vbGore Free Online RPG Engine

Hi there,

I tried the example game, and something bothered me :

-You have to constantly switch between keyboard and mouse.
-Why shall we type "/accept" to accept a new quest ?
-Why don't there is a "close windows" button (in mail windows or inventory) ?
-You can't use tab when you are writing a mail.
-There is no icon shortcut to the inventory.
-When buying an item, a new windows with "how many items you you want to buy ? [input number]/cancel (total price)" will be usefull, instead of buying directly. And please show the player gold amount.
-The npc speaks in balloon, and in the lower left corner, and sometime in a new windows ("do you like me ?"). And the text is sometimes the same, sometimes not. How convenient.
-To read a mail, you have to be in front of the mailbox and click on it. It means you can't see the mailbox anymore but you are supposed to click on it. Why do not use "enter key" to read mailbox, get items or read signs ?
-To kill a mob you need to click with the mouse on it, then use your keyboard to be close to him, then press ctrl. To get an item they drop, or use an item, use mouse. Mouse/keyboard/mouse/keyboard.

Well, great work so far, but it's pretty annoying to use. In before "learn VB6 dumbass", that's not the point of vbGore.

Edited: Be nice, siulx... -Spodi

- The controls scheme is pretty weak, but its not really meant to be the one YOU use. Some games (more melee hack & slash) won't require any mouse while others (more target-oriented) will be heavily dependent on the mouse.
- You have to type /accept just because a GUI for quests was never made. Can only expect so much from one kid.
- I never added close window buttons since I personally hate them. Again, its up to you and your game.
- The lack of tab usage when writing mail is due to the lack of support for the tab character in mail, or any of the text drawing.
- Theres no icon shortcut for many things than just the inventory. I was going to make a window icon bar like most games have, but never got around to doing it.
- You can specify the amount to buy (and sell)... just can't remember how to do it. One of the other members can probably tell you.
- What do you mean the text is sometimes the same, sometimes its not? Rendered the same? Same text? Either way, just sounds like a bug.
- The mailbox implementation is just an example way to do it. You can easily change the accepted distance from the mailbox, assign a key to access mail, etc.
- The mob killing goes with the control scheme and how you implement it. Again, its up to you and what kind of game you make. I'm not sure why you have to switch, though. To kill melee, you don't need the mouse at all. To kill with spells or ranged attacks, right hand on the mouse, left on WASD - no reason either hand would need to move from those positions, and its not like using both hands at the same time is a bad thing. Also, item drops can be picked up with the keyboard. I actually don't even remember them having mouse support...

Also, moved to Feedback since it seems a bit more appropriate there.

Yes, I know we can edit everything, thanks you for providing the sources.
My point was that the default controls feels blurry and it's a shame, because except that you can make a map and add npc quite easily. Actually, you can make a little multiplayer game for severals friends to play with in less than a week (a game about one hour of dungeon-treasure-hunting. Ok, actually, we tried only ten minutes to hunt in customs maps, but it was quite easy). It's only the confuse control scheme who bother me.
The vbGore user should not spend his time to make a better interface while everything else is so perfect and easy :p

I mean, the default controls mustn't be so bad that we need to change it.
Want to change it because you want to have something else in your game=>Ok.
Have to change it because it's shitty=>Bad.



Uh, sorry for my english >_>
For example, we can see "I will give you a nice reward" both in ballon and in the lower left, but we can't see the advices that "crazy man" is saying.

Well, there is no real problems Thanks for your big work !

The text thing is actually intentional. You can specify where text appears for chat text - either in a bubble, in the text box, or both. You'll notice that its consistent with which appears where, which is a good indication of that it is intentional.

Bidou, VBGore is big and great mmorpg engine which allows you to change/add/improve almost anything you want if not everything...With a bit of programming you can do everything mentined in first post

:X spodi why? it was a funy frase "learn VB6 dumbass"

:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P

Well,

I don't know how one should setup some base controls...
My Game for example will be more controllable as in the Guild Wars Way,
some prefer Mouse-Movement a la Diablo
Others want a System like Lineage or WoW

Good luck satisfying 50% of those people xD

As for extending it,
I really found most of the required stuff already written in the code to add following simple things:
-Close Window Button
-Icon Shortcut to menus
-Extending the menu
-Changing controls/extending them
-You can target with E afaik, ctrl to attack, alt to loot, e to target next.
Hotkey/Skillbar can carry potions and spells etc Even Equip

i'd like to address that line first, because that is the point of vbgore. it's an engine. a framework. not a complete game. you need to get in the code and change things to work how you want them to work.

spodi has already explained why things are the way they are, but zanval just touched on something as well.
lets say you want strictly keyboard control and vbgore was coded only to handle that with no mouse support what so ever. someone who would rather strictly mouse control would have much more work implementing it and most likely be turned off from vbgore.
a while ago spodi explained why most of the features coded in are the way they are. everything is done in a generic non game specific way (character control/movement is game specific and subject to personal opinion). this means if there's something you like, the groundwork is there for it to be easily expanded on. if there's something you dont like it's still easy to remove.
to keep with the character control example, if you want your game to have only keyboard input, the groundwork is there to easily do that with only minor code modification. if you want only mouse control, the groundwork is there to do that with, again, minor code modification. if you want a mix that is just different than how vbgore handles input by default, the groundwork for both is there and can be done with minor code modification. you see what i'm getting at here?
the same goes for the /accept command. you may want a specific type of quest interface while the next guy wants something entirely different. only the core functionality is there so that you can build on it in any way you wish.

the more specific any feature of vbgore becomes, the worse of the engine is as a whole. you're not dealing with something like rpgmaker where certain core mechanics only work a specific way. with vbgore you can, and should, modify everything to fit the way you want your game to work. it's not meant to have a few graphics dropped in to it and call it a day. it's open ended so everyone who uses it can go in drastically different directions.

for the record, i think the default combat controls are fine. WoW works in a similar fashion. select a target with your mouse(cant trust tab targeting all the time) and use the keyboard to use skills.

Hahaha frustrating much.

Bidou please note - YOU are not the only user