A better chat system

[Xolon]

I like to see a better chat/message system in the game.

The one there is now has some big dis-advantages;
you have to choose, playing or chatting. This can lead into nasty situations.
If your killing monsters in a party, you like to communicate about strategy etc while hunting those monsters. But now u have to stop and typ your message. This is not funny if your fighting a monster and your trying to ask for help/heal.. it means you have to stop and typ the message while the monster can finnish you.

I like to see a message system like they got in the game Helbreath. Its easy to use and difficult and easy times. The different collors they use also helps u to understand what \'kind\' of message it is (aka: pm, general, guild, etc..) .
Although u might want to add a nice friendslist like in runescape to it.

I hope you understand what my idea/point is.
Its a lot nicer to have a message system we can use without having to click on a special part of screen or press special buttons to activate it..

-Xolon-

[acraig]

The only problem I see with this is when dealing with hot keys.  Maybe you want to have \'I\' to open your inventory.  How can we tell if you mean to open the inventory or type a chat message.  

I guess we could make all hot keys use CTRL or ALT and anything else is sent to the chat window.

I have not played Helbreath so I cannot comment on that, perhaps a little more detail here and maybe a screenshot would be helpful.

As for colours, that can be an option at some point.  Shouldn\'t be to much of a problem later on.

Chatting is a very important area so we will go through several different phases/improvements

[Fantasyfiend]

I would like to see talk and thought bubbles like in comic books, so if they\'r talking, the bubble is solid, but if they\'re typing what thy think, it could look like a cloud.
I personally like the chat system in UO its basic and works well.

[Xolon]

I write a better description tonight, including some screenies..

-Xolon-

[Vengeance]

acraig,

EQ and DAOC have a system whereby the focus is more or less always in the main world window, but if you hit Enter or \'/\', then the focus is set to the entry field in the chat window.  People hit Enter to start saying something, and / is the first character of an emote or command anyway.  That seems pretty simple to implement for us as well.  Thoughts?

Venge

[acraig]

Yes, we could probably do something like that so when you hit \"Enter\" focus is shifted towards the chat window.   ( or any other key, really ).   I guess after the second enter the focus could leave the chat window or should it stay there?

[ParaSite]

In other words, the same system that is used in every First Person Shooter and most Online RPG\'s around

[Zark]

mmh i think Enter to engage chat mode and Esc for quit the chat mode like in Dragon Raja

[boonet]

I think the focus should always be on the chat window, where \'/\' is for emotes/chat commands. Everything you type on the keyboard goes there.
Game commands are all using a \'ctlr\' or \'alt\' + another key combination, to make them different from chat commands (if you\'re in the middle of typing a sentence in chat window and hit \'clrl\'+key, you execute the game command, but as you release \'ctrl\', you can continue chatting from where you stopped).
The \'F1...12\' keys could be shortcuts defined during the game by the user, i.e. \'say help to all guildmembers\' (chat string) or \'eat the Amazing Salami of Foresight +3\' (game command).
In alternative you could use marking menus: context-sensitive menus activated by i.e. a continued spacebar hit. Some parts of the marking menus are fixed, some other parts are customizable. This marking menu doesn\'t make a complee sense if you haven\'t seen them in action, but they work very well. Refer to the new pop-up menus used by MAX or the standard A|W marking menus to see what I mean in action.

[Vengeance]

Having played some of these games, I really don\'t think you want to hit two keystrokes every time you want to attack or cast a spell...  (i.e. Ctrl-Shift-Y = attack).  Having the Enter and / keys shift focus to the chat window works well and gets to be such a habit that people do it even in Mirc after a while...

And yes, acraig, the focus would go back to the main window after they submit their line of text (Enter again) or if they decide not to (Esc)...

Vengeance

[Xolon]

if u want a key to activate it, enter would be the best key for it i think.
but as i said about using no activation keys is also available, you can use the F1-F12 to open your invent etc...
Also it shouldnt be a whole key combo, just to say hi to a guildmember. In HB they got special keys for it, wich are not often used in other games and are easy to reach;

@           - guildchat on same server (green text)
^           - guildchat in whole game (green text)
/to \'nick\' - activates pm chat (grey text)
/to         - de-activates it
/fi \'nick\'  - ferify ID, to see if some1 is online
!            - global chat (red text)
~           - city chat (blue text)


These are the most used (there a few more, but there for other things..). The \'!\' and \'~\' u can see as the shout command. Because HB i based on 2 cities wich are fighting each others, there 2 chats; !: for both cities and ~ for only your city. If u use one of these the message will been seen on the whole server.
I looks difficult for new users but its actually very nice to work with.

hmm...forgot what i wanted to say more...well, off to work. screenies will come..

-Xolon-
         

[Barak]

If you make it, screenies will come...

Well, I really only quasi-understand what people are talking about, but one thing I agree with is the huge pain it is to type in a live-action game. Too many times I get sniped while typing. Would it at all be possible to have the game pause while you go into \"chat\" mode. Not where they would pause the whole server, but like you\'re character\'s invincible while talking or something like that? Barak think\'s that everyone should talk in third-person to make everything clearier, yes Barak does.

Peace

[Xolon]

if that option would be reality, player will abuse it.
I you noticed you gonna die in a fight, you just opens up chat-mode and become invisible. You wont die, and can wait till the bmonster is gone.
nah, having a pause mode might be handy, but isnt the best solution in my eyes..

-Xolon-

[Vengeance]

Don\'t chat while you\'re under attack dude.

:-)

[Xolon]

Here are two HB screenies with some of the chat differences in it.


This one has the \'allied\' chat (blue) and the normale chat in its shot.
You see that the normale chat is only visible above the player (and in the chat history, not visible here..).


This pic. has the guildchat (green), the general chat (red) and some info text (on the bottem of the screen).

-Xolon-