Hi, yes, you're welcome to make many posts in a row, each is valuable and appreciated much.
Thanks.
Ideas for directonal-select buttons: Right, it's what you've suggested. I imagine the button to take one click, then either be active until it's deactivated, or be good for only one assignment. For more fine-grained and fast assignments, the user should learn the hotkeys, as usual. The dead-space problem you're suggesting is very real. (To compare, skill buttons never become dead space, since they show information.)
Thinking about
removing modifiable spawin interval: The idea isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. L1 and ONML have Flow Control, which is a single level out of 220 to be designed entirelly around it, and the harder WAFD need it too. Killing only one level is acceptable for the greater good.
The critical opinion is how player-modifiable spawn interval helps execution, and people have reported 5 to 10 levels from the 240-level community pack where it's integral to the solution. When culture has grown over the design, the culture locks the design in place.
(To compare this with one-way arrows: I don't have one-way arrows either, because I deem them unnatural and weird to draw. That doesn't stir up opinions as much as culling the spawn interval. A few level ideas won't be possible, but the level design space remains wide open still. It's harder to take them out than not introducing them in the first place.)
Exact setting of spawn interval: I've taken this as a feature request. The spawn interval in-game buttons could be replaced by a single button. This pauses the game and opens a modal dialog (hehe) where the user can precisely set the spawn interval. Or something. But precise control is a must, if we want to keep the user-changable spawn interval at all.
Tutorials to introduce directional select: We have this in the batter tutorial, and we want to make a dedicated tutorial level at some time. The longer the tutorial session becomes, the fewer people will play through it all. OTOH, even if it's discoverable from the main UI, people might disregard it as hard-to-use via buttons, and not bother to learn it either.
Tutorial for right-click scrolling: This is new even to players who have played other Lemmings-like games. Those won't play through tutorials, but would need to know it still. The only alternative to tutorials seems to be aggressive advertizing for RMB-scrolling whenever the user scrolls a lot with the screen edges.
Button for right-click scrolling: Very interesting, could be doable. Let's see what ideas this spawns.
As last resort, tinker with edge scrolling: RMB scrolling and egde scrolling can be selected independently in the options menu. Per default, both are active. I want the user's instinct to lead them to an implemented scrolling method. I could make the edge-scrolling speed option faster by default, so RMB-scrolling becomes less of an improvement. Alternatively, I could disable edge scrolling by default, but I'd rather not do that.
Mantra about GUI design: Correct, hiding non-critical stuff in menus is normal, and the functions discussed in this thread are too time-critical for a menu. The hotkey/RMB is the correct trigger. The button would
only be for discoverability. Of course, this leads to the question: If discoverability is the problem, not having the button per se, there is maybe a different solution. Excellent push into an important, fresh direction.
Anyway, thanks for your valuable input, also for the IRC discussion. I have had guests over in real life, I'd have participated more otherwise!
-- Simon
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