I mean, I can change the art around the meter but not the meter itself, that's coded in. Anyways, I have no clue what to do right now what I'll figure something out I'm sure. If worse comes to worse, I'll just have the meter stick out like a sore thumb thematically.
As I've explained in the first message of the thread, the game is a basically an interactive book. This means that players will make decisions throughout the game. Now, I need to decide how to best handle the choice making occurrences.
It needs to be
clear for the player that he's got to make a choice. Also, I need a safeguard to make sure the player doesn't make a mistake by accident by mistake.
At the moment, pressing
A and
D switch pages backwards and forwards. Logically, I don't want to use the same keys to alternate between various available options. I would use
"W" and
"S" to change from option to option, therefore making sure there's no confusion for the player.
Option 1:
(nervermind the tabs here, just focus on the choice making mechanic).
In this instance, you'll notice that the passive narrative is reserved for the notebook while the choice making pops up in a new separate window. This has the advantage of keeping a clear separations between things. The disadvantage is that it covers either the narrative or the art background which is problematic. Also, if there are a lot of options, everything will get covered up by the new pop-up so I can't really use that one.
Option 2:
In option 2, there's a page break when the player needs to make a choice. Also, the scale icon shows up as well. This has the advantage not to hide anything which makes it a much better choice.
It feels bare bones like this however.
1. Should I trigger an animation+sfx to inform the player he/she needs to make a choice or would it be overkill?
2. Should I require a "Confirm" function? For example, press "Enter" once to select and one more time to confirm? Or should I just ask the player to make a decision and press "Enter" once and that's it?
3. Should I start the cursor at a neutral location instead of putting it next to the first option to avoid pressing enter by mistake? I mean having the cursor besides the choices so that the player needs to consciously press "S" and "W" to move it next to a "selectable" option? I don't think this should be necessary as changing pages requires the A and D key, not the enter key. In other words, "Enter" would only be used to confirm a selection.
4. Should I put a different icon before each choice to clearly differentiate them? Like roman numerals for example or can I just use something simple like dots.
In Firetop Mountain, they use the mouse so it doesn't really apply with my game. This being said:
You'll notice there are arrows before choices.
P.S.: I wouldn't use the hand cursor, it was just for the mockup.
Let me know what you think please!
