Crafting menus intuitiveness

[Sevenless]

I recently walked a friend through starting the game, and I recently started a new character and took it through the growth periods. My first thought was "Jeeze it's really annoying that buttons don't start where they end". Finally unlocking painting for example lead to a couple days of annoyance where I'd accidentally click 1 button to the left of where I wanted to go based off muscle memory. Then the friend had an interesting complaint which paraphrased as "I don't know what to look for because I don't know what I can make". I feel like this is one of those "teachable moments" teachers always harp on, the game has an opportunity to guide people through the gameplay a little bit more intuitively via the crafting menu.

This lead me to two thoughts:

1) Icons should unlock in the spot they stay in permanently. This allows muscle memory re-inforcement to adjust players to the UI to set in sooner instead of needing to be readjusted notably as new materials are unlocked through the first weeks of play.

2) Icons that are potentially craftable but missing discoveries should exist in grayscale, and give hints/directions about discoveries missing to unlock them. This in a sense acts as a "natural tutorial" in that if people are curious about the buttons they can get hints on how to find out what the item is. At the same time, it keeps a bit of the mystery of discovery if desired by simply not explaining what the item is. Only that it exists and how to unlock the required discoveries.

[ricky]

1) Icons should unlock in the spot they stay in permanently. This allows muscle memory re-inforcement to adjust players to the UI to set in sooner instead of needing to be readjusted notably as new materials are unlocked through the first weeks of play.

2) Icons that are potentially craftable but missing discoveries should exist in grayscale, and give hints/directions about discoveries missing to unlock them. This in a sense acts as a "natural tutorial" in that if people are curious about the buttons they can get hints on how to find out what the item is. At the same time, it keeps a bit of the mystery of discovery if desired by simply not explaining what the item is. Only that it exists and how to unlock the required discoveries.

quoted for emphasis


These two features would make this game 100x better.

Personally, I think the action menu needs a huge overhaul, but these two ideas would be absolutely tits.

[rainland]

1) Icons should unlock in the spot they stay in permanently. This allows muscle memory re-inforcement to adjust players to the UI to set in sooner instead of needing to be readjusted notably as new materials are unlocked through the first weeks of play.

2) Icons that are potentially craftable but missing discoveries should exist in grayscale, and give hints/directions about discoveries missing to unlock them. This in a sense acts as a "natural tutorial" in that if people are curious about the buttons they can get hints on how to find out what the item is. At the same time, it keeps a bit of the mystery of discovery if desired by simply not explaining what the item is. Only that it exists and how to unlock the required discoveries.

Million times this.

[DeadlyPencil]

this would be a good addition to the game.

having 2 characters, 1 with lots of skills and a noobie with barely anything, stuff is in different locations, and it can be quite confusing switching between both.

[rainland]

Yeah, moreover, this is client only so if purus/ender/romovs see this it might be implemented surprisingly soon :hoping:

[loftar]

1) Icons should unlock in the spot they stay in permanently. This allows muscle memory re-inforcement to adjust players to the UI to set in sooner instead of needing to be readjusted notably as new materials are unlocked through the first weeks of play.

1) You mean you actually use the mouse rather than the keyboard to navigate the action menu?
2) That would mean that you'd have different layouts for different characters, though. Wouldn't that mess with muscle memory even worse?

[rainland]

1) Icons should unlock in the spot they stay in permanently. This allows muscle memory re-inforcement to adjust players to the UI to set in sooner instead of needing to be readjusted notably as new materials are unlocked through the first weeks of play.

1) You mean you actually use the mouse rather than the keyboard to navigate the action menu?
2) That would mean that you'd have different layouts for different characters, though. Wouldn't that mess with muscle memory even worse?

1. Yes. What would be your estimate of the playerbase using keyboard shortcuts to all of the menus? %
2. No it wouldn't. All of the possible icons would be there for every character. Some of them just grayscale

[loftar]

2) Icons that are potentially craftable but missing discoveries should exist in grayscale, and give hints/directions about discoveries missing to unlock them. This in a sense acts as a "natural tutorial" in that if people are curious about the buttons they can get hints on how to find out what the item is. At the same time, it keeps a bit of the mystery of discovery if desired by simply not explaining what the item is. Only that it exists and how to unlock the required discoveries.

But half the point about the discovery system is about not having to reveal stuff like Prince Charming in advance. If anything, there are recipes that are unlocked on skills alone, even if discoveries are missing, such as building Hearth Fires, and I've considered if some others shouldn't be among them as well. I've noticed sometimes when getting some skills that I have had no recipes at all unlocked by them, which seems a bit weird.

[rainland]

2) Icons that are potentially craftable but missing discoveries should exist in grayscale, and give hints/directions about discoveries missing to unlock them. This in a sense acts as a "natural tutorial" in that if people are curious about the buttons they can get hints on how to find out what the item is. At the same time, it keeps a bit of the mystery of discovery if desired by simply not explaining what the item is. Only that it exists and how to unlock the required discoveries.

But half the point about the discovery system is about not having to reveal stuff like Prince Charming in advance. If anything, there are recipes that are unlocked on skills alone, even if discoveries are missing, such as building Hearth Fires, and I've considered if some others shouldn't be among them as well. I've noticed sometimes when getting some skills that I have had no recipes at all unlocked by them, which seems a bit weird.

Yeah that's a good point. But then again we have the wiki where all that information about unlocking resides. I think this would bring the game more closer to the main stream, "more player friendly", games.

[loftar]

But then again we have the wiki where all that information about unlocking resides.

Or so you think. :)