Здравствуйте (Zdravstvuyte = Hello)
Native English speaker, but I'd like to acknowledge our talented devs and supportive community. I'm happy to have found this project and glad to be allowed to participate. This game, this world, or even universe, is a wondrous thing to behold.
To that end, I'd like to put my 2¢ in on something that is surprisingly quiet; that radio. We pick it up early in the game, and we keep going back to find/examine/use it. The problem is, we have to dig it out every time.
IRL, when I have a radio, it's clipped to my belt or fully wired with a headset, not stored in the bottom of my backpack. It's as if our avatar is somewhat clumsy and does not find a way to make the radio more useful.
Being a UI/UX person, I've studied the "comms" trope of many games. Lots of AAA titles make communications fully transparent (voiceovers and portraits, along with printed words, when communications happen) Others, like SWTOR, have a pop-up icon to show when NPC communication is prompted. In many cases, the function of communications is fully integrated into the on-screen interface, or HUD. That's what PG is missing right now.
So, in a nutshell, the suggestion is to get rid of the radio-in-my-inventory mechanism, and move to a more natural radio-is-an-extension-of-my-senses. Use the same ghost-overlay messages as we already have, but make the call-by-radio action more convenient, such as its own hotkey or a UI presence, like an icon. The radio can still be an inventory object, but make it less of a "use this" item, and more like an unlockable. (once I have radio, I can now use radio function)
Also, there's a quick poll that you can answer for our collective amusement...
Native English speaker, but I'd like to acknowledge our talented devs and supportive community. I'm happy to have found this project and glad to be allowed to participate. This game, this world, or even universe, is a wondrous thing to behold.
To that end, I'd like to put my 2¢ in on something that is surprisingly quiet; that radio. We pick it up early in the game, and we keep going back to find/examine/use it. The problem is, we have to dig it out every time.
IRL, when I have a radio, it's clipped to my belt or fully wired with a headset, not stored in the bottom of my backpack. It's as if our avatar is somewhat clumsy and does not find a way to make the radio more useful.
Being a UI/UX person, I've studied the "comms" trope of many games. Lots of AAA titles make communications fully transparent (voiceovers and portraits, along with printed words, when communications happen) Others, like SWTOR, have a pop-up icon to show when NPC communication is prompted. In many cases, the function of communications is fully integrated into the on-screen interface, or HUD. That's what PG is missing right now.
So, in a nutshell, the suggestion is to get rid of the radio-in-my-inventory mechanism, and move to a more natural radio-is-an-extension-of-my-senses. Use the same ghost-overlay messages as we already have, but make the call-by-radio action more convenient, such as its own hotkey or a UI presence, like an icon. The radio can still be an inventory object, but make it less of a "use this" item, and more like an unlockable. (once I have radio, I can now use radio function)
Also, there's a quick poll that you can answer for our collective amusement...