Auto-select and Quick Heal mechanics

Discussion in 'Mechanics' started by baldsmeagle, Feb 9, 2015.

  1. baldsmeagle

    baldsmeagle Poptop Tamer

    So I'm a huge fan of Terraria and most fans will be familiar with these ideas: the auto-select and the Quick Heal mechanics. For those who do not know what these are, I'll do a quick rundown below; otherwise feel free to skip the blue text.


    The auto-select button is a keybind that once pressed will automatically select the tool from your inventory based on the block or item that your mouse cursor was hovering over at the time the button was pressed, and will continue to use while the auto-select button is held down. For instance, hovering over a destructible item such as dirt, cobblestone or ore will use the drill or pickaxe as the autoselect, while the matter manipulator will instead be used if the cursor was hovering over, say, water or oil. Torches or flashlights could generally be used if the cursor is hovering over a wall or empty space. Also, the strongest tool in your inventory is generally selected for use, or the auto-select will use the matter manipulator as default if a suitable tool or item is not within your inventory.

    The next idea, Quick Heal, is simply that: a single button keybind that automatically uses the highest quality healing item within the player's inventory. This allows for easier combat since it requires less keystrokes and allows instant healing at the press of a button. This idea could raise issues in this game though, such as how can the Quick Heal function distinguish between healing items, specifically between food and bandages?


    But of course, between bandages, food, stimpacks, and even other consumables like throwable items, managing these in your item hotbar amongst all your other stuff can be rather tedious and annoying...thus I have addressed this with an idea that can be unique to Starbound...

    ...an 'Item Pouch' or 'Utility Belt'!

    What this does is add another hotbar underneath the usual 1-9 button hotbar in which consumable items only such as those mentioned above can be stored and used at the press of a single button. While the Function keys at this stage do not serve any purpose (with the exception of F1, F6 and F11 unless this has changed) these keys can instead be reserved for the pouch/belt from, say, F1 to F8, while the aforementioned functions can be remapped to F9-F11. This means that you can have your preferred bandages, food, stimpacks and throwables in an easy-to-manage place and at your fingertips with the press of a single button.

    Better yet, this is an idea that can be expanded on and implemented in the crafting system. For example, players may be given a starter belt/pouch that can hold two items (F1 and F2) and must craft higher tiers of these belts in order to unlock more Function buttons and slots. Upgrading from a Tier 1 to a Tier 2 belt/pouch may require leather, while upgrading to Tier 3 would require some sort of metal/ore etc.​


    So thats my ideas. Apologies for the long post but I do hope these ideas get some support from others. Let me know what you guys think!

    TL;DR - implement an auto-select function, and either a Quick Heal button or a consumable item hotbar slots

    EDIT: cut down the post and structured it abit better. Sorry for those who had to endure the messy wall of text before
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2015
    VuesaMerced likes this.
  2. jaden222

    jaden222 Aquatic Astronaut

    sorry this is to long to read for me cos im lazy if you are suggesting a quick heal key i agree
     
  3. Soraphis

    Soraphis Void-Bound Voyager

    to long (and unsorted) didnt read ...

    except this part:
    think about a key ... e.g. TAB to switch hotbars between Building/Mining (blocks, torches, ... ) and Adventure/Battle Mode (weapons, healing and buff items, ...) ?
     
    baldsmeagle likes this.
  4. Nerva

    Nerva Parsec Taste Tester

    The auto-select function and quick heal key are already existent in Terraria, and honestly they're fantastic additions. I use the auto-select function for placing torches and breaking blocks all the time in that game. I'm a bit leery of it here though, because there are a lot of lamp and lighting items, and only a few that are suitable for quick-placing like that - namely torches and cheap lights.

    I'm a bit less keen on the toolbelt idea, but if it can be limited to, say, 4 slots at most, and be an expandable feature that's upgraded as you go along (start with none, eventually unlock all four), I could get behind it. It would be a great place to put food items or buffing stims.
     
  5. jaden222

    jaden222 Aquatic Astronaut

    yea good idea
     
  6. baldsmeagle

    baldsmeagle Poptop Tamer

    Not a bad idea, can definitely see the merits of having an interchangeable hotbar dedicated entirely to building blocks and materials.
    Can't say whether or not this would address the original issue of having a quick heal though, but nonetheless a feature the devs should look into.

    Might be worth posting this idea under a separate thread an seeing how much response it gets, but I for one would be in favour for having both features added :)
     
  7. meurtio

    meurtio Lucky Number 13

    I have not used Quick Heal anti virus.But then I have used many others like AVAST,AVG,etc.
     
  8. Juuzou_Suzuya

    Juuzou_Suzuya Void-Bound Voyager

    terraria have an tile grid that i think its usefull, starbound need one too
     

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