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Woe

Member Since 08 Jan 2014
Offline Last Active Feb 11 2019 06:28

#840122 Movement interface is killing me! - Anyone else?

Posted by EeSmurph on 12 January 2014 - 21:59

Hi all,

 

First off, this isn't a complaint about the game, but about the interface; especially as it relates to movement.  In fact, despite my near total enjoyment of the game, some of these issues are motivating me not to play.  I want to know if I am just crazy or if others share my pain.

 

One, the view angle hurts.  I want to be able to see in front of my character.  I want to scan the horizon for a building or maybe a resource.  I want to see where the path branches before I am on top of the branch.  I know this is a great deal more graphic intensive, but its not like this game was produced ten years ago.  Our browsers and computers can handle it.  Is there any way to at least bump up the view angle another 10 or 20 degrees?  Baring that, can we increase the zoom out a bit?  Believe it or not, my neck hurts after playing this game because I want so badly to look up just a wee bit more.

 

Two, what is with movement?  I can handle the click to move.  But if I click too far away and I get the red x, the character, already in motion, stops.  This is just silly.  If I can see it, and I am not blocked, I want to be able to move there.  No excuses.  Moreover, if for some reason I can't move there, I don't want my character to stop moving.  The character should continue to the previously selected point.  Why?  Because if the screen stops, I have to move the mouse to fix the problem.  If my character continues moving, then most likely, my mouse will automatically move into a "green" location and I can click the same space again and the fluidity of the action is maintained.  With the incredible amount of walking required in this game, any hiccup that stops the character, even for a second, is a huge annoyance.

 

Three, the maps just plain suck.  Sorry to be harsh, but again, this game was not produced ten years ago.  I should be able to zoom down to the individual pixels on my head with the map and zoom out to the entirety of the world.  When I can't find a vendor, or other map object, because that map space is too congested with other symbols and there is no zoom option that will correct this issue, the map has not been programmed correctly.  When quests send me to other zones, I want to view those zones so that I can coordinate my quests together to save time.  

 

I have played many Hunted Cow games over the years.  I know you guys are good and I know that this game is still very young.  But if you want players, like myself, to invest in your game and continue playing it isn't good enough for you to be as good as the rest - you must be better.  These are just my opinions, and maybe others don't share them.  However, this post describes the first reason why I would stop playing this game, if I choose to stop playing that is.

 

EeSmurph




#838736 [Superthread] Eldevin Guilds - Features

Posted by Tiffy on 09 January 2014 - 05:16

I'd like to use this thread to discuss some things that I personally would want to find in a Guild system, including activities to do with your guild, guild interactivity, and guild features; as well as guild interface expectations that you have.

 

Interface:

  • General Information: The Guild Interface should definitely contain a member roster, guild name, "Leave Guild" button, a small area where a tiny message can be posted (many guilds will use this to post a message of the day, or their voip/forum information). If we end up doing a Guild System with a Guild Level system it should display the Guild Level and an XP bar for the guild.
  • Management Tools: It should be easy for the Guild Leader and respective authority positions in the guild to manage the guild. This means that first and foremost, the Guild Leader needs to be able to set rankings and permissions. This includes things like guild bank access (deposit/withdraw), and kick/invite access, and access to change other (lower ranking) permissions. Obviously it should be easy for the people with the proper authority to kick people from the guild, meaning a right click over someones name in the Member Roster would pull up the option to "Whisper/Kick/Invite to Party". The Guild Leader or qualifying ranked members should be able to edit the area for the tiny message. Additionally, if we have things like Guild Battles and such, there needs to be sufficient management tools to initiate and disengage them.
    • Something that many games tend to forget when they create a Guild System that utilizes Guild Banks is a proper documentation system for withdraws/deposits; and the ability to set different levels of permissions for withdraws/deposits. This would be important to have in my opinion, should we utilize a Guild Bank system.
  • Member Roster: I would love to see a member roster that is both intuitive and tidy. It should list several bits of information about each member, and you should be able to sort the list in descending or ascending order for each of these criteria. It would perhaps also be useful to have either scroll-over text for additional details about each member that is useful, but would clutter up the interface too much (an alternative to this is the check-box system for what you want displayed in the interface, with a scrolling sidebar).
    • Some of the important criteria include: Online/Offline, Character Name, Nickname*, Guild Ranking**, Character Level, Talent***.
      • *Nickname: This is a special assignable name that the guild leader may give to each member, almost like a notepad. For instance if the user CowMagel33t has 40 tailoring and is willing to make tailored items for the guild, the guild leader might tag him with the nickname "Guild Tailor".
      • **Guild Ranking: These can be present universal rankings decided by Hunted Cow, or for extra customization ability, you can allow the Guild Leader to create a set number of rankings themselves. Essentially this is your stereotypical "Guild Leader", "Captain", "Lieutenant", "Recruit", etc. The ability to customize your guild ranking names could even be sold via the Cash Shop, or be unlocked at a certain guild level.
      • ***Talent: It can list the talent of the person by using a small icon that corresponds to the 6 talent trees available - the shield, the axe, the mask, the paw, the fire, and the sun - If talent privacy is a concern it could just display the icon for the tree you have the most points invested into, otherwise I think it would be very neat to display an icon for each of the trees that a user has invested into, starting with the one that you have the most points in and descending from there; and if you scroll over each individual icon it tells you how many points are invested in that tree.
    • Some of the more debatable information that might be found on the scroll over menu could include: Date Last Active*, Date Joined**, Guild Experience Earned***, Money Donated****, Location*****. I'm sure there are many more!
      • *Date Last Active: When did the user last log in on this character?
      • **Date Joined: When did the user join the guild?
      • ***Guild Experience Earned: If we utilize a Guild Level system that has members contribute something that earns exp in one way shape or form, it'd be fun to see who contributes the most/least. Some guilds might even impose monthly experience contribution requirements. It could be all time or time-based (this week/month/year).
      • ****Money Donated: In the same realm as Guild Experience Earned, this would show the total amount of money donated by the user. It could be all time or time-based (this week/month/year).
      • *****Location: I have played a few games that will list the current region or map that the guild member is on. This can be highly useful, but not necessary.

Guild Levels:

  • Games that utilize a Guild Level system give guilds a common goal to work towards that improves the guild. Sometimes the Guild Level will provide increased member capacity, or unlock various features such as Guild Banks, Guild Housing, Guild Logos, and Guild Apparel, such as capes.
    • There are quite a few different takes on Guild Level Systems. The most basic system normally just involves unlocking guild levels through purchase (X Gold for Level 1, X Gold for Level 2, etc). I don't like these systems as they don't really add anything to the concept of being a Guild at all; they just add an additional monetary goal for you to reach.
      • My personal favorite type of guild level system normally involves an activity that can be done specifically only for the purpose of guild leveling, such as a battle arena where you fight players or monsters as a guild, or add points to your guild experience by giving some sort of item to the Guild Experience NPC.
    • Personally I'd like to see a system that incorporates and appeals to all of the major activities you can do in Eldevin. My concept for a Guild Leveling system would be an NPC that accepts special items that can only be found once you have joined a guild. These items will be found while gathering via your gathering professions, crafting via your crafting professions, killing monsters, and via some form of PvP/GvG mini-game; there could also be an item for dungeons. I'd prefer to have the items be incorporated into the lore, and for it to make sense that you'd get the items from each specific activity. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the lore of Eldevin yet! So for the sake of the suggestion, we'll call them Guild Tokens for now.
      • For example, when you are Prospecting and gathering coal, you will have a random chance as you partake in this activity to receive a "Guild Token - Gathering". This would be worth X experience points, or you would need X of them to level up the Guild. The item might really be called like... "Raw Orb Shard" to tie into the whole Orb theme in the lore. PvP might result in "Bloodied Orb Shard", crafting might result in "Splintered Orb Shard", killing monsters might result in "Pillaged Orb Shard", and dungeons might result in "Cryptic Orb Shard".
      • One of the reasons that I like this system is that even after a guild has reached maximum level, we could create a mini-game that expands upon the Guild System that requires these items for control of realms or some other "contest" system. Essentially there would be an NPC that collects these items and doing so adds points to your guild total for the contest. At the end of each cycle of the contest, the guild with the most points wins. This could mean control of a territory, or something similar. If we wanted to make the system truly fun, you could allow guilds to place these items into other guilds "chests", resulting in REMOVING points instead of adding them.

I hope to continue adding to this, and hopefully we'll have some constructive conversation on what your ideas for the Guild features are! Please pardon the dust as I expand upon it ^^


Reserved for future use ^_^




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