More Menu Work - Improving Discoverability
Added 2019-07-13 07:38:35 +0000 UTCThe last few days I have been working on streamlining the key menus of Lab Rats 2. I showed off an early version of the main gameplay choice menu (the one that says "talk to someone", "do something", etc.), and yesterday I changed the person interaction screen to use the same system. It is now divided into "Chat for a while", "Do something specific", and "Special actions" categories, removing the sub-menus for both chatting and role specific actions. Keeping with this theme I am working on the menus surrounding the clothing designer and hope to have that finished tomorrow.
My reason for redesigning these menus is more than just removing unnecessary clicks from the game. I also want to improve what I will call "discoverability" of options within the game. When a player starts Lab Rats 2 for the first time they won't know all of the interaction options the game provides. If these options are hidden in a sub-menu that they don't have a reason to interact with they won't realise it exists, which deprives them of interesting gameplay choices.
Improving discoverability of options goes beyond helping new players. Some actions are only available in certain locations or to certain special characters. If these actions are hidden away in a sub-menu (as they currently are under "special actions") you have to actively check in every possible location and time to see if there is something new. By displaying those options in more often used menu it is more likely that the player will notice a new option without having to seek it out.
While I'm on the topic, discoverability is addressed in other ways as well. Choices that are disabled but display why let the player know what is possible and how to achieve it without them needing to use trial and error. Random events in the game may prompt the player to use systems they haven't before. For example: being asked to design an outfit for a character to try on. Hints or references can also be included in dialogue to encourage the player to look for new possibilities.
That's all I have to report on for tonight. I've got some other improvements and additions in the works but I'll save those for a future post!
Comments
I noticed that the high capacity upgrade adds 2 trait slots, but it says only +1 trait slot?
2019-07-17 09:14:57 +0000 UTCLike in this picture, for example. https://ibb.co/rvDNRG4
Pat Patrick
2019-07-16 20:48:59 +0000 UTCI have been following this project for a long time, and I want to say that with the introduction of unique characters (family / Stephany, etc.) the game has become much better. There are enough problems, but the main obstacle that prevents me from becoming a patron is these terribly small pictures (we're talking about a porn game here!), which, moreover, are located near the edge of the screen! Why not place the characters in the center instead of this terrible oversized GUI?
Pat Patrick
2019-07-16 20:45:55 +0000 UTCJust noticed cousin Gabrielle is married and has 2 kids! Not bad for an 18 year old lol I wounder why she is still living with her Mother :P
phalicobject
2019-07-13 23:00:04 +0000 UTC- Fixed sister morning event calling "fully naked" dialogue path even when she had undrwear on. She still comes out in her undies and the dialogue says she is naked!
phalicobject
2019-07-13 15:32:57 +0000 UTCWhile you're in there can you remove the extra click from the travel screen? So I can just click on a place to go there, instead of always having to mouse back to the bottom of the screen for confirmation? (That's the only menu that works that way.) The other big dialogue nuisance is that a lot of them overflow, especially during sex scenes. There either needs to be bigger boxes or some sort of dynamic pagination.
Dubsington
2019-07-13 14:58:50 +0000 UTC
