What do you think would be the best way to create a user interface for many commands... e.x. FFXI uses chat commands to execute actions, but that is slow for battle and prone to spelling mastakes (sorry if i'm wrong... i can't play it due to my awful internet connection.. if anyone would want to donate some money to my internet fund... =) jk) [edited by - Axiverse on April 24, 2004 11:54:49 PM]

Pretty much all the online RPGs these days use command bars, where you can drag macros or command buttons into the bars as suits your liking. Then you can usually page between the command bars, too. So, alt-1 through 0 would select a command bar, and pressing 1 through 0 would execute that command on the bar.

If you don''t want the user to have to set it up, you can set up a default. Or you can do what PlanetSide did for voice chat, and use hot keys; "v" for voice commands, then "a" for attack related, "d" for defend releated, "v" for miscellaneous quick phrases, "i" for things I can do, etc. Then the third level of selection would be the actual items. "VDG" would be "Defend the Generators" and "VVX" would be "Stop!". When you press the keys, a HUD shows up with what the selections are; you can also click the hud (but learning the keys is the way to go).

Some kind of mouse gesture system with a graphical interface might be appropriate. Touch a key, and move the mouse in specific directions to move in a hierarchical command tree and navigate down to certain commands.

I quite liked the quick-command bars in NWN as a solution to this:
there is a bar with 12 customisable commands at the bottom of the screen, and you can either click the buttons on screen, or use the function (F1-F12) keys to trigger these functions. By holding Ctrl and Alt, 2 additional bars were available.

Ultima Online had the chat command system, where dotcommands (ie. .chat, .msg, etc) could be used to perform various actions. In additon to this, players could set up ''macros'' using pretty much any alphanumeric key on the keyboard in combination with alt, ctrl, or shift. These macros could trigger the use of skills (eg. use hiding skill), character actions (such as bowing, saluting, etc), set game options (eg. exit the game, switch to windowed mode, etc), or say something (conveniently allowing instantanious dotcommand usage). The system could get a little unwieldly after a player added all the commands they needed, but as the player would add these over time they could adjust without difficulty. Although not perfect this was a pretty good system.

The ''Radial menu'' in nwn was pretty good. It presented a context-sensive menu on right-click, which had multiple levels to it. I''ve also seen ''quad menus'' in other games which work in much the same way.