[SUG] Replay insert / suspend modes

[namida]

DireKrow mentioned a while back on Discord that a replay insert mode and a replay editor, similar to what NL has, would be good features.

A replay editor probably won't happen. Implementing this while in-game, without Windows forms as an option (due to Loap being at least theoretically cross-platform - I intend to make Linux builds once it goes stable, and it should also be possible to build for Mac), is going to be trickier than I think is worthwhile.

Replay insert mode is definitely something that can and should happen. To cover the main important functionality of the replay editor (removing actions without erasing later actions), I was considering a "replay suspend" mode - where you can press, or perhaps hold, a hotkey to ignore any replay actions temporarily (and thus remove them from the replay), while any actions that come after you switch back out of this mode would still replay as normal, at least to the extent they can.

[namida]

Another possibility instead of (or maybe as well as) replay suspend mode, could be a "cancel last action" hotkey. If used mid-replay, this would only cancel the most recent action at the current point of viewing, rather than everything after it.

Thoughts?

[namida]

Insert mode implemented in commit 3e54781.

[namida]

Commit cc2218c implements hotkeys for both "cancel previous action" and "cancel next action".

[Simon]

Menuless tweaking:

It's worth a shot to implement menuless tweaking. That's uncharted waters. You can be the first to find and nail good UI for it.

I encourage you to mark the previous skill assignment (or even the next?) directly on the main level view. I remember those "block here", "dig here" arrows from vanilla L3D tutorials. If we press a hotkey and see those markings change, we'll have nice feedback from the otherwise abstract replay editing functionality.

With the block-based physics, assignments are often delayed, e.g., assigned digger first walks until he reaches a block centerpoint. I'm envisioning the assignment markers to improve the feedback here, too, i.e., have better feedback directly after the assignment, before the lemming starts its new activity. That sounds helpful even if we never tweak a single assignment.



Menu-based tweaking:

You already have a minimap that you can hide and show with the small red corner button. You can implement the tweaker similarly, hidden by default, and shown on button click instead of the map, or instead of the right-side buttons. It needs a smaller font than the skill numbers.

Markers for most recent skill, or for upcoming skills, are handy even with a menu-based tweaker. There are lots of improvement ideas here across games (NL, Lix, Loap). E.g., if there is an exploder assignment scheduled within 5 seconds, Lix should show the countdown/fuse ahead of time. And why not something similar for other future skills?

-- Simon

[namida]

E.g., if there is an exploder assignment scheduled within 5 seconds, Lix should show the countdown/fuse ahead of time.

This feels like a relic of the older, timed bombers (which Loap has never had).