I am making an RTS at the moment and was wondering what the general consensus on these three issues was: 1) Map movement - Should the map move when the player gets to the bottom of the view pane (ie, top of the user interface) or to the bottom of the screen? 2) When moving a selection of units - should the units all move to the given position, but slightly higher/lower depending on there original positions, or should they keep the ratios, so if the are miles away, they stay miles away. Ie, one unit moves to the target destination, and the rest move relative to that unit. 3)Should the map move if, when dragging a box to select multiple units, the box reaches the edge of the viewing pane? (this isn't relevant if you selected screen in the the first question, as the box will never extend over the interface) Thanks for any replies. I am interested in both what is the standard and what you think games should do (and why, of course!)

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Original post by thk123 1) Map movement - Should the map move when the player gets to the bottom of the view pane (ie, top of the user interface) or to the bottom of the screen?

Definitely when you hit the edge of the screen. The edge of the screen is one of the easiest things to "hit" with the mouse - I can do it with a quick flick of the wrist, but the line which divides the viewing pane and the rest of the user interface is really hard to hit. I'm pretty sure every RTS I've ever played works this way as well. It would also mean every time I move the cursor over the UI, it would scroll the view a little bit as it passed over that line.

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Original post by thk123 2) When moving a selection of units - should the units all move to the given position, but slightly higher/lower depending on there original positions, or should they keep the ratios, so if the are miles away, they stay miles away. Ie, one unit moves to the target destination, and the rest move relative to that unit.

You could do it both ways: if units are really far apart, make them all move to the point you selected. If they're close together, try to stay "in formation". You could also make it so that units move such that their relative direction to each other stays about the same, but the distance does not.

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Original post by thk123 3)Should the map move if, when dragging a box to select multiple units, the box reaches the edge of the viewing pane? (this isn't relevant if you selected screen in the the first question, as the box will never extend over the interface)

This one is hard to answer. If you make it too easy to scroll the view while you're selecting via a box, it becomes confusing exactly what you're selecting (because there'll be areas of the box that you cannot see - think about what happens if you drag the selection to the bottom-right of the screen: you will not be able to see the top-right or bottom left of the rectangle).

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1) Map movement - Should the map move when the player gets to the bottom of the view pane (ie, top of the user interface) or to the bottom of the screen?

Bottom of the screen. Making it the bottom of the GUI often means having to hover around and try and find the "sweet spot" that makes the screen go down, if its just the bottom of the screen i don't have to think about it.

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3)Should the map move if, when dragging a box to select multiple units, the box reaches the edge of the viewing pane? (this isn't relevant if you selected screen in the the first question, as the box will never extend over the interface)

Probably no, for the reason's codeka mentioned.


Hotkey groups are also rather popular, CTRL+# then # to select and/or double tap # to zoom to groups location.

You should make the user interface with the option to hide with a key so the player can see more of the "strategic map." The map definitely need to move when the mouse is at the edge of the screen, but remember that so people set up multiple monitors, so you may have problems for full screen gameplay with a few players whom set up their computers with multiple monitors. Seleting units would be easier if you set a key that can hide the user interface temporarily.

1 - Bottom of the screen, as suggested.
2 - All selected units should move to the final desitination and form a new formation if required.
3 - I dont think the map should move with selection box. I've seen games do this and for me, on a good drinking night, I have to go back and forth quite a bit to get the units selected properly. hehehe.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies, I hadn't even thought about hiding the UI :/

@Xyle

What formation do you think the units should reform to. It probably doesn't matter that much, the game is not at all tactical (focusing on the bigger picture), so I guess just a formation that looks neat.

As for depending on closeness, that's an interesting idea. I will certainly look in to seeing how that plays. Thanks again.

3) If you're running on a 3D engine you can innovate a little and have the map zoom out as your select box grows bigger.

Don't forget to thank Danoru if this gets used. :D

I don't like the idea of the map zooming out when you select units off screen, but I DO think that it should move when you get to the edge of the screen.

I haven't had this problem since I got my handy-dandy 1680x1050 monitor, but before I got this I had an 800x600... and it could get really difficult to select all the units at once, even zoomed out at max.

If nothing else, you could have it as an option in the options menu or config file.

Well fortunately for MortusMaximus, it isn't a 3D engine :( Having said that, the zooming out solution is certainly a novel one, and not one to be dismissed out of hand. Having it as an option is the easy answer, but I don't want people to have to tweak the options just to get the optimal play. I guess it is another thing to consider.

How about, the map only moves with key control. This way, you can't move accidentally but you can if you want to. Or is this just too complicated?

Thanks for the replies.

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Original post by thk123 How about, the map only moves with key control. This way, you can't move accidentally but you can if you want to. Or is this just too complicated? Thanks for the replies.

I think that would depend on whether you have hot keys assigned to different commands or not. I know the hardcore RTS players hardly ever click on the in-game UI to give commands to their units.