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[ShPD] [discussion] UI/QoL stuff (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/pixeldungeon
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Let’s talk about some UI/quality of life stuff. I was about to open issue, but since it touches a bunch of different topics, I guess a discussion is better. It’s a bunch of things that were annoying to me over the last months. It doesn’t mean that something has to change, could just be that I overlooked some features somewhere.

  • Special floor explanations on mobile
    • The desktop version of ShPD allows to hover the floor indicator, but I can’t find an equivalent for touch on mobile
  • Ignore invisible mobs and allies for automatic movement
    • To some degree automatic movement reveals positions of mobs
    • If you have 10 wraiths active on the floor or something like that, the character runs aimlessly back and forth without even reaching his destination
    • It’s better to get stuck than wasting satiation
  • Optional auto aiming button for touch input that works like tab with keyboard input

Fat finger syndrome stuff:

  • Targeting yourself by clicking on your portrait or hitting the shortcut for hero info
    • I had it happen a bunch of times that I accidentally shot my wand in some direction instead of shielding myself, which can be a serious problem with wand of blast/fire/disintegration
    • Also relevant for ghost guiding
  • Optional "Are you sure?" popups for automatic movement
    • It happens that you accidentally run somewhere when input for zooming/panning failed
  • Optional visual aid for aiming and maybe optional confirmation if you really wanna shoot/throw to tile without mob
    • Did I touch the right tile and not a neighboring one?
      • A classic is to shoot a tile adjacent to a mob
    • Can I even hit that mob/trap?
    • Would I hit my allies?
    • It’s sometimes hard to tell if it would hit a wall edge or not
    • It should only respect revealed stationary environments and visible mobs, but not 100% show where it actually hits since that would reveal invisible entities

Those are especially related to taking a longer break and picking up a save game after months:

  • Notes for floors
    • Did I find hidden doors on that floor with extra secrets?
    • Did I use scroll of mapping?
    • What did the quest say? Did I already finish that quest?
    • Did I use all blacksmith options already?
    • Did I solve all puzzles or were some potions missing for them?
    • Such notes should probably be accessible via “Landmarks” interface
    • Currently I use Steam overlay notes for that, but that’s a dissatisfying solution since it’s completely closed source
  • Notes for unidentified potions/scrolls/items (extends the previous point)
    • On what floor did I find this potion/scroll?
    • Who dropped it?
    • Was it in a chest/grave?
    • Maybe should be automatically deleted when identified
  • Ability to ⭐ items
    • If I remember correctly, Borderlands 2 and Victor Vran allowed to mark items that you wanna continue to use to simplify selling not needed stuff
    • It’s hard to remember your setup if you didn’t play for some time
  • More save game infos like "last played at XXX" and "save game of game version XXX"
    • Though savegame should probably not be overwritten if you didn’t do any significant actions since opening the save game, dunno how that’s currently handled
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[–] 00_Evan 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

There's quite a few things mentioned here, so I'll briefly go over each one in order:

  • special floors also announce themselves in the game log when the hero enters the floor or whenever the game is loaded on that floor. I always felt like that was enough to establish a connection with the icon. There is no 'hover' function on mobile, neither is there enough screen space to turn that icon into a proper button.
  • I'm not sure exactly what you mean here, as the hero does ignore enemies and allies which they cannot see. That's a big reason why auto pathing stops when an enemy pops into view, as otherwise suddenly changing directions would be quite common.
  • As a few folks have mentioned, you can tap on the enemy count indicator to swap targets like using the tab key on desktop.
  • I'm curious how many people would use something like this. The game would also need to communicate this functionality somewhere, as it's not exactly intuitive to discover.
  • this sort of situation would be effectively impossible for the game to detect reliably. It would likely end up asking 'are you sure?' in lots of cases where the player gave simple inputs, and would end up being quite annoying.
  • I have considered something like this on desktop because of mouse hover, but I don't think this would be possible on mobile without requiring every targeting prompt to take two taps. Auto-aim also already solves this problem in most cases.
  • All of these points boil down to having custom note functionality, which is something I would like to add soon-ish. The problem is mainly that implementing it well takes a fair amount of design consideration, as lots of different people all have different ideas as to what would work best. Just as a simple example, lots of people want notes or tags to exist in the inventory, but I'm wary of this as that UI is already very visually busy. The journal is the obviouls place to put them, but then the functionality might be too tucked away for lots of people to bother with.
[–] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I successfully procrastinated away to respond to this.

  • The new log is great
  • Had to play a bit more around with allies and pay attention, but it still looks like it has issues. (see below)
  • I was indeed just blind in regard to the clickable count indicator
  • It could be optional and that way show up in settings
  • Okay, I myself use a mix of keys and pathfinding. Since it’s possible to move the camera with right click and zoom with mouse wheel it shouldn’t be an issue.
  • It could appear on tap down and shoot on release.
  • The new notes with tooltip integration are great.

I guess a few points were strongly related to my rather narrow play style, so it’s probably best to give that as a context. But that’ll be long so I’ll post that as a reply to this.

Source of rare misclicks due to actions that use left mouse button just like walking:

  • Shielding myself with wands I rarely use:
    • Wand of Corrosion/Fireblast/Blast Wave, for which it’s inconvenient to cast them next to myself
    • Wand of Disintegration when I want to keep the grass intact etc
    • Wand of Regrowth when I want to conserve it
  • Ally Warp since pathfinder doesn’t warp:
    • Click next to them and walk there, which can lead to a detour due to them blocking the direct path
    • Click on an ally out of range and accidentially walk there, since it’s not always clear to me what is in range

That’s a big reason why auto pathing stops when an enemy pops into view, as otherwise suddenly changing directions would be quite common

Maybe the issue is that it stops only for enemies? When an ally pops into view, path finder changes direction because it can’t warp. With more Wraiths that can lead to the hero going back and forth. I usually interrupt it with a click/touch. Wasted steps aren’t a big issue with my play style.

I could be wrong on this one: It feels like Ally Warp, directional keys and Hold To Move Sensitivity don’t go well together. With the ghost to my right: Even on level 2 it happens occasionally that I swap places with the ghost and then move right by one.

I usually play on level 4 and there I had it happen that I had 3 Wraiths to my right and instead of just swapping with the first one I accidentally swapped with all three and moved right by one.

I love Hold to Move for mining in the blacksmith quest, but maybe it should stop when the action would change? (move,warp,dig…) For Ally Warp it should maybe be completely disabled, it doesn’t even happen often to do two warps in a row. At least not with allies next to you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 20 hours ago

Play style:

My currently preferred keybindings are: numpad movement with quickslots on Num Lock, Num /, Num *, Num -; attack on Num 0 ; examine on Num . ;special action on Num +; next target on Num Enter.

Most of the time (>90%) I play Wild Magic Warlock with focus on farming. Because of Necromancer’s Minions I’ll have quite a few wraiths on any floor and I sometimes use ally warp to jump around (especially with ghost) "for free". Part of my defense is handled by Shield Battery. I try to use Blacksmith to get Plate Armor +3 and spend the rest on rings etc if I found upgraded Plate Armor. I always have Staff of Magic Missile, which I usually get to +15+1 with Desperate Power +1. If choose Desperate Power +3, find and imbue a Wand of Magic Missile +2 before I find my second upgrade scroll, I theoretically could get to +2+15+3 on my last charge.

Soul Eater +3 is what makes using Scroll of Foresight on all floors and farming possible. I solve all puzzles, quests and sacrifices. I kill all statues, piranhas and mimics. Trigger all Summoning/Guardian Traps. Magical Energy is mostly from dropped (and at the end bought) seeds, stones, potions and scrolls. I do starve at some point, it certainly isn’t unlimited.

I rarely use potions (aside from Strength, Experience and Healing), runestones (aside from Augmentation, Enchantment and Intuition) and missiles. Tengu and thieves are pretty much the only cases where where I use missiles when I have no wand charges left. I’ll use quest potions if there is no other way, but in many cases there is enough time to wait for another solution and come back.

I always get wand > artifact > ring because of wild magic. At most I use armor abilities against scorpions. During Yog-Dzewa and ascension I kinda forget that I have them. Having a lot of weak wands is also nice when used with Magic Charge, but Wild Magic can’t make use of that afaik.

I drop potions and scrolls at the entrance/exit of floors until I have the containers that guard them from freezing/burning. I can guess Potion of Strength, safe drops and often quest potions. For the rest I use Scroll of Divination. Go back and forth between shops and alchemy pots a lot. I’ll double key rooms untouched until I identified Scroll of Transmutation and Potion of Experience (enough time to come back). I’ll replace Scholar's Intuition, Wand Preservation and Inscribed Power with Scroll of Metamorphosis.

With four Potions of Divine Inspiration I’ll get to max talent points. I will keep two Potions of Experience or go for two starfruits if I find enough for them (that potion gives a lot of energy). The last Potion of Strength will be turned into Elixir of Might.

I always level until I don’t get any XP anymore and then go to the boss. To keep starvation low and drop chances high.

Only when I go down to Yog-Dzewa I’ll go from level 28 to 30 (charge and use artifacts) and then go to 20 strength. Strength doesn’t matter much. I’ll usually go for whip and glaive, which only needs 18. Enchanted staff is also a good backup weapon with low requirement.

There is enough food to get to the Tengu and get Soul Eater. I’d say my food consumption is rather high until then and I try to consume big food first. I’ll get Elixir of Honeyed Healing (never really use them), Frozen Carpaccio (hence piranha killing) and all Rations of food. Since I have satiation already covered, I use them pretty much to trigger on-eat effects during boss fights.

I haven’t played around with it much yet, but Salt Cube should benefit this play style vastly. Regeneration doesn’t matter since Warlock heals anyways.

When I manage to ascend I often still have 2 blessed ankhs, food, unused ranged weapons, lots of health potions, full Scroll Holder and full Potion Holder. Usually at least 2 artifacts on +10. Yellow Progression, Treasure and Quests is guaranteed. Grandmaster Treasure Hunter, Grandmaster Monster Hunter, Grandmaster Bodybuilder and Grandmaster Adventurer are guaranteed. My highest score so far had Game Duration 32,289; Mobs Killed 1,018; Gold Collected 30,394; Food Eaten 43; Items Crafted 97 on v2.3.2

I describe it that detailed also because that possibility is maybe not intended, even though I enjoy this play style. It certainly has it’s down sides as I often die with Level 28, Strength 19 and Maximum Depth 24.

I never get yellow Bosses because of DM-300 and King of Dwarves I guess. It’s not entirely clear to me which bosses reduced the score. It’s likely King of Dwarves, which I fight with Scroll of Chellange, and DM-300, which always gets me with rock drop when I hide in tunnels.

I don’t understand why I don’t get yellow Exploration. I’ve certainly discovered all rooms and looted whatever I could find.

[–] chonglibloodsport 1 points 5 months ago

Hi Evan. When I tap here:

main game screenshot

The game brings up the list of active challenges in my game. But this information is also accessible from the menu:

menu screenshot

Whereas the information on the current floor modifier is not. The current list of challenges is not something I look at very often and doesn’t change throughout the game so I think it makes more sense to only access it through the menu and change that above tap location to bring up the floor modifier information.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Very much second the floor-type indicator on mobile.

I'd like to see grid borders, would help with counting tiles in eg 4 gold key&chest float rooms. Also the ability to scroll up to see previous messages; a message log or something, divided and filterable by floor and message type. Admittedly selctable indication for floor-type on mobile would eliminate 95%+ of the wish to scroll messages.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Is this for sh(attered) pd? You can check if you have discovered a scroll or potion already. Unless you mean if you used it on a specific level (I think the closest to knowing this is that there should be some areas that have a blue hue, that you can't discover.

In regards for your potions and scroll notes, I feel like being able to put little Green or red icons of potions or scrolls on undiscovered items would help. For instance You can use a stone of identification and if you guess wrong, mark it down so you don't forget your guess. Alternatively, you can mark a potion with a green healing potion symbol on a potion that just fell off of a swarm of flies.

Extending on blacksmith details, store details would be amazing as well. 6th floor market has the following items.i currently also take a bunch of notes for my 8 challenge runs for this reason.

You know a quiest us completed because I don't believe the neutral npc shows up on the levels guide.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Unless you mean if you used it on a specific level

Yes, I meant that. When you used scroll of magic mapping on a floor or run through the whole floor with scroll of foresight, you know you’ve definitely found all secret rooms on that floor. Similar situation with using scroll of teleportation and not getting teleported to a hidden door.

think the closest to knowing this is that there should be some areas that have a blue hue

That can also be caused by wand of prismatic light.

Keeping track of where you got potions is important for unidentified potions you need for puzzles, either you need to know because you want to use them or you use a different way and want to narrow down:

  • levitation for traps room (stone of disarming; stone of flock; stone of blast; wand of blast wave; throwing items on traps) and 4 gold-chest room (ghost + ally warp; ethereal chains)
  • liquid fllame for barricade (burning/blazing trap close enough or extended with grass) and secret runestone room (both: wand of disintegration; wand of fireblast; seed of firebloom; reclaimed burning/blazing trap)
  • invisibilty for the piranha room (wand of blast wave; stone of blast; kill them)
  • haste for the sentry room (ghost + ally warp; ethereal chains)
  • purity for toxic fog room
  • frost for fire wall room (seed of icecap on water; potion of purity; wand of frost; reclaimed chilling/frost trap)

Also if there are two potions of the same kind on one floor it can’t be potion of strength and it’s unlikely to be a potion of experience since that’s the rarest potion.

You know a quiest us completed because I don’t believe the neutral npc shows up on the levels guide.

I have to pay attention to that. But sorry it was the wrong word, I thought more about puzzles where it could happen that you didn’t find the required potion yet or accidentally drank/destroyed it.

[–] MrRedstoner 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Optional auto aiming button for touch input that works like tab with keyboard input

Guessing this jumps to target another enemy? You can just tap the enemy indicator to do that, even without bringing up the auto aim

In terms of fancy aiming especially beyond what auto-target will do for you, to me that very much seems like part of player skill, that said a more visible grid especially in black regions (i.e. areas around rooms and corridors) would help a lot

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Guessing this jumps to target another enemy?

Yes, keyboard and gamepad inputs allow to jump between all enemies with a clear line of sight. It was introduced because aiming with a gamepad is hard otherwise.