Tenderfoot Thahd Mattias Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Hi. Old fan of spiderweb and lurker at heart. Slow day so I took a long look at the inventory for Avernum 6. There are lots of usability issues that i wanted to address and some cleaning up. As players of spiderweb games we spend a lot of time in the inventory. Take a look at Avernum 6 Inventory redesign Original here original official avernum 6 inventory Major Changes: A completely new equipped stat list. For every min/maxer out there...Armor, weight and hit chanse modification...the amount of time hovering and rightclicking ive spent is these games are ridiculous ...anything to cut that down is godsent. Just a simple table populated from the db...no biggie right, Jeff? Minor changes: Completely re layouted the page for enhanced work flow. We western people read from left to right, up then down. When scanning what loot we want it should be the first thing we see. The old placement is awkward and goes against all basic usability design. Organized the equipped item boxes in a logical way(well atleast one of the many logical ways compared to the old version), armor on the right, knick knacks to the lefttop and weapon/shield bottom left. Nice changes: Color synced backgrounds, former was hmm Button now CLOSE not OK. Ok is to confirm something. we just want to close the page. Removed nasty yellow orange color also. No more : after each label/title. They had nothing there to do. Renamed On ground to Loot, since sometimes the loot isn't at all on the ground Coins is boring and no feel..added nice stack of coin icon Added subtle dropshadows. Toned down the black lines to 25%, they dominated the space, should be subtle. Think that was it. Hate or love? Critics are welcome. I opted for no drastic changes since Spiderweb always been about content...but usability and design is very nice to have also. My wishlist for Avernum 6. (probably waaaay to late in development to address i suspect, but hey, a man can dream) If by some miracle the Man want to implement this or need an idle graphic/design hand id be glad to help pro bono. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Until Avernum 4, the inventory was a scrollable column where items were grouped by type: wands, scrolls, potions, armor, etc.. Now it's a free form with the items added by being acquired, but you can rearrange them to whatever position is easiest for you to use after they get into inventory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Mattias Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 I'm afraid you've misunderstood. Im completely aware of how every spiderweb games inventory worked. "My" new list is for the eqipped items only, in a fixed order. This makes it very easy to min/max equipment armour, weight and hit penalty's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Sorry. If you want Jeff to know about your ideas, it would be better to email him since he doesn't read the board that often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Enraged Slith Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 I like it. If it isn't incorporated it might not be impossible to make a mod to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 A lot of the rearrangement just seems unnecessary. We've gotten used to the old inventory arrangement. Mucking with it might be better in theory, but it works fine. And since most inventory use isn't actually about loot at all, I think it definitely belongs somewhere other than jammed into the left side. —Alorael, who does, however, like the min-max list. Even without min-maxing it's helpful to see exactly which pieces of armor are encumbering you so you know how to fix the problem most efficiently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Mattias Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 Whether the loot is to the right or left is not really that significant for old players, that I agree upon. However its non standard for new players therefore raising the acceptance bar ever so slightly. I will see if there's an alternative since I have just spent a few hours on this so im sure there's even better designs waiting. The "we've gotten used to it" doesn't hold that much water for me. The current inventory isn't that old and its not exactly brainsurgery to learn an inventory. Usability rules. The important part is the lower area with the new equipment list and to a lesser degree the rearranged equipped slots(which make some sense now and give you a quick overview.) so that seems to hit the right spot anyway. I want that improvement so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Articulate Vlish feline monstrosity Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Another lurker here. Wanted to show my appreciation. I liked having the character's picture with his equipment at the top and the pack underneath. Other than than great job!! Definitely send this to Jeff! Ask him for a job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Sleeping Dragon Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I'm not really a min-maxer, but from a casual players point of view... I like the pile of coins image, at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Toby-Linn Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I like it, but there are some things I would change. First, the pile of coins is nice, like Sleeping Dragon said. I also like the colons after titles being removed, they did look awkward. I like the rename of On Ground to Loot, and it's great that it was moved to the left side, so it's the first thing you see. The button being renamed to Close is also smart, I don't care whether it's orange or not. The equipped items list is very cool, it's very helpful to see which of the items I'm wearing are the heaviest. What does the shield icon and the target icon mean? If they are defense and damage shouldn't they be together with the weight icon last? The Equipped Items pictures doesn't really work for me, I like the way it was in the official screenshot. It's too compressed. The shield should be near the arm, not down by the feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk nikki. Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 The target seems to be "to hit chance". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer monolith94 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Any changes made so that I can use the keyboard more than the mouse would be welcome... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Earth Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Originally Posted By: Toby-Linn The Equipped Items pictures doesn't really work for me, I like the way it was in the official screenshot. It's too compressed. The shield should be near the arm, not down by the feet. i would move bow next to sword and change leggins and shields place, also cloak should be next to armo so it won't get confused to helm (i thought 1st that char has 2 helmets on). monolith: Avernum is meant to play mostly by mouse so ............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Callie Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Originally Posted By: Earth2025 monolith: Avernum is meant to play mostly by mouse so ............... The second trilogy you mean. I don't use the mouse too often in the original trilogy (usually for inventory and not much else). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Mattias Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Took a look again at the equipped area and came up with a new layout. Armor to the right, weapons close to hand, shield on right but not closest to hand since its optional( this can be disputed of course) cleaned up a bit so its pixel perfect distances. feels more natural now. Its also more heavy on the right side design-wise but it gives a really good overview. look here: Equipped area v2 Thanks by the way for the critique all! A professional effort regarding gui design takes more than half a day so its not finished, more of a very nice sketch. But i'm pleased with the response. /M PS as noted, the target icon is To hit chance modifier DS PPS disregard the armor total value, it bogus DDS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Dikiyoba Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Don't forget that A6 will have dual wielding, so the position of that slot has to make sense for both a shield and a weapon. Weapons and shield on the left, everything else on the right, maybe? Dikiyoba likes most of the changes. The target symbol on the equipment list is fairly difficult to understand, though. Abbreviations would probably work better than symbols there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Mattias Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Dual wielding makes a strong case for having the offhand slot (shield/dual weapon)closest to the hand on the character image instead of underarm/hand slot(gloves/bracers). Regarding the target icon my thought was that there is no official abbreviation ( Ive seen TH eg. To hit. If there is one enlighten me please) and the target image is generally considered standard for communicating visually that there is some value connected with hit chance . But then we should be consistent and remove the armor icon also. What's the official abbreviation for Armor? /M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Earth Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 looks good but still i would prefer bow and sword next to eachothers so necklace and ring could be lower place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenderfoot Thahd Small Cryoa Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Looks really good. I especially like the item list and the pile of coins. I liked it better when the shild was over with the sword and bow (You could equip weapons in one place then). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Omlette Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 A Thought: If the equipped items box were included, it might be better as a popup; for a first-time player it could make the inventory area look quite scary, and you certainly don't need it every time you open your inventory. That would also be nice because it would free up space in the inventory window; it does look a little cramped compared to to previous system. What you did with the order of the areas is quite clever, though: now I stop to think about it that's certainly the order of how frequently I use them. -E- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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