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[Toady One]

Keyboard stuff:  There was some confusion over in the linked suggestions thread above and elsewhere about hotkeys etc., and generally I should clarify the different pieces of keyboard support and where we are at:

For hotkeys, I'll have to move some of them, since I can't assume we have a numberpad and wasd has to camp out over on the left side of the keyboard forever, but hotkeys for opening and using menus seems pretty easy to support.  We do have to show them to the player somehow.  Tooltips are one typical way, and there could be some layer that draws them under buttons as well (I guess some games have done, like, holding 'alt' for this kind of thing.)

For designations, I think the wasd+mouse combination can handle some things that people aren't giving it credit for (long tunnels etc.), and camera keys also work for doing up/down staircases.  But we've listened to the feedback here, and a cursor mode is easy to support, since most of the code is sitting around for it and we already have cursor graphics.  We just have to make sure new people don't get stuck in there.

For menu navigation, missing the numberpad and our old (sometimes inconsistent and annoying) methods of scrolling put us in a bind in some cases.  Focus and button use etc. probably can't be the same between the various menus, because they are quite different from each other.  Though I think, as with the Classic display and adventure mode, the main issue here is time.  I see the pathway through for Classic/adventure stuff though, so it's easy to commit to doing those in as timely a fashion as possible after launch if that's the way we go.  With a few of the menus, I'm not sure how much work it'd take.

We read through all of the comments and take them seriously, even the negative ones - there's no need to be rude or assume the worst.  We're going to try to address issues and we think things are going to turn out well, but everything just takes time.

[BrythonLexi]

To clarify regarding designations; does this mean that a mouse only or wasd+mouse designation method will be the default, with the traditional keyboard-only approach having a way to be enabled for players who prefer that method?

I greatly appreciate you coming out to clarify this.  While i'm not keyboard or die, and would be willing to use whatever keyboard schema works, it was disheartening to have the impression of full keyboard going the way of the dodo.  I would like to mention as very specific feedback that e+c for going up-and-down, at least to me, feels unusual (though I think it's easier to get used to than Arma's q+z)

Edit/Addition:
Earlier, Clinodev mentioned that this news may affect the numbers of people willing to teach new players the game.  I definitely hope that we still get a lot of great teachers regardless - the keyboard is important, but I would be more than happy to help out with teaching, or feedback on tutorials if desired.  Been playing for many years now, and I have a pretty solid grasp of it all.

[Oafsalot]

Having spent a long long time learning the current interface and basically being able to play without looking at menu's or even the keyboard I would be very upset if that option didn't continue to be available to players. It's MUCH faster to play the game that way.

Please keep as much of the original shortcuts and key presses as is possible. The core user base know those already and to go full point and click would alter the pace of the game significantly enough to require a rebalance imo.

[WereDragon]

I’ve been happily reading all of the news coming out, and am excitedly waiting for the next blogpost or steam update the second one comes out. Im just worried that you’ve been overworking yourself or stressing too hard about the details of the control scheme, or how people will recieve it. I hope you’re doing okay tarn. My questions i suppose are:

How are you holding up given what is probably a lot of stress? Do you worry that the game will not be recieved well? Are you drinking enough water?

Take breaks if you need to tarn, killing yourself to put it out faster wont make it better, we’re all excited but we’re worried about your mental health too.

[Eric Blank]

Thank you to Putnam for being the best and brightest of us!

Does this book change imply authors in WG will spend less time reading books, or less time writing books about books? Necromancer towers can often contain books about the writing of a book that details the history of a book, which is a rebuttal of a book, about the author, all by the same author. Could really do with some books on what they think the meaning of life and death is or magical theory something, though that's more for myth and magic update.

With the impoverished word selector, are we looking at additions to the vocabulary and symbols lists again, or a workaround that let's them choose off-topic vocabulary?

And do you/Kitfox have a plan to deal with Steam mods that might contain adult content, like the words you removed some time ago, "nude" mods, cow woman milking, manure etc (you know it's going to happen)

[PatrikLundell]

As it seems keyboard support is going to be returned, I have a few comments:
- A lot of the current key bindings make little sense. I would suggest trying to assign key bindings with a main emphasis of consistency, with retention of current bindings a secondary priority only used when the primary one doesn't provide a clear direction. Sure, it's going to be confusing to relearn keys, but it's better to have a reasonably consistent set in the long term (and it's easier to learn for new players, which is important). I believe this is in line with what was initially said when starting on the new UI, so it's not really a new suggestion.
- Allowing players to rebind keys would be very useful, especially for people using non US keyboards (as mentioned in a post in the announcement thread).
- Support for key binding sets would be useful, e.g. in the form of a file that can be modified/replaced (that would ideally be modified by in-game rebinding, if that would be supported: file editing is probably sufficient, but it would go against the "modern feel" of the new UI). Third party keybinding files for different keyboards would probably appear fairly quickly (although I would appreciate if DF was shipped with one set for stunted keyboards and one for full keyboards with num pads, but as long as the binding scheme is capable of distinguishing num pad keys from "normal" keyboard keys it ought to be reasonably easy for third parties to make mappings).
- Replacing icons with tiles displaying the key binding both as a toggle and as a temporary reminder when pressing some key would be very useful, in my opinion (but probably shouldn't replace inclusion in tool tips unless they're getting really bloated). There would be a need for some scheme to show modified keys (ctrl-whatever, shift-F* keys, ctrl-shift-alt-whatever, etc.) Color coding might be useful for that, and, possibly, if there is room for it, with some kind of low pixel count indicators for those with various kinds of color blindness issues.

[TheLifeOfRyanB]

I guess if the interface changes reduce the number of key presses overall, I'd be happy to relearn all those triple+ key presses I have to repeat endlessly.

[Stromko]

I just hope I can drop in a keybinding file for the Steam version and have things operate as close to how things are in the regular version as possible. Because of thousands of hours of playing DF and developing pure motor memory, I don't think I'm going to be able to consistently remember any new bindings any time I want to do a thing that I used to do in the old version. I'm pretty sure those neurons are thicker than cable ties by now and it's going to trip me up frequently for years if old functions require different keys.

[Uthimienure]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Tarn 

[Pillbo]

Will we be able to click and drag round and rectangular shapes for constructions/designations, à la mspaint? 🤞

Is there are reason you're not doing pre-sales to boost your income for the time being?

Thanks for making the elves more dangerous, it's about time they get some respect around here!

[Tachytaenius]

How is the sharpness value of an item that gets made calculated? Are artifacts special cases?
edit: answered nvm

[Quietust]

How is the sharpness value of an item that gets made calculated? Are artifacts special cases?

I can actually answer this one - sharpness ranges from 50% to 100% of the material's [MAX_EDGE] based on the item quality (i.e. 50% for base-quality, 60% for well-crafted, 70% for fine, 80% for superior, 90% for exceptional, 100% for masterwork).

Artifacts are supposed to be as sharp as masterworks, but due to a long-standing bug (reported here, originally discovered here) they're actually as dull as base-quality.

[Tachytaenius]

Will cooking plants ever drop seeds?
Do you have any plans for logs themselves to wear out over the centuries, and if so, would that include constructed buildings? Would we have to do dwarven demolition of old surface buildings?
How come there's such a limited selection of creature tags you can put on a syndrome with CE_ADD_TAG?
Have you ever considered adding config options for features like unretiring breaking forts and such?

[brewer bob]

Thanks for the clarifications Toady!

There was some mentions of the Z-status screen changing earlier, which reminded me of some not so DF related things I've been wanting to ask:

Did you possibly intentionally (or subconsciously) choose the z-key for the status screen because it was used in the Ultima series (Ztats) and, I think, some other old crpgs?

Speaking of Ultima, you've mentioned they've influenced you in world building, so my next question:

Do you have a favorite Ultima game or which one influenced you the most?

(edit. removed my last question)

[SammyLiimex]

Is there going to be a more user friendly animal stocks page?  I would like to be able to sort them by name, type, etc; but in the current DF version, they are all in a giant list by join date, which is kind of pointless and hard to figure out what you have.