Uru redefined! Proposal list - add your own thoughts.

[Christian Walther]

1. About the cursor, this comes from the unnatural time it takes to turn one's self around. In real life, turning a head is instant, having to pan to the left or right is unnatural and more importantly a serious stiffener of gameplay.

I have no trouble spinning around more than 360° in a split second. Perhaps you need to turn up your mouse sensitivity? (Or are you talking about the time it takes to turn by keyboard?)

And while I'm at it:

2. The circle cursor I vote to be reused.

2.1 Add a dark element to it so that it's also visible on light backgrounds (e.g. book pages).

[Grogyan]

Its already well known that the KI is much need of a massive overhaul, something that we were all looking forward to in the next season of MOUL.
I wasn't part of that beta so I don't know what problems that KI UI had, but i'm sure it can redesigned for our purposes.
We have just so many talented people around, that maybe some people may be willing to take on that interface

[D'Lanor]

The current KI interface has about 1000 lines of associated Python code which will have to be totally rewritten. In Plasma GUIs are hardly flexible. It is not as simple as making a new skin for existing code. I am pretty sure that is why Cyan never touched the KI once it was finalized. I hope to be proven wrong but I don't expect a stable new KI interface in the next 4 years.

Personally I think the KI is fine as it is. It may not be intuitive but I am used to it and can operate it in my sleep by now.

[Mystified Explorer]

Here's my 2c worth...

1. Cursor should be fixed within the center of the screen. This is to allow instant/natural mobility. By right clicking, one can detach the cursor and scan without moving, much like in Myst V or in other series like the Elder Scrolls.

2. The circle cursor I vote to be reused. While I contemplated bringing back the grabby hand, I believe the circle is more effective in the real time environment (like when finding hotspots) and simply more subtle/less intrusive graphically.

I entirely agree I also reckon that the interface of Uru should be in general more customizeable. It would be good if we could choose from the current style or the style there. It would be cool to be able to customize the keyboard controls too, but I don't know the logistics for that

3. I've posted some mockup designs of the basic look of a new player screen in the arts section. http://guildofwriters.com/phpbb/viewtop ... f=6&t=2591

I like those designs alot I really am not a fan of the current interface - its not very immersive and looks somewhat cheap. It would be great to have some kind of concept art in the loading screens and stuff in general to contribute to the dry, earthy, Mystlike feel

1. I vote that the old KI design be reinstated.

Agreed. No offence to Cyan, but the current KI design is terrble. Its clunky and confusing at the best of times. It badly needs fixing. On the whole I liked the old KI design.

1. Link sound effect should be the Riven one. It's just plain cooler. Even Robyn stated that that one was an improved evolution of the original.

I loved the Riven link sound! I was disappointed they ditched it in Uru.

1. Bring back the old original Myst K'veer pillar design instead of the sunbeam one from Myst V. There should also be 5 red pillars in the each enclave.
2. Bring back the original Great Tree design. The old one resembled much more a mouth of a great beast - sort of like the Deku tree (from Zelda).

I'd have to agree with what's been said. I like the Myst V design As for the great tree, I would be happy with either

1. I have an idea for an expanded Kadish, where the remnants of Kadish's mansion could be explored.
2. Expanded Teledahn (of course)

I agree with both Kadish has alot of unexplored potential with all of those doors, and Teledahn is an awesome age full stop.

3. Descent. I have a couple ideas for this too.

Please expand on those I reckon the Descent has so much untapped potential. I was disappointed by how it failed to really integrate into the game. I'd love to explore the shaft and the tunnels in detail. There's potential to have so much story/immersive content there too.

As to the logo and title, I loved the original concept of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. That to me was by far the most apt description of Uru. I hated the Myst Online: Uru Live thing. Even Uru Live as a standalone name just plain sucks. The name of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst establishes exactly what Uru is. It is not a Myst game, it is a spinoff from Myst using the lore established in those games to create something new - something "Beyond" Myst. Uru: Ages Beyond Myst was definitely the best name IMO. I also loved the original Ages Beyond Myst logo. Changing the name to "Myst: Uru" or "Myst Online" was a very bad idea. Uru is not Myst, Uru is Uru.

Art and overall theme

What I want to recapture is the spirit, charm, and subtlety of the first two games.
During Mudpie, much of this spirit was thriving - a high point following the newly established ideals brought forth by people such as Rich Vander Wende during the production of Riven.

I would tend to agree. During those MudPie days I was so excited. At that time Uru and Uru Live looked like a rich, detailed and immersive game. Granted, it was still very good, but it had so much untapped potential. I reckon the lack of money situation and the cancellation(s) and subsequent failed revivals destroyed much of that immersion and "new" feel. Uru has been largely exhausted in its current form - it needs some re-inventing.

1. Firstly, I'm in favour of the atmosphere being a lot more dark and dry.
1.1. This means an overhauled, out of game interface.
1.2. A return to more realistic/Jules Vernian style content.
1.3. A warmer look overall.
1.4. Much more focus on D'ni culture and its presentation in the books.
1.5. Unlike in recent trends, I want the world first, then the puzzles. Give me a place that could be on Earth - meaning a place with stuff in it.
Then, integrate some gameplay mechanics into an already established story and location.
1.6. More stuff to examine, read, flip through - more objects of D'ni origin.
1.7. For the time being, a serious break from the Yeesha/Bahro side of things.
1.8. A reinvented commercial look - darker, more to the point, more artistic liberties.
1.9. Rooms, rooms, and more rooms. Visual storytelling at its finest. I want to simply immerse myself in junk, debris, drawers, papers, beds,
lamps - anything that belongs to a believable civilization where people lived.

1.1 - What exactly did you have in mind?
1.2 - I would tend to agree with that one, but in the end its up to those who make the content.
1.3 - Agreed. I'd also like to see a much more immersive and earthy kind of look - overhaul loading screens and general windows.
1.4 - Also agreed.
1.5 - I agree with that. I love to see a place with detail and story, rather than a place that is there just for the sake of being there, with token puzzles not really connected to the age. That said, though, game and puzzle ages are fun when done well
1.6 - Definitely.
1.7 - Ugh I am so sick of Yeesha and the Bahro. The Myst series and weird stuff like that don't go well together. Myst, Riven and Exile were all very much down to earth in terms of their stories. They were believable. No growers. No Bahro. No weird yeesha tricks like time travel and stuff. The relto book and stuff are all ok, but i never liked the grower stuff.
1.8 - Also agreed
1.9 - Also a great idea Although it's all a balancing act between that and other elements.

I think as well as the above stuff we should also focus on trying to make Uru more playable - add more games and replay value, and it also would bee be cool to see the city develop, see stuff opened and fixed, the lake get lighter etc, but these are all random ideas

One more thing. Someone HAS to fix that horrible texture outside the library. It looks really bad.

Overall I just wanna see Uru reach its full potential as both an MMO and an adventure. I really hope it can work this time

[Nalates]

There are camera and chat (type and voice) systems in other games that are way better.

SL's and Open Life's camera systems are similar. In 3rd person view one can press the ALT key and move the mouse to rotate the camera around and up and down the AV. Actually one can click the mouse on any object with the ALT key down and swivel around it and zoom in and out (CTRL-LM). It is great for looking at things and taking pictures.

Chat in SL has many nice features. Being able to select a "friend/buddy" name and open an IM chat that only we can see. There is a more advanced feature that allows one to select several friends and open a combined chat for the impromptu group of people, which is very handy for all sorts of exploring and RP situations.

[Nadnerb]

The 'total freedom of camera' found in SL is not suitable for Uru. SL is somewhat of a world without the normal kinds of game-imposed restrictions. In SL, it is possible (and quite easy) to move your camera miles away from your avatar and closely scrutinize objects and players from incredible distances. In Uru, this ability would be equivalent to having flymode. Uru ages are based on the idea of restricting where the camera can go in order to keep immersion and make the world appear boundless/larger than it is without actually being so. There are changes that could be made to the Uru camera, controls, but this is not one of them. Some things, like locking the camera to a specific distance from the avatar, rather than a specific position relative to the avatar when in 3rd person default mode, are.

The on the topic of the chat features, however, you have a valid point. I always thought it would be a good idea to create 'chat groups' other than the buddies list for purposes of group exploration. (you don't want to spam all the buddies that aren't exploring with you at the time, but it's a pain when you're not all in the same age to keep them in the loop) SL happens to accomplish this sort of thing nicely with either the chat related specifically to a 'group' (which has many other features) or the 'conference call' which can be started simply by selecting a group of online 'friends' (buddies). My preferred implementation of this in the KI would simply create another folder in the player section which would contain any number of nameable player lists which could be populated in the same way as the buddies list. This would be used to broadcast messages to groups of players.

[Jojon]

No doubt many events organizers would appreciate such an opportunity to have an arbitrary number of buddies lists.

[Lontahv]

Yeah, I really like the idea of groups other than "Buddies", "Age Players", "Neighbors" and "Devices".

Basically, SecondLife gives you power like the AdminKI (minus the power over other players). If everyone had that power, and abused it, Uru would be a very hard to take place. I think Uru's player navigation is great. I like the idea of changing the KI a bit but think the idea of rewriting it is rather a pipe-dream. In my opinion life is too short to rewrite something that's already 80% good. Modding should suffice.

[Aloys]

"80% good" is a matter of perspective.
To me the KI is 80% broken. And by broken I mean buggy and unresponsive. (although there are some design issues too, but that's a different matter)
The most annoying bugs include the scroll issues: chat area suddenly scrolling back to the top for some reason, the player list also scrolling back to the top whenever someone links in/out etc.. Those bugs have plagued the game for litterally years under various incarnations, it's be high time for them to be flagged as 'type A bugs' and die a horrible death.
Just fixing those 2 bugs would enhance the chat experience a whole lot.
Also a bigger problem (and probalby more difficult to fix) is the general unresponsiveness of the thing.. And I'm not talking about those really busy game session with dozens of people connected slowing down the server and the client; I'm talking about *general* client-side GUI unresponsiveness. Scrolling through a list or browsing through the interface takes forever (much like in the Nexus interface BTW, coincidence?). Even when the players list doesn't suddenly scroll back to the top scrolling all the way down to click a name is a real patience test..
Also I never understood why the mouse wheel scroll hasn't been implemented (both for the chat area, the player lists or throughout the ki) I guess there must be some technical obstacle because that'd be a great navigation help.

Finally: please please please for the love of all that is holly and sacred, someone add proper support for internationnal keyboards layouts! Not being able to type such basic punctuations mark as ? ! or even ( ) stopped being funny on day 1.. (unfortunetly that day was also many moons ago) I'm sure the 60 something % of non-qwerty keyboards users out there will agree..

[Lontahv]

Yeah that ^

I meant to imply I thought the KI wasn't something ready to be destroyed and remade (no telling the bugs of new KI code) but rather to be patched... with many bandages.