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Chat System

Posted: 15 May 2005, 22:25
by Lenny Wang
This should be one of the top priority to work on.
We should be able to not just talk to people around us(in screen), but all in server with like certain command or something.

I mean. if I'm somewhere, I would like to tell a friend of mine to go there. I wouldn't have to like call him up or whatever. You know?

re

Posted: 15 May 2005, 23:44
by Bear
In otherwords, Whispering correct?, yes... this should be a high priority task /

Posted: 16 May 2005, 00:31
by Darrin
yes i agree its a pain qwhen your hunting with a friend they go to town and somehow you guys lose eachother..

Posted: 16 May 2005, 04:08
by ader
I want a Command /shout so anyone in the whole map can chat with me!!

Posted: 16 May 2005, 04:22
by Talaroc
If "/shout" is implemented, please also implement "/ignore shout" so that we don't all have to listen to everybody on the whole map.

Posted: 16 May 2005, 04:23
by Bear
if you have map chat you should change the chatting interface to...

Map:
Shout
Whisper
Announcment

So people can click the Whisper icon to avoid other people spam if they wanted to...

Announcments: Only shows Announcments made by Server/GMs
Shout: All people on the map can talk to eachother no matter their distance
Map: People on ur screen can talk to you
Whisper: People who whisper you

optional:
Party: Party members can talk
Guild: Guild memebers can talk to you

Posted: 16 May 2005, 06:51
by Talaroc
I'd say use "/say" rather than "/map," since people would be used to that. The "/party" and "/guild" ones should be in there, no question. And, of course, an "/ignore" command that can be directed at any player, or any method of talking (shout, whisper, guild, etc) except the GM announcements.

Posted: 16 May 2005, 11:09
by Rotonen
I'd prefer a graphical interface for the chat controls instead of /commands..

Posted: 16 May 2005, 21:42
by Talaroc
Either way, all the same options need to be present. And, speaking as an ex-MUDder, I'd at least like to have the option of using /commands, as I find it to often be faster.

Hm...idea.

Okay, so you've got a row of buttons by the chat window; "say," "shout," "whisper," and if you're a GM, "announce." "Guild" and "party" buttons can appear and disappear as they become relevant (don't need the guild button if you aren't in a guild). The buttons act as toggle switches, holding down until you press another button. Then, /commands can also be used, but they're one-time shots, rather than actually switching the toggle.

Example to make this clearer: I push the "say" button and chat away for a while. Then, I decide I want to spout out some inane comment to everyone on the map; I use /shout and type it in. After that, unless I continue to type /shout or hit another button, "say" is still held down and in effect on everything I say.

Posted: 16 May 2005, 23:14
by Bjørn
First off, allowing commands for sending to different channels would indeed be fine alongside the GUI solution. Below I've made a sketch of two options for handling chat:

Image

Basically with the first you select the tab and then see only the channel you're chatting in and your messages enter that specific channel. In the second all channels are interleaved in one chat history (using colors to identify the kind for example), and a dropdown allows you to select in which channel you want to chat.

Out of the few MMORPGs I've played, one was Saga of Ryzom. This game used a combination of the above, if I remember correctly. I think they used the tabs but they had one tab saying "All" which had the dropdown next to the chat input.

For private chat Saga of Ryzom used separate windows altogether. I'm not sure yet if we should do this too or that trying to integrate it into the chat window would be better. The problem with it is the dynamic number of people you could be chatting to, in which tabs can run out of space and a single interleaved channel can get messy.

Posted: 17 May 2005, 01:05
by Talaroc
I don't really have an opinion on the private chat stuff, but as for the sketches, I like the dropdown better than the tabs. Cleaner and all.

Posted: 17 May 2005, 02:21
by Kyokai
In guild wars they have a series of check boxes at the top of the chat dialog:

- Normal
- Whisper
- Shout
- Emote
- Guild
- Party
(or something sort of like these)

If the box is checked, then those types of chat are displayed. If the box is not checked, they are blocked out (they are still recieved, the chat window just doesn't display them. This works retroactively too, erasing past messages of these types from the chat window). This sort of setup is something we might want to seriously consider for TMW's chat UI.

Posted: 17 May 2005, 08:13
by Pajarico
I like the tabs approach by bjorn, including the "all" tab.

As for the method for talking, maybe a single text box and it would be sent as a announce|whisper|shout|... depending on what combination do you use: enter=normal, enter+alt=shout, enter+l_shift= whisper, enter+r_shift=guild....

Quests People

Posted: 17 May 2005, 15:14
by Lenny Wang
Hi. I've tried playing in bear8.no-ip.org last night. Did a quest(Bugs Leg). Anyways. Just a suggestion, hope no one starts getting mad about my suggestions, I'm just trying to help you guys, yuo know?

But yea. The NPC Quests people should also let you know what you have to do. I mean. First time I talk to the NPC, she tells me what I need. That's good. But what If i go to sleep and I forget, I should be able to talk to her again and ask her what I need. Like. You get an option when you talk to her

"I got what you need"
"What do I need again?"

edit: lol. I usually multi-task when i'm on forums(even other sites) as in have different parts of forums in a window, lol. Wrong place to post this, I replied, haha. Someone move it in suggestion or under Bear's topic about test server. I'll delete this and repost later when I get home if it can't be moved. Thanks. Sry again

Posted: 20 May 2005, 11:53
by Verious
I think the tab approach is visually more pleasing, easier to use for new players, and faster to switch channels; however, the drop down list will allow for significantly more channels than the tabbed approach (due to GUI limitations).

If there will be more than a handful of channels, the dropdown list will probably be a better solution unless you allow people to open and close tabs somehow.