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rjshae

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Everything posted by rjshae

  1. rjshae
    Looks intriguing, but some of the grammar has me a little concerned: Frozen State
  2. rjshae
    Perhaps we should do like they did with Wastelands 2 forums and start a 'Quest ideas' thread to see what sort of original notions we can come up with? There's bound to be a nugget or two they could use.
  3. rjshae
    COMBAT IS NOT WHAT MAKES AN RPG. If you can play a role in a story which reacts to your choices, it's an RPG. If it has a stats-heavy system and a well-defined, branching story, it's a CRPG/Western RPG. While combat-free CRPGs have been very rare to absent, it's not unknown in P&P, and the amount of actual combat encounters is generally smaller even in the ones with traditional combat system. This is true, but irrelevant. If I want a non-combat game then I'll deliberately pick one. For me the primary benefit of a party-based CRPG is to allow tactical options in combat.
  4. rjshae
    Yes well that's the key factor isn't it: will any loot be dropped?
  5. rjshae
    Exactly the point. Combat has a cost with no benefit. Ergo, it becomes an adventure game withe the occasional boss battle. Zzz...
  6. rjshae
    Avoiding most combat sounds a little... boring. I'd rather have combat that require unique and creative tactics to solve.
  7. rjshae
    ^^^ It might be nice to have the ability to flag certain combat states as causing some type of GUI interaction, whether creating a floaty string, providing audio feedback, or even pausing the game. Maybe through a configuration dialogue?
  8. rjshae
    I agree in general, but even games concerned with optimized efficiency for multiplayer, like DotA, LoL and Starcraft 2, still use solid UIs. The implication elsewhere in the thread that P:E is hanging on to an outdated design sensibility while everyone else has moved on just isn't true. Hmm, interesting. Your examples all differ from the original P:E interface by using varying heights. The latter interface just looks like a solid bar across the screen. Your examples also add a lot more color, which tends to blend in with the game window. I wonder if those factors have any impact on the perceived changes to the aspect ratio?
  9. rjshae
    Obviously, some old, mad Wizard developed the Flame of Eternal Burnitude, and made oodles of money by selling it to all the dungeoneers throught the land. Afterwards, they killed him off, took their money back, and re-dubbed the technology Infini-Bright. The mage who invented endless magical light for dungeons and got stiffed out of royalties would be such a great quest hook... One possibility is to make such a spell require a relatively uncommon material focus. This would make it at least somewhat costly to implement on a large scale. Another is to put in a prohibition that would require either certain conditions or else maintenance by a wizard. Here's one method: the eternal flame requires a flawless crystalline focus to serve as a containment vessel. The lowest cost material for this purpose is a crystal of quartz of at least the size of a thumbnail. The larger the crystal, the brighter and more durable the light. In order for the light to function, it must draw upon the surrounding darkness. Thus, the spell must be cast in dark conditions and be kept isolated from bright light sources. (In actuality this could be ultraviolet light sources.) The ideal conditions for this are deep underground, away from sunlight. A particular hazard is a spell that can reproduce sunlight; these can snuff out the flame if they are cast too close to the crystal. There may be rumors of a spell that can protect the crystal from extinguishing light sources. But the cost of casting this spell is high.
  10. rjshae
    In most games of this nature the portraits can be selected to choose a character, so they are active. The combination of portraits and icons effectively act as noun-verb pairs, so it makes sense to have them in proximity with each other for issuing commands.
  11. rjshae
    Regardless of which interface the developers choose, something I would like to see are elements that provide an indication of the conditions in the sky of the game world. That is, when the party is outdoors, some components that show whether it is sunny or cloudy; rainy or clear; day, dusk, dawn, or night. One way they might do that is have polished metal elements that show a distorted reflection. For example, the little clock mechanism may have a polished metal rim that looks like it is reflecting the sky behind the player. Another might be a clock background that looks like one of those old weather prediction dials showing clear, cloudy, or rain. Thanks.
  12. rjshae
    That's what I signed up for also. But for some people the combat log, solid UI that acts as a frame to the game window, the dialogue system etc. are importand parts of that style and flavor. Call us strange. Okay, well let me try this from another angle. If you look back at the old BG dialogue window, it was possible to expand it to at least half the page. Now it is being constrained to a small box in the corner. To me, the only reason to keep it minimized like that is because you want to show some animations that take up most of the screen. But that seems unlikely. Wouldn't you rather be able to see a lot more of the text?
  13. rjshae
    Strange thread. Moving on...
  14. rjshae
    That sounds pretty much like a bat being illuminated by some light source. Their flight motions can appear erratic when they're chasing bugs.
  15. rjshae
    I starting to think that's true. It seems to me some people didn't want an IE game, just a modern RPG made by Obsidian. Some people don't want that. We want a game with IE era sensibilities made by Obsidian. I can't see how Sawyer will please both groups at the same time, since they want different things. Well... if you read the PE presentation on Kickstarter, it doesn't say they will be making an exact clone of the IE engine. Only that it will pay homage to those games. Personally, that's what I signed up for; a game with a similar style and flavor. Most of what has been discussed here has been pretty minor stylistic differences with some graphical variations. It's still the same type of interaction and controls.
  16. rjshae
    The D:OS dialogue system seems pretty good:
  17. rjshae
    Yes, having the icons at the center can provide some minor value for mouse efficiency in the case where that is the only control element. I guess we've all got our own preferences and some ability to slide things around would be nice.
  18. rjshae
    Evidence of a rat living on Mars, provided by UFO Sightings Daily: Apparently NASA mistook it for a rock.
  19. rjshae
    ^^^ Err, you deliberately chose an example where the gap makes less sense? But what if the icons were moved over the portraits and the controls at the right were moved to the top of the screen? Now you have a case where filling in that gap is unhelpful. Most of the action takes place in the center of the display, both horizontally and vertically. So that's a good place to maintain visibility of the view.
  20. rjshae
    Some participants seem to prefer larger icons and portraits while others like them smaller. Perhaps then they could make 2+ different sizes of the same interfaces available? An enlargement option would then also help the visually impaired. An alternative would be for the features to change size as the mouse rolls over them.
  21. rjshae
    The dialogue system in SoZ worked primarily because of the different conversation skills in D&D: bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate. From what I've read, Josh was leaning against using skills of this type in P:E conversations.
  22. rjshae
    I'm not sure I understand your perspective. Perhaps you could clarify? For me, I would think that most (>90%) of the players attention will be focused on the middle of the viewing area, so having the controls and status displays in the corners helps to unclutter the UI. An uncluttered look is one of the essential elements of UI design: just showing the user what they need to see without having distracting features.
  23. rjshae
    I'll bet some duct tape would fix that...
  24. rjshae
    Laser pointers? Birds at a high altitude? Drones? Perception can be a tricky thing, particularly at night; what you think are sudden stops and starts may just be caused by the viewing angle and a lack of depth perception.
  25. rjshae
    Superlative! This is by far my most favoured design of the ones I've seen. Give me the ability to expand the text box into the middle of the screen for dialogues and I am sold. I have to say this is the first one I've seen where I wouldn't actually mind playing the game with. Yes some of the others are esthetically pleasing, but this one is balanced, functional, and doesn't distract from the scene. I guess the round circles with the gears are meant to be the control button icons?
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