UI wishlist

[Prophet]

This came up on IRC and we felt it would be a good topic for the community to discuss and brainstorm. So let's hear some ideas on how to improve the UI or add some new stuff!

Of course we have the usual:

• Reverse thrust - Everyone has asked for this at some point.
  Strafing - Would probably drastically change gameplay and balance.

The main point of the conversation focused on mouse interface and how it could be used.

• With some events like <OnMouseLeftClick> placed into stations, ships, or systems it would trigger the scripted function. What does that mean? The possibilities are truly endless.
  
  On a ship, it could bring up a menu and display information like who the ship belongs to, what it's orders are, communication options. If it were an auton or wingman you might be able to give it orders rather than using the communication buttons. A simply click to designate your target would be great too.
  
  On a station it could request docking without the need for pressing 'D' or displaying some basic info like what items they are trading.
  
  The system event could have basic commands, like making waypoints that you could name and would show up in the map, great for when you have to leave some cargo behind and don't want to lose it.

The mouse interface would be especially useful in dockscreens:

• Tabs in item screens, click & drag buying and selling, drag and drop installation of equipment. Canvas buttons so we can have more than 7 actions on one screen.

Mouse interaction would necessity a major overhaul of the current keymapping, and perhaps justify a custom key mapping option.

[george moromisato]

I'm slightly worried about introducing mouse controls in flight/combat mode because I think it increases complexity and forces you to take your hands off the keyboard.

However, I totally agree that the dockscreens should have much more extensive customizability and mouse support.

I'd love to hear the kinds of enhancements that you all want, particularly those that are high-leverage (i.e., easy to implement but enable lots of cool mods).

[bimbel]

The one thing I'd add to item selector docksreens is a filter! Currently the combinations: right-down and left-up do the same: scrolling the list. Therefor I'd keep the up-down for scrolling the list though right-left for adding/changing a filter.

When you enter the Dockscreen you see all items(*) when you hit right the displayed list will only display weapons (+w) the next right will filter change the filter again to eg armors (+a).

And then giving a range of important criterias like weapons, armors, devices, shields, illegal, military, damaged and so on!

This then can also be integrated with the tab navigation that Prophet proposed. The tabs could also be numbered with keys to access them directly.

In addition to that some new commands could come in very handy:
"Jettison all Items" eg Jettison all illegal items from the Cargo Hold at once
"Sell all" for Tinkerers for getting rid of all damaged items

Another (harder) approch would be to be able to mark items.
You could scan your list and can mark items with a keystorke and then inteact with the set. For Example "Sell all selected items"

[Aury]

in-flight mouse controls would be fine for some TC's I suppose, but I don't think they should be active in normal play.
IMO a low priority.

Dockscreen enhancements are a higher priority by par.

[Betelgeuse]

I would like to hide and show items on an item screen at will. For example you click the collapse weapons button and all the weapons are hidden. Would this need navigating to a new screen? If so I would like a way of remembering where the cursor is and being able to set it after I go to the new screen.

eta: Also something that came up on IRC would mouse events on the map screen be reasonable? Or maybe have a static map screen on a dock screen? A static map on a dock screen would be very useful for missions telling you where to go so people don't have to follow an arrow, they would be able to take the best route that they know of.

eta2: moddable HUD.

[Betelgeuse]

more IRC talk

We would like to do something like this.

<Action name="Select" key="Cursor_Left" virtual="true">

Where Cursor_Left is for when someone presses left and virtual means it isn't shown on the action list to the left but still is active. This would allow us to use more intuitive keys and not clutter up the action list with something that is going to be on every selection.

[alterecco]

I would like to avoid using the mouse altogether. Having access to full keyboard keys would be great also. virtual actions fit in fine i think, using a mechanic we already have accress to in other areas. Multiple keys per action would also greatly enchance the usefulness of dockscreens. A virtual item picker (already on trac i believe) is also a thing i would like to see.

I would like to avoid tabs, since they would seem to be solely oriented on mouse control, and just take up more display space without really adding that much. Panes can do plenty as it is, imo.

As for filters, i found these can really be implemented well using textinput, particularly if we get some of the other DS augmentations. I have a fully working advanced demo using filters to filter, well, anything (using any syntax, including something like what bimbel proposed)...

I would also like to see new functions added to the DS, to enable more dynamic control. Turn on/off animation, add elements to <Display> elements, change background, and probably several others (which i can't think of right now)

I also think a great benefit for modders would be having access to gScreen from the very start of the game (not just after having viewed the first screen).
At this point using gScreen before there causes a crash. Try this in a usable item that ends up triggering a scrShowScreen.

[Ttech]

I would like to avoid using the mouse altogether. Having access to full keyboard keys would be great also. virtual actions fit in fine i think, using a mechanic we already have accress to in other areas. Multiple keys per action would also greatly enchance the usefulness of dockscreens. A virtual item picker (already on trac i believe) is also a thing i would like to see.

I would like to avoid tabs, since they would seem to be solely oriented on mouse control, and just take up more display space without really adding that much. Panes can do plenty as it is, imo.

As for filters, i found these can really be implemented well using textinput, particularly if we get some of the other DS augmentations. I have a fully working advanced demo using filters to filter, well, anything (using any syntax, including something like what bimbel proposed)...

I would also like to see new functions added to the DS, to enable more dynamic control. Turn on/off animation, add elements to <Display> elements, change background, and probably several others (which i can't think of right now)

I also think a great benefit for modders would be having access to gScreen from the very start of the game (not just after having viewed the first screen).
At this point using gScreen before there causes a crash. Try this in a usable item that ends up triggering a scrShowScreen.

I think it would be interesting to have either or, although I know that would be very difficult but certainly make it more fun to play on lets say a 5 button tablet or such. What I mean is either Keyboard or Mouse (maybe mouse only is a toggle).

[Prophet]

Mouse interaction during combat would definitely be more of a hindrance than anything in the vanilla game. It would open many opportunities for TC mods but that's about it.

Mouse interaction on dockscreens would be excellent but the functionality should still be available with key strokes. Multi-key standards might be preferable but the ability to define more than 7 actions is a major limiting factor in some cases.

This is a quick pic I GIMPed as a concept:





I like the idea of having mouse interaction on the map screen. With canvas buttons something similar to this would be possible. It would require some tricky funcs to translate position vectors into coords useable by the canvas but definitely doable.

This is another concept with mouse functionality for selecting a named map icon:

[Ttech]

It looks good! However I don't know if you quite understand what I mean, literally there would be no mouse, but the mouse support would be neede to direct the pen to move the ship and such. It would make it playable on a touch screen! Very cool indeed.

Mouse interaction during combat would definitely be more of a hindrance than anything in the vanilla game. It would open many opportunities for TC mods but that's about it.

Mouse interaction on dockscreens would be excellent but the functionality should still be available with key strokes. Multi-key standards might be preferable but the ability to define more than 7 actions is a major limiting factor in some cases.

This is a quick pic I GIMPed as a concept:





I like the idea of having mouse interaction on the map screen. With canvas buttons something similar to this would be possible. It would require some tricky funcs to translate position vectors into coords useable by the canvas but definitely doable.

This is another concept with mouse functionality for selecting a named map icon:

[Prophet]

I think it would be interesting to have either or, although I know that would be very difficult but certainly make it more fun to play on lets say a 5 button tablet or such. What I mean is either Keyboard or Mouse (maybe mouse only is a toggle).

Sorry, I didn't see that. I was writing my post when you posted. I do like that idea! There are quite a few flash games that use that movement style. It would be a totally new game not having the keyboard. Docking would have to be handled another way, switching weapons or ammo might not be possible. I think there was another thread on this topic.

[SparcMan]

Mouse interaction during combat would definitely be more of a hindrance than anything in the vanilla game. It would open many opportunities for TC mods but that's about it.

Mouse interaction on dockscreens would be excellent but the functionality should still be available with key strokes. Multi-key standards might be preferable but the ability to define more than 7 actions is a major limiting factor in some cases.

This is a quick pic I GIMPed as a concept:

I like the idea of having mouse interaction on the map screen. With canvas buttons something similar to this would be possible. It would require some tricky funcs to translate position vectors into coords useable by the canvas but definitely doable.

This is another concept with mouse functionality for selecting a named map icon:

I love this idea! Don't forget a "view all" tab as well. I'd like to see a filter for things like "hide items you can't afford"

[alterecco]

I'd like to see a filter for things like "hide items you can't afford"

This would not really constitute an UI change. In general, anything that we can imagine being triggered by an action in the action list belongs there. It would not be very difficult to make the buy screen include an action that toggled between all items and items you can afford. It just needs to be coded up and placed in vanilla...

It's a good idea though. I would love to see a thread on improvements to the built in screens, using only mechanics we already have available. Would not be such a massive task to implement in a mod.

[Atarlost]

I don't think anyone's mentioned it this thread, but my number one interface improvement would be an abstraction layer of scripting between the keyboard and the game. This would allow keys to be remapped and new single key commands to be created.