Making the UI Better

[WJohnston]

So we've all been playing SS13 for years now and we've all gotten very used to the UI. However, some of you may have noticed that some things are unnecessarily complicated to perform or use.

Here's 3 improvements that would do a world of good for new players and veterans alike:

1. More action buttons. These are things like toggling flashlights or whatever. We can always use more of these for damn near anything. Toggling suit sensors, lifting up gas masks, rolling down jumpsuits, making cablecuffs etc.

2. Remove the tiny E "equip" button above the hands, it is ludicrously small and underused. Instead, replace it with a nice big swap button like the one on goon, where clicking it with an item in hand will swap the appropriate equipment. This means no dropping ALL YOUR CRAP when putting on a new uniform, improving security and GREATLY reducing the number of clicks and amount of hand fumbling. This would give lings more of an incentive to swap clothes with their victims since it'd be so much faster. Remember, the less button clicks the better!

3. Probably the most complicated, but something along the lines of the changeling sting alt-click button. Right now stuff like wizard spells are incredibly unwieldy, requiring you to take your eyes off screen and search for the button to click while dodging bullets or baton wielding clowns. This is awful. Instead having something where you select the spell and it shows up like it would the changeling, above your health, and alt clicking at your target would be very nice. It would let you just alt click on someone to gib them. This could also be done for things like aliens with neurotoxic spit or object/wall melting, and a host of other powers.

[Reimoo]

2. Remove the tiny E "equip" button above the hands, it is ludicrously small and underused. Instead, replace it with a nice big swap button like the one on goon, where clicking it with an item in hand will swap the appropriate equipment. This means no dropping ALL YOUR CRAP when putting on a new uniform, improving security and GREATLY reducing the number of clicks and amount of hand fumbling. This would give lings more of an incentive to swap clothes with their victims since it'd be so much faster. Remember, the less button clicks the better!

Or, people could learn to git gud and use hotkeys.

And I believe swapping jumpsuits is intentionally unwieldy because that's how it is in real life.

[MisterPerson]

I'd rather just give items a certain time-to-equip rather than having a bunch of fiddly crap fall off that takes a stupid amount of time and effort to put back on.

This is a good thread and I hope everyone will bring up any and all little UI annoyances that pissed them off. Especially ones that got you killed or otherwise ruined your fun somehow.

[WJohnston]

we've all been playing SS13 for years now and we've all gotten very used to the UI

We're used to the UI and the rules of the game. It doesn't mean they're good. Having trouble messing with hands, jumpsuits and all that "for realism" is annoying for the people who do know how to do it, and damn near impossible for those who don't. That's the purpose of point 2.

And no, replacing a really unwieldy and slow method with a more usable but equally slow method is not okay. If you're going to change it then make it bloody well practical.

[paprika]

Hotkeys already exist. Hotkeys are amazing, I don't want a more cluttered UI just because there's plebs that still use arrow keys. I can equip an entire security locker in a little under 2 seconds using hotkeys, git gud.

[ExplosiveCrate]

A lot of people can't use hotkeys because they're using a laptop/keyboard without a numpad.

[WJohnston]

Hotkeys already exist. Hotkeys are amazing, I don't want a more cluttered UI just because there's plebs that still use arrow keys. I can equip an entire security locker in a little under 2 seconds using hotkeys, git gud.

Refer to my previous post. YOU can do it and so can a lot of other skilled people. You are not 100% of the playerbase and it's unreasonable to demand that legitimately new players know this kind of crap.

[MisterPerson]

A lot of people can't use hotkeys because they're using a laptop/keyboard without a numpad.

The hotkeys don't require a numpad. They let you move with wasd.

[oranges]

We're getting slowly and surely there with lots of things using buttons instead of verbs and what have you. (Hot keys still supported of course)

There has been some discussion about how to improve the ability to hide buttons and so on, so we can manage the button spam, so any ideas down that route would be useful.

[Saegrimr]

There has been some discussion about how to improve the ability to hide buttons and so on, so we can manage the button spam, so any ideas down that route would be useful.

The short-term would probably be expandable buttons like the equip screen.
I doubt we'll get to the level of draggable/selective hiding UI elements.

[Arete]

Hotkeys already exist. Hotkeys are amazing, I don't want a more cluttered UI just because there's plebs that still use arrow keys. I can equip an entire security locker in a little under 2 seconds using hotkeys, git gud.

Making the game depend less on quick fingers and more on quick thinking seems like a net positive to me.

[Remie Richards]

The short-term would probably be expandable buttons like the equip screen.

I mentioned this in one of the small discussions that was had.
I think it's the best idea, a hide-able quick action bar.

[kosmos]

The only desperately needed UI improvement would be to make seeing an object's (or a person's) name somewhere else than only in the lower left corner of the screen. Like somehow making it a some kinda tooltip-balloon-thing.

EDIT: Oh my god yes tooltips are actually a possible thing in BYOND

[MisterPerson]

Mmm yeah tooltips would be great. We'd have more control over it too because the status bar can only display the object's global name. For example we couldn't display something as Unknown to one player and as something else to another.

[Atticat]

Hotkeys already exist. Hotkeys are amazing, I don't want a more cluttered UI just because there's plebs that still use arrow keys. I can equip an entire security locker in a little under 2 seconds using hotkeys, git gud.

Wait, how?

[bandit]

No. 1 UI annoyance: Having to log in to consoles with ID in hand, but having to click with an empty hand THEN switch to the ID. Except when it's not like that. Et cetera.

No. 2 annoyance: Pop-up boxes that automatically re-open once they're finished processing, like the chem grinder.

[callanrockslol]

Hotkeys already exist. Hotkeys are amazing, I don't want a more cluttered UI just because there's plebs that still use arrow keys. I can equip an entire security locker in a little under 2 seconds using hotkeys, git gud.

Wait, how?

The equip item button.