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[DwarfMan69]

Sorry for the minor necro, but I created a concept for an interface.



Obviously it would be a bit more polished, maybe some minor tweaks, but here's the general deal.

Viewport window should be self-explanatory. If not, this is how you look at your fortress.

Info bar is where the messages like "Blahblah Boatmurdered has been struck down!" appear.

Construction window is the building menu from the current DF with a snazzy control interface.

Mining window is the "d" key menu with snazzy controls.

Social window (selected) is where you manage your dwarves, manage your nobles, view other civilizations, view trade routes, view history (shortcut to Legends screen that doesn't require abandoning fortress), and assign jobs to dwarves.

Military window is where you manage your military.

Things like build orders at workshops would be handled through right-click context menus.

I like this, but I would want a keyboard interface as well.

[Davion]

I think some reorganizing and trimming down could go a long way, and a menu at the top instead of all the options on the side.

Game - Could include the options from when you hit Escape, along with Movies

Empire/Fortress - Announcements, Jobs, Orders, Nobles, Units/Dwarves, Status, Civilizations

Build - Designations, Stockpiles, Site Building, Building Tasks, View Rooms/Buildings, View Items

Military - Military, Squads, Army Arc stuff

Help - Tutorial, Wiki, Hot Keys

Could probably put Zones and Notes in either Build or Empire/Fortress.

I think something like this would be a step in the right direction, and getting a  bit more mouse support. Even if there wasn't mouse support it'd be a lot easier for people to look at I think.

[Reasonableman]

I like the idea of combining mouse support with good ol' ASCII graphix. Anyone remember the DOS word processor interface, with the cursor that was a single cell on the page? Something about that interface seemed very, smooth, very manageable. It always felt like the cursor moved exactly where you wanted it to go.

[Red Jackard]

very nice Davion

[Haven]

Davion's UI is looking pretty DOS. It's cool, really, though it'd be nice to allow UI mods (like engraved stone panes and whatnot, to replace the standard ship colored boxes). The top menu bar is a pretty nice touch.

Personally, though, I'd be happy with being able to click everywhere. Click Designations, then Mine, then click and click again (or drag, though I dunno why) and you're done. Beats wearing down my directional buttons. And, of course, the keyboard shortcuts should be preserved if possible.



And the list of things that would be nice, but that could by all means be lived without...

Isometric veiw. See the cliffs! Of course, you'd still need to toggle z-levels, but CLIFFS! WATCH YOUR VICTIMS PLUNGE INTO THE MAGMA BELOW! Without needing to swap to look down, if the hole's wide. Up maybe.

Tabbed announcement display. Job Cancel dedicated tab is blinking. Again. Always ignore it during a fight. Warnings and Alerts tag says someone's just entered a fey mood, though.

More menu tabs. Unit menu categories being toggle-enabled. I could care less about their jobs right now, how many are close to tantruming, and how can I read it without clicking endlessly? Columns, of course!

Selections and mild order-giving via the unit window. The right click function may be problematic in the main view, but it'll open a nice labor-disable window, or draft without the military screen. Maybe integrate the two as different views. Quickly, Depressed Hammers of Tallow! Join your comrades in the Happy Fun Sauna House!

Mouse scrolling. Or something to keep the 10-tile clunk down.

Oh, and coustom sound sets, I suppose. I wouldn't use it, but it'd be fun to see the twenty different sound files people made to represent a mining pick hitting stone.

[Davion]

Coming from someone that likes to do interface art, I'd love to see the possibility for UI modification, but I can understand Toady's reluctance for that sort of thing, so I don't really touch it. If he added support for it I'd be all over it, though lol

Yeah, I'd like for mouse support to work on everything, and then maybe have the scroll wheel mapped to z-level up/down.

[dreiche2]

I like the idea of drawing some prototype interfaces. What about some more bold changes to the current layout and adding functionality instead of just making the keyboard commands clickable? Maybe integrate some utilities like the Foreman as suggested in another thread?

[geggis]

Coming from someone that likes to do interface art, I'd love to see the possibility for UI modification, but I can understand Toady's reluctance for that sort of thing, so I don't really touch it. If he added support for it I'd be all over it, though lol

Yeah, I'd like for mouse support to work on everything, and then maybe have the scroll wheel mapped to z-level up/down.

Thanks for the interface mock up, I thought I was going to have to jump on my Generic Image Editor and whip one up myself. Great to see a realistic suggestion integrating the existing character set and retaining the look.

A lot of people seem to be hinting / fantasising (English spelling ;-p) about at an isometric view angle. I've no doubt it could be done and it's a great thought considering that image a few pages back, but quite frankly DF should remain in extended ASCII for as long as Toady has internal stuff to sort out.

I'm all for unique tile support as this will satiate those who can't stomach ASCII and mouse support would make basic interactions more intuitive for newcomers.

Some folk seem to be quite opposed to context sensitive menus which is unusual as they are by far one of the most efficient ways of interacting with games of this nature (before mastering hot keys ;-) I think for personal interactions this method would be great and combined with a consolidated menu akin to Davions control would be much easier.

[Davion]

I like the idea of drawing some prototype interfaces. What about some more bold changes to the current layout and adding functionality instead of just making the keyboard commands clickable? Maybe integrate some utilities like the Foreman as suggested in another thread?

I think a good preliminary step would be to map out the menu interface input/output via flow chart, but it makes my brain melt thinking about doing something like that, and it's not as fun as playing around with graphics and layout  

It's kinda overwhelming trying to come up with a bolder streamlined interface when there's so much going on.

Maybe sometime soon when I'm feeling like a masochist I'll open up Dwarf Fortress mode and try to start a flow chart of epic proportions.

Some folk seem to be quite opposed to context sensitive menus which is unusual as they are by far one of the most efficient ways of interacting with games of this nature (before mastering hot keys ;-) I think for personal interactions this method would be great and combined with a consolidated menu akin to Davions control would be much easier.

Yeah, there's a quote from an article I was reading about interface design in general that said:

"A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would."

I guess that's kind of obvious, but I think, initially, Dwarf Fortress only needs to look and function a bit more like something people are comfortable with; reorganizing menus, adding some mouse support, and having organized context menus at the top would probably make most of the newcomer apprehension about this game melt away. It'd be a lot easier to get in to at least.

[Tormy]

A lot of people seem to be hinting / fantasising (English spelling ;-p) about at an isometric view angle. I've no doubt it could be done and it's a great thought considering that image a few pages back, but quite frankly DF should remain in extended ASCII for as long as Toady has internal stuff to sort out.

Well, I think simple 2d tiles are perfect for DF, look at the screenshot what Ive posted in my first post. Full tile support will be in soon, players can make own graphics for everything. Isometric I dont know, if Toady dont have to work on that for months, it can be acceptable later on. One thing is for sure, graphical DF [even if we players will make the graphics] would attract much more players combined with a nice interface, but I think this is pretty clear isnt it? Either way Im pretty sure that Toady wont get rid of ASCII, he will just allow us to make graphics what we like.

Oh btw, I hope that we can have bigger tiles also, right now everything is so small, just take a look at the current creature tilesets for example, basically I need a magnifier to see that what creature is running on my screen. [My screen resolution is 1680x1024]

[Reasonableman]

I think an important part of the interface might eventually be somehow tying the player into the game world. Giving them some sense that their actions are being carried out by some sort of avatar, rather than the current magical, omnipotent god-king. At the very least, a system whereby you can interact with different nobles to get an overview of their appropriate sphere of expertise in the fortress: speaking to the tax collector gets you a detailed look at all the monetary exchanges occurring in the fort, etc. etc.

'Twould be neat.

[Red Jackard]

Hi! It looks like you are trying to build a fortress!

[Torak]

Look like you're running low on turtles. Can I suggest you slaughter some puppies?

[Davion]

It appears you have dug too deep. Office Assistant can help you write your last will and testament!

[Blacken]

It appears you have dug too deep. Office Assistant can help you write your last will and testament!

Winner.