How do you like your point and click interface?

If you where playing a point and click adventure now what interface would you like. the classic scumm "look at","talk to" etc bar at the bottom of the screen or the pop up icons with a right mouse click like later lucas arts games? or maybe something different?

I think you should go with the popup icons. If you plan to sell the game that is.

But if I were designing a game for the casual market I might use an even simpler interface.

something along the lines of
MASH THE KEYPAD TO WIN THE GAME, FATTY
eh sswift?

i quite like the beneath a steel sky interface, its a free game for the Tig source retro demakes compo, its a demake of silent hill. Im demaking it as Amiga point and click adventure called noiseless mound :O)

The intelligent sort where you click on something and it knows, or if a choice is needed then a choice of icons appear.

hmm yeah thats what i was thinking but i guess the only way to see if it works is to try it? thanks

Yeah, definitely context sensitive for me. I doubt it would be an issue for most adventure gamers unless it was particularly unwieldy, but context sensitive does seem to be the most common choice these days.

I like the oldskool Scumm interface (yeah like Steel sky). Context sensitive could work if done right, but I absolutely hate the way they did things in the latest Sam and Max games. You never feel like you figured anything out because its just a matter of exhausting a few single click options. There's not enough choice.

An interface should be designed so that you don't have to move the mouse much. Have all most used functions around the mouse cursor.

i think its a chase of balance, i always thought that the scum interface in monkey island had to many options. interact would have covered push, pull and use. ok there where some puzzles that require you to push and pull stuff in a set way but not much.

I love the Sierra action panel thingy :)
But I always thought that for the ease of access + to maximize interactivity the verb coin thing would to nicely, but not for selecting action BEFORE using an object. Like, you have to click on an item first and THEN the interface pops up with probable actions. Maybe 3-4 actions per object (Examine, Take/Use, Talk/Eat or use inventory). Think something like Leisure Suit Larry 7, but with icons instead of words (It's prettier that way :) )

ok im getting some good ideas here, taking in whats been said i think a context selection on a per object basis.

So if you say click the mouse on a piece of paper it would pop up a a small set of icons for "examine" and "pickup". but if you say clicked on a character it would give you the icons "talk to" and "examine" for example.

the inventory will prob be like beneath a steel sky at the top of the screen and only pops down when the mouse is at the top of the screen.

any improvment to this idea welcome, thanks

I would say that if you are going to have choices per object then have at least 3 at a time. Since if you're going to just have 2 then that can be easily substituted for right click/left click (See "Broken Sword" 1 or 2).
So maybe if you click on a character the options should be something like Examine/Talk/Punch in the face.

Oh, so you've played Myst too?

I guess from all adventures i've played so far i liked the one in The Dig the most. It uses icons instead of verbs and hides and shows these up easily. On the The Dig fansite there somewere is an interesting interview were they were talking about an alternative method they wanted to implement. A very interesting approach but it needed more work on the design side.

Context sensitive actions are okay to a certain degree but it shouldn't be too much as otherwise, especially if there are no inventory puzzels like for instance in TTG'S Sam&Max, it quickly tends to feel more like a movie instead of a game. There always should be enough left for you to do.

Anyway what i never liked were the interfaces they used in the later Monkey Island games for instance or in Full Throttle were you had the medal on the screen were you could select your actions from. Very disturbing and in my opinion with The Dig they already had a better interface. I also wouldn't go back to the pure verbs icons as they weren't wisely choosen and just don't look good anymore.

So my suggestion would be doing it like in The Dig (a few nicely accessible action icons or the idea they also had in mind as an alternative) or like in the Sam&Max adventures (hidden context sensitive actions without any disturbing graphics) but with inventory puzzels.

Ah Taumel man.. The Dig... WHAT A GAME. I can't remember how good the control system was, but the atmosphere was amazing. The art, the music, the story. Brilliant. Still well worth playing today. Sorry... back on topic.

I'd use a Curse of Monkey Island style verb coin interface, coupled with a permanent inventory bar at the bottom of the screen.

Which always blocks the content on the screen whilst you're using the interface? Nah!

That's an art issue. You don't need a whopping great coin or giant icons to make use of the verb coin functionality. Also, I'd argue that a permanent inventory bar forces the main scene space to adopt a slightly widescreen ratio, which only improves the appearance of the scene.

To a certain degree but it's also a design problem and i've never seen a well working implementation of this and better solutions have been thought out already.

I very aware that if your not careful context sensitive clicks can make the game to simple and just a case of find and click watch a movie.

I will install the dig again, as i dont remember the interface thats probably a good sign. most interfaces i remember for the way they fail at what they were designed to do or how bad they looked.

You also can take a look at the newser Sam/Maxes. They give away the episode 104 for free.

-> http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/lincolnmustdie

ok i cheak it out, I think broken sword and broken sword 2 are very poor games because of the lack of options the interface gives you. the only thing i liked was the little icons that you clicked to ask someone about a character or item.

I replayed The Dig recently and surprisingly remember the interface being crap :) Everything else is just as good as it was back then.

I prefer the context-sensitive 'smart' single mouse click.

I liked the old lucasarts "look at / push / whatever" buttons at the time, and didn't mind the 'click and select an action' that the later monkey island games used either, but after replaying some of the old adventure games not too long ago I can definitely say that I don't care too much for those anymore.

the delays picking the action you want get kind of tedious after a while, and there's been plenty of adventure games our there that proof it's not necessary to do it that way.

Sam and Max for one just uses the single-click for everything now.

I wouldnt look to the new sam and max games as an example on how to do an adventure, i didnt like it and most people i take to dont rate it ether. interactive movie anyone?

Considering how successful all the Broken Sword games and both seasons of Sam and Max have been, you might want to broaden the range of people you talk to. Otherwise, you may end up with something which your friends love and no one else does.

I'm tellin ya, make it simple! Games like Myst and the 7th Guest sold bazillion copies for a reason, ya know.

Is it really necessary to make the player click use before clicking on a lever? Why not just assume they want to pull it?

And if the lever is broken, and they have a wrench in their inventory, why make them go through a bunch of motions? Just let them click on the wrench, then on the lever.

The only thing the old game interfaces allowed you to do was make bad games, with puzzles that made no logical sense.

I need the context sensitivity to keep myself sane in those games....

Wasted too much time in the older LucasArts titles trying to figure out their non-logical puzzles by trying every possible inventory-combination/action on everything to figure something out where it would have been more simple if it was done in the sense that Sswift just described.

It also gets very annoying to hear your character constantly complain/dismiss every action that isn't allowed within the game's script.

"I'm not putting my lips on that..."

It depends, i do like some of the older interfaces but i also can enjoy a more simpler thing like in TTG's Sam&Max. In the end it comes down to the puzzledesign and so if it's feeling more after an adventure or an interactive movie.

For instance i do love inventory puzzles and playing around with a few well thought out action icons but on the other side you also can design a game were this is done automatically for you but were the brainer is done outside the inventory. It really depends on how you design your adventure. If you keep this in mind then also one click interfaces work, if not then you're likely heading torwards the interactive movie thing.

Play Azada 2 when it comes out in 4 days and see how they do it. It will sell a Gazillion copies too.

Gray Alien: As this thread suggests im making a point and click adventure. im new to blitzmax would your framework help me in anyway and if yes what would it do for me?

I wish Azada 2 every success it deserves but there are rumours that it might be too hard for the casual crowd so that Gazillion might be hard to achieve.

cheers
Roman

I don't know Azada or Azada2 but from the screenshots it looks like a point&click but not like an adventure. I can't see any revolutionary concept from the screens and honestly it looks after casual in a negative way.

I'm currently making a point and click game myself, although its an RPG. What I do is use right clicks as interaction type actions (pick up, talk to,etc.) and left clicks for examine type actions. Then, everything is added to a inventory or a journal, which can be navigated by a side menu.

I don't know if thats useful to you but I figured I'd put my two cents in since I'm making a point and click thing too.

Here is a screenshot .

The 7th's gues claim to fame is more that it was one of the first games to actually take advantage of the massive size provided by those new-fangled CD-ROM drives, and was pretty.

I wouldn't necessarily take any playability tips from it -- what sold copies was that it was pretty eyecandy, nog that it was a great game.