project #1: help this game

[needmoreplayers]

who: for coders that play this game, and also has a full understanding of the problems that many players have with the game

goal: fixing one of the biggest problem with this game

how: there are many many different ways to do it, have no idea which is the easiest code way of doing it since dont know code


ux/ui problem: extremely basic usability and accessibility feature problem #1:

having a highlight around the active units makes it much more clear which units are the currently active unit (like how you see it in other games)

the highlight im talking about here could be anything that fixes or makes better this usability and ux/ui problem

- that means it can be a image (marker) added to a unit
- it can be a halo highlighted around a unit like you see in various other games
- it can be animation that highlight the unit clearer like you see in other games
- or one of the many ways to to fix or make better this design problem

this is a common problem for people that play games, i didn't know i needed to explain a basic thing (of different design ways of fixing this kind problem with this game)

many games already have this basic thing (when the coders and people in those game companies talk to each other when they are making the game)




lua can do some kinda deselection of units

It can't detect deselection -- https://wiki.wesnoth.org/LuaAPI/wesnoth ... use_button

wml cant do deselection --
'It can't detect deselection'

wml cannot do this: do something like this to label different units so they're easily visible?

[Shiki]

Sounds like the unitmarker add-on.
viewtopic.php?t=39771

[beetlenaut]

The mod Shiki mentioned should take care of your second question.

In regard to your first question, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. But, if you mean marking the unit that the user has currently selected, then you can't do it with WML. That's mainly because WML cannot detect when a unit is deselected (when the user right-clicks on an empty hex for example). You could add an image to a unit when it was selected, but you could not remove the image when it was necessary.

However, the selected unit's ellipse is highlighted, so ellipses might do exactly what you want. If you are not playing with them, try turning them on. The option is called "Show team colors" in the display preferences.

[Atreides]

It is highlighted yep, but it is a rather subtle brightening and doesn't stand out as much as some people would like it to. Pity WML can't do it... I'd have taken a shot at it else.

Hmm, just a moment. It can't detect deselection, but how about simply removing the indicator from the previous unit when a new one is selected?

[needmoreplayers]

is that something that's a limit within however wesnoth is currently coded or a limit of wml by itself?

within a game, someone who seem to have dev experience said that wesnoth uses c++ and wml, as a markup language, just references whatever is already within the c++ code

[Ravana]

You should be able to handle deselect with https://wiki.wesnoth.org/LuaAPI/wesnoth ... use_button

[needmoreplayers]

summary of code problem:

'marking the unit that the player has currently selected, then you can't do it with WML.'

ok i didnt ( fully ) understand what you were saying the first time around since it wasn't explained (and i dont know code)

this is my understanding of what you said about wml, and how the code works as it relates to the gameplay

- you're saying that wml cannot add an image/icon (marker) to a unit ('then you can't do it with WML' )



'That's mainly because WML cannot detect when a unit is deselected

- why would wml need to 'know when a unit is not selected' ?


'(when the user right-clicks on an empty hex for example).'

the way the msg was phrased and how the msg was explained made it very confusing

to a regular player, a unit is not selected when you dont click on it

this is how we players understand when a unit is not selected (in any game really)


after reading over what you said like 100 times, now i understand that when you right click on the game screen ( like an empty spot on a map),
this also counts as a unit not being selected

when a normal player right clicks on the game screen, they are opening up a in-game 'game menu'

the way that you communicated conflicts with how a normal player understands how the game works (from the player side), so it was very confusing



'You could add an image to a unit when it was selected,

earlier you had said that a player cannot add an image/icon (highlight marker)
but here you said that a player can add an image to a unit when the unit is selected

so now im confuse if wml can or cannot add an image to a selected unit



'but you could not remove the image when it was necessary.'

im going to assume that wml can add an image to a unit ?

and that the problem with code that i think you're saying
is that wml cannot remove the image (marker) after the player has added it

and, that is why, in the WC dagger blood post,
this WC 'dagger blood' code -- viewtopic.php?p=685309#p685309

that someone whoever made it in the past,
this may be why that coder had used lua in the past to fix this problem (but only for the wc map)


but am not sure right now,
since the whole problem with the code hasn't been explained by whoever are the coders

[Ravana]

Start creating it and develop it until deselect feature then.

[needmoreplayers]

'highlighted yep,
but it is a rather subtle brightening and doesn't stand out '

so this msg from someone else was about the ellipse (the circle under the unit basically)

this msg isn't about the image added to the unit (which is just 1 of the many ways to fix or help this the problems with the game )

Pity WML can't do it...

so this was about the ellipse (the halo, one kind/type of highlight)

so im not sure who exactly you were replying to
were you replying to the person's msg right before yours?
or were you replying to me?


Hmm, just a moment.
It can't detect deselection,
but how about simply removing the indicator from the previous unit when a new one is selected?

im not sure right now if this is about the ellipse (the circle under the unit basically)

or if this is about the image (marker),
and if you were replying to the previous msg before yours was talking about, where they were talking about the image (marker)?

so which were you talking about exactly?

because im not sure if you were adding onto the discussion of what the person right before you said about the image (marker)

or if your msg separate from theirs, and entirely about the ellipse (the circle under the unit basically)

?


fully explaining and being very clear in communication helps