This thread is intended to list up suggestions for technical improvements of the ToB remake.
Please post ONLY stuff concerning the user interface!
Suggestions concerning gameplay itself (for example new objects) would probably lead to too much discussion and could easily bury the more technical stuff under tons of posts. We can continue discussing these in the "ToB remake" thread.
Okay, let me summarize what we've got yet:
Include a small panel on the screen containing tower details (title, name of author, spiders available, goal, author's comment). User should be able to hide / minimize this to save screen space.
Use the small LED-symbol next to the "spider-buttons" to indicate the availability of each spider. Disable the buttons of non-existing spiders.
Make the control panel smaller. It obscures too much of the 3D view and looks too clumsy.
The control panel should not be transparent. It's better to have a smaller field of vision than to have parts of it obscured by control elements. (Of course that part of the 3D view that is now obscured by the panel must not be cut off! The 3D view must always contain the full image, only with other proportions.)
Use the middle mouse button (additional to the TAB key) to turn full screen / mouse movement mode on and off. It's annoying to be able to turn it on with a click on the small arrow button, but to have to reach for the keyboard to turn it off again.
Spider movement should be continuous when you keep the forward button or the up arrow key depressed. Why does the spider stop after one field?
Zitat: Fawlty
- Include a small panel on the screen containing tower details (title, name of author, spiders available, goal, author's comment). User should be able to hide / minimize this to save screen space.Mmmh, it's possible to make, but do we really need such detail panel? I want to create an info panel when tower starts (while "Ready" text is flashing)
Zitat: Fawlty
- Use the small LED-symbol next to the "spider-buttons" to indicate the availability of each spider. Disable the buttons of non-existing spiders.Yes, that's good idea...
Zitat: Fawlty
- Make the control panel smaller. It obscures too much of the 3D view and looks too clumsy.Therefore i created "minimized mode" panel for more 3D view on screen. "clumsy" (? do you mean "dtsch. unbeholfen" ?) Mmmh, it's like the original panel and has same design...
Zitat: Fawlty
- The control panel should not be transparent. It's better to have a smaller field of vision than to have parts of it obscured by control elements. (Of course that part of the 3D view that is now obscured by the panel must not be cut off! The 3D view must always contain the full image, only with other proportions.)Control panel is drawn by GUI (Graphics User Interface) module, therefore it has to be transparent and it's look good, i think, but otherwise.... Do you mean FOV (field of view) angles with "3D view proportions"? FOV and other viewport parameters are fixed values and only set by Initialization routine and is'nt variable...
Zitat: Fawlty
- Use the middle mouse button (additional to the TAB key) to turn full screen / mouse movement mode on and off. It's annoying to be able to turn it on with a click on the small arrow button, but to have to reach for the keyboard to turn it off again.Maybe it's simple to implement, if INP (input) module supports middle mouse button...
Zitat: Fawlty
- Spider movement should be continuous when you keep the forward button or the up arrow key depressed. Why does the spider stop after one field?Last version I repaired it...
Concerning the info panel; I was only talking about the briefing screen that comes up when you access a new tower in the original.
You know - black screen, lots of writing?
I was suggesting adding a field for the author to insert some comments regarding the tower, stuff like tips, taunts and the like, somewhat like the lists of details we include with homemade towers.
That's something I've missed so far.
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
Zitat: - Z -
Concerning the info panel; I was only talking about the briefing screen that comes up when you access a new tower in the original.Ah, I see. Sorry, I got you wrong.
Well, I guess showing those infos during a game isn't really necessary, though of course it would be a "modern" feature to be able to show "mission details" ingame.
Important to me is the ability to see the available spiders, as I mentioned above.
Providing a field for more detailed author's comments is a very good idea anyway!
Zitat: Mayo
Zitat: Fawlty
- Spider movement should be continuous when you keep the forward button or the up arrow key depressed. Why does the spider stop after one field?Last version I repaired it...When was this? My current latest version still stops after every square. If I hold down the buttons on the console (mouse control) it works fine but I rather like using the keyboard.
Artinum
Zitat: Artinum
....
When was this? My current latest version still stops after every square. If I hold down the buttons on the console (mouse control) it works fine but I rather like using the keyboard.I meant my LATEST DEVELOPMENT version
Zitat: Mayo
Zitat: Fawlty
- Include a small panel on the screen containing tower details (title, name of author, spiders available, goal, author's comment). User should be able to hide / minimize this to save screen space.Mmmh, it's possible to make, but do we really need such detail panel? I want to create an info panel when tower starts (while "Ready" text is flashing)Well, it's a must, isn't it? Just like in the original - a briefing screen when the tower starts, and a window/panel you can pop up when in-game, in case you forgot your objective or something.
By the way, another question concerning cameras. Are you going to do dynamic cameras, which can move freely and change the angle of view (up, down, swivel left, right) in addition to moving the camera position, or do you want to stick to cameras which can only move in two dimensions and zoom in? Or do you want to place cameras on a circular "rail" as opposed to the four linear rails of the original?
Can cameras zoom through walls? If so, how deep can they go?
After all, there's no definite need to stick to the original's camera handling, which sometimes is very confusing due to the limitations inherent in it.
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
Mmh... I just reread this thread and realized Fawlty had already pointed out the obvious fawlts.
I agree with just about everything he has said. One more word on the user paneL
The user panel really is too clumsy. Back in the old day we had to deal with really shitty resolution and huge cursors, everything got blown up so big because you wouldn't have been able to use it otherwise.
But in the remake the panel has become too big to use it effectively, and it does take up too much space, obscuring important stuff.
Why don't you just shrink it to a lovely size and make it non-transparent? You could use the space gained to fill in other data and stuff; menu options, score, group schematic, time, number of retries...
The control keys should also work in panel mode, I think.
Apart from that, let me congratulate you once more for the good work!
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Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.