Moar polish!
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 9:48 am
ToME4 is already a very polished game, but recently playing Cardinal Quest has made me realise that there is still much more that can be done to streamline the interface and make the game more friendly to new players. If you've not played the game then go give the demo a quick whirl and hopefully you'll see what I mean. You can also check out the new podcast I'm involved in, Roguelike Radio, for some discussion on what makes the interface so great.
Anyway, ToME4 is pretty slick, especially with the mouse interface and tooltips. You don't need the read a long manual or check out a huge spoiler site to get stuck in. I've suggested the enemy details window to help improve that aspect more. However I think there are ways for the interface in general to be slicker, to speed up basic actions and make many things a little easier. Some ideas:
1. Wall-sliding (which is the best term I know for it) was an idea of Jeff Lait's that's implemented in Vicious Orcs very well. Basically if moving against a wall the game automatically guesses which way you really want to move. So pressing 9 whilst in a vertical corridor will move you upwards, as that's a sensible approximation of where you want to go. May not sound special, but if you spend a few moments navigating Vicious Orcs' twisty dungeons you'll really come to appreciate it. Makes keyboard movement much smoother.
2. Auto-equip better equipment. If you pick up an equipment item that has no negatives and is equal to or better in every way to the existing equipment item then swap it. Could be an option to set. Admittedly it doesn't apply that well to ToME4 since eq is so varied, but it at least makes sense in the early game when all your slots are empty. Have a fly-out to say "equipped" when it happens.
3. Auto-highlight last item. If you pick up an item and then choose to go into your inventory straight after then the last item you picked up should be highlighted, since it rather makes sense that it's the item you're after.
4. Auto-order items better. Most commonly used items should be at the top of the inventory - in particular the Orb of Scrying, the various Rods, all wands. Items with no inventory use should be at the bottom - gems, ingredients, etc. Within each item type (swords for instance) they should be ordered by value - artifacts first, then randarts, then purples, blues, greens, plains. The most important stuff should always come first. Ordering should be class-based too - daggers higher than swords for rogues, robes higher than massive armour for mages, etc. The game should feel intuitive about what you want.
5. Colour the encumbrance total at the top of the inventory. Green at less than 75% max, yellow at 75-90%, orange for 90-100% and red when over the max.
6. Always have correct ranged targeting, even if it means using odd lines. If you can see an enemy you should be able to shoot it, without having to aim behind it or fiddle with shift+direction keys whilst targeting. Let the computer figure out the correct angle and aim appropriately. This includes when using the Shoot command tied to right-click - it shouldn't end up in the wall because the computer can't aim as well as you can.
7. Fade foreground walls when something's behind it. Some sort of transparency or something should be possible to implement so you can see clearly what's in the square in a corridor, whether it's a known trap, an enemy or items. Obviously needs some careful coding to ensure it doesn't reveal stealthed enemies or unknown traps.
8. Connected dungeons. Been said before, but it's very newbie unfriendly to have disconnected parts of the dungeon unless it's some very deliberate treasure cash like in Reknor. Diggers should not be a necessary implement in the game.
9. All subpanes should be resizeable, moveable and toggleable. People are used to having customised interfaces these days, and it helps the game look better on a variety of display sizes. Not everyone wants the minimap or the chat log or a status bar that's so big, whilst others might want to keep their character profile always on in the top-right corner.
10. More tutorials. Check out Dungeons of Dredmor for an example of a nice range of tutorials showing a variety of gameplay features. In particular I think ToME4 could do with alchemist, archer and archmage tutorials to show off some more individual class features.
There's probably various other things that other people can suggest, especially players who have come along recently and been frustrated or confused by certain things in the game. It's important to make ToME4 as welcoming and easy to pick up as possible.
Anyway, ToME4 is pretty slick, especially with the mouse interface and tooltips. You don't need the read a long manual or check out a huge spoiler site to get stuck in. I've suggested the enemy details window to help improve that aspect more. However I think there are ways for the interface in general to be slicker, to speed up basic actions and make many things a little easier. Some ideas:
1. Wall-sliding (which is the best term I know for it) was an idea of Jeff Lait's that's implemented in Vicious Orcs very well. Basically if moving against a wall the game automatically guesses which way you really want to move. So pressing 9 whilst in a vertical corridor will move you upwards, as that's a sensible approximation of where you want to go. May not sound special, but if you spend a few moments navigating Vicious Orcs' twisty dungeons you'll really come to appreciate it. Makes keyboard movement much smoother.
2. Auto-equip better equipment. If you pick up an equipment item that has no negatives and is equal to or better in every way to the existing equipment item then swap it. Could be an option to set. Admittedly it doesn't apply that well to ToME4 since eq is so varied, but it at least makes sense in the early game when all your slots are empty. Have a fly-out to say "equipped" when it happens.
3. Auto-highlight last item. If you pick up an item and then choose to go into your inventory straight after then the last item you picked up should be highlighted, since it rather makes sense that it's the item you're after.
4. Auto-order items better. Most commonly used items should be at the top of the inventory - in particular the Orb of Scrying, the various Rods, all wands. Items with no inventory use should be at the bottom - gems, ingredients, etc. Within each item type (swords for instance) they should be ordered by value - artifacts first, then randarts, then purples, blues, greens, plains. The most important stuff should always come first. Ordering should be class-based too - daggers higher than swords for rogues, robes higher than massive armour for mages, etc. The game should feel intuitive about what you want.
5. Colour the encumbrance total at the top of the inventory. Green at less than 75% max, yellow at 75-90%, orange for 90-100% and red when over the max.
6. Always have correct ranged targeting, even if it means using odd lines. If you can see an enemy you should be able to shoot it, without having to aim behind it or fiddle with shift+direction keys whilst targeting. Let the computer figure out the correct angle and aim appropriately. This includes when using the Shoot command tied to right-click - it shouldn't end up in the wall because the computer can't aim as well as you can.
7. Fade foreground walls when something's behind it. Some sort of transparency or something should be possible to implement so you can see clearly what's in the square in a corridor, whether it's a known trap, an enemy or items. Obviously needs some careful coding to ensure it doesn't reveal stealthed enemies or unknown traps.
8. Connected dungeons. Been said before, but it's very newbie unfriendly to have disconnected parts of the dungeon unless it's some very deliberate treasure cash like in Reknor. Diggers should not be a necessary implement in the game.
9. All subpanes should be resizeable, moveable and toggleable. People are used to having customised interfaces these days, and it helps the game look better on a variety of display sizes. Not everyone wants the minimap or the chat log or a status bar that's so big, whilst others might want to keep their character profile always on in the top-right corner.
10. More tutorials. Check out Dungeons of Dredmor for an example of a nice range of tutorials showing a variety of gameplay features. In particular I think ToME4 could do with alchemist, archer and archmage tutorials to show off some more individual class features.
There's probably various other things that other people can suggest, especially players who have come along recently and been frustrated or confused by certain things in the game. It's important to make ToME4 as welcoming and easy to pick up as possible.
yeah ..
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