Quote: How can I show the player, in a simple and relatively compact way, a representation of the objects in the space surrounding the player's ship?

That depends, is your game going to be 2D or 3D? In other words will the player have to worry about depth? If not a regular 2D map display will work fine.

In that case i'd recommend a hybrid of your two previous idea's, namely a numerical 2D map. Basically you would have a graphical 2D map as normal with icon's representing objects in space, you then overlay a number on that object to represent its "Depth" relative to the player (or just have a number).

Crappy Diagram:

0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-H1                   |2             -4    |3                   |4                   |5         *<-(you)  |6                   |7                   |8           +2      |9                   |W-------------------

I've seen games use this type of system using lines instead of numbers on their radar to represent depth and found it both uninformative and rough, i personally prefer numbers because they allow me to more accurately gauge an objects distance, which perhaps is more function over asthetics.

Quote: Original post by venzon
I want the interface to be mouse driven (ala EVE Online) with an emphasis on simplicity...

...the game allows maneuvering in three dimensions

Quote: Original post by venzon
1) a "top down" map-like 2D projection view with colored icons showing objects (ships, stations, planets, etc) that are around the player

You could do this; the circular area below the crosshairs displays blips in 6 sections representing your fore/front (centermost section), starboard/right (right pie piece), port/left (left pie piece), top, bottom, and aft/back (outermost ring).

I've also came across radars that were three-dimensional and change according to how you move & turn your ship. There was a disk representing the 2-D "ground" plane of your ship displayed in a 3-D manner (this which is fixed on the radar and doesn't change shape), and lines that come off of the disk (both above and below) representing detected objects; the longer the line, the higher or lower they are from your 2-D "ground" plane. The closer the base of the line is to the center of the disk (to which is your ship), the closer they are to your ship (in "ground"-plane measurement units). Turning your ship up and down will change the length of those lines, while turning your ship left and right will move those lines left and right.

Though it didn't use a mouse-driven interface, I know Privateer 2 (old dos game) offered both of these things. I tended to use the second one, as it was much more powerful in my opinion, and the local space around you was represented with the same spatial unit of measurement rather than in varied units across varied sections as in the first system.

It's most likely going to come down to personal preference however, so you could probably just include multiple systems that the player can choose from.

Quote: Original post by venzon
2) a simple, textual list of objects sorted by distance from the player

Include that in there as well, alongside your radar. But whatever you do, don't have the player solely rely on the detections list. Its a powerful interface that could help a lot when paired with a visual aid, but by itself it's a hassle to play with as you don't get that critical information about the objects' relative positions to each other (which the radar provides), not only their relative positions to your ship. One of the biggest uses of this interface unique to the visual radar is to allow you to quickly lock onto a specifically desired target - you simply select an item on the list (with your mouse as you're looking for a mouse-driven interface) and your target is locked, allowing you to interact with that target in whatever ways your game allows. Definitely a lot easier than to trying to click on a blip on a radar (where some may even overlap each other).

Radar: For early detection of incoming objects, their formations, range, and direction relative to yours (however, during the actual close-ranged fighting this is rarely used, as you'd be using other interfaces during the actual battle; you'd only mainly use this as an early warning system).

List: For specific targeting and quick informing such as relative distance from your ship, ship model, faction, and other such data.

[Edited by - Tangireon on October 4, 2008 1:01:36 AM]