Spankers and Spankees,
So as part of the previous update, I was fiddling with how I position text, because of problems with displaying multiple people in the party. I got a new approach that seemed to work. This evening I realized that I forgot to make sure this text positioning scheme worked for party display in the dungeon, and in combat.
Guess what? It didn’t.
So, I’ve uploaded a new version where I reverted back to the previous system. I also recalled some weird workaround I have to use that I don’t understand that magically gets my text positioning to work across multiple lines (I hate graphics programming. Even simple graphics programming like splitting text into separate columns. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it) which I wasn’t using in the party display screen, which I am now using, so the problems with text positioning are fixed!
I don’t know if that paragraph made any sense to you (it doesn’t to me). But the point is, download this version. The combat screen isn’t messed up in it.
Anyway, please make sure to read the previous post as well. In addition to more information about the updates contained in versions 1.14/1.15, it also has some sketches of the potential automap. Thoughts on the automap’s design would be greatly appreciated.
The automap looks like it could be very useful, so long as it’s clear enough. Reading through the story boards was a little confusing, but I’m sure it’ll be come clearer once it’s in game.
Keep the combat details. The extra details are a part of the CRPG charm, and they’re useful for mentally picturing the unfolding battle. Perhaps colour coding the different text (e.g. red when it’s damage being done, green when healing, blue with status changes etc) would make the combat easier to follow at a glance.
About the dinosaur joke. Funny, but I can see how it might of confused a few people following this blog, which is why you might not be getting so many comments.
I need to give the latest version a proper going over, but keep up the excellent work. All the extra effort’s to stream line and refine’s definitely appreciated. Can’t wait to get stuck into episode 2.
Dinosaur joke? What dinosaur joke? I was being totally serious.
Also, what parts about the storyboards were confusing? The whole point of them is to figure out what parts of the interface might trip people up before I go through the hassle of implementing it. So if you can point out what places confused you, we can figure out if it’s because of the interface, or because of the limitations of storyboards.
I’ll definitely consider color coding the combat messages . At this point in the design process, I’m open to any and all ideas for making combat clearer, and faster, while still helping people mentally picture the battle.