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Interface
Minimum of UI (avoid bars, numbers, etc), HUD diagetic - how you're moving, bloody, dripping blood, shivering, heavy breathing, etc
- heavy breathing for stamina?
- bleeding and favoring limbs/wobbling for injury; shrinking, red vision
- remembering/physically checking ammo remaining
- if do have popouts, keep to sides of screen, not a toolbar on bottom, right-side, left-side slideouts for inv and char? keep center play space more square?
Mundaun auto zoom in on paintings in center of screen and nearby while stationary, with a subtle sound effect
Default FOV on PC will be a claustrophobic 70-75*
Metro Exodus as example of all in-world UI, Red Dead Redemption 2 Quest marker on compass strapped to wrist. Map attached to leather binder - manually have to find maps in world, doesn't tell you where you are on it. Have to find compass item too. Manually have to clean up and fix your stuff and yourself, manually pump or pull back springs on spike gun. Metro:
- all interactions physical, tactile, in-world
- it asks you to be aware of your situation by maintaining your equipment and scouting ahead
- it withholds info about underlying systems to keep the mystery
- it reacts to you and your playstyle by remembering and rewarding your actions Will not tell you the name of the place like in Souls or many other games don't tell them what to do, let player do whatever. It would actually be kind of weird to put various dungeon branch names on the screen. Player wouldn't know what it was unless told in notes or by a plaster on the screen. Maybe don't say where you are. Leave that info hidden in notes and such though.
The general idea is for the keys and buttons used to be as close to where they'd actually be if this was a real firearm used in that hand - has the fiddliness of Receiver's firearms that make them feel 'real' rather than the Left-click to shoot, Left-click when empty to reload sort of deal. Makes the experience weightier, slower, tenser. Yes, it means different types of firearms have different ways of working them...like real life. Teach the player slowly, starting with something relatively easy like a lever-action rifle. Firearms didn't fire fast in this era unless you were an expert gunslinger - this should be simulated with feats that improve various skills & speeds
Better to have fewer keys, overloaded uses rather than TOO MANY KEYS!
Be able to do everything you can do in Amnesia
- take pictures off walls, pull open drawers and cabinet doors
- actually have to grab and pull, not single-press interact key alone
Encumbering items slow player slightly for each medium-sized (sword, longgun) item PC has.
Item sizes: 1) tiny (keys, most ammo) - as many as you want, not equippable; 2) small (5 spikes, 3 potions, 1 pistol) - some are stackable, equippable; 3) medium (sword, longgun) - only usable in main hand, slows player and makes more visible the more they have; 4) bulky (spear, chair) - bulky items can't be stowed in inventory. Both hands grasp bulky item...this can include a long weapon like a pitchfork (then used as weapon) or a piece of furniture (bulky item dropped by pressing any hotbar number; reasoning behind all this is so player can't unrealistically carry more than one polearm or other bulky object; large (bookcase, table, body, door) - not equippable, just grab and draggable.
Accessible, have left-hand mouse bind as well; what else? options to not hold keys down? visual impairment mode? (brighter, colorblindness settings?)
Have metric and imperial choice in menu, settings option to disable PC self-talk, menu option to drop or not a lit item when reloading a weapon.
Microphone: blowing sound to blow out candles, yell for compliance ala SWAT 4, eventually talk to NPCs. Enter for text chat. Enter Enter for make noise/yell.
Some keys are changeable/kept open for different authors writing different adventures using this system.
We deliberately choose to allow grabbing items and also picking up items and blowing out candles etc while hands are full. Two reasons: 1) less annoying, 2) IRL, you could still drag a bookcase or something around with one item in each hand.
Light-source interactions have a complicated logic: https://github.com/Mooses2k/SecretHistories/issues/193
There's a logic for the mouse buttons in the game. LMB is action/do/thrust/attack and can be used for firing, thrusting a weapon, thrusting forward a light-source or container to fill. RMB is manipulate/rotate so it's for aiming, cutting, pickup and dragging, rotating the wrist with some items in hands like to see the back of a photograph or pour or drink from a container. MMB is drop/throw. 4 and 5 buttons reserved for realistic reloading and weapon stuff like pull back the hammer, magazine eject, or whatever else since it can't be assumed everybody has those.
It's okay to use scrollwheel for something different than hotbar slot switching as long as holding modifier key (like RMB/interact).
Movement
- WASD - directional movement
- Shift - sprint if holding forwards (Shift+forward with melee weapon equipped while facing an nearby opponent = lunge with quick recovery possible by pressing movement); Shift+left/right/back = quick dodge/shift that direction; Shift+no-movement-keys = kick; If a firearm is equipped, RClick held (ADS), Shift+no-movement-keys is a weapon melee (butt-strike/pistol-whip instead); kick while crouched goes prone (kicking your legs out backwards to pushup position); kick while grabbing opponent is a grappling throw
- LCtrl and C - hold crouch (toggle is an option); tap crouch will stand from crawl if hold crouch in Settings; tap crouch will go to crouch is toggle crouch in Settings; Because of how many keys are used up by this, like Interact, it'd be worthwhile to ask player on first start game which they'd prefer. LAlt, for instance, could be put to good effect
- Space - jump/mantle/stand-from-crawl
- Q & E (optional) - lean left, lean right; hold together to lean forwards
Inventory
- 1-0 (tap) - change hotbar item in main-hand or, if in hand, holsters that item from main-hand
- 1-0 (hold then tap another #) - swap items between those hotbar slots
- Mousewheel - change hotbar item in main-hand; when reach end of list, empty hand
- T or G - offhand throw if tap, hold to place safely on surface (alt: throw if pointing far, drop item on surface when mouse pointed close by (like Noita)) (option to wind up to throw, tap to drop)
- MMB - Main-hand throw if pointing far, drop item on surface when mouse pointed close by (like Noita) (option to wind up to throw, tap to drop)
- H - (optional) holster any weapons (either/both hands) or bring them back to hand if in the same slot(s)
Off-hand
- LAlt - primary use offhand item; thrust off-hand melee/fire pistol/light bomb/light or douse lantern; context-sensitive, so sometimes may duplicate T for throw lit bomb
- TAB - cycles through small items in inventory and sets the item to be in the off-hand
- TAB (held half a second then released) - swap items between hands if possible
Melee (knife/machete, cut & thrust sword/sabre, cudgel/mace/hatchet, sledgehammer/axe, staff/pitchfork/polearm) (Moving towards enemy while attacking will lunge, moving back will fade) (looking a bit right, left, or up of the enemy will put your weapon into a guard on that side)
- LMB (tap) - Cut (there will be four thrusts and four cuts which will depend on which direction of the opponent's center the player is looking when they attack)
- LMB (held) - If close and point is out of alignment, pommel-punch; otherwise, thrust and hold it there as long as player holds button (can eventually be used to impale something on a weapon and move it around, like taking it to the ground)
- R (offhand, held) and Mouse-thumb (mainhand, held) - reverse grip (dagger or similar - more damage with reverse grip but more parryable, lower range slashes); for weapons like sabre where a reverse grip doesn't make sense, it puts you in a 'hanger' guard as long as it's held (or half-circle guard if in inside guard against cut 3)
Melee (unarmed)
- LMB (tap) - punch
- LMB (held) - grab and drag opponent
Firearm (main-hand)
- LMB - fire
- RMB - aim down sight (typically just more accurate, slight zoom, slows movement)
- R (tap) - reloads: attempts reload of main-hand item first, then offhand, automatically putting main-hand item away, moving firearm to main-hand, reloading, then moving firearm back to off-hand, and taking out main-hand item
- R (held) - shows other ammo types in a radial menu & shows how many you have?, unload is an option as well (or maybe R (held) is just unload)
- RMB (hold) + mousewheel - (optional) change ammo type instead of hold R?
- B (tap) - switches sights if more than one set (iron-sights <-> scope)
Interface & misc
- RMB - futz with, fumble with (interact) - tap to interact (priority: put out fire on self, ADS, hold breath, interact with world/grab/pickup item; Hold to drag body or live enemy or door slowly open or something like furniture to blockade; rapidly tap (or crouch?) to put out fire on self (kicking while grabbing furniture knocks it over in the direction player moving) (if hands are free, can grapple enemy, kick to sweep to ground); when picking up an item, item will appear in current slot, if that's empty, otherwise in first free slot (There should be a small icon that appears in the environment on the crosshair when in range, like a little flame for light, a key for padlock, a hand for pickup.) #193 and #194 for more details; if nothing else, slight zoom
- F (tap) - (F for flashlight) open/close hood of belt-attached lantern; if that slot is selected in the main hand, then move the lantern to and from the belt slot
- N & maybe F (held briefly) - toggle night-vision/darksight if have that, or raise/lower visor if have a close helmet or something
- B (held briefly) - option to have this switch to binocs/spyglass or look through it momentarily then put back previous things in hands (obeys general rule of never putting out a light-source unless player does so deliberately, so this will fail if two lit light-sources in hands)
- Z (tap) - zap a spell? (spoiler territory) (perhaps this empties a hand without a light-source and then you click to cast?) - scrolls live here too, not in an inventory slot
- Z (held) - select spell/scroll? possibly slowing down time
- K for compass
- M - map & chalk (always main-hand)
- J - journal (always main-hand) - found documents, feats, stats, armor, tiny items, etc
- I - not used; reserved for bigger inventory and character sheet if other adventure authors want that
- Esc - menu (does not pause if multiplayer game) - for when you're having more fun than you can handle
- F11 - fullscreen / previous windowed mode toggle (Alt-Enter not used due to weird interactions with window managers sometimes)
Multiplayer (eventual)
- Enter - type for position-relative text-chat, also a way to make noise to draw attention, possible with text-to-speech
- CapsLock or (C or LCtrl, whichever isn't for crouch) or V - location-relative VOIP push-to-talk, details here: https://github.com/Mooses2k/SecretHistories/issues/638
Map & journal (Map & journal book always in main-hand so we can use mouse for it naturally; we don't want it to take two hands because we should keep a hand free for a light-source)
- RMB (tap) - quickly put book away and with chalk, open 'Enter' typing box and write whatever typed here on surface at middle-of-screen point; then book quickly comes back to hand
- RMB (held) - quickly put book away and with chalk, draw on surface at middle-of screen point as long as you long LMB; then book quickly comes back to hand
- LMB (held) or Mouse-wheel - drag to turn pages, if do so repeatedly and rapidly, start fanning the book faster that direction; objective(s) written on inside front cover, then stats & perks, then journal entries/notes in the middle, then maps in the back with latest map being last (this order selected to put most referenced stuff and beginning and end for quickest access)
- B and Mouse-thumb - held or toggle to zoom in further, one page width taking up whole screen or so to better read journal writing and maps
- R - 'read' current item (show accessible font printout of it and perhaps even voice it if that's chosen in Settings Menu)
- Enter - write note on/beside page/map if possible?
- Tab (maybe) and M and MMB - put book away and take out previous item in main-hand
OPTIONAL FIREARM REALISM MODE (play Receiver and you'll either 'get it' or you won't; if you don't 'get it', use easy reloading by pressing R):
Break-open/Cylinder-swing-out reloading (option for easy reloading with R)
- Mouse-near-thumb - pull back hammer (pressing trigger while holding then release mouse-near-thumb to decock)
- Mouse-far-thumb – open or close shotgun/cylinder swing out and in/magazine eject
- R - remove spent shells/ejector rod
- LAlt - enter new shells (with speedloader if available) (feat to do two at a time)
Bolt-action/stripper-clip reloading (option for easy reloading with R)
- R - hold and release to cycle bolt for next shot, tapp to toggle bolt into open/closed position for reloading
- LAlt - set stripper-clip in grooves
- Mouse-far-thumb (held) - when held, presses rounds from stripper-clip into magazine
Pre-swing-out-cylinder revolver reloading like the Single Action Army (option for easy reloading with R)
- Mouse-near-thumb - pull back hammer (pressing trigger while holding then release mouse-near-thumb to decock)
- Mouse-far-thumb – open/close loading cover
- R - remove spent shell
- LAlt - enter new shell
- Q & E - rotate cylinder (overriding lean keys)
- V for hammer if in off-hand? (many revolvers of the era were single-action, so needed hammer cocked each shot) (initially not needed - Webley is double-action) (in optional firearm realism mode) - this is not great, since V and LAlt both operated with thumb but that's a limit of trying to do a two-handed thing with mouse & keyboard controls (player could rebind F to offhand_use for instance)
Lever-action/Tube-magazine reloading (option for easy reloading with R)
- Mouse-far-thumb (held) - when held, firearm is tilted into position
- LAlt - enter new shells
- R - racks shotgun
- RMB - overrides aim for lever-action firearms when no round is chambered in order to chamber next round; If in ADS, letting go and pressing again cycles; if hip-firing, tapping and releasing cycles; so basically toggling the ADS key
(for completeness/other time periods) (Semi-)automatic pistol/SMG/rifle reloading (option for easy reloading with R)
- Mouse-far-thumb - safety/firing mode switch
- Mouse-near-thumb - magazine release button
- LAlt - insert new magazine
- R - rack slide/pull charging handle
Further info::
- https://github.com/Mooses2k/SecretHistories/issues/193
- https://github.com/Mooses2k/SecretHistories/issues/268
Being grabbed and thrown or falling a certain distance can make the target rotate, including player's viewport. Press space to stand if grounded.
Have light sources automatically pointed towards or held up to important things; enemies, writing, lever, etc? Auto zoom in on paintings thing can also hear what's going on in them very quietly, like Mundaun.
Shadow/blink dodge when enabled as spell with probably spacebar+direction, similar to what we might do for lunging in melee
Z (zap spell) context dependant? If falling more than ten feet, Z is always Feather Fall if you have it? Or maybe FeatherFall is cast ahead of time and gives an amount of on-demand low-thrust SPACE levitate
Left-click punch/knock or push door; knock on wall to test for secret, probably Interact key better for this, the knock thing is nice though
could double-tap R to reload offhand (putting away mainhand, moving it to mainhand, etc)
Alternate idea, mouse LMB and RMB for right and left hand This trades off handedness versimilitude for possible ease-of-use. Things this would affect:
- throwing - hold MMB or T then the LMB or RMB
- ADS - Simply cannot ADS with something in offhand, which I don't like much. Why can't I aim down sights of my pistol with a lantern in my off-hand?
- hanging guards - RMB can't be used for this then, have to use Mouse4 only
- interact - have to have a hand free to interact with world and that is an annoyance we're trying to avoid - this is kinda the killer of this idea
L-click melee, R-click held ADS firearm - neat but too limiting for our offhand thing (Dream Cycle)
What about: R-click is rotation, L-click is thrust or action - swing like Die by the Sword but with lock-on and remove lock-on when letting go? even with lock-on helping, Die by the Sword was so jank...
Space aiming low for context-kick at doors and folks? Frees up LCtrl. Ctrl for ADS/manipulate offhand? I mean...nobody wants to have to manage much more than movement with WASD hand, but this would probably be the best key due to the pinky not affecting WASD to give the ability to rotate offhand items to pour etc Ctrl (held) for close eyes?
Some inventory ideas:
- Gloomwood and The Forest's inventory?
- VR-style backpack?
- Looking down at various holster/scabbard/pouch positions and F or R-click to put in appropriate hand or store it there if that slot is open. Great for VR, but yeah, probably annoying, especially for trying to look at the over-the-shoulder slots.
- What about mousewheel for right hand items, firearms...but should allow firearm in left... Numbers for left hand items. But this isweird and requires mousewheel (not a big requirement?)
- Minus and Equals - maybe remove armor, remove helmet, cycle through scrolls
blindfold and earplugs? maybe O or P for that? not really needed
Consider interact on middle low part of door for kick or https://github.com/Mooses2k/SecretHistories/issues/573
Tiny items on ESC menu? I don't really want to encourage going to a pause menu...maybe don't pause ESC? Issue is if people really want to PAUSE, it just encourages saving and leaving? It's annoying to not allow saving at any time. =/ Maybe at least have it item based
R as offhand use_secondary has a couple issues (C better on both points):
- reloading very important and should override always
- if use_secondary is held plus WASD to rotate offhand, that's some piano yoga shit with your fingers.
(E can be swapped with F below and still feel sensible, meaning left-hand trigger finger will be used to fire)
Systems hints in dialogue and logs Learn something about the weapons and lore by looking at them; gameplay hints too