UI Suggestions (0.33.0)

[Gazz]

Fresh impressions from a complete newbie to the game, based on v 0.33.0.

Once I get used to the system, I won't even notice all the little things any more so it's now or never. =)

1. ESC to close open windows like INVENTORY, STATISTICS, merchants, before opening the main menu.
   Much faster than hunting down all the different close buttons on them.
2. Just like on the character INVENTORY,
   add a title bar to the STATISTICS window, showing the current character's name.
3. In the title bars (assuming they exist =) of both INVENTORY and STATISTICS window,
   add arrows to cycle through your characters.
4. Allow the number keys to switch characters in the STATISTICS window.
   Currently only possible in INVENTORY.
5. Overlay the corresponding number key on the character picture on the main HUD.
   With 3 or 5 character it's easy to see at a glance who is on which number but with 8 or 9, you get to count pictures...
6. Allow changing the order of characters (and thereby their associated number) by dragging the pictures left/right.
7. Tooltips for the buttons on the main UI, describing their function (which is often obvious) and listing the keyboard key for them.
8. Currently, the stats in the STATISTICS window do not update while the window stays open.
   The stats on the "HUD" in the lower left of the main screen do update.
   Showing two different values for the same stat is inconsistent.
9. On the HUD in the bottom left, the MED tab is redundant because it is (now?) a permanent display directly to the right of it.
10. On the HUD in the bottom left, several tabs display info below the visible area.
    Scroll bars planned?
    An alternative would be to combine several lines into one (like the 3 XP boni) and explain the acronyms with a tooltip. Scrolling all the time would be awkward.
11. The current state of game speed is not visible from the speed buttons.
12. Same goes for the active tab on the bottom left main UI window.
13. Shift-Space to set the current speed to "slow" and pause / unpause the game.
14. Loading an adjacent map area to not switch the current time setting to "slow".
15. Once a character is told to "Block" in a fight, there seems to be no way to... Unblock.
    Maybe it just doesn't register correctly while fighting?
    The Block button should be a toggle between Block / Attack and so display the current state.
16. A thin line below a skill / attribute bar on the STATS window to show the XP progress within the current skill point.
    That doesn't do anything but it visualises progress. Players like seeing progress.
17. A character can not start a construction without having building material in his personal inventory.
    But he can continue a construction when the house he is in has the material in a material storage box.
    This is inconsistent.
    If the building "owns" the material, and the character obviously knows how to get it, it should be available for starting a construction, too.
18. Suggest adding a realtime clock (like in brackets) to the game time clock on the main HUD.
    Games like Kenshi are evil time thieves. =)
19. Many items in the inventory occupy more "squares" with their transparent background than is obvious at a glance.
    This makes the inventory Tetris unreasonably hard.
    Free inventory squares should have a different colour so they can be told apart from the squares that are occupied by invisible / transparent item backgrounds.
20. Arguably not a UI suggestion but it does save a constantly reoccurring sequence of clicks:
    When selecting an group of characters and telling them to move to X,
    the slowest character should move there while all others automatically FOLLOW him.
    This way the squad always moves in formation and there are no stragglers.

These are probably bugs but they don't seem to be harmful so *shrug*.

1. UI: A character can equip 3 weapons.
   2 (slim) swords in the primary, one in the secondary weapon slot.
   
   I assume the character holds the 3rd blade in his teeth?
2. When doing an item transfer (LOOT one of your own characters), the 2nd inventory window is not offset by the space required by the (correctly opened) backpack of the 2nd character.
   The backpack overlays the 1st character's inventory window.
3. Animation / state:
   A character that is sent to bed seems to get up when fully healed.
   This is not true.
   When told to move away from the bed, he snaps back into the bed, does the "get up" animation again, then starts moving.

[Blxz]

Oh dear me, I am about to go through all of this. Time for a fresh cup of tea...


1. Nice idea, as a current work around I believe that some windows have toggle hotkeys. I for Inventory. This should open AND close it for you. Some other screens have keys too (map is M).

2. 3. 4. Useful.

5. Interesting idea.

6. I believe the current display is a more temporary place-holder until we get a better faction member management screen. So re-arranging people should be included one day; but still a good suggestion.

7. As a player of Paradox games I have to agree that tooltips are ALWAYS good.

8. Yes, a lack of real-time updating is annoying. But why do you have the window open for so long to even gain stats in a noticible time-frame?

9. Not played the latest version so no comment on this.

10. Been reported before, but best to stick it in the bug forums just in case.

11. 12. Never even noticed. But a good idea.

13. Huh?

14. Yes, this is annoying. I agree completely.

15. Just click the Block button again. They will still block, but they won't ALWAYS block. Check the bottom left info panel. There should be a red piece of text when they are in Block-only mode and white text when it is regular fight mode.

16. A very good idea. Especially o the higher skill levels. I do know that this shows when you use training dummies so the engine obviously tracks it and can easily enough display in a bar form. Would be nice to see for all skills all the time.

17. Not delved into much construction so I can't comment much. Except that this does sound good. Especially when the game becomes slightly larger scale. Would be great if Chris could implement some sort of central resource so that guys would go and fetch from them when needed. (*note to self - suggest this in the suggestion forum*)

18. Mwahaha. Where is the fun in that?

19. Hell yes. Some sort of outline would be very handy.

20. There have been discussions about this. I have no idea if chris commented on it but it does sound useful. Different speeds were only implemented recently though so all the kinks have not been worked out yet. Good idea though.

a. Yeah, they won't use the double swords though.
b. annoying, yes.
c. Not noticed this. I actually have the opposite where they will stand up before fully healed and need to be told to rest again. Beds annoy me.






Hope some of that helped you, I could only really give constructive comments on about half of those points. Welcome to the forums.....I need more tea now.

[Gazz]

Thanks but I wasn't really looking for any confirmation or feedback. This was the feedback. =)

Once I get to grips with the game, learn the UI quirks and shortcuts, write a bunch of keyboard / mouse macros to work around other quirks... at that point I become useless at describing a "first impression".

So I just played the game. Oh, cool. Statistics window with lots of yummy numbers! Whose are these? Err... nobody? Note: no window title bar with character name.
Where did I attempt to click, naturally expecting a button to do THIS? And found none...?
Just like I would log / trace buggy code, I abstract and log myself. Beta testers do that. "Logging" yourself is key to figuring out repro cases. =P
(any similarities between buggy code and myself are purely coincidental)


Of course, a lot of these issues will probably be known / suggested already, because this is just what I spontaneously came up with.
Sorry for that but learning all the workarounds on the forum first would defeat the purpose.
If I made a serious attempt at design suggestions, it might get ugly and nobody wants that.
(that was a special case of a game with amazing potential... which was all wasted)

[Gazz]

b. annoying, yes.

But irrelevant since "LOOT" is a subpar method for transferring items.

"Hold" the item on the mouse, press the corresponding number, and drop it right in the recipient's inventory.
I haven't tested the range on this item teleport but it might well be infinite, making transferring building materials to your fortress considerably faster than walking.

[Santaissick]

You have pretty good basic level on your suggestions Meaning they are all very good, some is "repost" but some is new and possibly some of that will be implemented. There was pretty good commentary already but I wanted to say something

9. That's right, it only disturbs. Also as a side note, I think adding first aid skill on the bodypartshealth-HUD would be relevant and useful.

13. I think there is already a button for that. Or am I wrong? I think it's P or Backspace that does it. Gonna test that later.

14. Talked about million times but I won't stop talking before we see actions. It's freaking annoying!!

15. Works fine with me. As said, it changes the fighting mode from Defensive to Normal and vice versa and it can be seen in left corner info. Char might keep blocking because they do sometimes block in normal stance

17. True. It's pretty silly looking when you have group of people whom you order to build something. Then only one of them does something because he's the only one with building material.

18. When we get steam keys the real time clock can be viewed easily with shift + tab to check the steam community. (That's only for those who play on steam of course)

a. Sometimes when having 2 slim swords, one in 1. weapon slot and one in 2. weapon slot, a bug occurs and both swords jump to the 1. weapon slot. (Usually happens in loading or importing the game)

b. Also, when trying to move stuff from inventory to another, if there are inventories or backpack windows on top of each other, sometimes clicking on the top inventory, it interacts with the lower inventory. Resulting that I have few times sold my best armors to shop keeper and didn't have the money (or military power) to get it back.

[Gazz]

Also as a side note, I think adding first aid skill on the bodypartshealth-HUD would be relevant and useful.

While messy on a conceptual level, I could see the MEDIC button on there... along with the relevant skill.

Ideally, the medic button would be the icon of the medic item that would be used... and if the splinter pack is also there.
Would be able to see at a glance if supplies are available and what kind.
The whole health care package in one place.


Yeh, I may not have figured out the block thing. I'm a noob, I know. =)