Suggestions for CW-next

[Grauniad]

Warning: I will without warning or comment delete any post in this thread that does not comply with the requirements outlined below. This is intended to be a zero-noise thread.

I am looking for suggestions about the User Interface (UI) or ease-of-use suggestions that have been made for CW1 and/or CW2 but that were not implemented. I am NOT looking for any suggestions about new unit types, new unit functions, or new modes of play (co-operative, 3D, etc.). I am simply looking to make sure that if you have or (know of)  a suggestion that will make the game easier to play/use or will provide more information while playing the game, then please post it here.

The format for each and every post in this forums should simply be  a one-line statement of what the improvement is and optionally a link to another thread somewhere in the forums where this has been discussed.

If you notice a duplication, you may quote that post and mention what it duplicates.

As I consolidate these suggestions, I will post them here, attribute then if apropriate and delete the post that suggested it.

If this does not work out, I will delete this entire thread.


Suggestions:

• User-defined keyboard mappings. I thought there was a more recent thread, but I can't find it quickly.
• Option to lock the window size to a specific size. Suggestion thread
• If there are units with targeting capabilities such as blasters or launchers, apply full-spread targeting. (Beta-testing thread)

[SmileyCoder]

Option to display Frames per second. Usefull for when you might want to tweak the game for more performance, when you are having a slow game.

Option to display percentage of time usage for each frame calculation. Its 3 frames per second in CW2, so that gives each frame 0.33 seconds to calculate. If it could be possible to display how big a percentage of that time was actually used to calculate the next frame, it could be usefull for map makers to better tune their maps for less lag.

Option to speed up more For those sluggish maps where you have 20 launchers banging away at super dense creeper, it would be nice if possible, to increase speed even more then now.

Consecutive Quick Saves Per Map This has been mentioned somewhere in the forums, that instead of quick save overwriting the last save, simply add to the list of saves. Fancy for clumsy people like me who hit Ctrl-C by accident when trying to load.

[CobraKill]

I'm not 100% sure it's not in CW2 but in CW you could view an ingame graph.

Also view the description and scores ingame for custo maps. And maybe a small thing that shows YOUR high score on maps (ie story)

[weekendgamer]

I think that the icons for the units/structures in the bottom menu should be on one "tab" so you wouldn't have
to change in between the three tabs that we currently have.

Option to display Frames per second. Usefull for when you might want to tweak the game for more performance, when you are having a slow game.

As far as I know, you can use the "=" button to do that.

[SmileyCoder]

Drag-and-Select The ability to drag/draw a rectangle over an area and select units within that area would be nice.

[Cavemaniac]

'Paint-on' units. i.e. Click 'n' drag to build multiple units, the same way you excavate soil.

In-Game Graph. accessible at any time in CW1, only displayed at the end of CW2 - useful to check if you're actually making progress.

Keyboard Controls for everything. I play with the keyboard - it's quicker. Not having maker functions etc available on a keyboard shortcut is a pain.

Ability to select multiple units under construction. Sometimes you over extend yourself and you need to cease construction and it's time consuming to select each one individually, turn it off, then go around and turn them all back on again. The double click doesn't include weapons under construction, though the previously suggested drag-a-bounding-box-around-them may be the solution.

Ability to select multiple non weapon units. Similar to above, sometimes you want to save power by shutting down non essential power draining units (thinking of tech domes here).

Auto-Save Optional automatic save of your game every 30-60 seconds of game time. Big list of game saves, arranged chronologically, not restricted to the current slots, perhaps going back weeks - though you'd only need the top couple of dozen.

[SmileyCoder]

Upon death, give option to load quicksave After I die I can "just" press OK. It would be nice with an option to either select "OK", or "Load Game".

[J]

Delay next shot Decreses the firing speed of a blaster or launcher by 10 frames. (just for one shot, other solution for full spread targeting, but doesn't have full effect)

[thepenguin]

Notify of editor version on upload

[CJY101]

Perhaps my suggestion is not good..

Q=Deactive
A=Disarm
C=Disconnect
↑
Why not use the 'Z', Instead uses 'C' ?
so that the three keys together, this is not good?
Maybe I am very clumsy.
Every time playing games, often occurs,
Pressed the wrong keystroke and destroy my all weapons.  :'( :'(
This is very upset.

---------------
The corresponding number key.
---------------
Blaster
1 = Fire at Drones then Creeper
2 = Fire at Creeper then Drones
3 = Fire at Drones only
4 = Fire at Creeper only
---------------
Maker
Q=Produce      1 = 1x   
A=Charge        2 = 2x
Z=Vacuum       3 = 4x
                     4 = Burst 10%
                     5 = Burst All
---------------
Repulsor
1 = short
2 = medium
3 = Long

Intuitive way, the corresponding direction.
(Right side keyboard.)
7 8 9    ↖↑↗         Q W E
4    6 = ←  → (=or) A     D
1 2 3    ↙↓↘         Z  X C

[J]

Addiction to CJY101

W=Produce
S=Charge
X=Vacuum
for makers instead of:
Q=Produce
A=Charge
Z=Vacuum

For repulsors I would better like

WER
S  F
XCV

To keep QAZ for (De)activate, (Dis)arm and (Dis)connect

[SmileyCoder]

Bigger charecter/tile library in the editor. I really can't draw anything. It would be nice if there was a wider selection of charecters and tiles available from the editor.

Event driven actionI think the custom levels could be expanded alot more if it was possible to tie up certain actions to events. Example could be that taking a crystal starts an emitter/gateway/field.

[Funkychicken121]

Packet distribution. You would not believe how many times I've wanted to prioritize where energy goes to.

[Grauniad]

I've moved a bunch of stuff out of here that in my opinion did not meet the requirement for ease of use or user interface.

Find them here]http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=9382.0]here.

[SmileyCoder]

Rate on Difficulty/Fun factor Instead of the current thumps up/down system, give the player, after playing a map, the option to rate the difficulty and fun factor of the map, both on a scale of 1-5. I find the current thumps up/down system a bit to simplified. Many hard maps get downrated simply because they are hard for the casual player, whereas I know there are also people out there who wants to play the hard maps.