POLL: Your opinion of the NPC Dialog/Quest User Interface

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Vladamir Begemot, Mar 8, 2019.

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Groups of 3, answer once per group, Like, Don't Care, or Don't Like.

  1. I like the Dialog User Interface

    25 vote(s)
    20.7%
  2. I don't care about the Dialog User Interface, one way or the other

    9 vote(s)
    7.4%
  3. I don't like the Dialog User Interface

    79 vote(s)
    65.3%
  4. I like the font size as it is

    21 vote(s)
    17.4%
  5. I don't care about the font size

    25 vote(s)
    20.7%
  6. I don't like the font size or would like more choices

    55 vote(s)
    45.5%
  7. I like the CONTINUE button and how it functions

    16 vote(s)
    13.2%
  8. I don't care about the CONTINUE button

    31 vote(s)
    25.6%
  9. I don't like the CONTINUE button and how it functions

    51 vote(s)
    42.1%
  10. I like having to scroll back up to see dialog

    9 vote(s)
    7.4%
  11. I don't care about having to scroll back up

    15 vote(s)
    12.4%
  12. I don't like having to scroll back up to see dialog

    79 vote(s)
    65.3%
  13. I like the keyword system

    54 vote(s)
    44.6%
  14. I don't care about the keyword system

    18 vote(s)
    14.9%
  15. I don't like the keyword system

    37 vote(s)
    30.6%
  16. I like the dark color scheme

    32 vote(s)
    26.4%
  17. I don't care about the color scheme

    37 vote(s)
    30.6%
  18. I don't like the dark color scheme or would like more choices

    30 vote(s)
    24.8%
  19. I like the position of the dialog window

    25 vote(s)
    20.7%
  20. I don't care about the position

    30 vote(s)
    24.8%
  21. I don't like the position of the dialog window

    42 vote(s)
    34.7%
Multiple votes are allowed.
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  1. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    Yes, I hope, small visual things like that will be done to improve -not only- the dialogue window.

    Currently I don't have a problem with the dialogue window itself or the place where it is, just those things, which can put us off the game:

    1. The 'more' click: The dialogue window could provide 1 more text line and may be 1cm left and right to prevent alot of 'click' time.
    Also a possibility: scrolling like page up / page down keys.

    2. (okay can't say it often enough, short version today) Underlined words interrupt our reading flow.
    Standard should be without underlined keywords.

    3. Input line and possibility to enter words: Unfortunately, this input line may cause you to quit soon!

    IDEA: @Sannio, it would be a fine to have a 'HINT' ICON to provide those words which can be entered besides the marked words inside the NPC text.
    For example:
    The new quest in Noreach given by Sigrunn.
    You can ask a few people about words given by her:
    "northern curse", "norther sky", "northern history"

    If you meet those persons later (and won't remember you have to enter those keywords), it may drive you crazy after trying all given keywords ... without having success ....
    Remember the Geisterseelen Quest, please.

    So klicking the ICON/keyword "HINT" could easy provide the current QUEST KEYWORD, which is not shown in the keyword line, but has to be entered to go on with the story :)

    Quality of life improvements: people who wants to read the journal and like to find out the right keywords can do so - others who won't, also people who are starting quests today and following them in a few weeks or months, don't have to despair while searching for the right word(s).

    As all of us know: "Words - don't come easy ..." ;) Wasn't there a song in the 80's from F.R. David? ;)
     
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  2. Astirian

    Astirian Avatar

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    Or if you're not into the whole rounded rectangle padding thing, here's another idea... Again, minimal changes, added less padding this time, I also increased the size and added a border in line with (most of) the other UI windows:

    Before:
    [​IMG]

    After:
    [​IMG]

    Just little changes but they allow the text to breathe. The more I play around with this, the more I realize it's the proximity of the text to the game graphics that is the most jarring.

    I also feel that the box contour compliments the scroll bar nicely.
     
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  3. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    That does help.

    Line breaks would help immensely as well. The readability is just crap, particularly for a game that expects you to read volumes.

    It's the little things.
     
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  4. Arkah EMPstrike

    Arkah EMPstrike Avatar

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    @Spungwa was discussing the quests with me the other day and he had a terrific idea I thought, that SEEMS like its doable enough to revamp all old quests with maybe?


    when you talk to a questgiver, just do away with the optional keywords. Just have a big ol button with the response required to progress the dialogue. Then once the quest is accepted or declined, have the other options show up again so you can as about rumors, family life, health, etc.

    Curious to see what @Sannio would think about that
     
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  5. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    Please, for the love of the Guardian, put in line breaks. ESPECIALLY in the Love questline where you frequently have multiple NPCs talking, and it all runs together.

    And nuke that F-ing Continue.
     
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  6. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    I think the choices work fine, you can see all two or three options.

    Once you get to : will you do it? Yes/no/later, I don't think that's causing people a problem.

    Getting to that point, on the other hand... Getting out of the Isle of Storms without saying "Good Gad! There is no way I'm reading a story on this 90s Era MUD interface!" well, there's the rub.

    So for choices, they will hopefully look much better when the whole thing does.

    I have a sneaky suspicion they are punting the UI to the players, hoping we will mod it and make it look good. We will, but that means get the modding system running yesterday please!
     
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  7. Mishikal

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    They've been promising a mod system for as long as I can recall, so I'm not holding my breath on it.
     
  8. Astirian

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    I think I see this in motion: the MMO or Console guy (no judgement, I am also both of those dudes) clicks on the golden keyword to progress because F quests. The Immersion/Single-Player guy knows that if he enquires about other things, the quest results may change, which is super gratifying to that type of player.

    Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (believe it or not!) does this. Some quests play out differently based on the conversational choices you make, or whether you've chosen to ask specific "non-Golden" questions. First AAA action game I've seen do this.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2019
  9. Astirian

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    The thing is though man, that would be fine and all for a well established game. But for a game that's still very much in active development wanting to attract new players, ehhh... Maybe not so much. I guess this is why we push this. :)
     
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  10. majoria70

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    Here are some more ideas. I feel like we miss out on a lot of the feeling with the system we have. Many people just click away at those keywords and don't get an experience from doing that but they can seem like little pests you must swat to move on. ;) Please take away so many keywords. How about choices to make instead. It would take so much less time to do the system if we did not have all those keywords and choices plus the text could give the required flavor and choices could matter. That's what we could be working on and is it too late to change the direction for the new quest lines. Perhaps It is too late imo to totally change the Episode 1 quests all that much. There has been much improvement there but of course it could take much very valuable time to revamp them totally at this moment with such a small team to work on them. So what do you think of going forward with a new system? Not the best idea but for the most part Sannio did not even create the original quests.

    [​IMG]

    Of course I would love something like this but I'm sure it would be way too much re-work for the current quests but perhaps we could switch over if most NPC's were moved over to episode 2 and the mapping could be done. Hopefully the mapping of them is in the works big time to present a much more fluent and engaging experience.

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2019
  11. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    I do wish there were portraits in the dialogs. Especially when interacting with multiple NPCs.
     
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  12. Dartan Obscuro

    Dartan Obscuro Avatar

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    I think in most games I've played each time the NPC responds in a conversation the dialog window is cleared and their response replaces it whereas with Shroud it scrolls up. I have to figure out where to start reading after each response which is kind of confusing. Is that just me?
     
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  13. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    Yeah, but Vlad these pups totally influence my vote! They are absolutely adorable and amazing my friend! :)

    They have my vote fo sho! :D
     
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  14. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    :D
     
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  15. Shift

    Shift Avatar

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    You can easily see the NPC emoting when he's speaking. SOTA has a ton of emotes that could be used when npc's are talking to give the character's life. I wish the dialogue did the text one character at a time sort of creating a tele type or typewriter still effect.

    [​IMG]

     
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  16. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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    :eek: "Ready? Action!" :confused:
    For me, this talk of dialog seems as though that dialog is suppose to somehow carry the immersion of the scene all by itself.
    When we go to watch a movie, most blockbusters will not depend on their dialog as it's major attraction.
    [​IMG]
    Maybe "Sleepless in Seattle" could, but that's because it's a romance, which dialogs tend to do better for instead of just two people doing the raw dog.

    Character actions within the zoom-ins seem missing here in SOTA, but there's only so much we can do in that regard. Any "loop" would have to be emotional based instead of the character mouthing the same words over and over again.

    :rolleyes: Yet then there's the surrounding scene, which here in our SOTA seems to be something we could do something about, but yet haven't. All our "dire scenes" are not truly dire being not depicted well in any sort of emergency situations, and then there's the more mundane scenes, where a shopkeeper is standing behind a counter and seemingly has been standing there in that exact spot for days just waiting for a customer. SOTA has attempted to address this situation in some scenes, but many scenes are still left lacking.

    "In all things and in all ways, the stage carries the play"
    [​IMG]
    :eek: unless we're talking about Shakespeare, and I'm sure if he had the choice, he would have of had wanted a better stage set too :confused:

    Sorry, I'm not trying to derail, you can get back to your dialog discussion without further obstruction o_O~TL~
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
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  17. Gia2

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    This is actually awesome idea
     
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  18. Vodalian

    Vodalian Avatar

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    The main problem for me is having to worry about clicking all the keywords. This gets in the way of how the story is told. I feel like I have to scroll back up to double check, clicking the same word more than once just to make sure etc. It really disrupts the flow.
     
  19. Beaumaris

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    Great feedback in this thread. I hope the devs have read it.
     
  20. Astirian

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    Ah yes friendly Doctor. But what about Quentin Tarantino's scenes? In game terms, a blockbuster to me is WoW. But SotA is my Blade Runner, and this issue we debate in this thread isn't about the writing. That can be its own thread methinks.

    This, I think, is a directorial thing. A real manifestation of artistic clout. Here is one of the best "dire" scenes I can think of in recent memory, how it could apply to SotA's sense of bombast, I do not know:



    It is such a mix of investment in the story, presentation, the script, acting, editing, soundtrack etc...

    But for me, aesthetically speaking, in a video game, in our video game, the implementation of the dialogue box could do with polish. For one simple reason:

    It's our window into the world, if you can't get "into" the world, then it won't mean much to you. It's the actual narrative portal.

    The Portal needs to be either unnoticed, or glorified. Like a great movie soundtrack. I once read that a soundtrack should either go completely unnoticed, or be so remarkable that it IS noticed, and praised for its awesomeness.

    Our poor dialogue box is noticed. But for the wrong reason.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2019
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