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Author Topic: [Visual Feature request] Display a filling bar above Cogmind on matter pickup  (Read 4586 times)

Gokudera ElPsyCongroo

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Would look super cool to see this kind of feedback directly above Cogmind when picking up matter (and maybe when other instant bar-refilling events happen, like stepping on external battery and other stuff). Would also look consistent with the option to enable similar feedback when losing parts.

Maybe with a cool sound effect too!

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Kyzrati

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Welcome Gokudera!

Hm, I'm not entirely sure about this one...

Note that we wouldn't be able to have a "filling bar" of the type you're thinking about, since remember that Cogmind uses a terminal interface--there are no subpixels like that, just grid cells each with a character and single foreground/background color setting. So any indicator will take up space around you, space that holds other important info. I've thought about it a bit and it probably adds more clutter to the map when we have access to that info elsewhere if and when you really need it?

You do get the bar-filling animation in the HUD, as well as the specific number collected in the log (for matter), and it's pretty clear when you're doing this since it's on the map right next to you where you move, but adding a popup that takes up more room, and therefore covers more map space around you, during an action that can happen a lot probably ends up being too distracting and blocks your view. Combat-related popups (like part loss) are different, since those are taking place when most everyone is stationary anyway, and also conveying vital information (where collecting a little matter is not :P).

If something like this were added it would need to be off by default, accessible only via the advanced options, but whether or not it's worth implementing could depend on how many might get some use out of this, since it would take a while to do a proper job of it. I'd be curious what others think about this.
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Josh Ge, Developer - Dev Blog | @GridSageGames | Patreon

Gokudera ElPsyCongroo

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Remember that Cogmind uses a terminal interface--there are no subpixels like that, just grid cells each with a character and single foreground/background color setting. So any indicator will take up space around you

Oops, game is so pretty that I forgot about that haha. Hmmm maybe an alternative could be to display a small number the same way core damage is shown? This number could be the percentage of remaining matter (and maybe energy/core) after the action, instead of the absolute number. Not sure if map can display a percentage sign, though it's probably unneeded if it's an advanced option.

For sound I was mostly thinking about those other sound blessed roguelikes like Mystery Dungeon where picking up gold has an oddly satisfying sound effect. Though if the same sound effect played each time you collected matter I agree it could get annoying. To fix this mayybe sounds could be made like this:
- The first instance of matter picked could make a sound
- The other ones picked x seconds after that could make a smaller, more subdued sound
- Sounds could be louder/stronger (either by volume or by a slightly different sound, the second I suspect being more doable) when matter picked exceeds some thresholds (bigger matter chunks would yield stronger sounds).

Maybe same thing could happen in some instances of energy change, like stepping on batteries, and maybe core -- like some esoteric instances of core change that I discovered in Tone streams, no spoil :p
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Kyzrati

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Hmmm maybe an alternative could be to display a small number the same way core damage is shown?
Right, that's what I meant about this being unnecessarily distracting feature because it's to reflect a simple piece of info that's already reflected elsewhere (and should generally be obvious since you're running over it on the map) and will cover other much more important info, like objects and where you're going etc.


This number could be the percentage of remaining matter (and maybe energy/core) after the action, instead of the absolute number. Not sure if map can display a percentage sign, though it's probably unneeded if it's an advanced option.
Yeah total percentage is perhaps a more interesting alternative (and certainly '%' can be displayed, it's just a regular old character like any other, and we've got many on-map displays that already show this).

In general you're supposed to kinda keep an eye on your resource levels every so often regardless of what's going on, which I feel is a better approach--getting used to doing that instead of having it right in your face all the time, but that said some people do have a lot of trouble getting used to that, or even experienced players sometimes forget at certain opportunities... That said, it's mostly about values going down that people forget, rather than going up, which again should be pretty obvious since you see it on the map as you're moving over it (and the brightness of the matter also tells you approximately how much is there, in case you hadn't already noticed that bit).

Meh, in the end it's definitely an optional sorta thing which I don't feel would be a net positive as far as default behavior, but we'll see.
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Josh Ge, Developer - Dev Blog | @GridSageGames | Patreon

Gokudera ElPsyCongroo

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Those are valid points and yeah, noticed in my recent runs
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