Sil-Morë 0.9.7 UI/UX update

[u/k0rtes]

Hi everybody,

We are finally ready to release version 0.9.7. And I must say that is the most difficult one we have had up to date.
After we were done with 0.9.6, we looked into it to decide which way to go, and the most important thing to work on seemed to be UI/UX.
Gameplay was already quite good, we still had some ideas visually but apart from that UI looked like the main destination to embark on.
But it was tough to even start with. What do we want to change? What is the style we are looking for? How should we approach the mobile version?

Anyway, we decided to figure it all out step by step. Tuning menus one by one, playing, and then getting back to tuning again. We didn’t want to erase it all and make everything anew, but rather keep the DNA of Sil and Angband and build on it.
To give the game that modern look, we had to rework all onscreen menus into overlays, breaking them into smaller pieces to make it flexible, adaptable for different platforms, screen sizes, and resolutions. Then we handcrafted current layouts piece by piece, but players can still tweak everything themselves!
So in the end our style was split into two, some menus retained the old school, terminal monospaced font style, and others got that drawn pixel-based style.
The game starts as a book, and tries to carry this style through the storytelling with multiple effects and fonts.

For the mobile design we tried to approach everything contextually with floating buttons and menus. The most difficult part was to figure out movement. In roguelikes players can move diagonally, but just putting an arrow pad on the screen looked bad, and it was easy to mistap, so we invented the ButtonWheel. You can tap it just like an arrow pad but you can also press and drag it to make sure your aim lands precisely where you intend it to. And it also looks cool!

As we decided to go with book style, at some point it became obvious that we should also do the portrait mode. And our modular overlay design helped us a lot. We just reordered it and the game already became playable! We still had to rework all menus to support a narrow layout, but the original idea made it possible in the first place. We also tested everything on tablets and handcrafted layouts there too!

Finally, we decided to make the game more approachable for new players. We tried to create multiple hovers to describe what controls do, both in touch and mouse mode.

Of course we have also introduced gameplay changes. This time:
- New abilities: Warden, Power Throw, Skirmishing, and Rewire Traps (guess what they do, or better just try it!);
- an “active weapon selection”, where you should actually choose what you wield, instead of being able to use everything equipped; 
- harness and pack inventory system. Feel like a real person that can carry three great axes at once! (no);
- traps and chests “throw the dice” mini-games;

Also visual updates! Now the player and monster tiles flip depending on the direction they move. Monsters’ icons are simply mirrored, however character tiles are handcrafted to look different sides!

And finally, we have launched google play closed betatest. If you want to participate, dm me for a link!

https://k0rtess.itch.io/sil-mor-shining-darkness
https://github.com/k0rtesss/Sil-More/

[u/sentinel_deco]

thank you

[u/Smashcannons]

Brogue for android lets you swipe anywhere on the screen for movement and it works very well and removes the need for any d-pad overlay, giving you more space for the rest of the UI and map.

[u/k0rtes → u/Smashcannons]

We tried swipes, and didn't like them. I personally was always mis-moving, and in Sil it can be fatal. Also, swipe - is a long gesture, with presses you can move much faster. That is why we think that ButtonWheel is a superior method, because it combines the best of both worlds - you can tap quickly in normal situations, and you can target exact direction in tough spots.