A lot of people lately have been all excited about the interface capabilities of the new system. This is all well and good, they are quite good and should result in lots of well designed and interesting games.
However, something concerns me a little. Just how overboard will people go with these new windows? In order to get the feeling of a game, a user doesn't want a new window to appear every time they do something. So just fair warning, a user will lose interest in the game if all they're doing is interacting with thousands of different windows.
The best idea is to layout your window (I personally, have the map top centred, with a stats panel on the bottom left, inventory on the bottom right and the world output and input centre bottom) conservatively. And what some of you don't know yet, is that you can reuse the same window over and over, for different tasks.
So when 4.0 is released, just be wary, your game will start to feel like an application more than a game if your users have to go through constant interruptions. This especially applies to RPGs.
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Too many windows is a bad thing.
Keeth wrote:
I'm gonna make a game that's all about making it to the last window when it comes out. Ha! Your attempt to be sarcastic bit you in the ass and turned out to be a good idea. May you have learned a good lesson here, my blog is a haven of ideas. It's the green I tell you, it stimulates the mind. | |
Ah! I didn't know you were a Linux / mac supporter! Congratulations! Sorry I couldn't resist! :) | |
No, I'm not a Linux or Mac supporter.
Linux's only function is a server computer. That's it. I'll never use it as a primary operating system for a computer I use daily. Mac blows. It's that simple. (Ha, using one of their own slogans against them.) | |
My problem is how're the people with like, 800x600 resolutions going to deal with the new games? :(
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Well, if people set their commands anchors correctly, I believe it should work nicely.
Then again, I believe that resolution is outdated. <.< | |
Right now the standard is 1024x768.
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Real men use 1600x1200.
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Ol' Yeller wrote:
Real men use 1600x1200. As well as people that like to squint. | |
I still haven't figured out how to use anchors, mine always turn out terrible.
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Here's a hint. Top left and Bottom Right. That'll do you for most things.
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The same thing was said about alert boxes, and they were right. ;)
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There'll be 40 different kinds of windows.
When a new window pops up, you will be assigned a difficulty* level, and a mini-game to complete.
One of these games will be 'click the button before it moves to the next location'.
Actually, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea now that I think about it.