Ok ... this should be a simple one

[Aznakh]

Ok, i think that the PS GUI is great ... except for one little detail which keeps bugging me. In my humble opinion a spell shortcutbar would be no luxury.
Since now a healing spell has been implemented, and as the game progresses there will be intense combat situations in which sometimes for instance a character will have to step out of melee and heal a suffering companion. In this instance it would take too long to open the spellbook and fiddle around to find the correc spell and .... well you see where I am getting to.
So it would be really grand to have that handy tool implemented. And besides .... think of those poor people who will want to make a magic oriented character.
I think it would greatly enhance the GUI, and it would save a lot of screen real estate to enjoy those beautiful environments.

[Kirk]

You can use the existing shortcut bar to create a \"spell shortcut bar.\"  Just enter the spells in the following format and click on the button when you want to cast.

/cast Life Infusion

[Aznakh]

Yes ... but what I mean is a dedicated spellbar with icons. It is proven that People react faster to icons then to reading text.
Besides people will be using their shortcutbar for other purpouses as well.

[Archon]

Besides people will be using their shortcutbar for other purpouses as well.

Tis why there\'s so many clear options.

Also, a lot of the shortcuts set by default aren\'t used anyways by the majority of the people, so edit them. Allow the top half of the shortcut bar for spells, the bottom half for things you don\'t need to be in a rush for. ^^.

[dfryer]

The GUI is definitely under the process of revision, if I understand correctly.  A spell-bar isn\'t a bad idea at all... or even icons for spells if they\'re in the shortcut bar, who knows?

[Nikodemus]

Make it so that, user can make as many shortcut windows as he wish with as many shortcuts in them as he set.
One could set it up in window which would also list created windows, allow to create new, delete and modify.

Further, in the current shortcutedit window, make option if the the background should be default or not. This way shortcuts could have eighter text only, text and unique background image or unique background image only.
There would be imput box where user would enter name of the image (eg blast.png, freeze.bmp or heal.tga). The images would be stored in one of the planeshift directories.
This directory wouldn\'t be zipped like the skins are. It is really annoying to edit them and the saved space is really minimal as all the GUI images are png format which are compressed already (also partially transparent pngs are larger than original after zipped )
This way would allow for altering not liked images and creating new.

P.S. As for vieving the available images, you may make ingame simple tool or left it to players who can use not ps related image vieving program.

[Aznakh]

Actually I was thinking about a shortcut bar with something like 10 spells which you can randomize by dragging/dropping the spell directly from your spellbook onto the bar.
It is proven that the average spells used by a magic oriented character is around 9.
We might also implement eventually a memorization system in which a player will have to make a choice between several spells.
Just a tought.

[Wired_Crawler]

Hmm... Hmmm...
I am writing this to let you know, that there are players with different opinions. I say \"no\" to spell shortcutbar. I would prefer to see spell casting more \"natural\" and harder than one mouse click.
Instead of having delay in the form of progression bar I would like spells to be like the following (forgive me grammar errors etc.):

/cast Life Infusion \"By the Power of Laanx! Light forces come forth and lend Your healing mights to your servant. Let wounds of this warrior be cured.\"

Yes. Exact phrase should be typed every time. Ban \"/cast\" from shortcuts, remove icon for casting. The more times You type the same phrase, the faster You become (your brain will learn even if you don\'t understand a word). If you misspell single letter - you fail to cast the spell or have... an accident. At the higher level of knowledge the phrase could be shorter, for example:

/cast Life Infusion \"/me waves with his left hand keeping his right eye closed.\"

And at the highest level:

/cast Life Infusion

(Hehe, do you remember Hallmark\'s \"Merlin\" ?)

Ah, and I\'m almost sure, that nobody will agree with me.
\"Arghhh., how am i supposed to win against swordsman with /cast ?\" My answer: do not duel until You have high magic skills.
\"How am i supposed to kill the beast with /cast ?\" My answer: have a companion, wich will keep monster busy, while you do spell casting.
What with copy/paste or similar techniques ? Roleplayers will not do that, others will always find a way to bypass obstacles, no matter, how hard it will be.

[Keyaz]

for some reason as I skimmed this I had some form of spark in my head... think they call it a \'thought\' :]

I wonder if it would be possible (even if it is a pain in ol\' backside) to actually make an ingame GUI builder, for instance, you have a default GUI but in a section of options you can add \'blocks\' to the gui, different sizes and shapes, and also add a variety of buttons, of which once put in place, you give a use, thus being fully customiseable per player, buttons could be used for a variation of combo attacks, an array of mass destruction spells, a dance routine, whatever the player desires!

a little OT but hey, I did have a thought, thats rare xP

[Aznakh]

Actually keyaz I started a GUI Wish thread on the link hereunder

http://www.planeshift3d.com/wbboard/thread.php?threadid=21061&boardid=11&styleid=3&sid=5c2393d92ad8251285fb59cfbe161d9d

[NeilBryant]

Originally posted by Aznakh
Actually I was thinking about a shortcut bar with something like 10 spells which you can randomize by dragging/dropping the spell directly from your spellbook onto the bar.

That would still work with Nikodemus\' suggestion (I was also going to suggest allowing icons in the shortcuts), you would just need to make drag-and-drop enter the appropriate shortcut (ie, cast for a dropped spell)

[arcain]

or maby just like a lil box that holds all your saved spells and all you have to do is scroll for the one you want and click on it...and then you can rearange them to your liking and stuuff