Re: [Adonthell-devel] Battle System

[cirrus]

Joseph Toscano wrote:
> 
> Ricardo wrote:
> > Imagine playing Adonthell in co-op mode via the net.
> > Now that would be really cool...But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.....
> 
> Heh heh. Indeed. I actually wrote that in my original e-mail, but I ended up
> deleting it at the possibility of sounding absurd. ;P Of course, it isn't
> absurd, but it's far ahead in the future.
> 

Ummm.. wasn't that what we were planning to do? Remember Alex started
redesigning the map-engine in a server/client way to accomodate exactly
such a feature. :)


> > If there is an option to play adonthell with a gamepad, I would make the
> > keyboard controls very simple. Otherwise, you'd run out of buttons on the
> > gamepad.
> 

OK, I really need to write down my thoughts on this soon and post it
(it'll be a big mail). In a nutshell what I want to propose is to design
the game and it's menus in such a way that you only need the four
directions (be they d-pad, joystick or arrow-keys, it doesn't matter)
and a minimal amount of buttons (perhaps 4 or 5) to play the game. My
reasoning is a) this makes it ideal for gamepad support and b) is easy
to use even if yo do use a keyboard.

In the game's option menu you will then be able to choose any 5 buttons
on your keyboard/gamepad/mouse/... which are assigned to the 5 actions.
In fact it should be possible to set up to say 3 buttons for each action
- so space, enter and 'k' might all do the same thing. That way everyone
can lay out the controls as they want.

The 4 or 5 actions should have some names. Obviously each 'action' or
virtal button or whatever you'd like to call it will probably have
different meanings in different contexts - for example one will surely
be a general 'do stuff' button - ie, talk to someone, pick something up,
start a fight and so on. Now, I think colours would be good names coz it
reminds you of the good ol' snes pad and they're kind of neutral since
no keyboard has a key called 'red' or 'blue'.

So you'd have the buttons say, 'red', 'yellow', 'green' and 'blue'.
Where, for example, yellow is to do stuff or confirm things (like in a
menu), red is bring up a menu or cancel something or break out of a
dialogue and so on... and then you just need to assign buttons on your
pad/keyboard to each colour.

However that wouldn't stop us offering the ability to use any spare
keys/buttons as shortcuts to any menu item. I'd suggest at GTK way for
doing thi: you just highlight the option you want a shortcut for (like
'save' or 'items') and press the button you want.


There's more to this and I will post it all within the next few days!


                -james
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