Construction elements

    You can save default plank dimensions as preset


    Other than that there was a discussion in the German forum some time ago. The fazit was that its not necessary as with the presets you can easily get the plank Shape.

    Quote from yahwho

    Can you give an example syntax for this command please? :saint:

    Its part of the radial menu


    I think red said that since planks are basically flat blocks it's just a redundant shape. Space that could be used for more important shapes.


    And indeed you can get a plank in a second with presets.

    Quote from yahwho

    But there is no way I would know - as a noob - that that even existed.



    Edit: Don't get me wrong, now that I see it that's really powerful - love the fact you can texture scale! Just I think something needs to let noobs know that the radial menu even exists. People are lazy you know ^^


    You mean aside the announcement of the radial menu in several patch notes, Screenshots on the official trello board or multiple threads about it? :D:crazy::lol:

    I am referring to someone, who is not on the forums, is a casual gamer. Who picks up the game on Steam, tries to play the game without reading all the previous patch notes, trello board etc and then thinks "well this sucks" and then stops playing, or worse still leaves a bad game review.


    I mean do you read all the patch notes for every game you play? Maybe you do I don't know :crazy:.


    Game UX design should be "fool proof". That was the point I was trying to convey. :wacko:

    Quote from yahwho

    I am referring to someone, who is not on the forums, is a casual gamer. Who picks up the game on Steam, tries to play the game without reading all the previous patch notes, trello board etc and then thinks "well this sucks" and then stops playing, or worse still leaves a bad game review.


    I mean do you read all the patch notes for every game you play? Maybe you do I don't know :crazy:.


    Game UX design should be "fool proof". That was the point I was trying to convey. :wacko:


    I know what you mean;)


    I am sure red will put some efforts in a more expanded tutorial or help function ingame, once the new version is the official one.

    I agree that we definitely need more help texts and hints for the new building features ^^ A tutorial would be also helpful, considering some of the new building features are quite complex at first. That's on our to-do-list, and some of these things certainly should be implemented before the new version goes live on the store page :saint:

    (Apologies for wall of text)


    Thanks Yaromid :)


    Jep my main concern was with the ease at which it is to make planks - like in the Java version. Which IMO is quite a fundamental part of RW. I knew that is was possible (because I've player the Java version) and thanks to Avanar I have now worked it out. (And in fact the pre-sets that red51 has added are fantastic and will greatly help advanced builders).


    I still however, feel that a plank should be a basic object. Particularly for casual gamers and the proverbial noob.


    It's very easy to loose track of what is obvious to you and not obvious to others in interface design.


    For example, my plugin on MR has a tabbed user interface, which uses scrolls to show certain information. Players press R to bring up the Realms menu and then use Left and Right Arrow keys to navigate the menu.


    To me - it's obvious. It would be - I wrote it. There are nine scrolls, one is open and the others are closed. You Right Arrow and Left Arrow to navigate the menu - opening and closing the scrolls. However, there was a significant number of players I spoke to who did not know that you could use the arrow keys (even though this was explained in the Journal and in fact was a prerequisite of joining the server (it was on a T&C screen they had to agree to to join the server) - but guess what? Not everyone reads it!). This even included players who had spent days on the server.


    If I was to do it again, I would have animated left/right arrow buttons pop up to inform the player to use the arrow keys.


    I used to build websites as a way to pay the mortgage many years ago - one thing that always surprised me was you complete a website. Where you think the navigation is intuitive. You then show the website to a friend or family member and stand behind them. Then observe how they navigate your website. It is quite an eye opener to see what you think is clear which then confuses even the tech savvy of friends.


    Understandably The Unity RW is not complete. And tutorials will undoubtedly be added. But, and this is a big but. It's a well known fact that a lot of people do not read / skip tutorials (just like 99% of us don't read the t&c when we click accept).


    I just feel that RW should have planks as an out-the-box object. Maybe in Red's progress to date this is now too late to implement.


    20190329132750_1.jpg

    Quote from yahwho

    I just feel that RW should have planks as an out-the-box object.

    I think you just need to play the unity version a bit more and forget about the Java version, because planks as a separate shape is just ... a bit silly, why do we need two versions of the cuboid :drunk:? Most people are going to resize the shapes anyway ^^


    Btw. you can save a specific size in the radial menu (C) and load it.

    I fully agree that intuitive controls and a structured, self-explaining UI is extremely important. Having a tutorial is certainly not a full solution for this, because most players would probably indeed just skip it ^^ Although there are certain controls and features (like the "surface edit mode" or the pivot snapping) which would be a bit difficult to explain via tooltips and minors hints :/


    I also think that the building part is still too complicated for new players, although I'm not sure how to simplify it (while keeping its flexibility)... we definitely appreciate any suggestions in this area :D



    However, regarding planks, I'm not sure if there is really a need for them... basically planks are nothing but thin blocks, so isn't the regular block shape already sufficient? If we add a plank shape (i.e. basically a flat block), there would be enough reason to add a half block or half cylinder as well, but having too many shapes which are basically just a resized version of one of the default shapes could make the menu a bit unstructured...


    There was also a similar discussion in the German section some time ago, as mentioned by Avanar , but are there really so many use-cases for planks, i.e. enough use-cases to justify adding a thin block?


    Quote from yahwho

    I still however, feel that a plank should be a basic object. Particularly for casual gamers and the proverbial noob.

    Is there a reason why this would be helpful for causal gamers specifically? I'm not sure if planks were really widely used by causal gamers in the Java version... apparently most causal gamers mostly just used blocks back then (which were quite limited in the Java version)... if someone isn't used to the Java version, I'm not sure if he would really miss planks :thinking:

    Quote from yahwho

    I still however, feel that a plank should be a basic object.

    Das kann ich so nicht bestätigen und es wäre, wie Red schon schreibt, dann auch der Wunsch noch andere Bauformen in der kleineren Variante anzubieten. Dass würde darin münden dass sich das Baumenü aufbäht.

    Ich baue seit einem Jahr, 4 Monate in der Java und seit die Unity zur Verfügung steht, in dieser. Ich vermisse die Bretter nicht, denn sie zu erstellen geht recht schnell und auch jede andere Form lässt sich, nach ein wenig Einarbeitung, schnell herstellen. Wenn man die Unity erlernen und verstehen will muss man von der Java loslassen.

    yahwho The quickest way for me to make a plank, is the size command. Sure you could use the radial menu to save some sizes, but meanwhile I prefer size. I use the radial menu just to change the texture size, not really for more.

    And I miss planks and beams as well. ;)

    Personally I never used planks in Java Risen World, construction with only elements is much better than having two separate objects - for planks and blocks. Radial menu is much more comfortable to use than sets of command, shape copy is also very useful to construct elements from different materials in same sizes. I think that planks is a part that is not needed in modern Risen World

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