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[Rose]

So I'm working on a 3D DF viewer (Armok Vision) that I'd like to eventually be able to control DF from, but if I'm going to do that, I'd be making the entire DF UI from scratch. And if I'm doing that, I'd rather do it properly.

So I'm making this thread so we can brainstorm things.

Primary things I think are important:
-Proper mouse and keyboard usage.
-Not relying excessively on hotkeys.

Nice things:
-Joypad control.

Note that while I'm putting this together for Armok Vision, there's no reason why it has to stay with that. After all, weather it's 3D or isometric or Top-down, you still have to do the same things in DF.

I was thinking that a pie menu could work well for most stuff that you would have to do on a tile, similar to Sims, though that wouldn't work well for long lists of materials, for example.

What are all your thoughts on this?

[scamtank]

Dwarf Fortress on a joypad sounds even more phantasmal than mifki's iOS remote access.

My penny? Go look at the good Keeperlikes and rip off everything that works. Then look at other city builders and repeat.
Given an empty slate and a free hand at UI design, we're all a little like Toady One in that the longer you look at the UI you're designing, it subjectively starts making more and more sense.

And then the end result is Military Screen 2.0. On a joypad that looks like weapon rack.

[Putnam]

Yes, city builders and Minecraft are probably the best examples for UI design you can see.

[Rose]

The other options being strategy games, yeah.

[Orange Wizard]

PTW.

[Nopenope]

I guess I'll just go ahad and dig up this thread about UI overhaul. Look at zwei's mockups, I find them inspiring.

[Robsoie]

It's been mentionned everytime some DF interface thread popped up, but still worth pointing to Goblin Camp, that had a lot of good ideas to make a very good mouse driven UI that would fit very well for DF too.

But that said, on the thread linked by Nopenope, there are really great stuff.

[Vattic]

While I don't disagree with not relying excessively on hotkeys I think they should always be an option. Hotkeys should be done intelligently and be more standardised than in DF currently.

[Bloax]

Yes, city builders and Minecraft are probably the best examples for UI design you can see.

My sarcasm meter is uncertain.

Dungeon Keeper 1/2 (and War for the Overworld) would be an excellent choice to look for UI inspirations, however.