Ah, so this thread is alive again? Wonderful!
I don't have strong feelings one way or another about this.
I just wanted to say that I think DF's UI is better, as in easier to use and faster. Am I the only one who thinks clicking on buttons with the mouse is clunky and inelegant?
I still have support for hotkeys. Always had, always will. Do you see the number keys on the buttons? Rather than having random keys for actions all over the keyboard (well, not random), I use the numerical keys for actions and random keys for other options. My interface is equally well suited for mouse use and keyboard use, but it is at its best when the two are used together.
Keyboard is for fast hotkey action. Buttons are there until you learn the hotkeys or if you happen to forget one. Mouse is there for selection. If you are faster at doing high precision complicated shape selections with keyboard than me with a mouse, I owe you my sincerest respect for your crazy skills.
The DF GUI is easy to use once you have the hotkeys down. Most people trying DF aren't going to really have much of a want to learn the interface until they see how great the game, and to do that you're going to have to sludge through the interface.
I do not agree. Learning the hotkeys is just a small fraction of learning the GUI of DF. With all due respect to the DF team, the interface is horrible, both by my experience and some people I know, and both by following text books (metaphorical or not) on good interface design. Designing a good interface is like art. I understand that DF is focused on an ever increasing number of features and depth, but I myself do not wish to ignore the GUI and have moved it at the top of my feature list from the moment I started this project.
It is not good to have an interface that only caters to one very specific public, unless you can guarantee that that very specific public expects the interface constructed in that way and that no other public will be interested and if you do not wish another public to be interested. But I fear it is the other way around: people would expect a different interface, but they adapt to this one. And probably not with the greatest level of enthusiasm. Sure, it doesn’t bother you that much once you have learned it, but I would appreciate if the learning curve was more expertly designed.
Here is a crazy idea: a gentle learning curve and an interface that can be learned at first by someone’s Angry Birds playing grandma. Can it be achieved with such complex games? No! That does not mean one cannot try to get a little bit closer to that ever elusive goal.
I also wouldn't compare it to nethack, because nethack is much simpler, dealing with only one entity(yourself) with far less nested menus.
I played some Nethack and the interface was in no way good, but it was simpler than the one from DF. On the other hand, it was a long time ago. ADOM also is an interesting specimen interface wise.
Closest example I can think of where hotkeys helps streamline workflow is something like blender. But then again, blender also uses all three mouse buttons in combination with the hotkeys aswell as having a graphical UI where 99% of the hotkey features can be accessed.
I agree. Keyboard and mouse have both advantages and disadvantages. Use both for best results. I am surprised that DF does have mouse support, but it is VERY VERY sporadic. You can do one or two things with the mouse.
DwarvesH - Suggestion for when you asked how would we like things done differently. Build walls how you would dig! 10x10 DF build area limit makes for time consuming constructions!
I appreciate all constructive feedback and am looking forward to such suggestions. Unfortunately, I do not understand what you mean here. Would you please elaborate?
I gotta say I feel alot stupider for the experience, but I think that just comes from reading whole forum threads and will pass.
I sincerely hope this was not caused by anything you might have read on my blog
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Im very interested to see how you end up handling combat and wounds with the time system you have (yes, the engine is NOTHING AT ALL LIKE DF), rotting and a few other things as well. Im sure I had some other points to make, ummm.....
As you may have read, I have a time compression in place. Time scales to make the shortest duration action manageable. In combat, time will slow down more, giving you ample time to make sound tactical decisions. Combat will be tactical, not reflex based. There is going to more ranged combat and one of my races, the mages, only have access to ranged combat.
Rotting is planned, but not for now so I can’t give you any more details now.
) I would focus on the following: