of current sockets changing only their colours as for items on the ground?
Can colorblind people distinguish them?

Those new sockets look rather bland in my opinion... they remind me of paint drawings with those simple, pure colors.

I would personally prefer something more RPG-ish.

I like the old sockets more because:
1. they look and fit better to the items
2. additional shapes allow to discriminate them easily even for color-blind people (green having 3 notches, red 4 notches and blue 8 notches)
3. the links look nice and are easily noticeable

What improvement can be done:
1. partially transparent bottoms so that they are less intrusive
2. the green and red shades can be tuned a bit to make them easier to discriminate.

I think the best solution would be the easiest - scale the original (current) sockets and change their colors like FaceLicker did for the new ones. The first WIP was ok, but I don't understand why they are transparent in the middle unline the current and latest. The latest example is the one I like the least, but they are still OK :P However, they are not smaller than current at all, I thought they were supposed to be.

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Kokoro wrote:

I like the old sockets more because:
1. they look and fit better to the items
2. additional shapes allow to discriminate them easily even for color-blind people (green having 3 notches, red 4 notches and blue 8 notches)
3. the links look nice and are easily noticeable

What improvement can be done:
1. partially transparent bottoms so that they are less intrusive
2. the green and red shades can be tuned a bit to make them easier to discriminate.

Agree, current sockets and link style best from all this new ones, i hope there will be option to keep old style.

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Erik wrote:

Here's another update on the sockets and a WIP link. For colour blindness are those sockets fine without the ornaments?

These colors are fantastic! Quite easy to distinguish for me.

I pretty much agree with what Kokoro said,

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Kokoro wrote:

I like the old sockets more because:
1. they look and fit better to the items
2. additional shapes allow to discriminate them easily even for color-blind people (green having 3 notches, red 4 notches and blue 8 notches)
3. the links look nice and are easily noticeable

What improvement can be done:
1. partially transparent bottoms so that they are less intrusive
2. the green and red shades can be tuned a bit to make them easier to discriminate.

Additionally, the thickness of the links could be toned down.

Here's a crude example, a before and after using Kokoro's image.


In the before shot.. I see one dirty blue socket and the rest is all the same brownish color. There is no red, there is no green. In the after shot, there is no mistake which color each socket is. Color-wise, I like it. If you guys are still looking at reducing socket size, I'd say a 25% reduction on these sockets is good. The links (slightly thinner in the after shot) could then be stretched a little to reach the sockets or perhaps even redesigned with a similar art style. Here's a rough image with smaller 25% smaller sockets(pardon the color in the center of the sockets, I just did a quick color balance)

A slight, or partial, transparency in the center of the socket, as Kokoro mentioned, would be ideal. Full transparency is just confusing as was pointed out earlier (when I couldn't tell if the sockets were both empty or full), and a fully opaque center does not look as good as it completely obscures the beautiful item art behind it.

I recently changed computer and don't have GIMP installed now, but I think we could find a compromise with the color saturation levels. The examples above make the sockets very easy to discriminate but at the same time it is conflicting a bit with the rest of equipment graphics which are toned down color-wise.

If the color shades + saturation levels were changed only slightly + adding that partial transparency for the inner backgrounds, that I think could solve the problem.

I love the last image from Facelicker. I hope Erik doesn't feel insulted, all his work and suggestions are nice, but simply making smaller and giving more saturation to current ones seems best. Still, with smaller and re-colorized any version of socket art works well, GGG has the last word on it probably :)

Changing colors of sockets will make them stand out a bit more on items but it should not be disturbing when they are smaller. It would actually be desirable to make them more noticeable after shrinking. Sockets clearer and art more visible - all is good.

I was also thinking if it's possible to make colors easy to recognize for all types of colorblindness. Maybe adding option to changing colors that would work, for example using violet instead of blue for sockets and gems

So, I played a while with the new (9.12) sockets and I must say I like the older design more. It was already possible to distinguish the color without seeing colours but the design fit better in the game.



About the sockets on items on ground, I think it was easier to spot links before but this might be just that I was used to it.