- Joined
- Oct 5, 2008
- Messages
- 355
Hello Guys,
I'm not really sure if this thread should either go into the Town hall, the Editor help zone or even into the offtopic-section. But since this discussion goes about a general topic in mapping, i thought it would fit here at best. If there are consideration for another forum, feel free to move it there
Well, to the topic:
One problem in WCIII Modding, which is heavily tackeled from multiple angles is the interface. For some modders, the buttons and fields on the interface are very limited, for example for item management. On the other hand, a huge problem lies in the fact that you can't show any text beside/near icons, so player often need to research the command field to find the function it needs.
There are many good reachable fixes for this, but many of these only work in single player (because sadly retreiving the camera position is a unsynchronised thing...) or lock the camera at someplaces (like DUIG or other). So most of these interfaces are for things like inventory/build management acceptable while they hardly help for situations where you need a good overview about the situation or need to react accurately.
But even against this problems people came up with fresh ideas how the get the most out of the avaible methods, like toogleable multiboards and so on.
Other increase the amount of buttons avaible with using the hero chart, dialogs, items for moves/spells/cards whatsnot.
Maps like Card shuffle, WC3 Card game, Orbit come to mind.
Well, now the problem with these kind of maps is that they throw most time the people with little tutorial into situations in which they need to strategically look upon the situation. Which causes a good bunch of people to flee from the game (I got 1 or 2 maps which falls into this category sadly ).
What would you guys do to improve the sitatuation? How would you design the tutorials? Or your Interface? Would you limit the options and let the people work step by step into the process or would you even ty to scrap the amount of interface juggling? I suppose many mappers had the feeling that the learning curve for their game taken off just because they make the controls to counterintuitive. And that ontop of probably a strategically deep game.
Its more of a design-orientated topic, so anything from examples to general ideas/tricks are welcome.
I'm not really sure if this thread should either go into the Town hall, the Editor help zone or even into the offtopic-section. But since this discussion goes about a general topic in mapping, i thought it would fit here at best. If there are consideration for another forum, feel free to move it there
Well, to the topic:
One problem in WCIII Modding, which is heavily tackeled from multiple angles is the interface. For some modders, the buttons and fields on the interface are very limited, for example for item management. On the other hand, a huge problem lies in the fact that you can't show any text beside/near icons, so player often need to research the command field to find the function it needs.
There are many good reachable fixes for this, but many of these only work in single player (because sadly retreiving the camera position is a unsynchronised thing...) or lock the camera at someplaces (like DUIG or other). So most of these interfaces are for things like inventory/build management acceptable while they hardly help for situations where you need a good overview about the situation or need to react accurately.
But even against this problems people came up with fresh ideas how the get the most out of the avaible methods, like toogleable multiboards and so on.
Other increase the amount of buttons avaible with using the hero chart, dialogs, items for moves/spells/cards whatsnot.
Maps like Card shuffle, WC3 Card game, Orbit come to mind.
Well, now the problem with these kind of maps is that they throw most time the people with little tutorial into situations in which they need to strategically look upon the situation. Which causes a good bunch of people to flee from the game (I got 1 or 2 maps which falls into this category sadly
).What would you guys do to improve the sitatuation? How would you design the tutorials? Or your Interface? Would you limit the options and let the people work step by step into the process or would you even ty to scrap the amount of interface juggling? I suppose many mappers had the feeling that the learning curve for their game taken off just because they make the controls to counterintuitive. And that ontop of probably a strategically deep game.
Its more of a design-orientated topic, so anything from examples to general ideas/tricks are welcome.
