Usability Problems:
1. The Pathing Tools window is painful. I think what would make this much more usable is:
a. Combine the path Style and Extras tab into a single "Styles" tab.
b. Move the Customize brush and its settings to the styles tab. When the tab is open, the customize brush should be active.
c. Move the path extras section out of the Customize tab into its own tab or include it in the "Add path" tab. Using the customize brush doesn't even work with this feature. If it's added to the "add path" tab, make the toggle state show/hide the actual path extra pieces buttons and other configuration related to it.
2. The Blueprints/Custom toggle is all the way on the right of the panel and it changes the categories buttons on the left. Sometimes I get confused why there isn't a button there, then I remember I'm in the wrong mode. Two options I think would make this more usable:
a. Change the blueprint/custom toggle to icon-only tabs and move it to the left of the category icons. That way the categories button change is more clearly caused by the toggle because it doesn't involve a complete horizontal scan.
b. Change the blueprint/custom toggle to a button group above or below the category icons. If it's below there's already empty space there. If it's above, move the bread crumb to the right of the button group.
3. There's no keybind for the Park Management button I could find that shows all the individual panels like "Staff" and "Research" etc. I can only click the button in the top left of the screen, or navigate back from some specific panel like "Staff"
4. The full screen staff view seems like it would be more helpful if it was instead baked into the staff tab of the game view (bottom drawer) somehow. Similar to the scenery "blueprint vs custom", have a "Hire" and "Management" tab. In management mode, the bottom drawer extends a little more and you can click on each staff member and view them in the world and also navigate their individual staff panel as if you clicked on the "Locate" button. Same goes for "Attractions & Shops"
5. The favorite button on an individual item in the build drawer is easily accidently pressed with a mouse. I'm not sure how to make this better without moving it outside the square tile other than to make it press-and-hold to toggle.
6. The Coaster Construction vs Edit mode is confusing. What's the distinction?
7. The coaster special pieces like loops feels like it could collapse all into 1 tab, with each existing tab as its own section within the single tab. This would make it easier to sample and find what I'm looking for. Keep the height of each section fixed to 2 rows so the left/right arrows don't shift height. If vertical height because of too many sections is a concern, or selection visibility, make each section a choice in a drop down instead.
8. Sometimes tooltips don't show up. I think a fix is coming for this though.. not sure.
Lack of Insight:
1. A heat map for facilities would be useful with a filter by type. That way I can judge restroom distance better. There's not really an easy way to do this
2. For the staff heatmap, there's not a way to filter on staff type like mechanics.
3. For the power heatmap, it would be useful to see a mini version of the power available widget when you click on a generator. For PC this data could be sampled from the mouse cursor location. Alternatively have a sampling tool that works like the delete brush that can sample an area.
1. The Pathing Tools window is painful. I think what would make this much more usable is:
a. Combine the path Style and Extras tab into a single "Styles" tab.
b. Move the Customize brush and its settings to the styles tab. When the tab is open, the customize brush should be active.
c. Move the path extras section out of the Customize tab into its own tab or include it in the "Add path" tab. Using the customize brush doesn't even work with this feature. If it's added to the "add path" tab, make the toggle state show/hide the actual path extra pieces buttons and other configuration related to it.
2. The Blueprints/Custom toggle is all the way on the right of the panel and it changes the categories buttons on the left. Sometimes I get confused why there isn't a button there, then I remember I'm in the wrong mode. Two options I think would make this more usable:
a. Change the blueprint/custom toggle to icon-only tabs and move it to the left of the category icons. That way the categories button change is more clearly caused by the toggle because it doesn't involve a complete horizontal scan.
b. Change the blueprint/custom toggle to a button group above or below the category icons. If it's below there's already empty space there. If it's above, move the bread crumb to the right of the button group.
3. There's no keybind for the Park Management button I could find that shows all the individual panels like "Staff" and "Research" etc. I can only click the button in the top left of the screen, or navigate back from some specific panel like "Staff"
4. The full screen staff view seems like it would be more helpful if it was instead baked into the staff tab of the game view (bottom drawer) somehow. Similar to the scenery "blueprint vs custom", have a "Hire" and "Management" tab. In management mode, the bottom drawer extends a little more and you can click on each staff member and view them in the world and also navigate their individual staff panel as if you clicked on the "Locate" button. Same goes for "Attractions & Shops"
5. The favorite button on an individual item in the build drawer is easily accidently pressed with a mouse. I'm not sure how to make this better without moving it outside the square tile other than to make it press-and-hold to toggle.
6. The Coaster Construction vs Edit mode is confusing. What's the distinction?
7. The coaster special pieces like loops feels like it could collapse all into 1 tab, with each existing tab as its own section within the single tab. This would make it easier to sample and find what I'm looking for. Keep the height of each section fixed to 2 rows so the left/right arrows don't shift height. If vertical height because of too many sections is a concern, or selection visibility, make each section a choice in a drop down instead.
8. Sometimes tooltips don't show up. I think a fix is coming for this though.. not sure.
Lack of Insight:
1. A heat map for facilities would be useful with a filter by type. That way I can judge restroom distance better. There's not really an easy way to do this
2. For the staff heatmap, there's not a way to filter on staff type like mechanics.
3. For the power heatmap, it would be useful to see a mini version of the power available widget when you click on a generator. For PC this data could be sampled from the mouse cursor location. Alternatively have a sampling tool that works like the delete brush that can sample an area.
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