Unified interactive source of information
I began this project simply as a tech tree diagram after somebody requested an infograph of the marine tech layout. However I decided that, with every acquirable piece of equipment displayed right in front of you, it would be a good place to provide in depth information relating to each item.The ultimate goal is to have an interactive tech tree for both aliens and marines, where each node in the tree can be selected, and information relating to that item provided. The type of information would range from the basic "does this" which can be seen in game on structure labels, to more complex strategy related information, like quick drop Onos eggs and power node structure blocking.
So far only the marine tech tree is complete. I intend for the item labels which appear during mouseover to be clickable, which will bring up the more in depth information relating to that node. I'm undecided right now whether I will continue with the marine section to completion, or just add the text labels and then begin work on the alien section.
This is the current version, completely populated, and the actual InfoCenter can be found here
So far I'm aware that certain items can be difficult to see when inactive. This is mainly due to the background and the transparency of the nodes. I'm looking for a nice marine oriented background to use, preferably one with the centre primarily dark/black. I'm trying different node images at the moment which stick out better with a more pronounced border, which can be seen in the mac upgrade nodes and the phase tech node.
I'm unsure of how to approach the cost and activation of the IP and Extractor nodes. On the one hand, the player does start with one of each and so technically they are free. On the other hand, this is less of a "what happens in practice" diagram, and more of a theoretical cost and tech path diagram. Currently as nodes are selected, their resource cost is added to the top left display. In the future, I will allow a number of active Extractors value to be set, and the total time it will take to collect the spent resources value will be displayed.
Please post any usability issues or bugs that you come across.