Just a quick Ui Question
I have a question about MMO button locations. I am currently working with a few like-minded buddies on a concept for a potentially f2p MMO.
Long story short 2 questions:
1. Do you prefer having a mana bar (that determines how often you can do something but needs replenishing) or a skill cooldown (use is unlimited but constrained by time).
2. Based on whatever games you've played, do you prefer awsd w/ mouse or all buttons (Up down left right) and the keypad. I need to make it so you can reach the buttons quickly to use skills.
July 7, 2013
4 Comments • Newest first
I think BOTH a mana bar and cooldown on certain skills..
Also about the controls - why don't you have key settings so people can modify the keys to how the feel comfortable? cause left handed people play games too and like to use the keyboard and mouse -coughs-
I can't stand WASD "only" setups. You move your fingers to press a different key somewhere and you have to LOOK DOWN at the keyboard to get your fingers back on the WASD keys. In a lot of games, you take your eyes off the screen for even a fraction of a second and you're DEAD.
At least give the player the option of re-defining the keys to a better location. I always use the cursor keys for movement because I can find those with my fingers WITHOUT having to look down at them. So I can quickly move and hit a key on the numberpad or spacebar or Enter for something and still get back on the movement keys without having to take my eyes off the screen.
My Maplestory keys are all arranged so I don't have to look at the keyboard for anything other than very seldom used skills or powerups. Main attack skills are on the Left CTRL and Left Shift key, secondary attack skills on the bottom row of the block of keys just above the cursor keys (Delete, End, Page Down), Pots and essential buffs are on the top row of those keys (Insert, Home, Page Up), I can hit any of those keys without looking with the fingers of my right hand, and get right back on the movement keys all without taking my eyes off the screen. I avoid SpaceBar for often used attacks because I've ruined too many keyboards pounding on the relatively fragile spacebar mechanism. I'll put an alternate attack on SpaceBar, something like F/P Explosion, just for the occasional times when I need the coverage of something like that.
Minor skills or buffs go on the bottom row of the keyboard on the left-hand end where I can hit them with my left index finger (Z, X, C, V), again mostly without having to look down.
An example of something I'll put in the middle of the keyboard would be Harvest, on the "H" key, since I don't do that a lot in places where it's likely to kill me if I look down at the keyboard. Skills that toggle on and off, like Buff Mastery or Satellite Safety, the kind of thing I turn on or off before getting into anywhere I'm likely to get killed are other examples.
I had this same argument on the Star Sonata forum, where the "popular players" all insisted the WASD default setup was superior, but none of them could outfly me in my HotRod spaceship, because I never had to look down to reposition my fingers on the movement keys after hyperspacing between galaxies or docking at a starbase quickly.
I could also find and target other spaceships without looking down because I had the scanner control keys mapped onto keys my right fingers could easily reach from the movement keys without having to look. Made a lot of difference in a heated battle.
Fortunately the developers of Star Sonata had given players the ability to redefine all the keys to whatever setup most suited the player's needs, which added a great deal to the playability of the game.
The more flexibility you can design into the UI of a game the better it will be all-around.
As far as cooldown vs. repotting, nothing is worse than standing in front of something that's about to kill you, and there's nothing you can do about it because your skills are on cooldown. You just have to stand there and take it, or run for your life. Gives the game a feeling of helplessness on the part of the player.
If you allow the player to have some control over the fate of his character, by planning ahead and buying or finding or crafting/brewing potions to recharge the ability to use skills, it's much more satisfying. There's still the chance that you might run out of potions, in which case the end result may actually be more catastrophic than just waiting for a cooldown period to end, but at least in that case it's your own fault, and not the fault of the game design killing you. (And of course, gradual recharge of mana/magic points/whatever can always be added, either as an intrinsic part of the character or possibly crafted into items- again, it would be more under the player's control.)
1. I prefer either
2. WASD or die.
1. Both
2.WASD+mouse. Hot keys: Q E R F G Z X C V 12345