In-game message dialogs

[SkeletonCrew]

With Wesnoth 1.6 we introduced new message dialogs in Wesnoth and I want to
discuss them a bit now.

The location of the portraits is now left or right and the (raw) image is
always 400 x 400 (or close to that). The question is do we want to keep it that
way or do we want to allow more features in the near future? The reason I'm
asking is that the WML code for the portraits is a bit ugly and I'd like to
clean it up. (And in order to do so I like to have a glimpse in a crystal ball.)

Another issue is about the message dialogs itself, there are two kinds of
dialogs:
- plain messages
- messages which require input

At the moment they're both shown in the same dialog and I think the messages
that require input don't look to good. (Just start the tutorial to see an
example.) Also normally in Wesnoth a dialog that's semi-transparent has no
controls and the 'messages which require input'-dialogs break that assumption.

How do you think about the 'messages which require input'-dialogs? I prefer
some brainstorming on how to make them look better and whether they should
remain semi-transparent or get opaque again. (I don't want to change the normal
message dialogs, since I think they look great as-is.)

[kitty]

The question is do we want to keep it that way or do we want to allow more features in the near future?

I like the way it looks now and the possibility to alternate between left and right position is really nice for dialogues (although not often enough used atm). I wouldn't like to see many other fancy positions made possible. I like consistency.

How do you think about the 'messages which require input'-dialogs?

They don't look as nice as the dialogues... The text seems somewhat "lost" in the box, there is simply too much empty space on the left side. And the buttons are too close to the lower edge.
I'd suggest using the bottom aligned dialogues only for dialogue and display all other plain information messages and input requiring messages in a centered box just like the scenario end dialogue. This kind of differentiation between story-dialogue/atmosphere/plot and information/decision would also be much clearer and thus easier to comprehend by the player at first glance.
The transparency looks fine to me, it provides enough contrast to be easily readable.


And thank you again for all the effort you put into this, SkeletonCrew!

[SkeletonCrew]

The question is do we want to keep it that way or do we want to allow more features in the near future?

I like the way it looks now and the possibility to alternate between left and right position is really nice for dialogues (although not often enough used atm). I wouldn't like to see many other fancy positions made possible. I like consistency.

It's only used when an image must be on the right side, since the user has
no control over the placement. Allowing the user to user to select between
left and right is on my todo list.

How do you think about the 'messages which require input'-dialogs?

They don't look as nice as the dialogues... The text seems somewhat "lost" in the box, there is simply too much empty space on the left side. And the buttons are too close to the lower edge.
I'd suggest using the bottom aligned dialogues only for dialogue and display all other plain information messages and input requiring messages in a centered box just like the scenario end dialogue. This kind of differentiation between story-dialogue/atmosphere/plot and information/decision would also be much clearer and thus easier to comprehend by the player at first glance.
The transparency looks fine to me, it provides enough contrast to be easily readable.

Noted, will wait a bit more for some more feedback of other artists and then start to work on a prototype.

And thank you again for all the effort you put into this, SkeletonCrew!

You're welcome and thank you and all other artist too for providing such wonderful portraits.

[Turuk]

On a slightly related noted, the display position for dialogue when the portrait is shown on the right seems to be very far to the left, along with the character's name, instead of a more central position like it occupies when the portrait is on the left.

Since you will be poking around in that code, perhaps the text could be centralized as well, to more closely match for both portraits?

[thespaceinvader]

I've no real preference to be honest. I'm fine with any option that looks good, just so long as it doesn't require us to do any more different portrait sizes

[Bob_The_Mighty]

At first I found it unsightly when the option menu went to the bottom of the screen, but I've got used to it now. However, I still like Kitty's suggestion of making it centralised.

What also needs addressing is this: when a non-portrait image is used in a dialogue or option menu it appears right at the bottom, sometimes even overlapping the bottom-most border. I often use items, terrain-tiles or other images in menus and it would look much better if there was a way they could appear in the top corner, like they used to.

I don't know how doable that is, just my opinion.

[SkeletonCrew]

@turuk, With the portrait on the left side the text is directly next to
portrait, which might look centered since most images aren't entirely
filled. The text for the right hand side starts about 10 pixels from the
border. That being said I can have a look at centering the text and
see how that looks.

@thespaceinvader no I don't want to change the sizes of the portraits.

@Bob_The_Mighty I'm also not really happy with the dialog which
require input at the bottom. Regarding the 72x72 images shown at the
bottom; I'd like to center them in the panel, but that's not possible.
This needs some code changes and is on my todo list.

[kitty]

Another little thing that bothers me anout the dialogues is the line spacing - the descenders of the upper line nearly meet with the ascenders of the lower one. It would be much better for readability if you'd be able to increase the spacing just a tad.

[SkeletonCrew]

To be honest I never had a problem with the spacing, but here
are some samples with different spacings, spacing 0 is the
current value. I think spacing_1 or spacing_2 should be enough,
I can also post a larger text to show how it looks for larger texts.

[kitty]

Thanks for the survey! I vote for spacing_2, too. A tad more but everything else would be too much.

[SkeletonCrew]

Two it is then; the change will be visible in the next development and stable release.

[Jetrel]

I basically agree with everything kitty's said in this thread.

I also agree about the display of items and other "undersized" items being centered - it's quite important to be able to use them in message windows.

[SkeletonCrew]

Short update; I haven't forgotten about this thread, but busy with some
code cleanups before tackling this issue.