Friday, June 6, 2014

New context menus in ADOM

Currently improving usability for new ADOM players is our top focus. One of the improvements will be context menus (right click on a position and you will get a list of prioritized commands possible for said location). There is still a lot we need to do (the command execution is not yet very intelligent but I'm right now discussing a very powerful approach for that with Jochen which probably could easily be added for all commands) but here's a first screenshot of what will be in the first Steam version (and intermediate test versions - just not yet fully implemented... so much to do;-) ):
Currently context menus also are limited to the graphical version. ASCII seems to be more for the hardcore fans and my current impression is that for now we should focus more on the graphical versions. Naturally at some point such features will be pulled over to ASCII, too. But for now the focus is on creating the most awesome graphical roguelike out there (as far as usability goes).

3 comments:

  1. One of the hardest things I had to learn getting into ADOM and even other roguelikes is learning what each key is for. While the mouse thing you are showing here would be good for those just starting, it's not really maintainable for a longer game. So, maybe you could put the hotkeys next to each line on the menu to help players learn the keys?

    Like this:

    Shoot/throw missile (t)
    Use item (U)
    Apply skill (a)
    Continuous search (ws)
    Drop items (ctrl d)

    etc...

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  2. I remember my first acquaintance with ADOM. After quite an effort I learned how to start a game. Then I wandered in the wilderness, sometimes encountering jackals. I did know some English, but not the word "hamlet". Still, I guessed that this is a town of some sort... But I could not enter it!!!

    Years later, at the second try, I found a "Keybindings" list. Needless to say, I played for a lot more time after that :)

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