Should `?gameLevels` control what is in the game Info dialog?

[amanda-phet]

Mentioned in https://github.com/phetsims/number-play/issues/161 , but this is relevant to Number Play, Equality Explorer, and Fourier Making Waves.

When we use the gameLevels query parameter, the info dialog doesn't change. I understand why that's probably the case, but it might be nice to consider updating that to reflect only the visible levels, or at least document that we want all of the levels to appear in the info button regardless of which are visible as level selection buttons.

[pixelzoom]

Yes, the Info dialog should be adjusted, so that it shows only relevant levels.

Unfortunately there is currently no support for this in common-code. Long-term we could consider adding a "Game Info" dialog to vegas, as well as a "Level Selection button group". And those things could presumably display things that are relevant only to the levels that appear in ?gameLevels.

In the meantime, this needs to be addressed in each individual sim. So please create issues in the individual sims.

There are also some general design question here...

• If I run (e.g.) Fourier with ?gameLevels=1,3, is it odd to have the Info dialog look like this? Or is this OK? Maybe it's OK since the level-selection buttons will still be labeled 1 & 3. Is that true for all sims?

• If we had a general Info dialog, should the levels be identified with numbers, like "Level 1"? Does that work for all sims?

[amanda-phet]

These are all questions I've had too, @pixelzoom ! I wanted the issue in this repo so we could decide if we want to make changes at all, and then figure out if it will be sim-specific changes or if we want to consider a common code solution. I would prefer to have a global decision first before making any changes to individual sims.

[pixelzoom]

... In the meantime, this needs to be addressed in each individual sim. So please create issues in the individual sims.

I created sim-specific issues, linked above. They are labeled as "on-hold" until general decisions have been made.

[amanda-phet]

Discussed 4/21/22:

• We'd like to do something about this to improve the user experience
• Not a priority to make common (or maybe not even possible), and not a priority to change previous sims
• Can move forward with the game level dialog having a design that only shows relevant level info

Design ideas:

• only show info about the levels that are visible
• show all level info, but gray out the levels that are not visible. If we do this, we'd probably still want visibleProperty and textProperty options in PhET-iO so the client can fully customize.
• Since so many games are different, we might need a flexible solution that is sim-specific
• Some games have numeric levels, some have game types, some have both

Decisions:

• Let's move ahead with this change for Number Play, and keep it in mind for future games!

[pixelzoom]

• Can move forward with the game level dialog having a design that only shows relevant level info

I think this makes sense to do now for Fourier and EqEx, and is relatively easy. @arouinfar @amanda-phet OK to proceed?

[arouinfar]

I think this makes sense to do now for Fourier and EqEx, and is relatively easy. @arouinfar @amanda-phet OK to proceed?

Yes, sounds good to me.

[amanda-phet]

That sounds great to do this for EqEx.

[amanda-phet]

@pixelzoom if you create new issues for this for Fourier and EqEx I think this one can be closed.

[pixelzoom]

Issues were created on 4/19/2022 for Fourier and EqEx, linked above.

Closing.

[pixelzoom]

Reopening.

In https://github.com/phetsims/vegas/issues/104#issuecomment-1102863379, I noted:

Unfortunately there is currently no support for this in common-code. Long-term we could consider adding a "Game Info" dialog to vegas, as well as a "Level Selection button group". And those things could presumably display things that are relevant only to the levels that appear in ?gameLevels.

In https://github.com/phetsims/vegas/issues/104#issuecomment-1105700262, design meeting notes say:

Since so many games are different, we might need a flexible solution that is sim-specific

I'm not sure I agree with that. The level-selection UI and Info dialog are 2 things that do seem to be consistent (or could be consistent, if they're currently not) for all games that I'm familiar with.

Let's move ahead with this change for Number Play, and keep it in mind for future games!

So I'm not clear on where things landed with common-code support. If common-code support is desired, we should either leave this issue open, or create new issues. If there feeling is that there's no need for common-code support (or it's too costly), then this issue can be closed.

[amanda-phet]

Discussion May 12, 2022

• If it's a lot of work to do this in common code, probably not worth it at this time. Future sims that want to have this functionality will want to make sure the patterns are similar to these.
• Info dialog (dialog plus query parameter controlling which levels are shown in dialog) might be one day of work, but level selection buttons should be created and simply hidden in order to not break the phet-io API.
• The level selection screen for games is not common code, and could probably benefit from being common!
• If we want clients to be able to change the text for level selection buttons and level info in dialog, we should be using visible property to show/hide. This should be standardized for PhET-iO purposes.

Decision:

• @pixelzoom will start with making the info dialog common (this would affect NP, EqEx, and FMW)
• Try using JO's new special layout code to make the level selection screen common (@pixelzoom will investigate- maybe just the button layout will be common, maybe the whole screen with options like info button, timer button, etc.)
• Any future sims that are revisited or designed should use gameLevels

Priority: maybe have this done by mid-June to be used in NP, but if not that sim can use a sim-specific approach. Priority is lower than other current work for @pixelzoom .

[pixelzoom]

I've moved specific work to https://github.com/phetsims/vegas/issues/107 and https://github.com/phetsims/vegas/issues/108. Closing this issue.