Minimap, camera view, and movement controls

from Demigod Forums

It would be great if there was a minimap in the lower right or left corner of the screen. It should show friendly and enemy forces and demigods as well as give off signals when towers are being attacked and allow for allies to ping locations.

The most annoying thing right now is the camera view. I strongly prefer to be able to move the screen by nudging the mouse cursor to one side of the screen instead of using the arrow keys. That way my left hand can remain on the action keys [qwer] and my right hand can focus on targeting and camera views. Also, being able to rotate the map quickly is important. Several times I could not get a good view to target a unit or even see regulus hiding behind the rook. In Company of heroes holding down alt while moving the mouse changes camera angle quickly. Something similar would work well i think.

Unit selection is also a big problem. It is difficult to target specific units, particularly when they are in groups of other units. It needs to be easier to select an enemy demigod for spells like snipe, fireball, freeze etc. Unit movement seems to be slightly buggy too. Telling my demigod to attack another demigod out of range will usually have him run up and start attacking, but if the enemy demigod moves out of range, my unit will just sit there and not engage anything let alone chase the target unless told otherwise.

This brings me to my last point: there needs to be more specific commands such as move, attack move, hold position and the classic rts commands. These are the most notable improvement ideas I have at the time and I'm enjoying the game a lot so far. Looking forward to playing more and to getting multiplayer rolling.

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Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

agreed, it´s a really weird feeling to play imo. rotating the view and move it by getting to edges with the cursor would help a lot.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

I don't really mind no mini-map.  I quick zoom out and then back in is more than enough for me to get an idea of what is going on. 

 

I do agree that the most annoying thing is the camera controls.  There is another thread here discussing the WASD vs. Arrow movement.  The more I play Demigod the more I like the fact that WASD would (for some, like me) allow more continual play and not have to be consistenly moving my hands around the keyboard.

Here is why I think WASD would be nice:

1. All your special powers are currently in QWER.  Right now you have to take your hands off the arrow keys to activate the power (and for some you have to keep pressed down while you select the area/creep/hero).  In particularly with anything that moves you may need to move the camera which becomes a real pain.  With WASD you could have the abilities mapped to QERF.  This allows you to still move the camera and still keep the ability selected.

2. All of your items are mapped to your Function keys (F1, F2 F3).  WASD is simply closer to those keys which shortens the time you are away from the camera controls.

The other camera control that I would like to see is the rotation of the camera at the left and right edges of the screen.  I have been playing as the rook and it gets hard to place a light tower or the bolder roll on the right target where being able to rotate the camera would be able to faciltate this a lot better.

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

Its a shame that the primary issue of WASD vs. QWER commands is simply that the "W" would share two things. I for one would not mind an option where you can enable WASD and require shift+W to activate that ability. Continously playing on that mode would make it intuitive.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

I agree.  once the camera control is improved, i think zooming out and back in is fine.  i would not want to clutter the screen any more with a mini map that i do not think has any real value.  One exception..if the map is very large..then it may be helpful.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

I discovered that mouse3(i think), the scroll wheel press, can control the camera pan function. This was great, I just wish I could invert the movement. Together with the space bar you should be able to reposition the camera very quickly to wherever you need.

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting bobj6, reply 2
I don't really mind no mini-map.  I quick zoom out and then back in is more than enough for me to get an idea of what is going on. 

 

I do agree that the most annoying thing is the camera controls.  There is another thread here discussing the WASD vs. Arrow movement.  The more I play Demigod the more I like the fact that WASD would (for some, like me) allow more continual play and not have to be consistenly moving my hands around the keyboard.

Here is why I think WASD would be nice:

1. All your special powers are currently in QWER.  Right now you have to take your hands off the arrow keys to activate the power (and for some you have to keep pressed down while you select the area/creep/hero).  In particularly with anything that moves you may need to move the camera which becomes a real pain.  With WASD you could have the abilities mapped to QERF.  This allows you to still move the camera and still keep the ability selected.

2. All of your items are mapped to your Function keys (F1, F2 F3).  WASD is simply closer to those keys which shortens the time you are away from the camera controls.

The other camera control that I would like to see is the rotation of the camera at the left and right edges of the screen.  I have been playing as the rook and it gets hard to place a light tower or the bolder roll on the right target where being able to rotate the camera would be able to faciltate this a lot better.
End of bobj6's quote

This.

Skills can be 1-4.

 

All this stuff as been discussed to deathalready. Theres like 50 posts on these subjects already..

 

It's not like there is 2000 threads in ideas and feedback that makes it har dto find a previous thread on the subject..

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Theres like 50 posts on these subjects already..
End of quote

 

Well..I'm still gonna add to this one.  :thumbsup:

I can take or leave a mini map - but please, for the love of (Demi)God, let us move the view by mousing the edge of the screen.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

Try zooming out then zooming back in to where you want to look (cursor over position, mouse wheel up).  It's really very convenient when you get the hang of it.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

All of your items are mapped to your Function keys (F1, F2 F3). WASD is simply closer to those keys which shortens the time you are away from the camera controls.
End of quote

For the short cuts (WASD, QWER) it works very well...if you have a qwerty keyboard you need to remeber that not all users have qwerty keyboards. The change of the keys from the arrows to WASD would render the game unplayable at least for me and my azerty keyboard.

The best would probably be that the short cuts could be configurable so you could use any key you want.

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Try zooming out then zooming back in to where you want to look (cursor over position, mouse wheel up). It's really very convenient when you get the hang of it.
End of quote

You can do that in a lot of games, and most of them don't eliminate the ability to scroll.  Some people, like yourself, eventually get used to it.  Many others, like myself, get used to it, but never like it.

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Nights, reply 8
Try zooming out then zooming back in to where you want to look (cursor over position, mouse wheel up).  It's really very convenient when you get the hang of it.
End of Nights's quote

I don't understand why people keep saying to "zoom ou and zoom in" when we talk about the fact that we cannot move the camera with the mouse on the edge of screen or we don't have a minimap.

YES, zoom ou + zoom in is great and should stay in the game. But this is really not the best way to optimize your gameplay. When you have a minimap always available with some bright colors indication and when you can move the camera with your mouse on the edge of the screen, I think this really helps.

In my opinion, the zoom out zoom in feature is more like a "fun thing to do" but seriously not the best thing to do. You loose the focus on your demigod and he may get attacket or what-else. I think that if I show the game to one of my friend I would zoom out to give a look at the map and he would say: "wow!", but I would never use this in the game...

A minimap really is a better way for that type of game. In my opinion...

Reply #12 from Demigod Forums Top

Well when you zoom in/out it centers to your cursor.

Reply #13 from Demigod Forums Top

to be perfectly honest, i think the strat. zoom is bordering on the useless side on the waterfall map purely because the map is so darn small!

 

give it a whirl on a large map and it'll come into its own. better still, have a race; time how long it takes to scroll across a huge map, and compare that to the time it takes to zoom there.

 

[EDIT:] until then; quit ya' b****ing.

Reply #14 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting innociv, reply 12
Well when you zoom in/out it centers to your cursor.
End of innociv's quote

I KNOW!

But this is not an optimal way to play this game.

Try to time when you click on a minimap where you actually see that 3 ennemy demigod are moving toward one of your defenseless tower because you heard a ping sound and saw it right away on the minimap.

And I don't b****tch, I give ideas.

Reply #15 from Demigod Forums Top

better still, have a race; time how long it takes to scroll across a huge map, and compare that to the time it takes to zoom there.
End of quote

 

Only if that race is followed by a contest of being zoomed in on a dogfight and needing to move the screen a half an inch while keeping track of all the bad guys in the melee.

Reply #16 from Demigod Forums Top

I like WiC's camera controls. *Shrugs*  WASD is a lot faster response than edge-panning.

Reply #17 from Demigod Forums Top

I think Demigod has so much potential as a game but it needs to be handled very carefully, Its very wierd not being able to rotate the view making alot of the game play very akward and clunky. So besides that another suggestion I have is a second person view of your demigod, of course generals wouldn't want this but theyre could be multiple view choices and each player could customize it to there own preferences.

Reply #18 from Demigod Forums Top

And please think about people who got an AZERTY keyboard... :) I know i can switch between the two but some AZERTY support would be great (since you can't remap camera keys). ;)

Reply #19 from Demigod Forums Top

1. Thread necromancy FTL.

2. q/e rotate the camera.

Reply #20 from Demigod Forums Top

And please think about people who got an AZERTY keyboard
End of quote

yeah, and what about people like me with dvorak keyboards.   I mean, it is an MLA US standard!

 

I do I think the camura rotate options are very minimilistic and could be improved.