1.3 Spoilers: Enhancing the User Interface

[Panther]

Cross post from http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/ne...ce.182685/ at Terraria.org

Some new 1.3 Spoilers that was posted yesterday!

Greetings everyone!

All of us on the Terraria development team hope and trust that each of you had a pleasant a restful holiday season. While we took some time to spend with friends and family as well, we have also been hard at work on the 1.3 update. It is our desire that 1.3 live up to everyone's expectations and leave an epic, lasting impact on the game.

It's been a while since we shared some substantial spoilers - so to make up for that gap, you will find a larger-than-usual list of stuff from 1.3 to whet your appetite. Hope you enjoy them!

One of our areas of focus with Terraria 1.3 is an interface upgrade. Clearly, this is a core part of the game experience with which players will constantly interact - so we have taken great care to make the interface more clear, pleasing to the eye, and to enhance it's level of interactivity. Below are a few examples of these efforts:



Player Interface Upgrades - Icons & Text



We have upgraded how icons appear/work: things in your inventory will now have their edges lighten up once the cursor is over them.

In addition, a lot of buttons such as reforging, opening the crafting grid, PVP, and teams got a visual update -we even added a 5th pink team!



We also noted that a lot of in-game text is currently hard to read due to how it blends in with the backgrounds - so we've gone on a bordering spree and are making sure everything has the right amount of clarity and contrast to it is easier to to view and read (even item stack amounts).

(Please Note: This is a work in process and may not reflect the final version.)



Player Interface Upgrades - Inventory & Shopping



On the interactivity end of the spectrum, we have made great strides. In an earlier spoiler Cenx showed everyone you can now link items in chat - but that is merely the beginning of the changes we have made!

Items in your inventory can now be "favorited". When you "favorite" an item, you will not be able to accidentally throw, trash sell or stack it into a chest!

To further help streamline inventory management, you can now quick stack items to all nearby chests. This feature will place items in chests that already have stacks started for certain items. (If you do not have a stack started you will need to manually open the chests.)



We also realized that shopping in Terraria could be improved. With 1.3, when paying for goods from NPCs, you can now see the money contained in your piggy bank or safe, and use your savings to pay! (no more running back and forth from your bank)

We even upgraded crafting to take advantage of these improvements - you will be able to craft from an open chest (including the piggy bank and safe)! To further enhance this feature, chests now show as open when they're in use, so you can tell which is which.



Player Interface Upgrades - Maps, Data, & Screenshots

We have also taken the time to augment how information is displayed to the player by making all the accessories that provide data (time/depth, and so on) work by simply sitting in your inventory. In addition, we added a bunch more of these - such as items which display the weather, moonphase, DPS, and more!

The information items you have will also share their effects with any nearby player, but you can easily hide information from your screen when it interrupts you!





We have also added a new method for taking screen shots within the game. When you enable our new Screen Capture mode, you will be able to take larger scale pictures of your worlds and builds rather than using the old method of taking many smaller pictures and piecing them together!

(Thank you to all of our amazing testers involved in this build!)



Further additions include the map marking the last spot where you've died and being able to see text inside signs when you hover your cursor over them from a distance...plus a few other details that I'll leave hidden for now.



On behalf of the entire Terraria dev team, I hope you enjoy these spoilers and that they continue to keep you hyped and excited for Terraria 1.3!

Source: Terraria.org

[Xanimus]

Yeah, I've seen these spoilers before, the new interface will be a great addition, I'm currently tired of the current interface. Shop
changes are nothing game changing, but really just for ease of use with the current shop system. I do agree, it is aggravating when you have to go back and get your cons to buy stuff, especially when you are mining, building, or in the middle of a boss fight (shop changes are useful for this cause of the nurse, easy access, no coins needed). As for the new capture feature, a very nice addition, will make things tons more convenient when trying to share creations of a larger size. Being able to have location and data accessories in your inventory but still remain active, is a REALLY useful thing, frees up room for other accessories that prove more useful. The DPS accessory looks really cool, great to know how powerful you are, and compare with others. The quick stack to nearby chest is really useful, It'll save tons of time opening chests and quick stacking. Being able to favourite items so you can't delete, throw out or place it in a chest, makes inventory management a heck lot easier. Anyway, here's some links to other spoilers.

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?thr...cenx.9767/

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?thr...iler.7339/

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?thr...lers.5901/

Final links, these are some of HERO's videos, which outline some of the exclusive spoilers he got from the terraria team, and other spoilers we all received.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=cjm6IyXgWQk

Also another video, a rather small spoiler, which is an in game loading bar, is mixed in with an episode of his let's play series.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=K4aYOxCmLH4

Last link is probably some of the earliest spoilers we got, which is about cultists and the new event.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZWtb1ESHSUg

Anyway, that's all from me for now, Xan out.

[Knuffeldraak]

Now this excites me for 1.3 . But mainly the lunar update / biome too.

[youssefbsh]

More spoilers :
1:a new biome it's color is pink

2:new enemies (look at the banners especially at the alien ones) [second video]

3: new crafting station look like a floating book [second video]

4:new walls looks like an ice torch moving around [third video]

5:new items (blocks, bricks, wood, torches)

6:alchemy station confirm

7:travelling merchant sells new stuff

8:unknown item in the trash can (travelling merchant picture)

9:new banners (red slime blue slime)

10:new torches, potions

[Xanimus]

Youssef, it's not a new biome. The grass is painted. So many people think that it's a new biome. And the item in the trash can is 70 silver coins. Just has a new texture.

Xan out

[Knuffeldraak]

Actually... if it was painted, then the dirt itself would be coloured too, and not the grass alone. While it's safest to assume it's painted, it doesn't rule out the possibility that there is in fact a new biome upcoming. Perhaps it's the crimson/corruption counterpart for the Hallow, I heard people talking about this a while ago.

[Brendan D. Winter]

Actually... if it was painted, then the dirt itself would be coloured too, and not the grass alone. While it's safest to assume it's painted, it doesn't rule out the possibility that there is in fact a new biome upcoming. Perhaps it's the crimson/corruption counterpart for the Hallow, I heard people talking about this a while ago.

You can paint the grass alone, just don't use a deep paint. Try painting it with normal purple or normal red.

[youssefbsh]

Then can we paint grass on the srever next map please that will be cool