Ops, sorry I skipped a line bishop_pass.

Instead of left click on the cards to select them then right click to send them all to the pool, I think single left click on the card to select then double left clicks to move all the cards maybe a little better.

I agree that the casual click is less hassle than the click and drag. But there''s quite a lot of people out there that are accustomed to click and drag. So why not just include both?

Seems it might be better to include both methods just to give us the option. Although if people are going to be that offended by the thought of having to, God forbid, ''drag and drop!'' *gasp* They probably are going to do little more then critisize your game no matter what you do.

quote: Original post by TechnoHydra
Although if people are going to be that offended by the thought of having to, God forbid, ''drag and drop!'' *gasp* They probably are going to do little more then critisize your game no matter what you do.

It''s called interface design. I''m surprised that as a programmer (if you are one) you have never worked with a program that required you to do stupid stuff which wasn''t necessary.

And nothing could be worse than having to do it over and over and over and over to get something done when such a simpler method would have achieved the same thing.

I''m serious here.

Go ahead and poke fun at it. I don''t think you would be after about one thousand drag and drop motions with the mouse when one thousand clicks would have been sufficient.

quote: Original post by thooot
Hi, I''m making a card game and I was wondering what the most intuitive way of selecting (multiple) cards would be. Currently I have the user click on a card in their hand and then the card moves up a half-inch (or thereabouts). They then need to click a "Play Cards" button. I was wondering if anyone could think of a better way of going about doing this. For selecting single cards its probably easiest for the user to drag-and-drop their card, but I can''t think of a good equivalent for multiple cards.

I suggest this:
*Player clicks on the appropriate cards (this shifts them half-an-inch (as you said)). You might consider tinting the colour of the selected cards as well.
*Player then holds and drags the whole bunch of selected cards (they group closer together when you drag) onto the play area.
This requires only one drag... And selecting the final card can be done in the same click as you use to drag the cards with.

even simpler...
click on the card you want to do something with, when you click, a popup meny appears, and you simply select what to do with it (send to pile, discard, etc).
Of course, the menu would have to be a bit nicer than a simple Windows popup to avoid mistake (colour coding is nice for this kind of things)


Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

quote: Original post by Flarelocke
You have to drag because it's the most like reality

Try the last version of QuickTime (or some of IBM's home apps). Basing computer interfaces on real world interaction doesn't work.

(Most of these ideas have already been posted, I'm just sticking them together into one package)

For president I suggest you look at the interface used when passing in MS Hearts. Just rename the pass button to 'play' and add another 'pass' button to pass.

If you don't know MS Hearts, you see all your cards at the bottom of the screen and the current pile in the middle. You click the cards you want to pass(play in your case), which causes them to be pushed up a bit from the other cards, clicking the card again will push it back down. When you're satified with the cards you want to play you click the "Play" button (you can also use this to show when a selection is valid by greying the play button if the currently selected cards are invalid). Add another button for passing (always enabled) and your done.

[edited by - michalson on May 21, 2002 12:07:41 PM]

What actions does the interface need to deal with specifically?

As far as I can tell, Bishop_Pass'' suggestion deals with both of the tasks I think are necessary:

Select
Play

quote: There is no discarding, and you play your cards into a pile in the middle of the playing area.

Left click on card in hand: select or deselect card
Right click anywhere: plays selected card (or cards) onto pile in middle of playing area

Perhaps, to avoid accidental discharge, you could just create a PLAY button that the user would have to click on with his mouse (left click) to actually play the selected card(s).

In that situation, you''ve freed up one of the mouse buttons.