Last saved game

[Courtenay]

A nice feature would be a "Restore Last Saved Game" button on the main start up screen.

Yes, I realize that all new features should (and will) be deferred until after the main bugs, including netplay, have been fixed; this is just a suggestion for the "Do eventually" list.

[WarHunter]

It would save time searching for the file. over and over and over

[AxelNL]

I have a windows explorer window open on my second monitor which list savegames in timeline order. Originally to quickly zip savegames for the beta forum, but it helps for your purposes as well.

[Centuur]

It is a very good idea. Now if it can be done easily... But that's for Steve to decide.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Centuur

It is a very good idea. Now if it can be done easily... But that's for Steve to decide.

The goal is to add another radio button at the bottom of the Directory Choice group so a list of "last accessed" games is provided. Those would be: most recently opened, most recently autosaved, and most recently proactively saved. I want the program to keep track of 10 of each, for each scenario.

But where is the time, time, time?

[Centuur]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Centuur

It is a very good idea. Now if it can be done easily... But that's for Steve to decide.

The goal is to add another radio button at the bottom of the Directory Choice group so a list of "last accessed" games is provided. Those would be: most recently opened, most recently autosaved, and most recently proactively saved. I want the program to keep track of 10 of each, for each scenario.

But where is the time, time, time?

I wouldn't make this that difficult, Steve. A simple button "restore last saved game" would be sufficient since that would be the only really missing one, which to me would be a major asset to the game. You don't need to state which scenario. Make it clean and simple, without any other "nice to have" feature attached to it. Look up the date and time and restore that one, the only condition is that it is not a netplay or multiplayer game.

The other things you mentioned, sure, they would be nice to have. Those should come on the list for later, but the one wanted here, is more important, I believe.
Now, you have to search for the last one made (autosave or not, which phase was it, ahh, there it is).
We beta testers are fools, not to have asked for it for easier play testing. The time we could have saved during testing if that button had been available...

I think it would be a real asset to the game.

[Courtenay]

The button should not be on the saved games screen, but on the main WiF, screen. This minimizes the number of clicks one has to use. If one does not want the last saved game, one can go to the saved game screen. The goal of the "restore last saved game" button should be maximum speed and simplicity.

I suggest something like this:

(Use the proper font and alignment, of course, not my improvisation.)

[joshuamnave]

Even an option in the saved game menu to sort by time would be a huge improvement and shouldn't be very difficult to implement.

[AxelNL]

ORIGINAL: Zartacla

Even an option in the saved game menu to sort by time would be a huge improvement and shouldn't be very difficult to implement.

Given one's own experiences it is usually a small step to think something is easy, while in many cases it isn't due to the lack of the complete picture. On top of that many easy things together usually means that a large subset of the many is a "difficult" thing timewise.

In this case I hope myself that the proposal in post #7 could fly "easy", as I know that sorting by time has it challenges in the programming environment Steve has inherited when he took over. You can read about that in many monthly's Steve wrote 3 or 4 years ago: "Hardware and Software, The open items for Theme Engine are: (1) scroll bars for the detailed map, and (2) its inability to display detailed listings of file directories (i.e., the dates and stuff when opening or saving a file)."

[Viktor_Kormel_slith]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

The button should not be on the saved games screen, but on the main WiF, screen. This minimizes the number of clicks one has to use. If one does not want the last saved game, one can go to the saved game screen. The goal of the "restore last saved game" button should be maximum speed and simplicity.

I suggest something like this:

(Use the proper font and alignment, of course, not my improvisation.)

I think that is a very good idea!
save time, maybe in file menu too it would be even better.