In Game Information - Can this be improved?

Improving the combat log is necessary in the long run from both an information & aesthetics standpoint. However, only the most dedicated players can be expected to actually look through it. The game needs to be comprehensible from a purely visual standpoint.

What information the player needs, must be obvious; it must be represented clearly & distinctly, or casual players will never give this game more than a passing glance.

 

To your second comment first, I don't know, I believe all of us when we started this game started off as casual players. We all gave it more than a passing glance.

In terms of your first comment, from my experience of talking and working with new players, they do try to look through the combat log and if new players do that, I'm sure more than just the most dedicated players do. If there's an effect that we missed (why was that spell blocked for example?) many people look through to see what caused it, to see if it was a spell or maybe it was a negation mage that you missed or something else. Unless I'm misunderstanding something here.

In fact, most card games that I see out there have some sort of combat log that has relatively high utility.

 

Yeah, I was thrown off by the BBCode editor in the top right when editing.

 

One thing I was considering for this was a nice, big, <Player> Has Cast X in the top centre of the screen that fades over 5 seconds when a spell is cast. This would go nicely with a little "Spells Cast" icon in the bottom left where you can review the 5 latest spells cast.

I mention this because spells are one of the hardest to notice elements while being very important. Usually you see the effect and no indication that it was a spell unless you check the log. This is bad for spells like Necrosis where you don't actually see the effect at all.

 

sounds like a plan to me. I have no idea how to make it look nice or where to put it, but it needs to be there.

 

Added an image for what casting a spell could look like on the main post in Player Suggestions & Images.

Also includes what a side bar for spells that have been cast might look like.

 

I love it. I would just type out which type of damage it is rather than have the Physical damage sword or the Magical damage sword. At that scale they can be hard to read. I also like the idea behind a banner showing that a spell has been cast, but the one you've shown is... really gaudy. (Just an example, I understand!) I would suggest something smaller, maybe off-center so it's available information, but not the sole focus.

 

I would suggest simple black letters with a glow and positioned just above the HUD, not so high on the screen. Shadowspawned champions could be shown the same way.

 

Having that kind of giant banner for spells I would not like, especially for some spell spam decks, that could become overwhelming and annoying. Five seconds is a significant amount of time to have that blocking your vision as well. Overall, this does look better than what I initially anticipated. I could see how this could be useful.

 

I love the suggested log and the way its broken down. I think having it vertical on the side is a good spot too. I would also LOVE an AOE outline, I don't know how many times I've walked into the edge of a poison cloud thinking it wasn't on that space. A little black outline of the affected squares are all it would take.

In the example log, I would also put what turn it is next to the player turn. I never remember how many turns are left in my dots, but I could easily go back and look in that log. And I would add links to everything so the camera centers on the champ when you click it, or you get an ability mouseover, etc., maybe color code damage and healing and then give it a try. It should be easy to get the info you need at a glance for experienced players, as well as clean and informative for newbies.

For abilities, if you get a chance check out how they did it in VoidRim.

 

Updated the spell casting image with a (possibly) better spell banner location (since it allow multiple spells). Hope that's better Paper Skull