AoD combat screen

[Vault Dweller]

Combat
Closer look

The red circle thingy shows how far he can reach with that hammer. The crossbowmen are not party members, they are "hired help" sent by someone else to help you out. Don't ask what you can do for your faction, ask what your faction can do for you.

Opinions? Suggestions?
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Spazmo: Odds are, something you like very much sucks. Why? Because this is RPG Codex.

[Section8]

Questions:

* How is movement info (specifically movement cost) relayed to the player? From those static shots, I can't judge anything, but without a grid or obvious tiles, I don't see a simple solution. Since the game isn't going to be static, I'm sure it's not an issue when I can move a mouse around and see distances. Just curious to see how you're doing it.

* Is is possible for the player to see the enemies' respective threat ranges? (ie spam one of those circles when you mouseover them, or something similar) Or should the player just predict that one their own?

* Why is the legionnaire unconscious? Is there a reason for players to render their foes unconscious, for that matter is it a concerted choice on their behalf?

* Why the red shading on the hand indicators? It would seem to indicate something is awry, like the weapon is too heavy, can't be used, etc. If that's the case, a bit more feedback would be required, and if that's not the case, then maybe the red can be done without.

* Is the circle an ever present entity, or does it just pop up when you select the weapon?

Suggestions:

* The circle could really do with a bit more subtlety. I don't think the decorative elements are necessary, and the colour (and transparency) could be toned back a bit. As it stands, it's a very prominent feature of the interface, when it doesn't really need to be. By contrast, I had to scan to find the much smaller AP counter, which is probably the most essential element to convey to the player. Fallout and Arcanum both had great visual indicators for APs, that were central, and above all other UI elements, bringing them as close to the active playing area as possible.

* It looks as though the circle is hovering at about knee height (or the draw order in relation to corpses is wacky) when it makes sense to have it as close to the ground as possible so there is no parallax error in judging distance (probably not a big issue, but hey, I'm being picky)

* Alpha mapping looks a bit funky. The edges of the red circle look as though they're anti-aliased on the diffuse layer, but not on the alpha layer, so there are lighter bits on the edges where the diffuse blends with the background. The net is the same, but the grass seems okay.

* <dresses up as a fucking paperclip> There's a conflicting tense to the net message. "You threw a weighted net, the throw is successful." You could probably even get away with "You successfully throw a weighted net."

But aside from what is a bunch of fairly minor quibbles, I'm eager to see more. Any chance of a FRAPS capture, or something less static?
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[HanoverF]

It'd be nice to see range of attack on the enemies as well, maybe a perk type ability for that?

Is the design stuff around the circle just to make it look fancy? A crushing weapon with a long reach would have an optimal range where it would inflict the most damage, shorter than that, you'd have to choke up and wouldn't get as much of a swing on targets closer to you. Might be beyond the scope of what you hope to accomplish, but something to think about.

[Jason]

I agree about toning down the giant, flaming circle. Flames, like barbarian scenes, only look cool painted on the side of a van.

Otherwise, all is well. I'd play it.
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StrategyCore - I become expert
RPG Codex - some times you have to kill a few kids to get a good game

[Shagnak]

[Kamaz]

Me, as well, I like flaming circle. That gives some..some spice to whole thing. It's fine.

Other than that, it looks cool. Just I dont understand - his slot is red because its power-hit mode or because he has no AP's left? More info about APs would be nice.
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If you don't care for what I have to say, I'll just shut up and let the mainstream speak.

[callehe]

Looking good!

I'd like to see a AP counter like in fallout though please.
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[Major_Blackhart]

Very nice VD! Im happy.
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http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7018/rexsig24nq9ky.png

[Chefe]

Lookin' good!

I am with the crowd that likes the circle design. It adds some flair. I would suggest you tone the color down a little though, and make it so it looks like it's on the ground and not floating knee-high (like it would be under that fallen soldier instead of on top of him). I would also suggest a smoothing out of the edges of the circle, making it blend in a little more (and getting rid of the white pixels on the edge).
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Mastermind: It's hardly a surprise that the typical codexer retard who thinks fallout had a good plot is incapable of comprehending how ES storytelling works.

[micmu]

Maybe you should "compress" the message output a bit, say, "A critically hit B for nn, bypassing his armor knocking him unconscious", instead of a separate "B is unconscious". In some cases this might reduce the number of lines and clarifies why B is unconscious (like section8 said/asked).
And great job!

[Vault Dweller]

[Vault Dweller]

[Vault Dweller]

Missed this:

[Nick]

[Nick]

*looks at last 3 VD's posts*

Damn, you are fast
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Oh, 'twould be marvelous if the world and its moral questions were like some game board, with plain black players and white, and fixed rules, and nary a shade of grey.
The Black Company. Shadows Linger.

[Spazmo]

You could just have the hammer (or whichever 2H weapon) repeat in the other hand slot, but sort of transparent. IIRC that's what Diablo 2 did with 2H weapons.
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How appropriate. You fight like a cow.

[Elwro]

I like it!
I think it'd be nice if there was a variable in the options for the colour of the circle. I surely would experiment with other colours as the current one is a bit too striking for my eyes.
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-Tyrax Lightning

[Human Shield]

I thought it was supposed to be Fallout-style double item system.

Wouldn't using a shield and sword take both. Wouldn't using a bow take up both. I thought it was going to allow switching from ranged to melee without opening inventory.
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Axes are Blunt Weapons, Silly.

[Section8]

A couple of suggestions:

Since there are no comparative values on the UI (which isn't too much of a drama, since the player should be well aware of their max AP and HP) and the giant circle representing a less critical stat (weapon reach) I mocked up an idea that toys with showing the critical info on the active playing area. The inner circle can rotate slowly if need be, and there are countless permutations of similar UI elements that can be driven with vector graphic circles around the player. The pic is fairly self explanatory:

Linkage.

I also changed the weapon slots as per Spazmo's suggestion, which makes sense to me.

There's also an addition of a toggle between weapon sets (which could probably be represented in a less ambiguous fashion than the "1|2" in the pic, if indeed the character is expected to make weapon changes without accessing inventory. Even if it's done at an AP cost (albeit a lesser one than rummaging around in your pack) I think it's a reasonable enhancement to the system.

Now onto the questions:

[RobRendell]

Another way to represent a wielded two-handed weapon on that display might be to remove the divider between the left and right sides, making it one big box. You'd probably want to center the info (weapon icon, AP cost etc) in the double-width box.

[Vault Dweller]

[Vault Dweller]

[Claw]

Looking good as everybody said, except the second link, which doesn't seem to work for me.

[frronalds]

Less lethal.. such as a billy club vs. an edged weapon.. that would be sensible.. wonder why noone has implemented that before..
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[Human Shield]

How many AP does it take to open the inventory in battle and can you do unlimited stuff when it is open like in Fallout (exploitable IMO)?

I would like to see 2 two-handed weapon sets. I think that is a good amount for being able to carry on your person instead in your backpack. With a smaller AP cost to switch between them because you can holstering and unholstering stuff instead of digging it out of inventory.

So you could have a big hammer in both your hands, put it on your back and take out the med-kit and exploding potions that are on your belt instead of opening the inventory.

Have the second item switch indenpendently between the two if you are using a sword and shield.

So you could spend 1 AP and put your sword away and grab a healing potion from your belt and if using the potion takes the rest of your AP you still have a shield out. Or if the enemy is coming at you from a distance you can switch your shield for throwing knifes using the rest of your turn to throw and then on your next turn you can spend all your AP with the sword in your other hand, trying to kill him quickly and risk not having your shield ready.

Maybe I will put a photoshop of my idea later. I guess it depends on how opening inventory is going to work and what the cost is.
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Axes are Blunt Weapons, Silly.