User Interface Feedback

Pursang

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2018
54
42
Hey everyone, I thought I'd start a thread so we can discuss the game's user interface (UI). So let's get right into it!

What I like:

1) Aesthetically speaking, I think it's the best-looking UI for a web-based game I've seen in a while. Thematically the old leather with steal/brass accents look is spot-on, maybe even better than the original CoC wood and parchment.
2) More importantly however it makes sense, the required information is presented in a clear and concise fashion, it's all easily discernible and accessible.
3) Performance-wise, it seems to do well - I have a fairly old computer using Chrome but there doesn't seem to be any slowdowns aside from the UI taking a couple of seconds to load in fully when I first start it up.

What I think can be improved:

1) I like that you can just click your portrait to upload a new avatar, but I fear that brand-new players will miss it entirely, as it's a little out of the way and perhaps not fully intuitive in comparison to the other menus.
2) As with CoC and TiTS you can fully navigate the world by using your keyboard, but you would never know that if you're a new player as there is no mention of it whatsoever.
3) I would like to see more (what do you call them, pop-ups? Windows? Bubbles?) descriptive boxes. What are electrum coins? What's corruption, what does it do? What is this piece of equipment, how much is it, etc. I know these are all basic things, but for a brand new player the more available information the better.
4) The top left corner says Companions, but I dare say that it should say something like "Party" or "Group" or "Panty Invasion Force" instead. Unless things have changed, there are going to be other people in your group from time-to-time aside from your permanent companions, plus summons.

What do you guys think?
 

Upcast Drake

Well-Known Member
Moderator
May 27, 2017
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1) I like that you can just click your portrait to upload a new avatar, but I fear that brand-new players will miss it entirely, as it's a little out of the way and perhaps not fully intuitive in comparison to the other menus.
We are also planning to have the option in the Journal once it exists.

2) As with CoC and TiTS you can fully navigate the world by using your keyboard, but you would never know that if you're a new player as there is no mention of it whatsoever.
We plan to add small key overlays to the buttons similar to TiTS.

What is this piece of equipment, how much is it, etc.
Item tooltips are going to have all this information. That should come when the new shop menus are implemented.
 

Pursang

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2018
54
42
Good stuff. I know programming can be a largely thankless task but I think you're doing great, and it's nice to see that you seem to have a handle on things.
 

RetJames

Active Member
Apr 12, 2018
28
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28
@Upcast Drake
Suggestions:

1) The Location text in the top right could be brighter
2) It's not immediately clear what the curved status bars around the portrait mean, even less so since some of them don't do anything yet.
3) The Icon on the Pure/Corruption Text doesn't fit the rest of the UI style and looks really out of place even though it looks good.
4) The "pin" opposite our character name in the party frame seems odd. I'm sure its got a use but I have no clue what that might be.
5) The Metallic accents in the UI don't seem to have the same lighting source. This is a super minor nitpick.
6) Can we get a way to scroll up and down through long texts without the arrow keys? Preferably on the left side of the keyboard? Maybe Z/X or something? Or even better, custom keybinds.
7) Once shops get implemented further, costs shouldn't be hidden in the button tooltips, they should be displayed clearly in a list as part of the main text.
8) Training interfaces should display experience costs the same way shops display prices, whether or not you change shops like I suggested.
9) I might be wrong about this one, but NPC busts all seem like they are too far to the left in the pane. Its like they're centered without regard for where the Character's face is. I feel like it would look much cleaner if the busts were centered on the centerline of the character art, not the canvas, if that makes sense. It would cut off a few shoulders, but it would seem a lot more natural to me at least. I'd get opinions from more people on this one though because I might just be talking out my ass.
 

Upcast Drake

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Moderator
May 27, 2017
2,584
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Southeast USA
For the image positioning, the aspect ratios of some of the images differs a lot, so the only positioning I found that looked consistently not-terrible was to have the images height set to the height of the container and have the left edge of the image equal to the left edge of the container. This means skinny images look left-aligned (because they are and just don't fill the width of the container), and wide images can be cut-off on the right (like Kasyrra) if their aspect ratio is wider than the container.

All the alternatives involve squishing, distorting, and/or cutting off parts of both sides of the image.
 

RetJames

Active Member
Apr 12, 2018
28
2
28
Is there any way to set the busts to be like 40-50 pixels to the right of where they are and have the background fill to match? The problem I'm seeing is that the characters are too far left and look cramped in some cases and would look less cramped if their shoulders were slightly out of pane and they had more space in front of them. Do you agree it looks off or am I just seeing things?
 
Apr 2, 2018
7
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Sorry this probably doesn't count as UI but could we get an option from the getgo to swap the measurement system to Metric?
 
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Slab Bulkhead

Well-Known Member
Creator
Oct 10, 2015
483
1,141
Question about the inventory UI: will it eventually show more info? I got a dagger and a wicker shield from the fights, but I couldn't see any of them in my inventory until I clicked "interact", and when I clicked on the wicker shield, it disappeared. I didn't see that I had it equipped until I checked the "unequip" menu, and that was only after I equipped the dagger and got a quarterstaff in my inventory. This is a pretty standard RPG thing, so I'm guessing it just hasn't been added yet, but being able to see my inventory would be a big help.

Also: will the UI be made to show stats on items?
 

Upcast Drake

Well-Known Member
Moderator
May 27, 2017
2,584
2,044
Southeast USA
Question about the inventory UI: will it eventually show more info? I got a dagger and a wicker shield from the fights, but I couldn't see any of them in my inventory until I clicked "interact", and when I clicked on the wicker shield, it disappeared. I didn't see that I had it equipped until I checked the "unequip" menu, and that was only after I equipped the dagger and got a quarterstaff in my inventory. This is a pretty standard RPG thing, so I'm guessing it just hasn't been added yet, but being able to see my inventory would be a big help.

Also: will the UI be made to show stats on items?
Inventory UI is going to be entirely redone as part of the Journal/Shop UI, similar to the save menu UI.
 
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herpaderphurr

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2018
67
51
Will there be a back button, like in TiTS?

I don't know if this is already planned. I would appreciate it a lot; I often find myself skipping ahead accidentally. When I'm going through a scene for the first time, it's also useful to deliberately skip ahead in order to determine just exactly how long a scene is going to be, then use the back button to read things from the start.
 

RetJames

Active Member
Apr 12, 2018
28
2
28
@herpaderphurr I hope for the same thing, and I would bet on it being a planned feature.

Something I found myself wishing for in TiTS was a system allowing you to back up through divergent choices and choose the other route if you so wished. I figure that's both difficult tech-wise and not very conducive to the type of game most people want to make, but it would make for a great feature for an Easy Mode IMO. Would also work for visual novels/dating sims.
 

herpaderphurr

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2018
67
51
@herpaderphurr I hope for the same thing, and I would bet on it being a planned feature.

Something I found myself wishing for in TiTS was a system allowing you to back up through divergent choices and choose the other route if you so wished. I figure that's both difficult tech-wise and not very conducive to the type of game most people want to make, but it would make for a great feature for an Easy Mode IMO. Would also work for visual novels/dating sims.
I think it might be judged a little too easy, even for Easy Mode. Plus, you can get the same effect with a bit more hassle through savescumming.

Some VNs do have a feature like this, though.
 

Darkempathy

Member
Jan 3, 2018
19
6
41
Hi.

Just like to say it's brilliant that this game is fully screen reader friendly so can be played by blind people using screen reading programs, something which sadly is not true of TTS though it is of the original CoC.

I just hope the accessibility doesn't change when other things are added to the interface, EG tooltips, though as CoC2 seems to be using more html and less flash that shouldn't be a problem so long as all the controls get labels and images get alt text when needed, though the writing is great for giving you a sense of place, atmosphere and appearence.

Thanks for creating another great game, I've already mentioned this over on the forums at www.audiogames.net and it'll likely get a page in the database when its more complete, since sadly the number of accessible rpgs (erotic or otherwise is still rather small at this point.
 
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Darkempathy

Member
Jan 3, 2018
19
6
41
A lot of the text on the controls, for example the button that apparently receives mail just isn't read, it just says "button", as well as a lot of things showing up as buttons that shouldn't.

its one of the problems in flash I think, since flash and screen readers can be sort of interesting as compared to screen readers on the web normally.

the later versions of the CoC revamp mod have a similar problem as well ever since the Ui overhaul which is a miner pest, and one reason why its nice to see text games that don't use flash but still have actual text