Interface Control

Java 2D
#1

At the risk of starting a holy war, I need some input on my interface/Controls for my RPG. I need to know peoples opinions on things like.

Should the mouse be used at alll.
If so should it be used on the main screen or just the hud/option menus
[]Should the mouse be used at alll.
[]If so should it be used on the main screen or just the hud/option menus
[]should keypresses take place for things like entering a building, or just running into the door?
[] should there be a seperate key for all actions, or one action key, and have the logic track what the appropriate action is.

Again I will listen to all suggestions/ ideas. This is a very important step and I don’t want to mess it up.

#2

Its your game, you choose :wink:

Its really down to what you want to be available in your game and how you’d like it to work. From the graphics it looks as though you’re emulating the Zelda style game. At which point, you want to keep the mouse out of (except maybe in the case the options/menu) to keep the feel of the game.

But again, its your game, you can basically invent what ever input method you like. If it doesn’t work, its not a difficult change generally…

Kev

#3

Kevin;
Thanks for the Input. I know in the end its up to me, I just thought I’d get a feel for what other people thought. As a side note, how’s the jogl stuff going , poorly I hope ;D just kidding, I just hope you stay with java2D beacuse it is still pretty good, and my laptop could only run one out of the 5 jogl demos I found. :frowning:

#4

Just compare things like old Ultimas and Dragon Warriors with recent Final Fantasies and uh stuff like Balder’s Gate (although I’ve never played pc rpgs). There’s been a pretty steady, natural progression of interface design in rpgs and there’s little doubt newer ones play smoother and less intruisively than older ones. So why not just learn from the research and experimentation of those before you?

Generally speaking I think the fewer button presses the better. Like in Dragon Warrior 1 you had to invoke a menu to do anything (including taking stairs), and it really increased the tediousness of the game.

The mouse is a good input method, but not always. Sometimes it’s a lot slower, and if the player’s using a gamepad, switching between the two can be tedious. If I was to go with the mouse I’d probably model my interface after existing pc rpgs that seem to use the mouse a lot.

#5

Ahhhh… usability! An endless topic! :wink:

In general, you should try to support several different modes because different people prefer different input devices. But if you are building a game as a learning experience rather than as a commercial endeavor then it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it.

For the game I am currently working on, we use the MVC (model/view/controller) design pattern, so we can tweak how we get input, let people define their own key bindings, add accessibility features, etc. (the “controller”), without having to change the visual interface around (the “view”). The game data itself (the “model”) doesn’t really care about the input mechanism.

We are using arrow keys for movement, but you can also use the mouse and click on “movement” buttons which do the same thing. You can click on game objects, but you can also go to “next unit”. Most of the interface for us is actually mouse-based because it’s a sim/strategy game and there’s a lot of things to select, so mouse works good for that. But we also have key bindings for most of the things that you can do with the mouse.

The important thing is to be consistent. If you force people to use the mouse, then they should be able to do everything easily with the mouse. If you force them to use the keyboard then you should let them do everything with the keyboard. Switching back and forth is the most annoying thing if you have to do anything more complex than “aim and shoot”.

Just my $0.02…

#6

[quote]Ahhhh… usability! An endless topic! :wink:
The important thing is to be consistent. If you force people to use the mouse, then they should be able to do everything easily with the mouse. If you force them to use the keyboard then you should let them do everything with the keyboard. Switching back and forth is the most annoying thing if you have to do anything more complex than “aim and shoot”.

Just my $0.02…
[/quote]
I disagree, IMO the Mouse+KeyBoard partnership is unmatch in terms of usability.

Joystick+Keyboard used to work well… before they started making joysticks with more buttons on them than a standard 101 keyboard :wink:

#7

I don’t think bmyers meant you should have the player use ONLY the mouse OR the keyboard. Rather, I think what he was trying to get across was that if you force the player to use only the mouse on all the game-setup and utility screens, you should not then swap over to a keyboard only interface for playing the game. I think most of us will admit that a combination keyboard & mouse UI is optimal for many games (FPS, RPG, RTS, etc). It’s just that if the player is able to do everything in the RPG (move, spells, inventory, etc) from a keyboard commands, you should insure that keyboard shortcuts are supported for your menus and utilities as well rather than making them pick up their mouse for only that reason.

As an example of “done wrong”, I really enjoy the Star Wars Pod Racer game on the PC. I personally find the keyboard to be best for me for controlling my racer during the game. However, inbetween races it is a little cumbersome to navigate thru the various other tasks (upgrades, purchases, etc) with the keyboard. The tab order is not always intuitive and not every option screen responds to “enter” the same way. So I find it easier to pick up my mouse for between-race activities. That’s a Bad Thing™.

Of course, I may have misunderstood the post. :wink:

-Lawrence

#8

[quote]I don’t think bmyers meant you should have the player use ONLY the mouse OR the keyboard.
[/quote]
Right. The point was that if you force the player to use the keyboard anyway, then you should make it easy for them to do everything from the keyboard. Likewise, if you force them to use the mouse (or joystick or digital pad or whatever) then you should make it easy to do everything with the mouse (or joystick, etc).

Ideally, it should be easy to do anything in the game with any input device, and players should be able to use whatever method they like best. But that’s not always practical and that’s where you have to decide what to compromise on.

Exactly.