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Collapsable Menu

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#101
I must say that I like the pictograph/icon menu concept quite a bit. Grey-out the weapons that are too heavy for your current status, or are currently unaffordable. Arrange the weapons according to increasing price, left-to-right. Including the price as part of the icon would be welcome, but would require, I believe, a more complex amount of coding to accommodate all possible price variables. Perhaps highlight the background of an entire row of weapons so as to indicate the currently selected perk, and bag the "Current Perk" panel in the upper right, entirely?

You see, I'm for anything that makes the menu smaller, and more compact, as I don't like it being full-screen as it is, currently. (I think having players be somewhat aware of what is going on around them while trading would be a big plus.) Since the weapons are already pictured in this menu style, displaying the weapon in the center panel would be redundant. It could now be used to simply display the weapon's cost/characteristics and, therefore, reduced in size quite a bit.

Placing the "Encumbrance Level" bar-graph, and the "Auto Fill Ammo" and "Exit Trader Menu" buttons in a single row across the bottom would shrink the menu a bit more. Let me grab the corner of this (hopefully) floating menu and dynamically scale it to suit my needs, and I'd be one happy girl. But, I'm guessing that might require some World-class coding, as I can't think of any Unreal-engine title that offers that. I've been trying to visualize the trader menu being translucent, a la Unreal Tournament 200X, but that might be just too damn weird.
 
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#102
Rhenna said:
I must say that I like the pictograph/icon menu concept quite a bit. Grey-out the weapons that are too heavy for your current status, or are currently unaffordable. Arrange the weapons according to increasing price, left-to-right. Including the price as part of the icon would be welcome, but would require, I believe, a more complex amount of coding to accommodate all possible price variables. Perhaps highlight the background of an entire row of weapons so as to indicate the currently selected perk, and bag the "Current Perk" panel in the upper right, entirely?

You see, I'm for anything that makes the menu smaller, and more compact, as I don't like it being full-screen as it is, currently. (I think having players be somewhat aware of what is going on around them while trading would be a big plus.) Since the weapons are already pictured in this menu style, displaying the weapon in the center panel would be redundant. It could now be used to simply display the weapon's cost/characteristics and, therefore, reduced in size quite a bit.

Placing the "Encumbrance Level" bar-graph, and the "Auto Fill Ammo" and "Exit Trader Menu" buttons in a single row across the bottom would shrink the menu a bit more. Let me grab the corner of this (hopefully) floating menu and dynamically scale it to suit my needs, and I'd be one happy girl. But, I'm guessing that might require some World-class coding, as I can't think of any Unreal-engine title that offers that. I've been trying to visualize the trader menu being translucent, a la Unreal Tournament 200X, but that might be just too damn weird.
Click to expand...

Nothing happens during the trader wave, so there's no real reason to know what's going on around you. As long as you aren't blocking the doorway it shouldn't matter whether or not you can see the trader room.
 
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#103
Zeron said:
Nothing happens during the trader wave, so there's no real reason to know what's going on around you. As long as you aren't blocking the doorway it shouldn't matter whether or not you can see the trader room.
Click to expand...

I'd like to be able to follow the chat log while in the trader, because you'd never want to miss a joke and just get the punchline, right?
 
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#105
Zeron said:
Nothing happens during the trader wave, so there's no real reason to know what's going on around you. As long as you aren't blocking the doorway it shouldn't matter whether or not you can see the trader room.
Click to expand...


Well, we sorta disagree on that point.

As I mentioned in another thread, If I suddenly find myself wealthy while trading, I would prefer to know who is being so generous with their money. (It's a girl thing, I guess.) And, perhaps catch a quick glimpse of who just purchased what. We've all seen someone wind up all alone, with their head immersed in the trader menu, well after everyone else has booked. Having a sense of what is happening around you *might* help fragmenting a team in that manner. The door blocking scenario you mentioned is also on my list. How big a buzz-killer is it when everyone can't make a quick exit? We've all seen it; it can sometimes affect how well the next wave is handled. I think a less-than-fullscreen trader menu might help dial that situation back a bit.

I'd also offer the notion of what is the downside? I don't see one. Something else I don't see is this ever being implemented, either. Just daydreamin'...
 
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#107
CandleJack said:
I wouldn't say that items move around, they'd be pretty static unless you clicked them, which is how it is currently.

Also, can you define dynamic? I'm not quite sure i follow.
I am a simple man.
Click to expand...

Nothing like getting a reply over a year later. :)

Dynamic just means the relative position of the items on the menu changes. Say there are three categories with 4 items under each. With all categories closed, the menu would look like this...

Category1
Category2
Category3


If we open up Category1 we get...

Category1
item1
item2
item3
item4
Category2
Category3

So Category 1/Item4 is on the fifth line down. Now say we close Category1 and open Category2. We get this instead

Category1
Category2
item2
item2
item3
item4
Category3

Now the fifth line down is Category2/Item3. For some things, like a file manager that the user needs to read anyway and that the items will change, this isn't a bad choice. The user can filter out what he needs and can drill down where he wants.

To choose from a menu that never changes, this is far from an optimal solution. If one category is expanded then there are 7 items in the list If two categories are expanded then there are 11 items in the list. Since the number of items in the list can change, no "muscle memory" can be developed. It gets worse. Since the item number can change, the scroll value, the amount of scrolling when clicking in the open scroll bar, changes as well. When the number of the items changes, the scroller size changes proportionally as well.

If there is a static number of items in the list, the user can use a form of "muscle memory" to find things quickly even if there are considerably more items in the list. For example, if there are 6 categories with 5 items in each, the user has to read each category from the top along with each item that is showing until he gets to the item he wants. It may not sound like it, but it is slow. Contrast that with a static menu with 90 items in it. Even though there are more items in it, the position of each of the items never changes. So once the user learns how the items are arranged, they can quickly scroll to the approx area and find the requested item.

BTW, that is why I said tabs could be a possible solution. Tabs always give the same "jump" with each click. Eliminating scrolling is best, but if there is no way around it tabs are an easy choice if there are room for them. The absolute worst way to do things, and this occurs way too often, is having so many tabs that the tabs themselves scroll.

Back to the dynamic menu, with the limited number of items, 20+ items with 7 perks, this may not that big of a deal as long as all of the perks show before any are expanded.

Clicking on a perk brings in two possible behaviors. The first is when someone clicks on a perk the items display below. This means that if someone clicks on a perk near the bottom, they have to then immediately scroll to the disclosed items. The second possible behavior is to have the disclosed perk "jump" to the top and show the items below it. While this sounds convenient, it is a big nono. Moving the items' position in a list is a bad thing.

I still think using the weapon's graphics is probably the best way. Using colored outlines to denote if a weapon is too expensive or heavy conveys information without cluttering. If there are too many items and the graphics are too small, then tabs are probably required. I still think the middle third of the screen is completely wasted and the area can be used for weapon selection.

A bit more of an answer you were looking for, huh? :)
 
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