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[Ghills]

So I'm dipping back into DF, and haven't been able to parse a clear answer to this out of the previous FotF replies:

What is the state of keyboard control in DF and what plans are there for it going forward?

Here's the latest from Toady. You can read a little bit before this quote in this thread for some context (if you've already read this, sorry haha!).

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.

Don't expect it immediately and don't expect it to be as comprehensive as it was. Those of us who cared dropped the ball because Toady didn't think anyone did.

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. Looks like I'm not going to bother updating my DF for a while or possibly ever, then. Full keyboard control is key for reducing wrist strain for me. I need to reserve mouse use for things that are more important, like my job.

[A_Curious_Cat]

So I'm dipping back into DF, and haven't been able to parse a clear answer to this out of the previous FotF replies:

What is the state of keyboard control in DF and what plans are there for it going forward?

Here's the latest from Toady. You can read a little bit before this quote in this thread for some context (if you've already read this, sorry haha!).

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.

Don't expect it immediately and don't expect it to be as comprehensive as it was. Those of us who cared dropped the ball because Toady didn't think anyone did.

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. Looks like I'm not going to bother updating my DF for a while or possibly ever, then. Full keyboard control is key for reducing wrist strain for me. I need to reserve mouse use for things that are more important, like my job.

Have you considered getting an alternative pointing device such as a trackball, touchpad, or a keyboard with a trackpoint?

[Ghills]

So I'm dipping back into DF, and haven't been able to parse a clear answer to this out of the previous FotF replies:

What is the state of keyboard control in DF and what plans are there for it going forward?

Here's the latest from Toady. You can read a little bit before this quote in this thread for some context (if you've already read this, sorry haha!).

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.

Don't expect it immediately and don't expect it to be as comprehensive as it was. Those of us who cared dropped the ball because Toady didn't think anyone did.

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. Looks like I'm not going to bother updating my DF for a while or possibly ever, then. Full keyboard control is key for reducing wrist strain for me. I need to reserve mouse use for things that are more important, like my job.

Have you considered getting an alternative pointing device such as a trackball, touchpad, or a keyboard with a trackpoint?

Have you considered that people who are living in their bodies might have explored all kinds of alternatives, and have reasons for their needs and wants?

I am so, so, so sick of people going 'have you thought of X?' as if I just need to learn about this one weird trick and suddenly nobody needs to consider any non-typical needs. That's not how it works, and even if you, individually, are saying it with good intentions and mean well, dealing with it literally every day gets old very fast.

ETA: Also, this is especially irritating because none of those address the actual issues. Deciding what an internet stranger's issues must be and then making suggestions based on those assumptions is very unlikely to result in anything productive.

[Shonai_Dweller]

The issue is already addressed since Toady already said he was adding more keyboard control, so just maybe everyone chill out.

[thvaz]

How close are we to an Adventure Mode release?

I'm really missing it.

[Shonai_Dweller]

How close are we to an Adventure Mode release?

I'm really missing it.

"A lot further off" (than classic and arena).
Considering it doesn't seem to have actually started yet, hopefully will be at least 6-12 months away. Would like to think it gets as much attention as the new Fortress interface.

[kiiranaux]

Species descriptions - "fond of drink and industry" - were previously an iconic feature of looking at units in dwarf fortress. Now they are buried four clicks down in the health menu. Instead, the first click of a unit gets in your face with a personality description, even for non-sentient creatures like frogs and elephants. A couple streamers have already made light-hearted fun of this.

Is there any hope of getting the species descriptions back onto the overview? And what about nerfing the extremely-humanoid personalities of anything that doesn't have CAN_SPEAK?

[FantasticDorf]

Physical descriptions - "fond of industry" - were previously an iconic feature of looking at units in dwarf fortress. Now they are buried four clicks down in the health menu. Instead, the first click of a unit gets in your face with a personality description, even for non-sentient creatures like frogs and elephants. A couple streamers have already made light-hearted fun of this.

Is there any hope of getting the physical descriptions out of the health screen and back on the main unit page?

Its true, because often the nitty-gritty of front forward or least accessible information of the past is also important to gameplay in things like assessing the full scope of needs (other than the hovering top 5) and their individual preferences for making important game decisions like which materials you should adorn the display in the private spaces.

I can only assume Toady's still hammering out the UI but i do miss the old splashscreen, much least is still intact when you investigate individual items with the magnifying glass icon, which seems like a missed opportunity to condense that health-screen description altogether into just a unit magnifying glass.

[voliol]

How does the near future look in the terms of improved modding support, versus squashing bugs and optimization? Some "missing" features such as not having SELECT/CUT for all object types means mods have to be written with workarounds/disallow usage with other mods. So I am wondering if it's worth waiting for 50.05 or .06 where that won't be needed, or if it's better (as a modder) to research the workarounds because it will be a while.

[Inarius]

Do you have any timeline/objective in regard of Aventure mode release ? I suppose it will be much faster than doing Fortress, but some things also have to be reworked, so maybe it will be longer than one can expect.

[Eric Blank]

Did you have a merry christmas?

Will adventure and arena mode be coming out at the same time? I feel its probable since taking control of units requires the adventure interface, but want to know whats planned.

I do miss arena mode. So hard to test things when you can't take direct control over a dwarf and make them do the interaction you want them to test.

[A_Curious_Cat]

Lutefisk?

[Shonai_Dweller]

Did you have a merry christmas?

Will adventure and arena mode be coming out at the same time? I feel its probable since taking control of units requires the adventure interface, but want to know whats planned.

I do miss arena mode. So hard to test things when you can't take direct control over a dwarf and make them do the interaction you want them to test.

Roadmap (posted about a day after Dwarf Fortress steam was released).

Classic: Quite soon (as it was)
Arena: Soonish
Adventurer: Much further away because it has a lot more left to do.

[DeadlyLintRoller]

Any thoughts on updating the encoding used for the text in raws? -- I'm having some trouble with this myself at the moment.  What about the Raws format itself? Besides updating the files themselves, how big of a lift would it be to move to something like XML or JSON?

[Claije]

Happy new years, toady!

Will modders be getting a way to edit dwarf image layers for the steam version without the inherent graphic incompatibilities of redoing the entire dwarf? is a SELECT_* tag a viable addition for this to allow more mod compatibility when editing or adding graphics?

What determines if an image used in game uses palettes for material color or not? Will modders have a way to set their graphics as palette colored? I haven't been able to figure out how to palette cheese.

Will dwarf layers be able to show material colors and dye colors, is there a particular reason that the layers were made for each of the vanilla materials instead of being a single palette colored layer? A group of modders I'm talking to have not been able to manage visible dye conditions outside of item tiles.