I’ve played “Delores” and would like to discuss a little bit the new interface.
In my opinion it’s very close to the Larry 7 and especially the Delphin Software interface. I like the approach, but I have several issues with the current implementations:
The text “pulsates” each time I move the cursor over an object. This makes me a little bit -hm- edgy. Especially in an area with several objects. I would suggest to let only the cross pulsating.
Actions are triggered by a left and a right click and drag and drop. I found this a little bit unintuitive. I would suggest to put only the “walk” and the “look at” actions on the left mouse button.
The cursor suggests an action (like opening a door), so it gives (sometimes) a hint.
It’s surprisingly hard on my laptop’s touchpad actually (which doesn’t have real buttons like they used to), and I know there are plenty of people with issues like arthritis who have difficulty with it too.
So I think it’s fine but not as the one and only way. Just click to pick up and click to drop is easier to operate.
Ah, thanks for the hint. I haven’t explored the options yet.
+1
I fully agree with you. I have a touchpad with real buttons and it’s still hard to drag and drop. And I can imagine that it’s hard on mobile devices too.
This is something I looked at and implemented (and then removed). How do you select an action on an inventory? Clicking on it would pick it up, not do the default action. You could force right-click on inventory, but that got cumbersome as well.
This issue only seems to come up with track pad users, so maybe there needs to be an option for that use case.
You could show the verb menu after a left click on the object in the inventory. Then in the menu give the player the options to “look at” or “pick up” the object.
Well, not only. I know a lot of people who have problems with the concept of drag and drop (like a close relative of mine). But it’s a common control scheme in most adventure games, so I think you are right.
I have nothing substantial to add to what @Someone wrote; I think that’s a good suggestion. For me personally it was merely slightly less convenient than it could be.
Ron has implemented this interface already - but in a more complicated way.
No, it’s still different: The game shows you the verbs that makes sense in the corresponding situation. And the designer is able to use more and different verbs.
You could implement that in my suggestion too (in addition to a click): If the player holds the mouse button for, let’s say, 2 seconds, the game chooses/activates the verb under the cursor.
So each player has the free choice to click on a verb or just hold the mouse button to chose a verb.
Holding is also problematic due to touch devices. TWP touch deals with up/down clicks differently due to the need for scanning.
It’s not to say any of these ideas are bad, it’s just a rabbit-hole once you start to think about all the edge cases. 1) Implement your idea 2) Put it in front of anyone that’s not you 3) Start pulling you hair out. Welcome to game-dev.
I will continue to refine this UI and it will get better, thanks to good feedback. But also what comes with this UI is thinking about puzzles differently, that is something I didn’t delve deep into the Delores.
Top-of-mind thing I miss is the SCUMM-ish “Use / Push / Pull / Give” table, but I do understand why the new one was constructed to welcome new players and to make a more user-friendly experience. Although, would be nice to have the option to switch from intuitive to SCUMM-ish, but not a deal-breaker. (I dunno what that table is called, because SCUMM is the engine).
The question is: Is that possible? As Ron mentioned, the designer of the/a game creates the puzzles according to the interface. So if you switch back to the old interface, some of the puzzles won’t work anymore.
There were some games that had the option to switch from enhanced mode to classic mode and vice versa. But yeah… I know… The work will be super tough. But technically it’s possible.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlgYKwnyVPw
In the way I described it (i.e., as implemented in Full Throttle/MI3) those problems are (hopefully? ) avoided because click, move, click and click & hold, move, let go execute the exact same action. The latter just happens to be slightly faster if you’re comfortable with it.
Perhaps I used the wrong word when I said “hold.” I mean something much closer to “flick” or “swipe.” The point is that you don’t let go of the button while you do so. You can hold for minutes at a time if you really want to I suppose, but then it would be much more convenient to just click, let go, and slowly ponder your next action before clicking on it.
It’s like how the right click menu typically can work in Unixy environments, but in Windows only the regular left-click menubar does.
I actually really like . instead of something like left click, right click, escape or space, and it’s for precisely that reason. There’s no accidental skipping when you mean to pause for example. Far too many games have escape for pause/menu and also to skip. Which is pretty much only fine if it brings up a skip/continue menu like in Deus Ex: Human Evolution. You also avoid any accidental skipping due to clicking, for example because of how it works in Delores. In Ace Attorney for example I’ve regularly been skipping dialog only to accidentally execute some random action afterward depending on what was under my nail/stylus.
The TWP interface is superior to most adventure games I’ve played in the past two decades because of QWE/ASD/ZCX and ., and properly listening to arrow keys+enter in dialogs.
Could you elaborate on this? … I feel like the new UI makes the puzzles less open. In the sense that the interface only provides appropriate actions. Almost as if the sense of exploration is lost.
I’m not excited about the new UI, but I can’t tell wether it’s because I’m used to the old one or if it’s related to what I said above.
Especially in an area with several objects. I would suggest to let only the cross pulsating.
