[fgt.Lochverstaerker]

Being bored (and trying to prove the superiority of CircularGearSelectionScreensâ„¢), I designed an Urban Terror gear selection concept. So, why not also share it.
The general idea of this is to be newbie friendly and easy to learn (being able to choose layouts quickly).

Check it:
http://imgur.com/a/pqYQA/all

By grouping the weapons together, it's pretty newbie friendly because I imagine a new player would be easily overwhelmed by having to choose between 14 different possible primary weapons. It's way easier to decide between e.g. just 4 automatic weapons or 3 sniper rifles.
It's designed with a cursor (and possibly numbers keys) in mind and I tried to keep mouse movement minimal.
For example if you want to select a primary, you most likely want the LR300 and for that you only have to click 3 times in roughly the same spot ("Primary", "Autos" and "LR300" wedges all roughly overlap each other).
Or selecting a sniper rifle you probably want the sr8, so "Snipers" and "Sr8" wedge overlap each other.
Generally more desirable (more used) options are closest to the previously selected option.

The reason why it's circular and not a list or grid is because humans have a much easier time remembering spatial positions than a position in a list and "directions" in a circular selection screen are easier to remember yet (also circles are sexier).

Obviously you would display pictures of your current layout on the "(0)" screen and grey out unavailable item (grenade) slots or unavailable (already selected) items within the item selection.

PS: I hope there will be flash nades in HD
PPS: WTF is "fs79"???

inb4 cs:go ripoff

This post has been edited by Lochverstaerker: 04 February 2016 - 08:44 PM

[FS BladeKiller]

I like this idea. I think it would be very easy to use.

[FS Zenity]

I doubt that a circular layout is ideal for us, but in general I agree with spatial memory and using large and clear mouse friendly areas to click.

Using sub categories for weapons is only really worth it with a lot of weapons, and I doubt that we will have that many functionally distinct weapons. We may have a lot of weapons which differ only in minor or cosmetic ways, but in that case something like a slot system where you can replace a weapon in a slot with a related weapon would make more sense than to clutter the weapon selection screen.

There are two factors why a circular layout is more effective in CS:GO:

1) They have a lot of weapons which makes sense since economy is a factor and many weapons differ primarily by cost.

2) Because you have to buy your items quickly between rounds, being able to do so quickly by memorising the locations is more important than intuitiveness.

Another thing is that presets don't work well in CS, because what you can buy always depends on a specific economic situation. That brings me to my next point:

For HD, I believe the ideal setup is to have a loadout selection that focuses more on intuitiveness than speed, while also offering the ability to save presets in slots which can be selected instantly during the game.

[fgt.Lochverstaerker]

Zenity, on 04 February 2016 - 08:54 PM, said:

Using sub categories for weapons is only really worth it with a lot of weapons, and I doubt that we will have that many functionally distinct weapons. We may have a lot of weapons which differ only in minor or cosmetic ways, but in that case something like a slot system where you can replace a weapon in a slot with a related weapon would make more sense than to clutter the weapon selection screen.

I agree, with less variety in weapons it wouldn't be the best idea to unnecessarily group them into sub-categories, my main idea however was to make it newbie friendly: If i first start a new shooter and am asked to select my gear, i probably want an automatic weapon and deciding between 4 guns is much easier than having some kind of list with 10+ different weapons of which some are strictly worse than others and some I don't want to play with (if I want to select an automatic gun, I don't really want to "scroll" through sniper rifles).

With a smaller amount of guns or mostly differences in cosmetics or minor things, I would suggest a dropdown menu that opens after selecting a gun with different cosmetic/minor "add-ons" that can be applied.

Zenity, on 04 February 2016 - 08:54 PM, said:

2) Because you have to buy your items quickly between rounds, being able to do so quickly by memorising the locations is more important than intuitiveness.

Do you consider a circular selection counter-intuitive? Because I think it's easy to wrap one's head around something like that.

Zenity, on 04 February 2016 - 08:54 PM, said:

For HD, I believe the ideal setup is to have a loadout selection that focuses more on intuitiveness than speed, while also offering the ability to save presets in slots which can be selected instantly during the game.

Giving players the opportunity to easily save presets would be great (not sure how many players do this right now using configs), but I still think speed is important. When I play Urban Terror I use different loadouts, but if I want to change something, it's a minor change most of the time (like switching laser to silencer or selecting a different pistol) and often times I do this at the beginning of the round so time is of the essence.


Of course I don't know how exactly UrTHD will look (or how many different weapons there will be) and I'm not able to test different ideas, so I'm just trying to share some, maybe someone will feel inspired.

This post has been edited by Lochverstaerker: 04 February 2016 - 09:22 PM

[wTf|beautifulNihilist]

I disagree wholeheartedly [edit: with Zenity].
I've been playing for some time and I do not save gear binds. I would much rather have a super fast menu like this than the long menu that 4.3 is currently trying.
Most of the time I change gear it's a very small change; swap out a laser for a medkit, change from an M4 to an AK but leave everything else...
This looks very fast and easy to use and perhaps even less confusing if secondary-grenades-items' cost done in a way that makes sense.

The long list setup we have in 4.3 RC3 right now is making me look at binding gear. It's just too slow.
I like big click-me pictures with numbers and I'd much rather not have it commit changes until I CLOSE THE WINDOW.
In 4.2 any server with flood protection eats your gear changes on the next life, and this is not news to anybody.

This post has been edited by beautifulNihilist: 04 February 2016 - 09:23 PM

[[SQD]dynomite33]

I still don't understand why FS is redesigning the gear menu at all. The old menu works fine, why not just keep it and tack on the player model view on the side of it? I've played UrT for so long that the current menu is ingrained in my mind and I can almost instantly swap weapons/gear. The new menu makes it much more confusing and I have to "search" a text list for a gun rather than just snap my mouse to the image of the one I want. There really isn't a reason to redesign the gear menu or copy CS:GOs loadout menu.

[Mod Iye]

what i really thing UrT needs for its gear selection is the ability to use number keys. This is something the circular menu of CSGO supports, and which 4.1 and 4.2 both featured.
i do understand why this was removed in the 4.3 RCs (basically the menu was full, and there were more than 10 primaries), nevertheless it is something i would consider a "must have" for HD.

[KroniK]

The main problem I see with circular menus is the way that menus are created in UrT 4.x. There is a reason everything is in squares and that is because the system to create menus is through an html like system which allows you to create boxes and then fill those boxes with content. So overall, I'm not sure that a circular menu system is actually physically possible to create (although I might be wrong on this). However I think you are right about creating sub-categories. Overall I think a menu system that more closely resembles the Insurgency system might be a better way to go (Example).

Overall I think the list of weapons is worse than the old system, but both are not optimal.

[Mod Iye]

well, the current one on top of that is bugged. #251
(at least it doesnt work the same was as in rc2 anymore)

I'm thinking about whether it is possible to add icons to the list and increase the list item size. i think that could end up really helpful.
I guess i would really have to get into the scripting behind the .menu files to do such things. :)

[wG*Swiiitan]

Yeah i agree that the current system in 4.3RC3 is just a big NOPE...

I like the circular system that CS:GO have, its easy, fast and clean.

I +1 this idea :)