On 6/29/07, Kai Sterker <address@hidden
> wrote:
> Wait, there's an idea. Might we auto-activate the indicator (if it exists)
> whenever the game goes into a combat mode?
I thought about that too, but depending on the implementation there
could be some drawbacks:
[...]
But that goes more into the direction of game controls, which we
probably should discuss separately :-). My point is, if we would have
different modes, we could display information specific to each mode.
Possibly in addition to generic information that is always present.
That makes sense. And yes, we seem to have found the boundary GUI between and game control fairly quickly.
Instead of a minimap I'd rather have maps of different areas as actual
in-game items that you can buy or find. They would not necessarily
indicate your current position (or even be accurate renderings of the
gameworld) but should help to find important landmarks, etc ...
In cities, I also expect that you could ask NPCs for directions to
shops and the like.
I think I like the idea of buying maps and asking for directions a good deal better than mini-mapping, now that you mention it.
Would, or could, maps be added to the journal or edited at the player's discretion? I can imagine pack-rack players like myself wanting to keep nearly every map they find. Over the course of a long game, that alone could almost fill the backpack, unless the maps could be stored in some other way.
Consider it a quick way to access items (mainly stuff like potions),
special powers (spells or songs) and to select weapons and fighting
feats without the need to go to a separate screen.
To be more specific:
Slot 1 shows the active weapon, slot 2 the active fighting feat. The
keys "1" and "2" can be used to switch through all weapons and feats
currently available to the character. Pressing "space" launches an
attack with selected weapon and feat.
[...]
But to really make that idea work, we definitely need unique and
representative icons for everything (or include the name of stuff in
the GUI).
Thank you. Now that makes sense. I'm not used to thinking quite that way in a game, but the system does sound nice and flexible.
> I like the idea of grouping items, at least in terms of potions, scrolls,
> and the like. The grouping would make some of these items pseudo-stackable,
> wouldn't it?
What I meant was not so much a grouping of items (as it would happen
in an inventory) but more a convenient way to access certain items
without actually bringing up an inventory screen. (Same applies to
magic and so on ... see above).
As an aside, the actual item/inventory implementation already supports
stacking of identical items. Items can also have "tags" assigned (in
the code they are called categories) which could be used to
automatically group them in an inventory screen. Which is a good idea
:-).
I haven't read that code yet :-)
So, in sum so far... We have some indicator of the character's status (and possibly the same for any companions) and four on-screen spaces for weapons, feats, usable items, and special abilities. Icons are minimal and optional, if at all present. Everything else is done with hot-keys and user-configurable grammars. As with Waste's Edge, the character moves, but the scene does not move to stay centered on him.
As to the item indicators themselves, I think they should be as they now appear on the mock-up - a set size with translucent backgrounds and opaque objects on that background - though I am not sure about position. I'll suggest putting the indicator and the four slots in opposite corners of the screen. I'm concerned that if the status indicator and the four item slots are set together on the same row or column, that it will have the effect of reducing the viewable gameplay area in that dimension.