Brainstorming time - what should the character screen look like?

[nppangband]

In working on the NPP QT port, I am ready to make the character/player screen. Its current form (basic character info, toggle screen to see key resists) that has existed since the late 80s is based on the limitations of an 80x24 screen. In a modern ui there is so much room for improvement, and so many different ways this screen can be implemented, I wanted to open it up to suggestions.

There are plenty of ways to display information outside of just plain rows and columns. The dialog box can use tabs, pop-up boxes, mouse hovers, mouse clicks, etc.

Here is my initial thinking, on which there is a lot of room for improvement:

The top of the character screen would be fairly similar to the initial screen. A mouse hover or click on some of the labels should bring up an explanation of that characteristic (explaining infravision, etc). The max experience row can be hidden if the player's experience is drained, and the experience to advance can be hidden if the player is level 50.

The second screen, which shows stat adjusts, resistances and abilities, can be a different section or a tab. But I think it should cascade down much longer, and display practically every relevant flag. For the weapons, the slays can be shown.

Part of me wants this screen to have one flag on each line, with the equipment, quiver, backpack, and perhaps the home inventory all shown on that line. So the player can look at all their items and see what they have that resists nether, etc. A mouse hover should bring up an explanation of that flag (e.g. Resist shards reduces damage by x%, and also prevents the player from being cut by shard attacks). I would like to improve on the current |---+-++-| way of displaying resists, but I haven't had any good ideas yet.

Eventually, I want to make a screen where the player could select from a section of drop-down boxes all of the possible items from their inventory, equipment and home for each equipment slot, and quickly compare the differences between what their character is wearing now and what they would be like wearing a particular kit.

Suggestions are more than welcome. There must so much that could be done with this screen that I have not thought of.

[Nick]

In FA, I have made it a coloured, scrollable copy of the character dump, which IMHO works quite well.

[getter77]

What about some manner of radial, zodiac-like display for resists with colored lines or some such being drawn out? No need for scrolling at all, works at a glance, and you can still mouse over for more details. There's a specific name for it in general, comes up somewhat in the jRPG circles, but it escapes me...

In general, visual flourish and style should definitely trump Spreadsheetism now that you lot are fairly unshackled versus the old days.

[Derakon]

How about a list that just says "you have this resist", "you don't have this ability", etc., and you can click on items in the list to switch to a view that shows you all the items you have/know about that provide it.

[nppangband]

Originally Posted by Derakon

How about a list that just says "you have this resist", "you don't have this ability", etc., and you can click on items in the list to switch to a view that shows you all the items you have/know about that provide it.

My thinking there is to separate the resists, immunities, abilities, slays etc. into different widgets. Then, each one can be sortable to allow the player to see what they resists they have and what they don't, or what resists are provided by a particular piece of equipment.

[fph]

Originally Posted by getter77

What about some manner of radial, zodiac-like display for resists with colored lines or some such being drawn out? No need for scrolling at all, works at a glance, and you can still mouse over for more details. There's a specific name for it in general, comes up somewhat in the jRPG circles, but it escapes me...

A radar chart?

[getter77]

Yep, I think that's roughly it---add some stylings to it and a picture of a character in that sense could definitely be preferable to 1,000 words.

Could group like and opposing things together as well and cover the entire lot of it.

[buzzkill]

How about a simple horizontal bar chart (or several), one for element resistances, one for status resists (FA, SI, 0 or 100%) , status effects (bless, haste shown as probable % of spell remaining), one for plusses (to hit/dam, stealth, shown as % of excess of natural ability, with peak ability determining scale). Something like this, in it's simplest form.

[bio_hazard]

Maybe a few circular charts:

basic 4 + poison
status resists
Exotic resists
Enhancements (sInv, esp, speed, attacks, accuracy,damage)

then a mouse-over or click could pull up the additional details of what gives the resist or by how much.

[Carnivean]

Originally Posted by buzzkill

How about a simple horizontal bar chart (or several), one for element resistances, one for status resists (FA, SI, 0 or 100%) , status effects (bless, haste shown as probable % of spell remaining), one for plusses (to hit/dam, stealth, shown as % of excess of natural ability, with peak ability determining scale). Something like this, in it's simplest form.

This will be the easiest to understand. Trying to overlay the items that affect the resistance, though, will make it messier. I'd list them below each resistance.

If you want to be more helpful you could make the list:
Worn (affecting current resistance)
-item 1, item 2, etc
Inventory
-item 3
At Home
-Item 4