Is there any way you could code to get a second panel in-ship? What I mean is something like the 3rd person view but superimposed over it, a second HUD-like screen with more functions that could be performed by mouse-clicks.

While in-space, a key press would slide the HUD to the side and reveal this screen sliding in. Sort of like the nav screen.

You could then move the mission interface to that screen making it unnecessary to access the mission interface in-station unless the mission required equipping your ship or stowing/retrieving cargo.

This screen could also be used for many of the current command-line elements in button form such as changing channels, buddy and guild functions, buying/selling items at stations without entering or, even being in the same system...etc.

Kind of like turning to the left or the right in your pilot's chair and facing another console.

Basically, anything that can be done by com should be accessible in-space.

Or even a dashboard like function on the mac where by hitting a key(s) it brings up the secondary controls and temporarily disables the targeting reticle and allows you to move your cursor about and click buttons.

Great idea RR

Wow- that would be neat. Like little "sliding drawers" that would expand from the edge of your screen. giving you more in-ship functionality.

Hell sometimes I have to press "n" and chat that way when I'm in space, anyway.

Strange, I allways assumed the /commands were temporary whime we waited for this.
I guess I'm too patient.

no, the commands are more important IMO than the gui goodness described here. I've played too many games where i would have KILLED for the console style commands we have in VO, simply because it takes time and attention away from the action to have to work your way through a series of menu's.

Thats not to say that i would object to a GUI system, i just wouldnt want it to replace the command prompts.

Spell your the exception from the norm, a lot of people would like to see a better GUI, thats not to say that the command interface has to go away, but not everyone likes typing commands, or wants to for that matter. Plus some sort of pallet of programable macros would be awesome, especially for hail commands and whatnot. And by making the gui only function with a modifier key you still have full mouse contro l(or joystick) over your ship. There's no reason we can't have both, just takes dev brain power and time.

@Demonen: Yes... you are B^)

I hate typing commands. Despise it. Gimme a button to click on, or sliders, or scrollbars, or whatnot. Thank You. I won't be truly happy until I have a direct wireless neural interface, and I seriously don't know what the HELL is taking Guild SW so long to develop that. Heh.

Seriously though, if everyone loved command-line, we'd all still be happy with DOS 2.1, the green glow of 80-col CRT's and text BBS's.

Leave the commands IN there, fine. They'll have to be there anyway. Don't take away the ability to enter in those text commands if the user WANTS to, but give them an interface that makes sense. Folks like Spellcast will most likely write up their own custom scripts and bind 'em to keypresses, anyway. For the rest of us (who are not so technically inclined), having a appropriate way to access functions while in-ship is a good thing.

The commands aren't going anywhere. Designing new GUI interfaces, similar to those described, is part of my current workload. I mentioned it in the newspost a couple of times recently, although I wasn't very specific.