Simple interface suggestion

[RobRendell]

Hi, me again. I have a suggestion for the text window you have in your screenshots, based on an idea I had for an improvement for Fallout (blasphemy, I know, sorry).

In FO, I found it sometimes easy to miss new text appearing in the text window, especially if I was concentrating on stuff happening elsewhere on the screen at the same time it appeared, even with the (subtle) "boop" sound. I thought it would be nice if when text appeared, it first come up the normal bright green, but then faded to a dull green over (say) the next 10-15 seconds of real time. If more text appears, it doesn't change the fade of the previous text, just scrolls it up.

So, if something new appears, it would be apparent at a glance for a while that something had changed down there, and should draw your attention if everything in the window was previously a uniform dull green (because it was all more than 15 seconds old).

Anyway, in AoD's case it has black text on a parchment-coloured background. I'm not sure if it would be as effective as the bright green to dull green I envisioned for FO, but it could perhaps fade from strong black to a sepia brown. You could even try to make it look like ink drying

What do people think? It's not the biggest feature or idea, but I think it would be a nice touch.

 

[Claw]

Well, since you made a thread already..

A sound effect and some movement would be good to draw attention to the text.
The text could appear one letter at a time, all at once if you click on it.

 

[Micmu]

The text could appear one letter at a time,

...making random *bleep* *bloop* beeps?

 

[Spazmo]

It's not a bad idea. Usually, the new text appearing is enough to make my eyes dart over and read as I notice the movement, but it'd be a neat effect if they could pull off the ink drying thing.

 

[Section8]

It all depends on how important textual feedback is to the player. In Fallout, it was quite essential to the game to keep track of damage rolls and such. Fallout Tactics highlighted this perfectly by having an incredibly frustrated choice between map and feedback.

I think something like you suggest is a pretty nifty solution if the game requires that degree of feedback, and it's been proven to work well in games like Mount and Blade, as long as it's not too obtrusive. It would also be good if it were completely configurable, ie you can disable it outright, limit the number of visible messages, change the fade time, etc.

Oh, and welcome, if I haven't said that already.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Not sure we need it. Here is why:

In non-combat situations the only lines that appear automatically are "you have entered /arrived at ... + brief description". To get any other description, even as trivial as "you see a rock" you must click on an object, so I assume when you do it you will be paying attention to the info window.

The combat is TB and the number of participants is limited, so there won't be 15 rats attacking you one by one. Average fight is your character vs 2-3 opponents. It's not the same as 3-4 party members against 5-7 raiders. The latter does require some option to give you enough time to review the feedback, the former doesn't, imo.

We'll post a combat screen soon (once we repost the animations which should be some time today), and then we can review and discuss whether the information flow is good enough as is.

 

[kingcomrade]

What I didn't like in Fallout was that there was no scroll bar for the little text screen.

 

[RobRendell]

In non-combat situations the only lines that appear automatically are "you have entered /arrived at ... + brief description". To get any other description, even as trivial as "you see a rock" you must click on an object, so I assume when you do it you will be paying attention to the info window.

Ok. I was thinking of unsolicited info that pops up when you go somewhere on the map. For instance, in Fallout, when you get to level 3 of Vault 15 and round the corner that leads to the command center, you get something like two pages of text describing how you couldn't move the cave-in even with high-yield explosives, and that you're going to have to look elsewhere for the water chip. However, when I first got to V15, I had no idea of the layout of a vault, and didn't know that the cave-in at the end of this random corridor was any more significant than any other cave-ins elsewhere, so I missed that text completely.

 

[RGE]

The text could appear one letter at a time,

...making random *bleep* *bloop* beeps?

Or the scratching noise of a pen on parchment? That'd surely attract my attention.

What I didn't like in Fallout was that there was no scroll bar for the little text screen.

But you do know that you could use the mouse pointer to scroll, right? Or arrow keys perhaps. I clearly remember that the text could be scrolled in some awkward way.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Ok. I was thinking of unsolicited info that pops up when you go somewhere on the map. For instance, in Fallout, when you get to level 3 of Vault 15 and round the corner that leads to the command center, you get something like two pages of text describing how you couldn't move the cave-in even with high-yield explosives, and that you're going to have to look elsewhere for the water chip. However, when I first got to V15, I had no idea of the layout of a vault, and didn't know that the cave-in at the end of this random corridor was any more significant than any other cave-ins elsewhere, so I missed that text completely.

I see. No, for important stuff like that and anything interactive we use the dialogue window with some options. Something like:

You see a door [insert some description explaining why this door is so amazingly awesome that you won't be able to rest until you see what's on the other side]

1. Knock
2. Listen
3. Use a key
4. Try to lockpick
5. Try to force it open
6. Set up a trap, THEN knock

Using that Fallout example, you'd have to examine that pile of rocks (the Eye icon), a window would open up informing you of the cave-in situation and throwing a few options to play with.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Yeah, I was just going to say I like pop-up windows better for important events. The overworked status screen was one of the things I didn't care about Fallout that much. For that matter, I don't really mind damage numbers floating above allies and enemies in magical letters, either. You'd probably want a toggle for the neat freaks, though.