aliens

Author Topic: 'Undo' option?  (Read 12212 times)

alienjon

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'Undo' option?
« on: March 05, 2011, 08:54:27 pm »
A common frustration for me in the originals (EU & TFTD) was that I sometimes moved a bit too fast for my own good and clicked on a square that I hadn't intended in the BattleScape.  Most of the time this isn't a big problem, but it's had the equivalent of costing me a mission at times (to be honest, I'll usually just reload at that point).  My idea would be to have an 'undo' that would reset the most previously (and ONLY the most previously) moved character back to it's last position and facing direction.  I could see this as a potiental issue if external events take place during the move (ie: the soldier is shot), but maybe the option could be available so long as no enemy reaction occurs during the move?  At the same token, this may be related to the slower interface of the first 2 games, so maybe this is not as much of an issue with this project?  Any thoughts?

Offline Yankes

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2011, 10:13:57 pm »
you can cancel moving now. and remeber even you dont see or get hit by alien, possibility to cancel move allow you to search faster (after canceling move you know that isnt anything there)

Volutar

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2011, 07:30:40 am »
Cancelling move is immediate "urgent" action. TBS involves leisurely gameplay, unlike RTS (like SC2). So undoing last move/turn might be quite helpful, IF it wouldn't lead to opposite "reaction" (that could be cheating issue). If you only revealed some of your enemies/structures without them noticing you, undoing walk won't impact gameplay.

But actually, quite alot of people prefer to save game each time, and even before shooting, and reload when they have failed with killing enemy. So even with implementing of this "undo" action, frequent saving still be there. :-[

Offline michal

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2011, 11:36:41 am »
Maybe instead of undoing moves, there should be option for two-phase moving. First click draws path, second click approves it and moves soldier.

Undoing moves can lead to cheating. For example i could move to south and see that there is no alien there, so i undo and move to north, etc.

Offline luciderous

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2011, 01:17:01 pm »
Undoing moves can lead to cheating. For example i could move to south and see that there is no alien there, so i undo and move to north, etc.
I couldn't agree more! No undoing, please. Canceling the movement is more than enough.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 09:33:21 pm by marabus »

Offline hellblade

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2011, 06:44:32 pm »
ten thumbs up! for a cancel move.  Especially for my glitchy mouse

Volutar

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2011, 10:07:07 pm »
Yeah, cancelling move now for Right mouse button. People expecting Escape key doing this, just intuitive action, but no cancelling. Right mouse button isn't intuitive, and some kind "laggy" - unit make couple of extra steps before stop.

Double click move IMHO not the best idea (already tried with UFOTTS). "Highlighted" path with final TUs (at cursor box) would be nice helper, of course this helper should be drawn after some pause, for example 300ms, just not to kill CPU with constant pathfinding. And this path should be drawn very "lightly", not to screw original graphics anyhow.

Offline hellblade

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2011, 04:59:47 pm »
The best keys should be the intuitive ones.  Definitely NOT the right click that overlaps with looking.

And I'm one of those who tried escaping so many times .... even after years of play.  Just the key to press when you're desperate, lol.

alienjon

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2011, 03:54:13 am »
I'd put a vote out for the pathbuilding idea, actually.  My only concern is that might be 'too' much of a deviation from the original game.  As for cancelling a move, I'd like that too (maybe instead, not along with - I don't think both would be needed), but I feel that a right mouse click is a natural reaction for it (I've actually found myself doing it a lot when I've gone back to play the original game).  In any case, if a decision is made to go for move cancellation I'd suggest we have that as an in-game option so people could set their own preferences?

Offline hsbckb

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2011, 07:42:40 am »
I suggest that we can consider to use  the unit movement design of GBA game: rebelstar tactical command

When we click a unit for setting the path of movement, three type of colours will shown on the floor. The following photos are self-explainable:







This can assist us to plan the moving path better instead of undo movement.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2011, 07:48:20 am by hsbckb »

Offline Daiky

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2011, 07:57:11 am »
FYI, right-click to cancel movement is already in OpenXCom. It doesn't affect gameplay -not in a bad sense anyway.
I don't feel like it has to be an option, because purists be warned: don't rightclick when your soldier is moving or it will cancel it's movement :p

But the two-click unit movement (one click for visualisation of the route, one to start walking) on the other hand should be an option.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2011, 08:03:17 am by Daiky »

alienjon

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2011, 06:44:24 pm »
hsbckb: It's a clever idea, but I'm not sure if it would prevent undesired soldier movements.  It would also be graphically distinct from the original games, but I'm not entirely sure how varied the eventual OpenXcom intends to be from the originals...

Volutar

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2011, 07:22:25 pm »
I suppose it would be impossible to draw some tiles with different colors, since game is paletted, and only "lighting" level could be altered. But lighting is dynamic entity, so it would be kind of indestinctive from another, neighbor tiles with different lighting.

In any case, I won't vote for doubleclick walk.

Offline michal

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2011, 09:20:41 pm »
In any case, I won't vote for doubleclick walk.

Even as option, disabled by default?

Volutar

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Re: 'Undo' option?
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2011, 10:23:31 pm »
Even as option, disabled by default?
This option can't be just disabled or enabled, since it should have a number of options (Original/Singleclick-precalculate/Two-click-confirm/etc)

I prefer clickless first click (just by timeout within one pointed tile). And I do believe it would be most frequently chosen option.

The main issue here is how to draw this path without messing up with original graphics? Some overlayed "steps" or "dots"? But it won't be nice...  I like the idea of showing different distances unit can walk i.e. maximum distance, distance with reserved for snap, with reserved for auto, with reserved for aim. But how to do that "smoothly"?
It wouldn't be a problem if it was totally "new" product, but it pretends to be most close replica, so each of these new features could destroy original "spirit"...