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unknown (MSG-ID logged)
08.10.2009 - 19:25

Equip, ignite, aim, throw.

Hi --
In a RL I'm making I will have dynamite as a common weapon.
I'm trying to come up with a good design for the keyboard commands to
handle this.
What I want is that the player should be able to ignite the fuse
without throwing the dynamite,
so that you can let a few turns pass while the fuse is lit, and give
the enemies less chance of escape when you throw.
The game will not exactly be a "coffee-break-RL", but I think a good
thing to aim for is to have as few (and intuitive) key-presses as
possible for any purpose.

I have one suggestion for this:

d - a - F - t - <aim> - Enter

Where 'd' would be a command for equipping dynamite in the 'Wielding'-
slot,
this would bring up the inventory with a filter to only show the
different dynamite-type items.
Then you select one by pressing 'a' or 'b' or 'c' and so on, like in
Angband.
'F' would be the command to ignite/light/fire what you are holding
(automatically checks if you possess anything that can apply fire to
it)
't' means 'throw what you're wielding', a marker comes up and you
select where you want to throw, then enter to confirm.

+ It is "thorough", allowing the player to do precisely what (s)he
intends to do.
- Too many key-presses? Unintuitive?

You could have a command that is a macro for 'd-a-F', for example 'D'.

'd-a' could perhaps be scrapped, and instead you just equip dynamite
in the inventory like any other weapon. This would take more key-
presses, but less key-commands to find out and memorize.

How do other RL's solve this? How would you do it?

Joshua Day
08.10.2009 - 21:02
Martin Törnqvist <m.tornq@gmail.com> wrote:
In a RL I'm making I will have dynamite as a common weapon.
[...]
'd' would be a command for equipping dynamite in the 'Wielding'-
Then you select one by pressing 'a' or 'b' or 'c'
'F' would be the command to ignite/light/fire what you are holding
't' means 'throw what you're wielding', a marker comes up and you

Will different sticks of dynamite be functionally different? If
not, there goes your a'. Will you use 'F' for anything but dynamite?
If no, you can merge 'F' and 'd'; you could have a conventional
'w' that doesn't light, and 'd' will wield-and-light.

The wield dynamite phase seems unnecessary to me in any case.

--
Joshua

BirdoPrey
08.10.2009 - 21:49
On Oct 8, 1:250pm, Martin Törnqvist <m.to...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi --
In a RL I'm making I will have dynamite as a common weapon.
I'm trying to come up with a good design for the keyboard commands to
handle this.
What I want is that the player should be able to ignite the fuse
without throwing the dynamite,
so that you can let a few turns pass while the fuse is lit, and give
the enemies less chance of escape when you throw.
The game will not exactly be a "coffee-break-RL", but I think a good
thing to aim for is to have as few (and intuitive) key-presses as
possible for any purpose.

I have one suggestion for this:

d - a - F - t - <aim> - Enter

Where 'd' would be a command for equipping dynamite in the 'Wielding'-
slot,
this would bring up the inventory with a filter to only show the
different dynamite-type items.
Then you select one by pressing 'a' or 'b' or 'c' and so on, like in
Angband.
'F' would be the command to ignite/light/fire what you are holding
(automatically checks if you possess anything that can apply fire to
it)
't' means 'throw what you're wielding', a marker comes up and you
select where you want to throw, then enter to confirm.

+ It is "thorough", allowing the player to do precisely what (s)he
intends to do.
- Too many key-presses? Unintuitive?

You could have a command that is a macro for 'd-a-F', for example 'D'.

'd-a' could perhaps be scrapped, and instead you just equip dynamite
in the inventory like any other weapon. This would take more key-
presses, but less key-commands to find out and memorize.

How do other RL's solve this? How would you do it?

I think a roguelike developer should try as hard as possible to
eliminate the number of keystrokes needed to make certain actions,
especially if those actions are going to be used a lot. First of all,
if you have a generic 'throw' key, throwing dynamite should probably
auto-light it before you throw, unless you really think fringe cases
might arise where a player might want to throw dynamite without
lighting it for whatever reason.
As for lighting it first, if you have a generic 'apply/use' command,
the use command should light the dynamite, changing its name & status
to 'lit stick of dynamite' or whatever. Then it can be thrown as
before. Wielding as a necessary step should definitely be taken out.

My game includes grenades, and thats the system I worked out with
that. I'd be interested if other people had more elegant ideas though.


unknown (MSG-ID logged)
08.10.2009 - 21:50
Thanks for the reply.

Will different sticks of dynamite be functionally different? If
not, there goes your a'.

Yes, there will also be proximity-detonated, and remote-detonated
dynamite-
but if those are less common then it is acceptable that they don't
have their own key-command.

Will you use 'F' for anything but dynamite?

That is unlikely actually.

If no, you can merge 'F' and 'd'; you could have a conventional
'w' that doesn't light, and 'd' will wield-and-light.

That sounds like a good idea.


unknown (MSG-ID logged)
08.10.2009 - 22:13
On Oct 8, 9:490pm, BirdoPrey <birdofprey...@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
As for lighting it first, if you have a generic 'apply/use' command,
the use command should light the dynamite, changing its name & status
to 'lit stick of dynamite' or whatever. Then it can be thrown as
before. Wielding as a necessary step should definitely be taken out.
[...]

So you open inventory - select dynamite - press apply/use-key - one
dynamite gets split from the stack and changes to 'Stick of dynamite -
lit' - then you throw that item from the inventory with a generic
throw-key?
I like this idea too. Especially if the inventory is sorted
alphabetically, then the lit one would appear just under the normal
stack.
You would not be allowed to stack lit dynamite (unlike normal ones) -
each would take their own slot - for the sake of clarity and
"safety" :-)



Brigand
08.10.2009 - 22:16
Just my $.02...The less keystrokes the better, even if you have a key
dedicated to performing specifically that action. Either that, or you
can take on the monumental task of allowing player defined
macros...something I wouldn't want to touch with a 10 foot polearm.

Numeron
09.10.2009 - 00:48
On Oct 9, 3:250am, Martin Törnqvist <m.to...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi --
In a RL I'm making I will have dynamite as a common weapon.
I'm trying to come up with a good design for the keyboard commands to
handle this.
What I want is that the player should be able to ignite the fuse
without throwing the dynamite,
so that you can let a few turns pass while the fuse is lit, and give
the enemies less chance of escape when you throw.
The game will not exactly be a "coffee-break-RL", but I think a good
thing to aim for is to have as few (and intuitive) key-presses as
possible for any purpose.

I have one suggestion for this:

d - a - F - t - <aim> - Enter

Where 'd' would be a command for equipping dynamite in the 'Wielding'-
slot,
this would bring up the inventory with a filter to only show the
different dynamite-type items.
Then you select one by pressing 'a' or 'b' or 'c' and so on, like in
Angband.
'F' would be the command to ignite/light/fire what you are holding
(automatically checks if you possess anything that can apply fire to
it)
't' means 'throw what you're wielding', a marker comes up and you
select where you want to throw, then enter to confirm.

+ It is "thorough", allowing the player to do precisely what (s)he
intends to do.
- Too many key-presses? Unintuitive?

You could have a command that is a macro for 'd-a-F', for example 'D'.

'd-a' could perhaps be scrapped, and instead you just equip dynamite
in the inventory like any other weapon. This would take more key-
presses, but less key-commands to find out and memorize.

How do other RL's solve this? How would you do it?

as said before, a generic use/apply key would be an excellent way to
replace the fire command, but you should probably try using a "quiver"-
like slot where the player can put a stack of dynamite and have no
need to wield it at all. Then using the (t)hrow command will
automatically light one stick from the quiver slot and throw it all in
one key. Of course this assumes that waiting with a lit stick might be
a less commonly used feature, where to do that the player needs to
specifically (a)pply a stick before (t)hrowing.

-Numeron

Narf the Mouse
09.10.2009 - 01:55
Martin Törnqvist wrote:
Hi --
In a RL I'm making I will have dynamite as a common weapon.
I'm trying to come up with a good design for the keyboard commands to
handle this.
What I want is that the player should be able to ignite the fuse
without throwing the dynamite,
so that you can let a few turns pass while the fuse is lit, and give
the enemies less chance of escape when you throw.
The game will not exactly be a "coffee-break-RL", but I think a good
thing to aim for is to have as few (and intuitive) key-presses as
possible for any purpose.

I have one suggestion for this:

d - a - F - t - <aim> - Enter

Where 'd' would be a command for equipping dynamite in the 'Wielding'-
slot,
this would bring up the inventory with a filter to only show the
different dynamite-type items.
Then you select one by pressing 'a' or 'b' or 'c' and so on, like in
Angband.
'F' would be the command to ignite/light/fire what you are holding
(automatically checks if you possess anything that can apply fire to
it)
't' means 'throw what you're wielding', a marker comes up and you
select where you want to throw, then enter to confirm.

+ It is "thorough", allowing the player to do precisely what (s)he
intends to do.
- Too many key-presses? Unintuitive?

You could have a command that is a macro for 'd-a-F', for example 'D'.

'd-a' could perhaps be scrapped, and instead you just equip dynamite
in the inventory like any other weapon. This would take more key-
presses, but less key-commands to find out and memorize.

How do other RL's solve this? How would you do it?

Possibly-relevant question - How would you toss a torch? A lantern? A
molotov cocktail? Why do you have one, single category for dynamite? Why
not 'Burnables'?

Jeff Lait
09.10.2009 - 05:35
On Oct 8, 1:250pm, Martin Törnqvist <m.to...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi --
In a RL I'm making I will have dynamite as a common weapon.

If it is a common weapon, make it as easy to use as swinging a sword!

Play some of Kornel's roguelikes, like AliensRL. He dos an amazing
job of ensuring the flow of the game is uninterrupted by menus and
keyboard commands. You want your player thinking about lighting,
counting turns, and throwing dynamite. Not about pack order and
keyboard commands.

I have one suggestion for this:

d - a - F - t - <aim> - Enter

Where 'd' would be a command for equipping dynamite in the 'Wielding'-
slot,

Gah, too long :> And anyways, 'd'rop is probably a bad command for
something involving dynamite :>

Make your game dynamite centric! That sounds like fun! If you have
dynamite as an obscure third class citizen, people will just hit
things with rocks until they die as it is too much work to use the
dynamite. Who cares if firing a gun will take 15 keystrokes after
dynamite is streamlined, this game is about flinging dynamite around,
right?

First, to deal with the types of dynamite. Make this modal. You have
your currently active dynamite type. Some key or another changes what
your active type is. Sort of like switching weapons in Doom or other
FPSes.

Now, I see a bunch of goblins come around a corner.

I hit 'f'. Since no dynamite was wielded or lit, I immediately pick a
stick from my active dynamite type, light it, and put it in my hand.
My @ starts glowing yellow to let me know I have a lit stick of
dynamite in my hands.

I then start running away from the goblins to lure them into a better
spot and make sure they can't just throw the stick back.

I then hit 'f' again. Auto target has grabbed the lead goblin, +/- to
change goblin. I arrow-key to pick a spot of the ground and hit
<Enter> to fire.

A game with a well designed dynamite experience is way more fun than
Angband+Dynamite.
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)

unknown (MSG-ID logged)
09.10.2009 - 12:27
On Oct 9, 5:350am, Jeff Lait <torespondisfut...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Gah, too long :> 0And anyways, 'd'rop is probably a bad command for
something involving dynamite :>

Ah yes, 'd' should really be 'drop', forgot about that one.

Make your game dynamite centric! 0That sounds like fun!
[...]
Who cares if firing a gun will take 15 keystrokes after
dynamite is streamlined, this game is about flinging dynamite around,
right?

Actually, what I'm doing is a Blood-RL, so guns need to be at least as
streamlined as dynamite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_(video_game)

I already have guns implemented as:
[f] - <aim> - [f]
With automatic suggestion for target, and [tab] or [+] is mark next
target, and [-] is mark previous.

First, to deal with the types of dynamite. 0Make this modal. 0You hav=
e
your currently active dynamite type. 0Some key or another changes what
your active type is. 0Sort of like switching weapons in Doom or other
FPSes.

I suppose the number keys could wield the corresponding weapon from
the original game.

Then if "lightable" item is wielded, [x] means light.
If lighted dynamite is wielded, [x] means throw (or you could just as
well press [t] )

So
[5] - [x] - [x] - [enter]
would be the entire sequence of keys.
How about that?

(There is a reason that I can't have [f] as 'light', and that is that
there is an item that can both be fired as a weapon, and lit as
dynamite:
Aerosol can + Zippo lighter)

My @ starts glowing yellow to let me know I have a lit stick of
dynamite in my hands.

Nice!

Krice
09.10.2009 - 12:42
On 8 loka, 20:25, Martin Törnqvist <m.to...@gmail.com> wrote:
How do other RL's solve this? How would you do it?

How about this:
-wield the dynamite (fuse starts to burn)
-throw it


unknown (MSG-ID logged)
09.10.2009 - 12:52
On Oct 9, 5:350am, Jeff Lait <torespondisfut...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Play some of Kornel's roguelikes, like AliensRL. 0He dos an amazing
job of ensuring the flow of the game is uninterrupted by menus and
keyboard commands.

I just realized he is the guy behind DoomRL, the game that gave me the
idea of a BloodRL :-)

unknown (MSG-ID logged)
09.10.2009 - 12:58
On Oct 9, 12:420pm, Krice <pau...@mbnet.fi> wrote:
How about this:
-wield the dynamite (fuse starts to burn)
-throw it

No, lighting the fuse must be separated from wielding, because of
this:

there is an item that can both be fired as a weapon, and lit as
dynamite


Krice
09.10.2009 - 13:19
On 9 loka, 13:58, Martin Törnqvist <m.to...@gmail.com> wrote:
>there is an item that can both be fired as a weapon, and lit as
>dynamite

What item is that? Dynagun? Sounds ridiculous.

unknown (MSG-ID logged)
09.10.2009 - 13:30
On Oct 9, 1:190pm, Krice <pau...@mbnet.fi> wrote:
On 9 loka, 13:58, Martin Törnqvist <m.to...@gmail.com> wrote:

> >there is an item that can both be fired as a weapon, and lit as
> >dynamite

What item is that? Dynagun? Sounds ridiculous.

This:
http://blood.wiki-site.com/index.php/Aerosol_Can



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