VBU proposals
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:46 pm
Before I begin I want to say the game is more fantastic than ever and I realize that it's still a work in progress and that some of these things are likely already on your todo list. That being said, these are some of the things I've considered as I explore the vbu:
1. When you have your inventory and bag open it can take a lot of the screen. This could be fatal in case of an ambush or embarrassing in the case of someone stopping to rp and leaving before you can exit everything. My natural reflex is to hit "esc" but doing that just asks me if I want to leave the game. Would it be possible to program it so that when you have other menus open and hit esc it closes all menus and if not it asks if you want out? That would be helpful and in line with what I think most people are used to from other games, allowing an easier learning curve.
2. Speaking of how things usually work in other games, in most online games just like Illarion when you hit enter you can then enter text into the chat window; however, in most of those games when you end your sentence and hit enter the text entering field is toggled back off so you have to hit enter again to enter text. While I assume Illarion does it different because a lot of chatting is done in rp at one time, I find that instead I'm entering text and hitting enter, walking away, and then, for example, hitting i to open my inventory only to realize I'm entering text in the chat window. While I could learn not to do that with practice, I think it's easier for people to learn when the game conforms to how most games on the market run.
3. This might seem odd, but the vendors just have too many items. The menus are daunting and I have a hard time remembering who sells what as a result. I think a lot of the bits and pieces could be player-made only. Maybe the craft system could be simplified to use less items. I haven't really messed with the craft system to say if that's also complicated.
4. Character creation has gone virtually unchanged for half a decade and I think there's no getting around the attributes being misleading or confusing no matter if you have example classes to work from or descriptions or whatever. I think in the future a system where you pick a cascade of characteristics might be better both to avoid the boredom and confusion of just sliding points around and in character building rp-wise. For example, you might pick a class (knight, rogue, wizard, peasant, noble, etc..), a patron god, an element (fire, water, spirit, etc..), a race (halfling, elf, human..), and a zodiac sign (from Jen's old Illarion zodiac linked to from the calendar). All attributes would have a base of, say, 8 points and each of those choices would add or subtract from that base. The advantage of this is that it allows you to pick concrete things about your character rather than abstract numbers and it makes it so even rp noobs with no past experience at least have the basics of a character design.
Anyhow, I'll probably add more as I go as long as this thread remains friendly. If anyone else wants to add suggestions please do so but keep it positive and concrete. Thanks. =)
P.S. It looks like you could use some art for buttons and such. I noticed the inventory and character sheet buttons are pretty ad lib. I'll see if I can make something and I'll post it.
1. When you have your inventory and bag open it can take a lot of the screen. This could be fatal in case of an ambush or embarrassing in the case of someone stopping to rp and leaving before you can exit everything. My natural reflex is to hit "esc" but doing that just asks me if I want to leave the game. Would it be possible to program it so that when you have other menus open and hit esc it closes all menus and if not it asks if you want out? That would be helpful and in line with what I think most people are used to from other games, allowing an easier learning curve.
2. Speaking of how things usually work in other games, in most online games just like Illarion when you hit enter you can then enter text into the chat window; however, in most of those games when you end your sentence and hit enter the text entering field is toggled back off so you have to hit enter again to enter text. While I assume Illarion does it different because a lot of chatting is done in rp at one time, I find that instead I'm entering text and hitting enter, walking away, and then, for example, hitting i to open my inventory only to realize I'm entering text in the chat window. While I could learn not to do that with practice, I think it's easier for people to learn when the game conforms to how most games on the market run.
3. This might seem odd, but the vendors just have too many items. The menus are daunting and I have a hard time remembering who sells what as a result. I think a lot of the bits and pieces could be player-made only. Maybe the craft system could be simplified to use less items. I haven't really messed with the craft system to say if that's also complicated.
4. Character creation has gone virtually unchanged for half a decade and I think there's no getting around the attributes being misleading or confusing no matter if you have example classes to work from or descriptions or whatever. I think in the future a system where you pick a cascade of characteristics might be better both to avoid the boredom and confusion of just sliding points around and in character building rp-wise. For example, you might pick a class (knight, rogue, wizard, peasant, noble, etc..), a patron god, an element (fire, water, spirit, etc..), a race (halfling, elf, human..), and a zodiac sign (from Jen's old Illarion zodiac linked to from the calendar). All attributes would have a base of, say, 8 points and each of those choices would add or subtract from that base. The advantage of this is that it allows you to pick concrete things about your character rather than abstract numbers and it makes it so even rp noobs with no past experience at least have the basics of a character design.
Anyhow, I'll probably add more as I go as long as this thread remains friendly. If anyone else wants to add suggestions please do so but keep it positive and concrete. Thanks. =)
P.S. It looks like you could use some art for buttons and such. I noticed the inventory and character sheet buttons are pretty ad lib. I'll see if I can make something and I'll post it.