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[Lord Licorice]

Oh, I just remembered something that could go well with the Presentation arc: A uniform alternate keyset for keyboards that don't have a numpad, such as laptops. I've wanted to play DF a couple times on a laptop and even had a friend download DF, but gave up when we realized it required numpad (or totally remapping all of the keys to something else which was a huge pain).

Actually, does anyone already have an init file for keybindings that work without a numpad?

[Jiri Petru]

I play on a notebook without any problem. You don't have to remap the whole keyboard, only four keys for scrolling. Look to the control settings and remap + - / and *. Then hit "s" to save it.

[lanael]

Sound and Music

Yes, ( lots of ) sounds ! I miss sounds. They greatly help immersion for me.
If you played DoomRL you know what I mean

Anyway, better graphics and interface would help.
A sprite for every item would be a simple yet good first pass for the alpha and isometric view à la Dungeon Keeper would be neat for the beta and beyond versions.
I like the idea of a client-server architecture where the server would be handled by Toady but the problems ( less control of the final product by the devs, multiple unfinished client projects ) are easy to see.

[Jude]

Oh, I just remembered something that could go well with the Presentation arc: A uniform alternate keyset for keyboards that don't have a numpad, such as laptops. I've wanted to play DF a couple times on a laptop and even had a friend download DF, but gave up when we realized it required numpad (or totally remapping all of the keys to something else which was a huge pain).

Actually, does anyone already have an init file for keybindings that work without a numpad?

Wait, when is the numpad used? I normally just use the four arrow keys and leave the numpad alone...(except in adventure mode where moving diagonally is more important)

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Toady and Three-Toe have pretty much done this alone - there's no reason to think they'd want or need someone else to build the front end of the game. And it's clear this isn't meant to be an open source community-build project.

[Tormy]

Toady and Three-Toe have pretty much done this alone - there's no reason to think they'd want or need someone else to build the front end of the game. And it's clear this isn't meant to be an open source community-build project.

...huh? This reply was directed to who in this thread, because I cannot figure it out. 

[tp12]

It would be best if you could separate the interface completly from the game, ie. make two distinct parts - the DF server which calculates everything that happens in game world and the DF client that controls user inputs and outputs and communicate with the server.
This way modders could create their own clients, relieving you of the hard task of improving the interface.

Imagine a client interface based on 3Dwarf Visualizer

And it wouldn't hurt the ASCII fundamentalists as they would just use the ASCII client...

Toady and Three-Toe have pretty much done this alone - there's no reason to think they'd want or need someone else to build the front end of the game. And it's clear this isn't meant to be an open source community-build project.

...huh? This reply was directed to who in this thread, because I cannot figure it out. 

that one? (do correct me if im wrong.)

[SeanTucker]

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.

[Idles]

While that interface concept could definitely expose all of the basic game functionality to a mouse, it is also a bit intrusive.  Kind of reminds me of the City Builder series' interfaces, like Caesar III or Pharaoh--but even those had a button to minimize their cannibalism of screen real-estate.  It might be more elegant to have everything handled by mouse clicks: left clicking could pop a small context window with the contents of a tile, while right clicking would open up a drop-down with the current options from the basic interface.  Meanwhile, all of the existing keyboard shortcuts could be preserved (and visible in the mouse menus).  When necessary, the drop-down and context menus could steal the entire screen from the game engine (stocks menu, unit list, military screen, nobles screen, detailed unit stats, etc.).

[Red Jackard]

It's a nice concept, but I think we can do better...

[Aegis]

Fixed.

[Red Jackard]

wow aegis you totally kind of suck


Here's another. Stuff is missing, but should be enough to give you the idea. Message box height can be raised. Detached resizable window for map and tools so users can stick it wherever they want - out of the way.

[Davion]

Here's another. Stuff is missing, but should be enough to give you the idea. Message box height can be raised. Detached resizable window for map and tools so users can stick it wherever they want - out of the way.

What would happen to the detached window if people decided they didn't want to play in windowed mode, though? I think it'd be better if it was locked inside, even though that would take up space, it could still be minimized via TAB like it is now.

I like the rest of it, though. It reminds me of Anacreon, which was pretty easy to navigate even when it didn't have mouse support.

[Red Jackard]

It gets stuck inside the window if they go fullscreen.

[Tormy]

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.

Not bad at all, simple but good.