I released a small update which includes the following:
- CSS changes to support low resolution screens or small window sizes a lot better
- Out of the status bars, the health bar is prioritised
- Out of the menu options; save, load and inventory is prioritised
- Character bar (top of the screen) only shows name
- Status (Health / Stamina / Experience) bars
- New book on the history of Tha'al, unlocked after current content ends (relatively short, bit of back-story. Will expand on it in the future)
- Mini-map
About the mini-map, I think it could use some improvements. In it's current state it's a little confusing as it does show you what directions has a location, but it doesn't tell you if you can access that location from your current location. It also doesn't tell you which direction you came from, but I'll add that in a bit.
As for the next content update, I'm sorry it's taking so long. Halfway through I decided I wasn't happy with the new companion and started working on a new version. There were too many similarities between the slime companion and the new one in terms of personality. I'll try to release it soon.
The next update should also contain changes to the combat system, where the relationship with your companion affects random actions during battles. I'll post the game to tfgamessite afterwards, since I feel it will meet the criteria needed to post it there.
Would love to hear suggestions on the map and status bars beyond what's already been discussed, and let me know if you encounter any bugs!
Sincerely Yours,
JV
Aww, and now I'm even more curious about the next companion.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think having an UI is pretty nice !
Random notes about it :
- As you said, the map really, really lack wall (or any indication that show which room are connected to which). That's especially true since the direction's letter aren't being greyed out any-more when you can't go in a specific direction.
- I'm not sure the direction letters are useful any-more. Simply highlighting the available direction could do the trick, and it'll clean the map, allowing to put icon representing what to find on a tile (like, stair, ladder, shops...)
- I don't know why, but the windows height is probably a tiny bit over 100%, meaning I always see a scrolling bar to the right (it may not be the best solution, but an overflow: hidden; help in my case)
- I'm not sure it's pertinent to see your hit point twice in battle (also, having hp bar for the opponent (like just above the save button) could be pretty interesting, that way HP display would be more coherent)
That being said, it's nice to have an update ! Keep on the good work !
I was going to display walls on the map too, but with my current changes that seems to no longer be necessary.
DeleteI removed the direction letters for now, although I might put them back in. Having the letters made it extremely easy to see where you could click to move in a direction. Now you can click a block away from the center-block, but it takes some time to get used to.
You can also no longer see the any location that is in a different environment from yours. If you're inside, you can't see locations that are outside and vice versa. Instead, you will now see arrows that should make it obvious when you can go inside/outside from a location.
I plan to just fiddle around with the mini-map from time to time, because there's a whole lot more I can add.
It's important to note that there is currently no useful link between locations and actions. Simply put there's no easy way to find out what type of action you can perform on a location (shop, climb, etc.) from inside the code, because actions are loaded when a player performs them. I might change that in the future, but right now I don't think it has a high priority. I might have to open up a menu when you hover over a block that shows you all that type of information since it would be too much information to display on the map itself.
You might be right about the hit points, but I'll keep it like this for now. Thank you again for the feedback!