Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

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jkkk
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2019 8:33 am

Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by jkkk »

Restarting a level without going back to main menu is a good idea IMHO, but... this works only if a player dies. What if he is stuck somewhere? You still have to go around. I suggest to modify the message prompt a bit when you press Escape during the play, e.g.

- "What would you like to do?" with 3 buttons: Continue, restart, quit
- or maybe just to add a button Restart to the current message

Also, the key shortcut for restarting would be a nice option :) (for instance, Ctrl + R or something like that)
mat
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 8:24 am

Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by mat »

I agree with this! It's a bit frustrating for me when the only way to restart a level (due to being stuck) is to go back to the menu...
filbo
Posts: 647
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:06 am

Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by filbo »

How are you guys running the game; what interface? On Android, or what?

On desktop, there's a set of 'tape controls' you can use to do all of that and very much more. I would be surprised if they are absent on the touchscreen versions on Android & iOS; but ... maybe they are?
mat
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 8:24 am

Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by mat »

I play on Android. I've noticed that there is an option "Ask on Esc key" and the Esc key is linked with a back button. But in my phone, I have to pull out a navigation bar from the edge of the smartphone (with swiping) and then I can press that button... Clicking "stop recording / playing tape" (which is visible at once) doesn't cause the game to stop asking to confirm whether a player really wants to quit or not... If there is no way to revamp it, ho hum.
filbo
Posts: 647
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:06 am

Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by filbo »

If there are usability issues with the user interface on Android, I'm sure Holger wants to know about and fix them. I was just asking from a position of complete ignorance about the R'n'D Android UI.

There is an 'Ask on game over' option in the 'Game and menu' setup menu, different from 'Ask on ESC' in the 'Key shortcuts' menu. I don't know if it would improve your experience...
mat
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 8:24 am

Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by mat »

Unfortunately, it doesn't but thanks for a help :)
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Holger
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Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by Holger »

If there are usability issues with the user interface on Android, I'm sure Holger wants to know about and fix them.
Definitely yes! :-)
I play on Android. I've noticed that there is an option "Ask on Esc key" and the Esc key is linked with a back button. But in my phone, I have to pull out a navigation bar from the edge of the smartphone (with swiping) and then I can press that button...
Yes, I am aware of this problem, but unfortunately can not offer a solution at this moment.

The problem is the following: There is a "stop" button with asking (as you might have touched it by accident), and there is the Android back button (which is handled like the "Escape key" on a classic keyboard, and can be configured to not ask when pressed). This worked more or less nicely as long as the Android back button was a hardware key on many Android devices, and was not part of the display. However, most current Android devices have a display now that covers the whole device, so the back button is now usually part of the display, too. Even worse, with recent Android versions, the back button is usually hidden and has to be made available by swiping from the lower screen border upwards, which makes accessing the back button less easy as before.

There are several possible solutions to this problem:

For one, it is possible to programmatically use a fullscreen display that always shows the navigation buttons (back button, home button and that third button that once was a context menu button and now is some sort of task switcher). The disadvantages are that the usable display size is permanently smaller (which is not that big of a problem for R'n'D, which usually does not use the full display), and that it is now asymmetrical when used in landscape mode (as the system button area is only on one side of the screen now).

As only the back button is needed from those three system buttons, a solution may be to add an option to prevent asking when you hit the stop button. That way, you could stop -> menu -> start, which at leasts prevents you from answering a "do you really..." request.

Another solution could be to (optionally?) add another on-screen button to restart the level (with asking as usual, but which could also get an option to turn it off).

Regarding the initial proposal by jkkk (to add a third option "restart" in the request window): This looks good on first view, but has a number of disadvantages, especially as such a request cannot be answered in a "yes/no" way using a two-key or two button system (like Escape/Enter, left/right joystick button, ok/back keys on a FireTV remote etc.).

So it seems that at least the Android interface needs some additional tweaking here, to please the impatient user... :-)

But adding a dedicated "restart" key for the non-touch screen versions may also be a good idea...
filbo
Posts: 647
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:06 am

Re: Option to restart a level if a player was stuck

Post by filbo »

(An aside, not strictly related but very much in the same conceptual neighborhood: while on the main menu on desktop, I am frequently re-surprised to note that typing 'q' does not invoke the 'quit' option!)
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