[SUGGESTION] [PLAYER] Proper pre-assigned markers for trapdoors

[namida]

I put a poll up to see what kind of indicator people would most likely want to use.

[Dullstar]

I really like the idea of a mouseover indicator to show what an object is, but it might be best if the indicator is text-based (although making it editable by .nxp's might not be a terrible idea).  This would have the added advantage of creating less clutter.

A hotkey would work as well (actually, to be honest, I don't see why the two options would be mutually exclusive). I think this was mentioned already, but the mouseover could also be used alongside the hotkey to give more information (e.g. display a marker for a hatch with pre-assigned skills, then on mouseover, show which skills are pre-assigned). The only option I DON'T like is "always on."

[Nepster]

A few remarks after playing around a bit with the new markers:

1) Lower placement of the directional arrow
Currently one cannot see the arrow if the hatch is at the top border. So I would lower the arrow by about 8 pixels.

2) Use a light gray for teleporter markers
A light gray is better readable and causes less eye strain than pure white on dark backgrounds. I wouldn't use such a dark gray as in the link though.

3) A red "!" is the wrong icon and not terribly helpful
A red "!" is a danger sign (see the L2 shadow trap), which is not appropriate for hatches with preassigned skills. Secondly, it helps only a little bit: The player gets warned about preassigned skills a bit before seeing the first lemming (now that they have a different color scheme). But they cannot find out which skills these are until the first lemming appears, thus an important info is still hidden.
Not sure how to improve this though...

[namida]

#1 - Yes, I noticed this too (albeit more with teleporters than with entrances). The reason I elected to place it above the window is that there's less chance of interfering with important graphics (including the window itself). But I could try placing it below.

#2 - Do other people agree with this? It will be an easy enough change to make if it's desired.

#3 - It's not impossible to add icons that specifically display the skills. Just a bit more work, especially in the "making icons" department. Simon had a hunch before this version's release that people would want the full info up-front. Your thoughts here confirm that.

[Simon]

#2, teleporter markers: Mark pairs with colorful shapes, or with letters. If UI professionals believe light-grey on black is easier than white on black, then use light-grey on black. What happens when the level's bg is not black? Is the bg still dark?

#3, hatch shows all permanents: I feel it's good design to display all permanents. Main reasoning: When you need the info 100 % of the time, then don't show that there is info available; instead, give the info up-front. Remove indirection.

Most hatches assign nothing. Among the permanent-assigning hatches, most assign only 1 or 2 permanents. Make these hatches look good. I hope that nobody wants to disable these 1 or 2 markings.

The rules allow 5 different permanents on a hatch, zombie is a permanent. That's an arcane corner case. It's okay if a hatch with 5 permanents looks mediocre.

-- Simon

[Dullstar]

In regards to teleporter markers, it would be nice to have default ones that could be overwritten by the tileset if a custom appearance is desired.