What type of user interface do you all like best? I kind of like the Diablo 2 point and click on npcs and have it bring up a menu over their head. Do you perfer text at the bottom of the screen? You think that different interaction icons (ie talk, look, use) should be used? Do you like a toolbar at bottom that displays information? thats all I can think of right now... lemme know if anything else stands out to you

I prefer being able to move my character {controls its lower bosy} with a keyboard and direct the character''s actions {upper body} with a mouse. This would allow for the "click-n-hack" ease of selecting a target as in Diablo, but allow for more complex movement such as backing up, strafing, and the usual moves associated with First Person Shooters. On top of that, it eliminates the need for writing any path-finding code.

Another varaition on the keyboard control is that in Grim Fandago. You would walk the character around {"steer" him, to be more precise} and if there was anything to interact with he would look in it''s direction. All that was required to do anything was a simple keystroke or button press without a cursor onscreen.

As for the different interactions, I admired how the Twinsen games {Little Big Adventures in Europe} grouped similar actions into cattegories. One such grouping would be running and jumping. Only three keys {I beleive} were actually used for performing actions, with a another to "switch modes."

Lastly, I prefer having as little information on screen at one time. Just the nescesaties: Health, Mana, current object, current spell, money {in towns or at dealers only}, and such. Dialog boxes for the NPCs are fine in my book. You''re not likely to have an immediate need to perform an action when talking to an NPC. Just have smaller ones for actuall dialog and larger ones when dialog choices need to be made. It keeps the screen clean and makes it more obvious when a choice is to be made.

I think Diablo 2 is getting the uninstall treatment from me. Diablo''s main allure is that ANYONE with one eye and an index finger can play. But in making it soooo simple it takes away some of the better RPG features of it. The Infinity Engine on the other hand, is SOOOO complex, that often times, I can''t control everything going on in one battle. I see the ultimate point in CRPG UI being somewhere in between, where it is complex enough to control, yet still not mind-boggling complex.

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