Important UI fix

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CCK

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Been reading through the forums somewhat, but I can't take to much time off to see if someone has already addressed this. (If there is a way to cancel or "back down" a screen then it needs to be clearer because I've created ~10 characters, 1 specifically searching for it.)

* The user interface on character creation screens lacks any forms of cancel or back buttons. This is really annoying and more importantly it's the first thing that people who download the game will encounter. I don't know how it made it to version 0.7 something but it's really not a difficult thing to fix and it's very important if you want to get people to buy the beta.

All role-playing games on the market allow the users to fiddle around with their characters. Thus they start up the game expecting to be able to play around with their character until they think he/she is ready, but what they encounter is a rigid system with no chances of reversing their choices in an effective way.
The best example is perhaps that there is no option to go back for either the male/female selections or the selections for different professions.
A player who wishes to check out the different professions (most RPG players will) must start over 8 times!
Each time either by finishing the entire character and then immediately selecting new game or by using alt-f4!

For a game with M&B's ambitions these is a serious problem, and along with the sligth UI problems suggested in the other thread and a streak of bad luck for the player it's more then enough to turn a player away from the game.
Most people who download a ~40 mb game will expect very little, and even if M&B is very polished it's important that it starts to shine right from the start if you want to catch people’s attention. Thus UI tweaks to character creation and the starting town (like the ones suggested in the other town) are very important, and other improvements could be made as well, like spawning a party of 2 river pirates right in front of the town once the PC exists for the first time. (Easy first combat to get players used to the combat system, far to many people will ignore training completely.)

On a totally different matter, is the any kind of design document or any type of goal for the production crew? This game shows a lot of promise even in it's current form, but I can't help to think that it might be time to stop making a bigger gem and instead focussing on cutting in to a true diamond.
I'm a little apprehensive about paying for a promise (even despite how good it is) when there seems to be no clear vision on where it's going or when it's going to be done.

IMHO the three main points to focus on is:
* Perfecting the current combat system/AI
* Making the world seem more alive. (Cut 3d towns completely and have a nice looking 2d interface when buttons that can take you into 3d rooms as appropriate, there are no good reasons to have 3d towns because they aren't the main point of the game, it has no function and it's a lot of work to make them look unique.)
* Making a large dynamic quest system.

Then... PROFIT! (They deserve it.)
 
* The user interface on character creation screens lacks any forms of cancel or back buttons. This is really annoying and more importantly it's the first thing that people who download the game will encounter. I don't know how it made it to version 0.7 something but it's really not a difficult thing to fix and it's very important if you want to get people to buy the beta.

I'm a new player, started yesterday -- plan to buy the game. It really is too much fun. My concern echoes the previos posters and I'd love to see a back button or hitting ESC to go back a screen, something. Any alternative to exiting the game and restarting it. Keep up the good work!
 
I agree with the first part of the post, but I'll argue with this bit:

...
On a totally different matter, is the any kind of design document or any type of goal for the production crew? This game shows a lot of promise even in it's current form, but I can't help to think that it might be time to stop making a bigger gem and instead focussing on cutting in to a true diamond.
I'm a little apprehensive about paying for a promise (even despite how good it is) when there seems to be no clear vision on where it's going or when it's going to be done.

IMHO the three main points to focus on is:
* ... (Cut 3d towns completely and have a nice looking 2d interface when buttons that can take you into 3d rooms as appropriate, there are no good reasons to have 3d towns because they aren't the main point of the game, it has no function and it's a lot of work to make them look unique.)
...

I think it's great that M&B will constantly improve.  I actually dread the day when Armagan says 'this is it, all over' because there is no such thing as perfection, only improvement.  If there will be 300 new versions, each a bit better than the last, then HOW GOOD!!!  is the 300th version going to be?!  Damn right it'll be awesome!
There may be a lack of clarity about the game direction because Armagan has started implementing our suggestions from the forums.  OK, he was probably thinking about most of the stuff anyway but he's allowing user opinion to influence what he does with the game. 
3D towns - hell, I love it!  It's about immersion and realism, it's part of the whole RPG thing - if you argue against 3D on modern computing platforms, you might as well argue against any kind of graphics and stick to board games!
(ergh, didn't mean to sound rude, no offence meant)

 
I agree with a few points, but not all of them. I agree with "cutting the gem to a diamond" and not making it bigger, at least until enough improvements have been made anyway, but 3d towns have got to stay.
 
One ofthe crappy things about most games coming out today (or ever for that matter) is that you get a couple of patches, one or two over priced expansions, and that's it, end of story.  We essentially get a patch and an expansion every three or four months for free, and it probably has several of our ideas in it.  And yes 3d towns are part of the point of the game, or at least will be once they are filled up with people and stuff. 
 
If anything, I'd like to see bigger towns, with some random people walking around. And smaller hills in towns, it looks quite silly to have houses halfway underground :smile:

The "back arrow" issue has already been pointed out before, and I agree it's a very important one.
 
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