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Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Unstructured ideas, requests and suggestions for the development of the game.
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Zukero
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Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by Zukero »

Hello,

Here is a mockup of how I'd like to change the combat UI.
This is not a planned future development, nor was this discussed with the dev team. Just an idea I had, and wish to submit both to the dev team and the community.
Andors-Trail-NewCombatButtons-Mockup-Phone.png
The icons would adapt to the equipped items.

The first icon is the main hand's weapon. The standard attack.
The second one is the off-hand item. Either a shield or a consumable. Dual-wield and Two-handed setup would not see this button.
The third one is the item usage icon. It would show either the first quick-slot's icon (or at least, the first consumable item in the quick-slots), either the first consumable item in the inventory (if no consumable was placed in the quick-slots).
The fourth one is the "Flee" button.
Then, the AP shown as a bar, like HP.
Finally, the "End turn" button.

On each of the first four icons, the top-right number is the AP required to use that button. When AP is too low, that number turns red, the icon turns to greyscale (black & white), and the button is disabled.

For consumables (3rd icon in the mockup, but could be on the 2nd too), the bottom-right number shows the available quantity in inventory.

The green "V" is placed on the last used icon (1st attack icon by default, and in the mockup), and indicates the action that will be performed if you tap the screen elsewhere.

In terms of combat system, it would allow the following new features:
- Usable shield ! I was thinking that using the shield could put the player in "defensive stance", granting BC and/or DR bonus for one round, while costing "attack cost" AP.
- Combat consumables. Equip Poison vials or Acid bombs in your off-hand, and unleash them on your enemies in battle for the cost of "item use cost" AP. Could even have area of damage (poisons all enemies surrounding you for example).

Does this sound like fun to you ?
Do you like the proposed UI ?
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Last edited by Zukero on Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Lvl: 78, XP: 8622632, Gold: 271542, RoLS: 1, ElyR: -, RoL: -, ChaR: 1, GoLF: 1, ShaF: 1, SRoV: 1, VSH: 1, WMC: 1, GoW: 1
HP: 71, AC: 301%, AD: 38-47, AP: 3, ECC: 50%, CM: 3.75, BC: 101%, DR: 2
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rijackson741
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by rijackson741 »

Why would a dual wield character not see the second icon showing the offhand weapon?
Level:71, XP:6493739, PV:608, FQ:84
HP:210, AC:212, AD:58-77, AP:4, ECC:16%, CM:1.5, BC:188, DR:3
Gold: 237559 | RoLS:1, RoL:1, GoW:1, VSH:1, RoFLS:1, WoB:1
HH:1, WA:1, CS:2, Cl:1, IF:4, Ev:3, Re:2, WP:DA:1, WP:1S:1, WP:B:1, AP:L:1, FS:DW:2, S:DW:1
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Zukero
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by Zukero »

Well, the standard attack takes advantage of both weapons of a dual-wielder.
Having a second button would be redundant, unless the dual-wielding mechanics are changed.

However, we could replace the first two buttons by a double-width one showing both weapons' icons.
Lvl: 78, XP: 8622632, Gold: 271542, RoLS: 1, ElyR: -, RoL: -, ChaR: 1, GoLF: 1, ShaF: 1, SRoV: 1, VSH: 1, WMC: 1, GoW: 1
HP: 71, AC: 301%, AD: 38-47, AP: 3, ECC: 50%, CM: 3.75, BC: 101%, DR: 2
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by Raner »

First, let me say I love it.

Second, questions:
2.a) Why is the shield 3AP, while item use is 5AP? Or are you proposing various shields have different APs by effect?
2.b) Will the round finally end when your AP are too low to take any action? Please?
2.c) Would dual wielders see both weapons? If so, why?
2.d) Would it be possible to specify the menu location ala d-pad settings? Screen top is hard to reach for one-hand play when holding on during a commute, hehe.
2.e) You are not proposing removing the 3 quick item buttons, but rather simply did not have them displayed in this photo?

Third, comments:
3.a) This is the way to go if there are serious plans to implement (i) strike types, e.g., wild blow, careful strike, etc., or (ii) any of the 'combat skills' that have been proposed, e.g., changing Concussion from a fixed percent on every strike to a focused attack with much higher probability and differing AP usage.
3.b) Also would be helpful, assuming a long press on a hand brought up a change weapon dialog, if ranged combat/magic/various other theoretical ideas are ever implemented.

Again - I personally love it, and also feel that the way you have mocked it up - it enhances and 'fancies up' the combat screen. I know I have seen comments before that it is too 'basic'. That is all I can think of for now -looking forward to seeing this (even in debug form!).

-Raner
Raner:
Lvl: 1__Exp: 1.7mm__Gold: 70k
HP: 44__AP: 5/10__AC: 127__AD: 10-21__BC: 49__DR: 3__ECC: n/a
Shadow Regeneration

RoLS: 2__RoL: 2__ElyR: 1__GoLF: 1

... no skills ...
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Zukero
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by Zukero »

Raner,

2.a) Well, I edited my post to say that Shield use costs "attack cost". Mainly, I wanted to show the Shield button active, and potion button disabled.
2.b) Sure, that would be good. Or maybe as a setting (auto-end, end-after-attack, manual-end).
2.c) Nope. I mentioned "Dual-wield and Two-handed setup would not see this button.". But in answering rijackson, I added "However, we could replace the first two buttons by a double-width one showing both weapons' icons."
2.d) I originally thought of placing it at the bottom, for thumb-reach reasons. Or better, make it configurable like the quick-slots. Then, it occurred to me that it could get in the way when:
- You're fighting at the bottom of the map. Prevents the long presses on enemies to change target. Could get in the way for fleeing south too.
- Would be a nightmare when you need both this and the quick-slots buttons shown.
Moreover, this would not break existing layout completely. This could be an incremental change. My mockup for v1, then move them somewhere else for v2. Helps the transition for long-time players.
But, I have a solution for all these issues : expand the grey-background area above the HP bar when needed to fit these buttons, pushing the toolbox & quick-slots upwards, and cropping the "map view" area.
2.e) Yeah they were just not displayed. I'd like to keep them as they are.

3.a) Indeed, but as shown by the mockup, cramming more than three action icons in this area would be difficult for low-res devices.
3.b) Ranged weapons and magic will certainly not be implemented. But long presses opening the inventory for weapon/item change could be cool, and automatically scroll it to the long pressed item.

Glad you like it !
Lvl: 78, XP: 8622632, Gold: 271542, RoLS: 1, ElyR: -, RoL: -, ChaR: 1, GoLF: 1, ShaF: 1, SRoV: 1, VSH: 1, WMC: 1, GoW: 1
HP: 71, AC: 301%, AD: 38-47, AP: 3, ECC: 50%, CM: 3.75, BC: 101%, DR: 2
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by rijackson741 »

Zukero wrote:Having a second button would be redundant, unless the dual-wielding mechanics are changed.
However, we could replace the first two buttons by a double-width one showing both weapons' icons.
True. I was thinking of seeing the second weapon, so the double-width button would work.

I like this idea, especially the idea of being able to equip other items such as potions and use them in battle.
Zukero wrote: Ranged weapons and magic will certainly not be implemented.
I thought ranged weapons were going to be implemented at some point. Or at least that the idea had not been completely killed. Am I wrong?

I had also thought about acid bombs if ranged weapons were implemented. But if you use them on a monster that's too close there would be a chance of "splash back" that results in some fraction of the bomb's effect being applied to you :)
Level:71, XP:6493739, PV:608, FQ:84
HP:210, AC:212, AD:58-77, AP:4, ECC:16%, CM:1.5, BC:188, DR:3
Gold: 237559 | RoLS:1, RoL:1, GoW:1, VSH:1, RoFLS:1, WoB:1
HH:1, WA:1, CS:2, Cl:1, IF:4, Ev:3, Re:2, WP:DA:1, WP:1S:1, WP:B:1, AP:L:1, FS:DW:2, S:DW:1
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Zukero
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by Zukero »

Well, while magic has actually been ruled out, ranged weapons indeed have not.
However, the current code architecture and game mechanics would be quite incompatible with ranged weapons. Implementing these in a way that's fun, easy to control, yet different from melee weapons would require a HUGE code overhaul, and certainly deep gameplay changes that I'm not sure would be good (real time combat anyone ?). If someone can come up with a good idea someday, it may happen.

The acid and poison bombs (or equivalent), if they have an area of effect, would surely affect the player too, and would add even more strategic planning to their usage ("Do I have this antidote ?" or "Will it hurt them more than it will hurt me ?").
Lvl: 78, XP: 8622632, Gold: 271542, RoLS: 1, ElyR: -, RoL: -, ChaR: 1, GoLF: 1, ShaF: 1, SRoV: 1, VSH: 1, WMC: 1, GoW: 1
HP: 71, AC: 301%, AD: 38-47, AP: 3, ECC: 50%, CM: 3.75, BC: 101%, DR: 2
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by ace »

wow, excellent,this will be awesomest change to the combat UI. but if you are giving everything (that can be used during a combat) then adjusting hp bar of the hero against the hp bar of monster and making the chest and menu button disappear (as they will lose their significance) along with xp bar(it isn't needed during combat) we can provide extra space to user so he/she will be able to flee in any direction. and if user wants to use quickslots then the chest button made available at its default position through preferences. im forward for this major change in next update ( if possible).
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by twirlimp »

The design is excellent, and I think the icons are better on top than on the bottom, and also this gave me inspiration for a different idea as well.

I imagine that when the player equips a ranged weapon, and outside combat,
a new "Safe aim" button would appear next to his character portrait on the bottom,
either to the left or to the right of the stat bars.

The icon would be a crosshair, I think.

(I say only outside combat because during combat aiming is done with long-press as usual)

What do you think? How am I doing so far?
ideas plox
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Zukero
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Re: Combat UI change proposal with mockup

Post by Zukero »

Well, I believe that mission would be well served by having the top icons from the mockup be onscreen all the time (or displayed depending on a user-changeable preference).
Lvl: 78, XP: 8622632, Gold: 271542, RoLS: 1, ElyR: -, RoL: -, ChaR: 1, GoLF: 1, ShaF: 1, SRoV: 1, VSH: 1, WMC: 1, GoW: 1
HP: 71, AC: 301%, AD: 38-47, AP: 3, ECC: 50%, CM: 3.75, BC: 101%, DR: 2
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