Reconsidering the UI
I realize that I've made a very clunky UI to do something very simple (move + attack). I clearly need to think through the UX more.
- Basic move is the most common action, so it should require as few inputs as possible.
- Basic move + attack is the second-most common action, so it should also require as few inputs as possible.
- It should be obvious what actions the player can take from a given spce.
- Target selection should be as simple as possible.
- It should be obvious which player's turn it is.
Here's some changes that should make the whole experience more ergonomic.
- Instead of moving 1 square a time, the set of reachable tiles will be highlighted The player clicks on which tile they want to move to and the move executes. This makes it fast and easier to move. It also makes it obvious whose turn it is.
- During move selection, there is a list of actions on the right pane. When the mouse hovers over a tile, actions that can be taken from that tile are highlighted.
- If an action has no valid targets, it is not selectable during the action phase.
- If a player can't take any actions at the end of their move, the action phase of their turn should be skipped without input.
- During target selection, valid targets are highlighted. The player clicks on the target they want. If there is only 1 target, it will be selected automatically.
- In general, when the player's mouse hovers over a target tile, info about the target is shown in a tooltip.