What was the special menu in Quake 2 Weapons Factory?
While brainstorming how the UI for devices might work for WFR, I first took a look at the original special menu in Q2WF
For example, the Cyborg class special menu has 3 options.
1. Drop plasma bomb
2. Go Kamikaze
3. Cancel Kamikaze.
You have the option to press 1, 2, or 3 to select your choice or you can use the [ and ] keys to move the selection first, and then hit enter.
In this case, when selecting 1. Drop Plasma Bomb, a nested menu provides 3 new options to choose short, medium or large for the detonation time. A longer detonation means you'll probably blow up nearby enemies easily, but they have a longer chance to run away.
As the for Marine, we have an option to Set the Alarm and when we place it, it changes to Cancel Alarm. This is a bit inconsistent with the Cyborg Special menu, because How can I Cancel Kamikaze if it hasn't started yet? Why doesn't set alarm show Cancel Alarm before setting it?
Either way, This kind of white text menu selection doesn't really work well in modern games. Therefore we must deviate from Q2WF authenticity here.
Using Reference from Quake 2 Remastered
After doing some research in some other games like Prodeus, Destiny 2, and Fortnite the past week.. the one that stuck out as the most compatible for WFR was from non other then the quake 2 remaster itself. Luckily this game just released in time for me to use it as reference. Take a look at it how they achieve special menu options and a convenient weapon switching menu for console devices. I haven't played on console, but I'll likely just match it.
On PC, these menu's are activated by Holding Q for Special options and Holding E for Weapon Switching, and selected by moving the mouse with convenience auto switching based on the angle.
Device Control UI for the Alarm
Using the above as a literal reference, I did a mock up using Roblox UI elements to see what I could achieve.
Here, we demonstrate;
How the device control menu opens and closes
Selecting multiple options (test test test is temporary)
Setting the alarm and activating it on the wall
A "Dummy Red Player" triggers the alarm within a certain distance
The Player Cancels the Alarm, which blows it up like a grenade.
Next steps for the device menu?
This is a dynamic menu that is designed to work for each classes device configuration settings. The cyborg class sounds like a good next test because it is the most complicated one with nested menu's, as shown earlier.
The following are tasks created for future device control:
Use a mixture of icons and text in a future polish pass of this menu.
Add some subtle sound Fx when selecting an menu option
Polish the main UI elements used.
Add logic to support if we have not set an alarm, we should not see cancel alarm. This could be the indicator of "is an alarm activated?". However, if later on we implement upgrades to allow 2+ alarms.. we'll want some level of flexibility here to work for those cases.
What's Next in Quake 2 Weapons Factory Roblox?
Lots of UI Menus incoming. In the month of October, I want to begin running through the rest of the 9 classes including their weapons, grenades and devices. In order to do this swiftly, I'm going to implement a first pass UI for:
Weapon Switching Quick Action UI, which is mutually exclusive of the device menu.
Team Choice UI when joining a game with a loaded map.
Class Choice UI, which will likely integrate as part of the team choice UI.
Bonus is a Quick Action UI that allows the user to quickly choose a specific audio clip that is specific to their class.
More on the Bonus Quick Action for Audio Clips
For those of you that have not played Q2WF, for each class there is a set of 20+ audio clips to play at specific times based on what is happening in the game. Only your team can hear it and each audio clip is designed to help communicate something beneficial to your team. Things like:
On Offense!
Have Flag need an escort now!
On Defense!
Enemy Spotted at Balcony!
Laser Defense Activated!
Cyborg Reporting
etc
Because 20+ clips is way too many to choose from.. I've so far thought of this idea.
A menu that allows the user to select a category of audio clips to use that are generic, possibly 4 to 8 options max. The more specific ones for enemy spotted could be only valid in the many area types when you have your cursor over the enemy and you hit a button to share that you've spotted the enemy. The game will then know that they are at the balcony for example, and play the correct audio clip to let the rest of the team know. This will make it a bit more convenient vs trying to find the proper hot key or option menu that says "balcony".
It's going to be a fun-filled month of UI work and I'll likely have another update next weekend.
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