Making it Work: Options
Thels
Member Posts: 1,422
I originally posted this post over in the following thread, but realized it's probably best served as a separate discussion:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/811090/#Comment_811090
Perhaps the problem is that the options menu itself is a big mess, and could use some overhauling?
If I go to options from the main menu, I get:
- Credits
- Gameplay
- Graphics
- Language
- Movies
- Sound
- Back
Already it's odd that Credits and Movies are included here, as they don't allow the user to choose options, but only to watch stuff. I can understand that they need to be placed somewhere, but Moves is actually in between Language and Sound, which are actual option screens.
Perhaps something like this would make it stand out more:
- Graphics
- Sound
- Gameplay
- Language
- Movies
- Credits
- Back
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
In game, the order is like this:
- Sound
- Graphics
- Gameplay
Language is missing, but since it only works after a restart, and since it's not likely something you'll mess with ever after setting it for the first time, it's not important to show here. That said, it makes sense to keep the same order as in the main menu, so if the above suggestion is followed, change it to:
- Graphics
- Sound
- Gameplay
It's pretty clear why people aren't aware about a lot of options. Everything is all over the place, tugged in wherever. A couple of examples:
There is a "Visual Feedback" section in the Feedback suboption of Gameplay, which lists a couple of options, while other visual feedback is included in the graphics page.
There is a "Feedback Messages" section in the Feedback suboption of Gameplay, which basically determines what is displayed in the message box and what is not. However, "Character Subtitles" go in there, but they're included elsewhere. You could make a case that they're Subtitles to Sound, and therefor fit in the Sound category, but if so, why aren't the Movie Subtitles there?
So, first, let's group up the options, and see how much options we have in various categories.
- Graphics. This category deals with HOW information is displayed on the screen. It shouldn't control WHAT information is displayed, that's more of an Interface element. (We may consider Interface a subelement of Graphics at a later time, but it helps to distinguish them first.) In it's core it's related to hardware settings, quality and resolution.
- Sound. Pretty clear cut, this category deals with when sounds should be played, and at what volume they should be played.
- Interface. This category deals with what information is displayed to the user, and how that information is displayed. This includes what is and is not displayed on the screen to provide information to the end user.
- Input. This category deals with the player's input. When input is requested, and how the input is dealt with. It's most certainly part of the whole UI, but it helps to at least gather the related options together.
- Gameplay. This category affects what actually happens in the game itself.
There will obviously be some overlap here and there, but let's go over the list. Note that this at first is just assigning the options in groups together, and not which option goes where in what menu.
All the 'visual feedback' options should be gathered together at the same location. That way, people know "Ok, these are the visual options, let me see if what I want is in here! If it's not, then it's not possible. In the current interface, they're spread over Graphics and Feedback.
I personally think it's best to gather them all in Feedback, and keep Graphics exclusively for stuff based on rendering and resolution, the hardware side of things. Optionally, though, the Feedback option could be available from the Graphics option, so people that think to look for that stuff under Graphics rather than Gameplay can still find it.
Sounds is obviously still sounds, but the "Character Subtitles" option is much more a feedback option that would really fit well with the other chat feedback options, so I'd suggest moving that out, and keeping the rest of the Sounds menu the same.
Likewise, Language is still Languages. You don't want this tugged away in some kind of submenu, as when the game is displayed in a language other than your own, the easier you can find this, the better. However, movie subtitles have little to do with the Language. If I don't want to change the language, I wouldn't know to go look there for movie subtitles. (Not to mention that the Language options menu is not available without quitting to main menu.)
The Assign Keys and Auto-pause menu work quite well, so we should keep them as is, except perhaps move "Center on Character" to the bottom of the Auto-pause menu, since it's not an "Auto-pause when ..." option like the others, but an effect that occurs when Auto-pause triggers.
So that leaves the Gameplay and Feedback menus. It makes sense to place all the options that can be considered "Feedback" in the feedback menu, and keep the rest in the Gameplay menu.
When we combine all that, we should get something like this:
I feel that this would make things a lot more organized by keeping options that are similar together.
There should be some space on the Gameplay screen in between the sliders and the buttons, but adding options in between there feels like it would be cramped. Besides, keeping it open allows potential buttons to be added at a later time (for example, Dragonspear UI++ adds a button there.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/811090/#Comment_811090
Perhaps the problem is that the options menu itself is a big mess, and could use some overhauling?
If I go to options from the main menu, I get:
- Credits
- Gameplay
- Graphics
- Language
- Movies
- Sound
- Back
Already it's odd that Credits and Movies are included here, as they don't allow the user to choose options, but only to watch stuff. I can understand that they need to be placed somewhere, but Moves is actually in between Language and Sound, which are actual option screens.
Perhaps something like this would make it stand out more:
- Graphics
- Sound
- Gameplay
- Language
- Movies
- Credits
- Back
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
In game, the order is like this:
- Sound
- Graphics
- Gameplay
Language is missing, but since it only works after a restart, and since it's not likely something you'll mess with ever after setting it for the first time, it's not important to show here. That said, it makes sense to keep the same order as in the main menu, so if the above suggestion is followed, change it to:
- Graphics
- Sound
- Gameplay
Graphics category:
- Font Size (slider)
- Full Screen
- Hardware Mouse Cursor
- Scale User Interface
- Zoom Lock
- Sprite Outlines
- Grayscale on Pause
- Highlight Selected Sprite
- Dither Always
- Show Character HP
- Show Health Bars
- Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds
- Nearest Neighbor Scaling
- Alternate Renderer
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sound category:
5 sliders in the top left:
- Ambient Volume
- Sound Effects Volume
- Voice Volume
- Music Volume
- Movie Volume
A couple of options in the top right:
- Command Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
- Selection Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
And some more options in the bottom left:
- Character Subtitles
- Battle Cries
- Character Movement Sounds
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gameplay category:
4 sliders in the top left:
- Tooltip Delay
- Keyboard Scroll Speed
- Mouse Scroll Speed
- Difficulty
A list of options in the top right:
- Story Mode
- Enable Cloud Saves
- Area Map Background
- Multiplayer Chat Box
- Gore
- Weather
- Group Infravision
- Rest Until Healed
- Max HP on Level Up
- No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase
- Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack
3 submenus in the bottom left:
- Assign Keys
- Feedback
- Auto-Pause
The Assign Keys does just that, allow you to assign keys to specific actions, with no other features hidden in this submenu.
The Auto-Pause is also pretty solid. It allows you to specify when things should auto-pause. It also has the one option "Center on Party Member" that specifies an action to be taken when auto-pausing, so I'd like to see it moved apart from the options, but still on the same screen, like move it to the bottom of this screen, so the top actions are "When to Auto-pause" and the bottom option is "What to do when Auto-pausing".
And then there's the Feedback submenu, which got:
2 sliders in the top left:
- Marker Feedback
- Locator Feedback
A list of options on what feedback to provide in the chat:
- To-Hit Rolls
- Actions
- State Changes
- Combat Information
- Selection Text
- Miscellaneous
Another list of options in the bottom left:
- Colored Selection Circles
- Classic Selection Circles
- More Confirmation Prompts
- No Cosmetic Attacks
- Journal Popups
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Language category, with only 2 options:
- Language (list of options)
- Show Subtitles
- Font Size (slider)
- Full Screen
- Hardware Mouse Cursor
- Scale User Interface
- Zoom Lock
- Sprite Outlines
- Grayscale on Pause
- Highlight Selected Sprite
- Dither Always
- Show Character HP
- Show Health Bars
- Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds
- Nearest Neighbor Scaling
- Alternate Renderer
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sound category:
5 sliders in the top left:
- Ambient Volume
- Sound Effects Volume
- Voice Volume
- Music Volume
- Movie Volume
A couple of options in the top right:
- Command Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
- Selection Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
And some more options in the bottom left:
- Character Subtitles
- Battle Cries
- Character Movement Sounds
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gameplay category:
4 sliders in the top left:
- Tooltip Delay
- Keyboard Scroll Speed
- Mouse Scroll Speed
- Difficulty
A list of options in the top right:
- Story Mode
- Enable Cloud Saves
- Area Map Background
- Multiplayer Chat Box
- Gore
- Weather
- Group Infravision
- Rest Until Healed
- Max HP on Level Up
- No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase
- Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack
3 submenus in the bottom left:
- Assign Keys
- Feedback
- Auto-Pause
The Assign Keys does just that, allow you to assign keys to specific actions, with no other features hidden in this submenu.
The Auto-Pause is also pretty solid. It allows you to specify when things should auto-pause. It also has the one option "Center on Party Member" that specifies an action to be taken when auto-pausing, so I'd like to see it moved apart from the options, but still on the same screen, like move it to the bottom of this screen, so the top actions are "When to Auto-pause" and the bottom option is "What to do when Auto-pausing".
And then there's the Feedback submenu, which got:
2 sliders in the top left:
- Marker Feedback
- Locator Feedback
A list of options on what feedback to provide in the chat:
- To-Hit Rolls
- Actions
- State Changes
- Combat Information
- Selection Text
- Miscellaneous
Another list of options in the bottom left:
- Colored Selection Circles
- Classic Selection Circles
- More Confirmation Prompts
- No Cosmetic Attacks
- Journal Popups
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Language category, with only 2 options:
- Language (list of options)
- Show Subtitles
It's pretty clear why people aren't aware about a lot of options. Everything is all over the place, tugged in wherever. A couple of examples:
There is a "Visual Feedback" section in the Feedback suboption of Gameplay, which lists a couple of options, while other visual feedback is included in the graphics page.
There is a "Feedback Messages" section in the Feedback suboption of Gameplay, which basically determines what is displayed in the message box and what is not. However, "Character Subtitles" go in there, but they're included elsewhere. You could make a case that they're Subtitles to Sound, and therefor fit in the Sound category, but if so, why aren't the Movie Subtitles there?
So, first, let's group up the options, and see how much options we have in various categories.
- Graphics. This category deals with HOW information is displayed on the screen. It shouldn't control WHAT information is displayed, that's more of an Interface element. (We may consider Interface a subelement of Graphics at a later time, but it helps to distinguish them first.) In it's core it's related to hardware settings, quality and resolution.
- Sound. Pretty clear cut, this category deals with when sounds should be played, and at what volume they should be played.
- Interface. This category deals with what information is displayed to the user, and how that information is displayed. This includes what is and is not displayed on the screen to provide information to the end user.
- Input. This category deals with the player's input. When input is requested, and how the input is dealt with. It's most certainly part of the whole UI, but it helps to at least gather the related options together.
- Gameplay. This category affects what actually happens in the game itself.
There will obviously be some overlap here and there, but let's go over the list. Note that this at first is just assigning the options in groups together, and not which option goes where in what menu.
Graphics:
- Full Screen
- Hardware Mouse Cursor
- Alternate Renderer
- Nearest Neighbor Scaling
- Scale User Interface
- Font Size (slider)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sound:
- Ambient Volume (slider)
- Sound Effects Volume (slider)
- Voice Volume (slider)
- Music Volume (slider)
- Movie Volume (slider)
- Command Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
- Selection Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
- Battle Cries
- Character Movement Sounds
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interface:
- Language (list of options)
- Tooltip Delay (slider)
- Marker Feedback (slider)
- Locator Feedback (slider)
- Classic Selection Circles
- Colored Selection Circles
- Sprite Outlines
- Highlight Selected Sprite
- Dither Always
- Gore
- Weather
- Group Infravision
- No Cosmetic Attacks
- Grayscale on Pause
- Show Character HP
- Show Health Bars
- Area Map Background
- Show Subtitles
- To-Hit Rolls
- Actions
- State Changes
- Combat Information
- Selection Text
- Miscellaneous
- Character Subtitles
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Input:
- Keyboard Scroll Speed (slider)
- Mouse Scroll Speed (slider)
- Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds.
- Zoom Lock.
- More Confirmation Prompts.
- All Assign Keys options.
- All Autopause options.
- Journal Popups
- Enable Cloud Saves
- Multiplayer Chat Box
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gameplay:
- Difficulty (slider)
- Story Mode
- Rest Until Healed
- Max HP on Level Up
- No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase
- Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack
- Full Screen
- Hardware Mouse Cursor
- Alternate Renderer
- Nearest Neighbor Scaling
- Scale User Interface
- Font Size (slider)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sound:
- Ambient Volume (slider)
- Sound Effects Volume (slider)
- Voice Volume (slider)
- Music Volume (slider)
- Movie Volume (slider)
- Command Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
- Selection Sounds (Always/Seldom/Never)
- Battle Cries
- Character Movement Sounds
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interface:
- Language (list of options)
- Tooltip Delay (slider)
- Marker Feedback (slider)
- Locator Feedback (slider)
- Classic Selection Circles
- Colored Selection Circles
- Sprite Outlines
- Highlight Selected Sprite
- Dither Always
- Gore
- Weather
- Group Infravision
- No Cosmetic Attacks
- Grayscale on Pause
- Show Character HP
- Show Health Bars
- Area Map Background
- Show Subtitles
- To-Hit Rolls
- Actions
- State Changes
- Combat Information
- Selection Text
- Miscellaneous
- Character Subtitles
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Input:
- Keyboard Scroll Speed (slider)
- Mouse Scroll Speed (slider)
- Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds.
- Zoom Lock.
- More Confirmation Prompts.
- All Assign Keys options.
- All Autopause options.
- Journal Popups
- Enable Cloud Saves
- Multiplayer Chat Box
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gameplay:
- Difficulty (slider)
- Story Mode
- Rest Until Healed
- Max HP on Level Up
- No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase
- Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack
All the 'visual feedback' options should be gathered together at the same location. That way, people know "Ok, these are the visual options, let me see if what I want is in here! If it's not, then it's not possible. In the current interface, they're spread over Graphics and Feedback.
I personally think it's best to gather them all in Feedback, and keep Graphics exclusively for stuff based on rendering and resolution, the hardware side of things. Optionally, though, the Feedback option could be available from the Graphics option, so people that think to look for that stuff under Graphics rather than Gameplay can still find it.
Sounds is obviously still sounds, but the "Character Subtitles" option is much more a feedback option that would really fit well with the other chat feedback options, so I'd suggest moving that out, and keeping the rest of the Sounds menu the same.
Likewise, Language is still Languages. You don't want this tugged away in some kind of submenu, as when the game is displayed in a language other than your own, the easier you can find this, the better. However, movie subtitles have little to do with the Language. If I don't want to change the language, I wouldn't know to go look there for movie subtitles. (Not to mention that the Language options menu is not available without quitting to main menu.)
The Assign Keys and Auto-pause menu work quite well, so we should keep them as is, except perhaps move "Center on Character" to the bottom of the Auto-pause menu, since it's not an "Auto-pause when ..." option like the others, but an effect that occurs when Auto-pause triggers.
So that leaves the Gameplay and Feedback menus. It makes sense to place all the options that can be considered "Feedback" in the feedback menu, and keep the rest in the Gameplay menu.
When we combine all that, we should get something like this:
[[[[[[[[GRAPHICS]]]]]]]]
FONT SIZE (slider)
DISPLAY OPTIONS
Full Screen (checkbox)
Hardware Mouse Cursor (checkbox)
Alternate Renderer (checkbox)
Nearest Neighbor Scaling (checkbox)
Scale User Interface (checkbox)
[FEEDBACK] (submenu button)
(Right side remains unchanged, with the Driver information up top, and the option details at the bottom.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[[[[[[[[SOUND]]]]]]]]
VOLUME CONTROLS
AMBIENT VOLUME (slider)
SOUND EFFECTS VOLUME (slider)
VOICE VOLUME (slider)
MUSIC VOLUME (slider)
MOVIE VOLUME (slider)
CHARACTER SOUNDS
Battle Cries (checkbox)
Character Movement Sounds (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
COMMAND SOUNDS
Always (checkbox)
Seldom (checkbox)
Never (checkbox)
SELECTION SOUNDS
Always (checkbox)
Seldom (checkbox)
Never (checkbox)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[[[[[[[[GAMEPLAY]]]]]]]]
KEYBOARD SCROLL SPEED (slider)
MOUSE SCROLL SPEED (slider)
DIFFICULTY (slider)
[ASSIGN KEYS] (submenu button)
[AUTO-PAUSE] (submenu button)
[FEEDBACK] (submenu button)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
Story Mode (checkbox)
Max HP on Level Up (checkbox)
No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase (checkbox)
Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack (checkbox)
Rest Until Healed (checkbox)
Journal Popups (checkbox)
More Confirmation Prompts (checkbox)
Zoom Lock (checkbox)
Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds (checkbox)
Enable Cloud Saves (checkbox)
Multiplayer Chat Box (checkbox)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[[[[[[[[FEEDBACK]]]]]]]]
TOOLTIP DELAY (slider)
MARKER FEEDBACK (slider)
LOCATOR FEEDBACK (slider)
VISUAL FEEDBACK
Classic Selection Circles (checkbox)
Colored Selection Circles (checkbox)
Sprite Outlines (checkbox)
Highlight Selected Sprite (checkbox)
Dither Always (checkbox)
Gore (checkbox)
Weather (checkbox)
Group Infravision (checkbox)
No Cosmetic Attacks (checkbox)
Grayscale on Pause (checkbox)
Show Character HP (checkbox)
Show Health Bars (checkbox)
Area Map Background (checkbox)
Movie Subtitles (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
FEEDBACK MESSAGES
Character Subtitles (checkbox)
To-Hit Rolls (checkbox)
Actions (checkbox)
State Changes (checkbox)
Combat Information (checkbox)
Selection Text (checkbox)
Miscellaneous (checkbox)
FONT SIZE (slider)
DISPLAY OPTIONS
Full Screen (checkbox)
Hardware Mouse Cursor (checkbox)
Alternate Renderer (checkbox)
Nearest Neighbor Scaling (checkbox)
Scale User Interface (checkbox)
[FEEDBACK] (submenu button)
(Right side remains unchanged, with the Driver information up top, and the option details at the bottom.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[[[[[[[[SOUND]]]]]]]]
VOLUME CONTROLS
AMBIENT VOLUME (slider)
SOUND EFFECTS VOLUME (slider)
VOICE VOLUME (slider)
MUSIC VOLUME (slider)
MOVIE VOLUME (slider)
CHARACTER SOUNDS
Battle Cries (checkbox)
Character Movement Sounds (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
COMMAND SOUNDS
Always (checkbox)
Seldom (checkbox)
Never (checkbox)
SELECTION SOUNDS
Always (checkbox)
Seldom (checkbox)
Never (checkbox)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[[[[[[[[GAMEPLAY]]]]]]]]
KEYBOARD SCROLL SPEED (slider)
MOUSE SCROLL SPEED (slider)
DIFFICULTY (slider)
[ASSIGN KEYS] (submenu button)
[AUTO-PAUSE] (submenu button)
[FEEDBACK] (submenu button)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
Story Mode (checkbox)
Max HP on Level Up (checkbox)
No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase (checkbox)
Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack (checkbox)
Rest Until Healed (checkbox)
Journal Popups (checkbox)
More Confirmation Prompts (checkbox)
Zoom Lock (checkbox)
Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds (checkbox)
Enable Cloud Saves (checkbox)
Multiplayer Chat Box (checkbox)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[[[[[[[[FEEDBACK]]]]]]]]
TOOLTIP DELAY (slider)
MARKER FEEDBACK (slider)
LOCATOR FEEDBACK (slider)
VISUAL FEEDBACK
Classic Selection Circles (checkbox)
Colored Selection Circles (checkbox)
Sprite Outlines (checkbox)
Highlight Selected Sprite (checkbox)
Dither Always (checkbox)
Gore (checkbox)
Weather (checkbox)
Group Infravision (checkbox)
No Cosmetic Attacks (checkbox)
Grayscale on Pause (checkbox)
Show Character HP (checkbox)
Show Health Bars (checkbox)
Area Map Background (checkbox)
Movie Subtitles (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
FEEDBACK MESSAGES
Character Subtitles (checkbox)
To-Hit Rolls (checkbox)
Actions (checkbox)
State Changes (checkbox)
Combat Information (checkbox)
Selection Text (checkbox)
Miscellaneous (checkbox)
I feel that this would make things a lot more organized by keeping options that are similar together.
There should be some space on the Gameplay screen in between the sliders and the buttons, but adding options in between there feels like it would be cramped. Besides, keeping it open allows potential buttons to be added at a later time (for example, Dragonspear UI++ adds a button there.
Post edited by Thels on
9
Comments
I don't know how adamant Beamdog is on keeping only 3 suboptions in Gameplay, else stuff could perhaps be split up into a 4th submenu, to make all those long lists of options less cramped.
I tried to visualise your final conclusion in a different way @Thels if I made a mistake, let me know...
Options Screen
Full Screen (checkbox)
Hardware Mouse Cursor (checkbox)
Alternate Renderer (checkbox)
Nearest Neighbor Scaling (checkbox)
Scale User Interface (checkbox)
(Right side remains unchanged, with the Driver information up top, and the option details at the bottom.)
AMBIENT VOLUME (slider)
SOUND EFFECTS VOLUME (slider)
VOICE VOLUME (slider)
MUSIC VOLUME (slider)
MOVIE VOLUME (slider)
Battle Cries (checkbox)
Character Movement Sounds (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
Always (checkbox)
Seldom (checkbox)
Never (checkbox)
Always (checkbox)
Seldom (checkbox)
Never (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
Feedback Submenu
Classic Selection Circles (checkbox)
Colored Selection Circles (checkbox)
Sprite Outlines (checkbox)
Highlight Selected Sprite (checkbox)
Dither Always (checkbox)
Gore (checkbox)
Weather (checkbox)
Group Infravision (checkbox)
No Cosmetic Attacks (checkbox)
Grayscale on Pause (checkbox)
Show Character HP (checkbox)
Show Health Bars (checkbox)
Area Map Background (checkbox)
Movie Subtitles (checkbox)
(Right side, keeping the options details at the bottom:)
Character Subtitles (checkbox)
To-Hit Rolls (checkbox)
Actions (checkbox)
State Changes (checkbox)
Combat Information (checkbox)
Selection Text (checkbox)
Miscellaneous (checkbox)
However I'd suggest to move the information / description panel to the bottom of the Toggles Area so that it is wider rather than taller. That way it can accommodate text better and it would avoid any issue of some languages having such a thin area.
So like this:
(Edit: Maybe also make the list of options on the left into buttons, rather than just a list, as that would avoid the horrible red highlight)
Maybe the colour red could also be changed based on the UI skin... So blue for BG1, red for SOD and Gold (with the text turning black) for BG2 ? At least it would be more fitting for the different skins.
My idea was just to move some stuff around, so it makes more sense. If we actually want to redesign the UI for this, then yes, a general setup like that would be lovely! I'd probably still assign the order a little different, and we can split it up into more submenus without a problem (I tried to sorta keep which stuff was where in the old interface, but there's no need in the new interface).
It does feel a lot more modern to have the options screen like that, but then, there's a reason modern games do it that way. It's convenient!
I'm assuming the existing options, and the following three added in somewhere:
- Item Comparison
- Item Recommendation
- Interface Skin
Are there any other new options we thought up, that I forgot?
EDIT: Split up Interface into Interface and feedback as discussed below, and changed autopause into a single column.
It makes sense to have this option at the top. If you're looking for the correct option while the screen is not set in your language, the earlier you find it, the easier.
Top left: Checkboxes:
- Each available language
Top right: Language credits/information
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[GRAPHICS]
Again, a focus on HOW graphics are to be displayed in general, without deciding WHICH graphics should be displayed. Mostly the hardware and resolution related stuff. The Graphics Driver information is part of this screen, so there's little room left for actual options.
Top: Panel with driver information.
Middle left: Checkboxes:
- Full Screen
- Hardware Mouse Cursor
- Alternate Renderer
- Nearest Neighbor Scaling
- Scale User Interface (Unless available as a slider, see below.)
Middle right: Sliders:
- (If it's possible to Scale User Interface in steps, rather than fully on or fully off, it would be nice to have it here as a slider.)
- Font Size
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[VISUAL]
All stuff that should or should not be displayed on the main screen:
Top left: Checkboxes:
- Classic Selection Circles
- Colored Selection Circles
- Sprite Outlines
- Highlight Selected Sprite
- Dither Always
- Gore
- Weather
- Group Infravision
- No Cosmetic Attacks
- Grayscale on Pause
Top right: Sliders:
- Tooltip Delay
- Selection Circles (= Marker Feedback. There's little sense in calling them 'Markers' in one option and 'Selection Circles' in another.)
- Character Arrows (= Locator Feedback.)
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[INTERFACE]
Tweaks to the interface and stuff to display here and there.
Top left: Checkboxes:
- Show Health Bars
- Show Character HP
- Item Comparison
- Item Recommendation
- More Confirmation Prompts
- Journal Popups
- Area Map Background
Top right: Empty.
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[FEEDBACK]
Text options.
Top left: Checkboxes:
- Movie Subtitles
- Character Subtitles
- To-Hit Rolls
- Actions
- State Changes
- Combat Information
- Selection Text
- Miscellaneous
Top right: Empty.
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[SKIN]
I'm a little stumped on how to do this properly, and get an example picture in. Perhaps if we changed the Description box for this screen only to be higher and less wide, we could have the possible skins in the bottom left, the description in the bottom right, and an example image dominating the top half of the screen?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[SOUND]
Everything that's actually sound should go here, everything else should not.
Top left: Checkboxes:
SELECTION SOUNDS
- Always
- Seldom
- Never
COMMAND SOUNDS
- Always
- Seldom
- Never
CHARACTER SOUNDS
- Character Movement
- Battle Cries
Top right: Sliders:
- Voice Volume
- Sound Effects Volume
- Ambient Volume
- Music Volume
- Movie Volume
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[GAMEPLAY]
Settings that directly affect the game itself, and perhaps some miscellaneous options.
Top left: Checkboxes:
- Story Mode
- Max HP on Level Up
- No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase
- Rest Until Healed
- Don't Melee After Depleting One Ammo Stack
- Zoom Lock.
- Allow Scrolling Out Of Bounds.
- Enable Cloud Saves
- Multiplayer Chat Box
Top right: Sliders:
- Keyboard Scroll Speed
- Mouse Scroll Speed
- Difficulty
Bottom: Description box.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[ASSIGN KEYS]
This screen changes very little.
Top left: Categories:
- Page
- Actions
- Miscellaneous
- Quick Slots
- Priest Spells
- Mage Spells
Top right: Category entries.
Bottom: Description box. (So it's moved from the top to the bottom.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[AUTO-PAUSE]
This screen changes very little.
Top left: Checkboxes:
- Character Attacked
- Character Hit
- Character Injured
- Character Death
- Enemy Sighted
- Trap Found
- Spell Cast
- Weapon Unusable
- Target Destroyed
- End of Round
- Center on Party Member
Top right: Empty.
Bottom: Description box.
It would be a total of 10 buttons (12 with movie/credits), in comparison to Pecca's example of 7 buttons (9 with movie/credits). Pecca's example has room for 16 buttons, before a scrollbar is required. (Is there room for that, in case mods want to add their own buttons?)
As for checkboxes to the right side, I guess I should try to make a mockup for that. The problem is that if checkboxes can only go on the left, we'll have screens with nothing whatsoever on the right, and either more options stuffed on the left, or more subcategories.
The scrollbar is quite a bit to the right to adhere to the "No Difficulty-Based Damage Increase", which is really a mouthful. The Interface and Autopause don't have such long entries (if you reduce "Character's Target Destroyed" to "Target Destroyed", so perhaps the left side checkboxes could be made a little smaller.
Of course, there's the Polish screens...
If push comes to shove, Interface could be split into Interface and Feedback (providing one more button), and "Center on Party Member" could be moved to the left side.
@Ravenslight: Fog effect? Is that part of a weather effect? Could you provide a screenshot?
The Center on Character option could simply be added to the left, or be a two line option.
INTERFACE and FEEDBACK would be rather empty on the right hand side, but I guess that's not really an issue.
EDIT: I've updated my earlier suggestion to match this.
Here are a couple threads, one has a screen shot.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/54294/add-option-to-diable-the-fog-effect
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/800081#Comment_800081
Screen that would probably require a different space setup is assign keys (with less width on the left and more on the right, also probably with some visual divider between the areas), and language (since the credits are rather text heavy). UI skins would not likely be problematic (wide checkbox area with clear name of the skin on the left and small sample/screenshot on the right).
However, for this thread, I think we should keep the focus on how we format the options screen, and not on which options should be there. To not dilute the discussion here, I'd recommend discussing the fog option elsewhere.
Current suggestion includes some room left and right for additional options, without having to add new tabs for them, and there's always the scrollbar for the checkboxes if needed (though I want to keep that to a minimum).
Isn’t it a new requested option, like item comparison and interface skin?
For the Skin, I was thinking that if you moved the checkboxes to the bottom left and the description box to the bottom right, you could have a larger example at the top (or swap top and bottom). But it could work with a smaller example, and besides, they could always click "APPLY" to see what it looks like.
Totally agree with Language/Assign Keys needing less width on the left side. They could probably both use the same window style of smaller left area, then a visual divider, then more space on the right side. Perhaps we should use the red bars here, after all? Using checkboxes seems really weird for Assign Keys. Alternatively, we could use a second vertical row of buttons for Assign Keys, and use checkboxes for languages. Maybe also move Assign Keys to the bottom, so the ones with the odd layout are not in between the ones with the identical layout.
I could add the "Fog" option in the options list if it makes you happy, but the pros and cons for including the option in the first place are better done in another thread.
(I'm not against including it as an option myself, I just want to keep the focus on this thread on the look and layout of the options screen, not on which options should or shouldn't be there.)
Also, some things aren’t major enough to have their own separate thread, yet have been mentioned in the general UI suggestions thread.
But yeah, if there's specific options that has received general approval, I'm happy to include them in the examples.
In Pecca's example, the text is left aligned. In the current options screen, the text is right aligned. While I prefer Left alignments myself, having the red gems float in the middle of nowhere feels odd.
Would placing the gems on the left side (before the text) be weird?
Just as long as it's consistent throughout all options screens.