[SUG][PLAYER] Indicate pre-assigned skills in F2 menu & preview screen

[WillLem]

It's in the title. Examples given are for a level which provides 100 Climbers pre-assigned to an entrance hatch.

For F2:



Perhaps too subtle? Possible alternative:



For Preview Screen:

[namida]

My personal view is that permanent skills preassigned to lemmings don't need the same level of attention drawn to them as neutrals or zombies - keep in mind they'll have athlete colors, and have icons show up next to them (or the entrance they spawn from) at the start of gameplay that shows exactly which skills - and I'd also be concerned about the "combination explosion" potential here - for example, what happens with a level that has, say, one lemming for each permanent skill with that skill, then several lemmings that have (different mixes of) multiple skills, some of which are zombies and/or neutral? Don't forget that pre-assignments can be blockers or shimmiers in addition to permanent skills, too. You can see how this would quickly run out of space.

[WillLem]

I'd also be concerned about the "combination explosion" potential here... Don't forget that pre-assignments can be blockers or shimmiers in addition to permanent skills, too. You can see how this would quickly run out of space.

Good point. I suppose it would become meaningless if you had a preview screen which said:

12 Floaters
28 Swimmer/Gliders
4 Pre-placed Blockers
1 Pre-placed Disarmer
9 Zombie Climbers
27 Neutral Climber/Swimmer/Floaters

It's too much information to process, indeed. Consider this suggestion withdrawn unless anyone else has anything to add.

[namida]

A lesser step that might achieve what you were hoping for here, while still being reasonable, could be simply to have a single icon / note that displays if the level has any cases of preassigned permanent skills. At most perhaps, it could be a three-way thing: "No preassignments", "Some lemmings have preassignments", "All lemmings have preassignments".

Finer detail questions would include "do zombies get included in the indicator?" and "do blockers / shimmiers get included?".

[WillLem]

A lesser step that might achieve what you were hoping for here, while still being reasonable, could be simply to have a single icon / note that displays if the level has any cases of preassigned permanent skills. At most perhaps, it could be a three-way thing: "No preassignments", "Some lemmings have preassignments", "All lemmings have preassignments".

Yes - this is a much better idea! Consider the suggestion reinstated on these terms

Finer detail questions would include "do zombies get included in the indicator?" and "do blockers / shimmiers get included?".

Yes to all of the above; if a skill can be pre-assigned, and a lem type can be pre-assigned to, then all should be included.

In the meantime, I'll fire up the thinkatron in terms of how the "All/Some/None" indicator could be implemented.