Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[DraQ]

You do realize that PE just heppens to be this theoretical game at this point and that it cedrtainly won't work in the exact same manner as IE games worked, right?
At the very least particulars of spells, classes and such will be different than in a D&D adaptation and I'm guessing that ludicrously overpowered/universal stuff won't get aped.

I'm pretty sure Saywer was talking about how save or die works in IE games.

And I'm pretty sure mirror images and stoneskin wasn't part of that.

I see one major flaw right away, shared with the one from Obsidian; the buttons at the bottom (and maybe the others too?) are not touching the edge. This changes them from infinitely tall to tiny. It's vastly easier and quicker to hit something at the edge of the screen than it is to hit something one pixel away. Fitts' Law in action.

Anything that's going to be clicked on a lot should be stuck to the edge of the screen. This is one point where I disagree with Josh, the distance you move the mouse is vastly less important than the fact that you can't miss the edges or corners of the screen with a single movement.

That's easily fixed, though, not to mention that bottom and right sidebar were propositions without well specified function.
Character "skill bricks", OTOH would appear so close to the cursor you wouldn't have to rely on large imprecise movements to reach them fast. I know that skill bricks are comfortable to use in Wiz8.

 

[Kirtai]

That's easily fixed, though, not to mention that bottom and right sidebar were propositions without well specified function.

Yes, it's easily fixed but it worried me that the official example image had such a basic flaw in it. It's a very common error though.

Character "skill bricks", OTOH would appear so close to the cursor you wouldn't have to rely on large imprecise movements to reach them fast. I know that skill bricks are comfortable to use in Wiz8.

True, though the bricks themselves should be quick and easy to reach from the main gamefield without needing unnecessarily fussy, precise movements.


Note that I'm not against needing precise movements in general, I just don't like being forced to hit unnecessarily small targets in the UI when a modicum of thought from the designer could have given me infinitely tall or wide targets with no more space used.

 

[DraQ]

Character "skill bricks", OTOH would appear so close to the cursor you wouldn't have to rely on large imprecise movements to reach them fast. I know that skill bricks are comfortable to use in Wiz8.

True, though the bricks themselves should be quick and easy to reach from the main gamefield without needing unnecessarily fussy, precise movements.

Right click.

 

[Kirtai]

Character "skill bricks", OTOH would appear so close to the cursor you wouldn't have to rely on large imprecise movements to reach them fast. I know that skill bricks are comfortable to use in Wiz8.

True, though the bricks themselves should be quick and easy to reach from the main gamefield without needing unnecessarily fussy, precise movements.

Right click.

Yep, though didn't they say they wanted to avoid right click because they wanted to have the same controls on the mac version?

Which is rather annoying since popup menus and properly implemented radial menus are good examples of Fitts Law done right. (The quickest point to reach is the one already under the pointer after all)

 

[Rake]

http://www.formspring.me/JESawyer/q/464927977398883231

 

[Grunker]

My bet is that it is that way because the amount of spells will be way more limited than the IE-games (or even NWN2 for that matter). So wait with that incline-sign.

 

[Excidium]

My bet is that it is that way because the amount of spells will be way more limited than the IE-games (or even NWN2 for that matter). So wait with that incline-sign.

If you scrap the useless spells from IE/NWN2 there wouldn't be a lot left either. Considering Sawyer's design inspirations, there will probably be more useful spells but all very straightforward combat stuff.

 

[Grunker]

My bet is that it is that way because the amount of spells will be way more limited than the IE-games (or even NWN2 for that matter). So wait with that incline-sign.

Well if you scrap the useless spells from IE/NWN2 there wouldn't be a lot left either.

Even if true, the diversity still worked on first playthrough because it wasn't immediately obvious what the good spells were. And in BG2 you could use a good selection.

 

[Rake]

My bet is that it is that way because the amount of spells will be way more limited than the IE-games (or even NWN2 for that matter). So wait with that incline-sign.

To tell you the truth i thought about that, but i have the impresion that Sawyer said that P:E will have a big spellist. Smaller than D&D i think is a given, but how small it remains to be seen. But i don't think they will pull a DA:O.

 

[Severian Silk]

EDIT: this one was good.

Beautiful. Simple.

This could be combined with a RocketDock-like expandable menu of commands. (Radial menu in ToEE was not as great...)

I suppose the thumbnail portraits could also be left-aligned. I put the taskbar on the left in Windows 7. But whatever.

[edit]

Silent Storm had a good UI too. (The game had no spells though.)

 

[Volrath]

EDIT: this one was good.

You're out of your fucking mind.

 

[circ]

Maybe you need to have played ToEE to appreciate the UI. But it's simple, clean, with all the info you need without looking all over the place. Meanwhile these IE suggestions just take up screen real estate for no reason at all, and aren't imaginative either.

 

[imweasel]

JOSH SAWYER WANTS TO END FUN [Obsidian's Project Eternity Thread]

Excellent topic.

 

[Declinator]

EDIT: this one was good.

Beautiful. Simple.

This could be combined with a RocketDock-like expandable menu of commands. (Radial menu in ToEE was not as great...)

I suppose the thumbnail portraits could also be left-aligned. I put the taskbar on the left in Windows 7. But whatever.

[edit]

Silent Storm had a good UI too. (The game had no spells though.)

That's not fast enough. You know what is fast and simple? Knights of the Chalice UI:

Hotkeys to rule them all. Maybe it's butt ugly but at least it's fast and that is infinitely more important! Maybe it would be nice to see everyone's health (in numerical form) at the same time but not really that critical.

(Suddenly I remembered this is a thread about PE which is rtwp and stopped caring but hotkeys would still be better)

 

[J_C]

EDIT: this one was good.

That's not fast enough. You know what is fast and simple? Knights of the Chalice UI:

Hotkeys to rule them all. Maybe it's butt ugly but at least it's fast and that is infinitely more important! Maybe it would be nice to see everyone's health (in numerical form) at the same time but not really that critical.

(Suddenly I remembered this is a thread about PE which is rtwp and stopped caring but hotkeys would still be better)

Wow, that is not just butt ugly, that's the most hideous UI I've ever seen. Would it hurt them to hire a 5 year old, so s/he could draw a better looking UI.

 

[Rivmusique]

How is this the first time you've seen KoTC?

 

[Roguey]

Even if true, the diversity still worked on first playthrough because it wasn't immediately obvious what the good spells were. And in BG2 you could use a good selection.

Obfuscation and false choices aren't good things. By the by, BG without the expansion had a little over 100 spells, IWD without the expansion had nearly 190, Torment had around 90. I'd guesstimate Eternity's list will be somewhere in between, probably closer to BG's.

 

[suejak]

More importantly, who thinks "it's fast" is the most important thing in an RPG UI?

 

[Roguey]

Substance over style, function over form always.

 

[J_C]

How is this the first time you've seen KoTC?

I am not interested in shit games.

 

[suejak]

Substance over style, function over form always.

No way. This is a game. It's art.

I go for form over function 100% of the time. IE icon bars are way more attractive than nasty drop-down drag-box customizable 3D-era UIs.

 

[Jim Cojones]

How is this the first time you've seen KoTC?

I am not interested in shit games.

It's by far the best RPG released in the last 10 years.

Ban J_C.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Wow, that is not just butt ugly, that's the most hideous UI I've ever seen. Would it hurt them to hire a 5 year old, so s/he could draw a better looking UI.

I am not interested in shit games.

Remove J_C from premises. Just how much of a fucking dumbfuck can you be?

Maybe you should consider playing some Call of Duty for great graphixxx and ui?

Jesus Christ

 

[Infinitron]

You dun goofed, J_C

 

[Gakkone]

I am not interested in shit games.

How fucking retarded can you be?