BZflag is an awesome game but its interface is rather awkard and conterproductive. It is hard to obtain information from the lists of players and the scrolling list of flag pickups/dropoffs/kills/messages.
Furthermore there are many features that I would like in the interface. For instance when I have the PZ flag I would like the tanks of SB, SW and PZ tanks to flash on the radar. When I have the Sear flag I would like ST and CL tanks to flash. I would always like G tanks to flash. All the information and this ability is available to the user as is with the hunt command, but is difficult to use.
Additionally instead of having tanks listed in the order of most kills I would like to have them listed by Kill:Loss ratios.
Other people might have different preferences and so I think we need further control over the interface using our .bzflag files.
It would be great if we could use a simple scripting language to define how our interfaces work (and maybe also define macros: ie one key for lock-on and shoot, one key for 180 degree jump etc).
I feel that it would greatly increase my joy in playing. What do other bzer's and developers think about this?
-Scott
A Call for More Configurability
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temporal distraction
- Sergeant
- Posts: 250
- Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 3:12 pm
Welcome to the BB! The version being worked on right now includes at least one of your suggestions and the possibility for many more.
For a long time the Geno, Shock Wave, Laser, and Guided Missle flags have shown up as white initials in the player list, instead of the tank color like other flags. Keeping four eyes on the radar, playerlist, console, and HUD is a basic gameplay.
The next version includes an option for "Normalized Score" which is a listing by kill/death ratio.
The next version also is the first to allow "plugins" for the game. The possibilites are vast for this new feature - we'll have to wait and see what gets made.
One click lock-on exists now (for GM). Often it is necessary to lock-on/identify a player with out shooting, so you'll always need a separate key for firing.
The 180 jump is a skill (as is the effective dodge, straffe shot, etc.) - you don't want to discount that do you?
For a long time the Geno, Shock Wave, Laser, and Guided Missle flags have shown up as white initials in the player list, instead of the tank color like other flags. Keeping four eyes on the radar, playerlist, console, and HUD is a basic gameplay.
The next version includes an option for "Normalized Score" which is a listing by kill/death ratio.
The next version also is the first to allow "plugins" for the game. The possibilites are vast for this new feature - we'll have to wait and see what gets made.
One click lock-on exists now (for GM). Often it is necessary to lock-on/identify a player with out shooting, so you'll always need a separate key for firing.
The 180 jump is a skill (as is the effective dodge, straffe shot, etc.) - you don't want to discount that do you?
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Workaphobia
- Master Sergeant
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 7:29 pm
Question: If a client was modified to deliver the information scishop suggested, but was not in wide circulation, would it be considered an unfair advantage?
In addition to his excellent list of interface improvements, I would like to see a graphical depiction of an enemy's flag when I identify them - it's slightly awkward to read the text at the top of the screen when you're trying to focus on the game.
In addition to his excellent list of interface improvements, I would like to see a graphical depiction of an enemy's flag when I identify them - it's slightly awkward to read the text at the top of the screen when you're trying to focus on the game.
"Nifty News Fifty: When news breaks, we give you the pieces."
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Pimpinella
- Private First Class
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2003 4:50 pm
- Location: Jever, NDS, Germany
client mod's implementing some ot the features scishow requested would be considered cheating unless they are part of the official distribution, since they give an unfair advantage, similar to the popular colored flags on radar cheat.
Most of these features are intentionally left out, they would change the games character. All flags should have some "stealth factor", it's one of the things that make the game special. While implementing them wouldn't be really hard they'd always be optional and could be turned off depending on the server configuration - even if part of the official game.
however, using local client mods that enable such options is considered cheating. using them means to spoil everyone's fun.
Most of these features are intentionally left out, they would change the games character. All flags should have some "stealth factor", it's one of the things that make the game special. While implementing them wouldn't be really hard they'd always be optional and could be turned off depending on the server configuration - even if part of the official game.
however, using local client mods that enable such options is considered cheating. using them means to spoil everyone's fun.
Macros: The 180 degree jump turn is a stupid example. Something better would be a macro to type m-s-o-r-r-y-enter which would be really nice to have on levels that don't automatically kill you for TKing.
Configurabity: I wouldn't want anything like the ability to color radar flags on the screen, as that information is currently hidden from the user. I would just like the ability to change the way information that is already available to me is displayed.
The flashing tanks thing mentioned above is something I would like. But it would also be useful to me if I could shrink the status messages and enlarge the radar. I would also like to remove all mentions of flags being picked up and dropped off from the status messages as I currently don't use those. These are just my personal perferences and I'm sure each other user has their own. A zillion preference options to allow each user to get the perfect setup is probably not the way to go.
I do not feel that configuring my user interface to suit me would substantially change game play and since this information is already accesable to the user and is just sometimes hard to comprehend, it wouldn't unfairly unbalance the game which happens when people tailor compile their own clients.
Furthermore I believe that splitting off the user interface into a separate script file would aid its development for I am sure there are many people like me who aren't up to connecting to the CVS server and learning the BZflag codebase to make a small interface mod, but who would not hesitate from jumping into and editing a 1000 line script file if the language was simple and clear.
Configurabity: I wouldn't want anything like the ability to color radar flags on the screen, as that information is currently hidden from the user. I would just like the ability to change the way information that is already available to me is displayed.
The flashing tanks thing mentioned above is something I would like. But it would also be useful to me if I could shrink the status messages and enlarge the radar. I would also like to remove all mentions of flags being picked up and dropped off from the status messages as I currently don't use those. These are just my personal perferences and I'm sure each other user has their own. A zillion preference options to allow each user to get the perfect setup is probably not the way to go.
I do not feel that configuring my user interface to suit me would substantially change game play and since this information is already accesable to the user and is just sometimes hard to comprehend, it wouldn't unfairly unbalance the game which happens when people tailor compile their own clients.
Furthermore I believe that splitting off the user interface into a separate script file would aid its development for I am sure there are many people like me who aren't up to connecting to the CVS server and learning the BZflag codebase to make a small interface mod, but who would not hesitate from jumping into and editing a 1000 line script file if the language was simple and clear.
You can already setup quick messages on function keys via the key mapping menu.scishop wrote:Something better would be a macro to type m-s-o-r-r-y-enter which would be really nice to have on levels that don't automatically kill you for TKing.
Flashing stealth / cloaked tanks when you have the Seer flag would be a possibility. It would slightly enhance the flag's power which should be ok. Automatically marking tanks with some kinds of flags on radar all the time is a different beast: it gives you additional information. The scoreboard displays which tank has which flag, but you still don't know which tank on radar is which player. All you can do right now is to mark _one_ tank via the hunt feature (ignoring the bug that allowed to mark a set of tanks).The flashing tanks thing mentioned above is something I would like.
You can change the vertical size of radar/panel via the menu. They always have the same vertical size, though, but with increasing size, the message area shrinks horizontally.But it would also be useful to me if I could shrink the status messages and enlarge the radar.
The 4 message filter panels help somewhat, although I only use the 'chat only' tab from time to time. Some finer control might be useful, but it should also be easy to setup.I would also like to remove all mentions of flags being picked up and dropped off from the status messages as I currently don't use those.