Cantr's interface - First Steps
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 2:03 pm
A conversation the other day in the welcome thread made me think that maybe it would be nice to have some basic information about the game's interface here in the forum also. I was unsure about where to post it, thus I made this thread where we can post more material of this sort if it is useful for new players, to have it all in the same place and avoid clutter. If it should be merged or even deleted, please do so. I mean to do the same for the tabs "Location", "Objects" and "Activities" and also about land and sea travels as soon as I have some more free time.
(I also apologize for the future grammar and typing mistakes, my English is not as good as I wish it was).
For some players, the game interface can seem a bit intimidating at first, since there's a lot of new things at once, but very soon you'll feel comfortable with it. Please don't hesitate about asking any doubt in the forum or contacting the staff. There's also a very useful wiki and an IRC Channel. We all were newbies once and there's a friendly community willing to help you with any issue.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER AND THE PLAYER MENU:
In the bottom of the events page (that is the page you see when you click on any of your characters), you will see both the character's menu and the player's menu:
Those first four buttons in the character's menu are:
1. For writing notes.
2. For creating envelopes (you can store or classify notes inside of them).
3. For manufacturing items.
4. For setting your preferences and/or apply filters
1. Writing notes:
You have the title box to define the name of the note, that will be displayed in your inventory in the notes' folder and another box for the body of the document. You can write some HTML tags to make it look nicer, underline some words, etc.
When writing a note or uploading an image, always keep in mind the general rules and guidelines (and also common sense).
2. Envelopes:
When you have a lot of notes, envelopes can be very useful to classify them and keep your inventory neat. If you have a seal and sealing wax, you can also ensure confidentiality or add a personal touch if you so desire.
3. Building and manufacturing items:
This button leads you to the build menu, where you can start projects to build tools, machines, vehicles, etc.
This is what the build menu looks like:
If you want to start a project that requires a fixed machine, let's say grill meat, for instance: you need to go to the "Objects" page and there you will search for the machine you need, a small fire pit in this case. You will see that there's several buttons before the name of the machine:
The first one is to "point" at the machine, it generates a visible event so the other characters in the same location will get something like "You see a man in his twenties point at a small fire pit".
The second one, the X, is to disassemble the machine.
And the third one is the one you need to click to get to the "machine's menu", so to say, to select the project you want to start (and the quantity in some cases, some projects have a fixed output):
After selecting the project and clicking the arrow, you will get this if the project has a fixed output:
And something like this if it's a project where you can select the size of the batch or how many days of work you want to invest:
In those projects where you can select the size of the batch or how many days of work you want to invest, you will see a number between parenthesis, this number is the amount of grams of the required resource that your character currently has in its inventory.
4. Settings:
Here you can activate or deactivate a wide range of settings for your characters. The settings only apply to that current character. It can be really useful if you don't want your character slot to get lit up by other characters' whispering, or radio messages. In the second folder, you can create your own filters and in the third one you have the option of killing your character from old age (+70 years), which means the character will die from a heart attack and you won't have to do any further action to end its life.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER SETTINGS:
These advanced options might not be primal at first. They are exclusively for event filters.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER'S INVENTORY:
There are several folders in your inventory to keep things organized, thus making easier to find what you're searching. There's also a "show all" button if you rather see all what your character carries at once.
I. Notes and envelopes.
In the first folder you will find your character's notes and envelopes:
There are some buttons before each note and envelope:
1. Point.
It will generate a visible event for the rest of players. Something of the sort of: "You see a man in his twenties (or whatever name they used to tag your character) pointing at note 'Not editable note example' held by a man in his twenties (again, or the name the other characters know your character by)".
2. Drop.
With this button you can drop your note and/or envelope so it will be on the Objects page instead of in your inventory. It also generates an event visible for the rest of chars in the same location. Something like "You see a man in his twenties drop a note".
3. Give.
This button will display a list where you can pick the receiver.
4. Store.
With this button you can store the note inside a storage item if there's any on the ground or in your inventory.
5. Copy.
With this button you will obtain an exact copy of the note. Especially useful if you want to have a copy of any note laying on the ground without depriving the other players from being able to see that note.
6. Put the note in an envelope.
You can select among your envelopes in case you have more than one. You can also store an envelope inside other envelope.
7. Edit.
This button will not appear if the note is not editable.
8. Read the note.
9. Empty the envelope.
This will show you the content of your envelope, where you can read the notes stored there or take what you need out of it. You can also remove duplicates with a single click.
10. Delete.
You can delete an envelope if it is empty.
With the "Operations on multiple notes" button, you can store several notes at once, for instance.
II. Raws and items:
1. Point. It will generate a visible event for the rest of characters in the same location.
2. Drop. This will also generate a visible event for the other chars in the same location. In the case of materials, you will be asked how many grams you wish to drop.
3. Give. Gives the item to another character. In the case of materials, you will be asked how many grams you want to hand over. Then there will be a drop down box where you can choose the character to give the item to.
(Note: Each character has a limit to how much they can carry (15000 grams) - if you try to give something to a character and it is too heavy for them, an error message will say so)
4. Store. You can put the material into a storage item either in your inventory or on the ground. You will be asked how many grams you wish to store if it applies and also where do you want to store it. You will be informed if the amount you wish to store exceeds how much more space there is left.
5. Eating.
. When it comes to nourishing food, your character will autoeat if there is food available in its inventory (and not stored inside of a container). But you can also eat at your will if you so desire. When it comes to healing foods, you will need to click the eat button. You will get information on how much of that restorative item you need to consume to heal your character fully.
6. Use the material on a project. / Use the machine in your inventory.
Some machines are portable, thus your character will be holding them in its inventory. This button will lead you to the machine's menu, so to say, where you can select the project you want to start. We'll be using a mixing bowl in this case:
You can automatically add the resources you need for the project if you have them all either in your inventory or on the ground, but you can also do it manually with that "use the material" button. For instance, we don't have enough meat in this situation, so we'll be adding what we have and then we'll go grab more:
7. Repair.
Some items can rot over time and you will need to repair them if you want to keep them in perfect shape. When they lose all their points of structure, the item will break and you won't be able to use it anymore, nor repair it.
The interface will display by default the total amount of hours you need to fully repair the item, but you can select the number of hours you want to actually spend repairing the item. You can also cancel the repairing project whenever you want (in the Activities page)
8. Add or change the object's description.
You can customize a lot of items if you have the required tool.
9. Empty storage.
You can retrieve things you have inside a storage and select how much you want to take out.
There are also several buttons that only appear in certain categories of tools or items, such as clothes and jewelry, that you can wear
; musical instruments, that you can play 
; or cleavers, that you can use to butcher domesticated animals 
. You can also toss a coin or roll a die 
. Doing so will generate an event visible to characters in the same location. Coins have an obverse and reverse side, while dice have six sides.
III. Coins:
"Money" is not necessarily a concept in the Cantr world; some societies rely exclusively on bartering or trading items for items (or work for items), but some other communities also have a monetary system. So don't panic if you have no coins, that doesn't mean you're broke or that you won't be able to buy things.
IV. Keys:
When you create a lock or manufacture a vehicle, a key will appear in your inventory matching the unique number of that lock. You can tag the key and also make a copy of it if you have a file and ten grams of iron. If the key is obsolete, you can reclaim the iron using a workbench or a stone table.
ABOUT THE BUILDINGS AND VEHICLES PAGE
When you go to your character's page and click the "Buildings & Vehicles" tab you can see every existing vehicle or building in the town you are in. They appear listed separatedly in three categories (when the three of them apply): land vehicles, ships and buildings.
*
(*Note: All names have been edited. Any resemblance to existing buildings or vehicles, is purely coincidental).
You can enter
a vehicle or building if the door is unlocked, you have the key, or there is no lock at all (It can be good to check first the local laws about trespassing or find out which buildings are for public use. You can, of course, roleplay a lawbreaker if you desire so -as long as you, the player, abide by the game rules, there are no rules stating you must follow the laws of your society- but your character will have to face the possible consequences, that will vary depending on the community your character is in). If you try to enter a locked building or vehicle and you don't have the right key, you will have different options depending on if you have a crowbar or not:
It can happen sometimes that a room/building/ship cabin/vehicle is so full of things that you can't get inside. In those situations, you can pull some of the things out
. As with entering any building or vehicle, you will need the right key to do so, unless the door is unlocked.
You can disassemble
certain types of vehicles if they are empty and you have the required tool.
By clicking this button, your character will knock on the door. This will be visible on the events page for all characters outside and can be heard by those inside the building/room.
Changing names and signs of Buildings and Vehicles:
Clicking on the name of a building or a vehicle leads to a page where you can rename it and it also shows all the signs attached to it. It will say if you are carrying any tools that can be used for altering signs.
You can change how you see a building or vehicle's name without actually altering the sign. This won't create any event nor will be known by any other character unless your character shares that information. It's immediate, no project is required. This is the dynamic name.
For altering signs, you will need to have any writing utensil in your character's inventory. Some are more efficient than others, that will affect how long it takes you to complete the project.
This will change how the name of the building/room/vehicle is displayed for everyone. Signs in position 1 will be used as the default name for the building or vehicle. Signs in other positions are visible on the buildings page under it.
(I also apologize for the future grammar and typing mistakes, my English is not as good as I wish it was).
For some players, the game interface can seem a bit intimidating at first, since there's a lot of new things at once, but very soon you'll feel comfortable with it. Please don't hesitate about asking any doubt in the forum or contacting the staff. There's also a very useful wiki and an IRC Channel. We all were newbies once and there's a friendly community willing to help you with any issue.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER AND THE PLAYER MENU:
In the bottom of the events page (that is the page you see when you click on any of your characters), you will see both the character's menu and the player's menu:
Those first four buttons in the character's menu are:
1. For writing notes.
2. For creating envelopes (you can store or classify notes inside of them).
3. For manufacturing items.
4. For setting your preferences and/or apply filters
1. Writing notes:
You have the title box to define the name of the note, that will be displayed in your inventory in the notes' folder and another box for the body of the document. You can write some HTML tags to make it look nicer, underline some words, etc.
When writing a note or uploading an image, always keep in mind the general rules and guidelines (and also common sense).
2. Envelopes:
When you have a lot of notes, envelopes can be very useful to classify them and keep your inventory neat. If you have a seal and sealing wax, you can also ensure confidentiality or add a personal touch if you so desire.
3. Building and manufacturing items:
This button leads you to the build menu, where you can start projects to build tools, machines, vehicles, etc.
This is what the build menu looks like:
If you want to start a project that requires a fixed machine, let's say grill meat, for instance: you need to go to the "Objects" page and there you will search for the machine you need, a small fire pit in this case. You will see that there's several buttons before the name of the machine:
The first one is to "point" at the machine, it generates a visible event so the other characters in the same location will get something like "You see a man in his twenties point at a small fire pit".
The second one, the X, is to disassemble the machine.
And the third one is the one you need to click to get to the "machine's menu", so to say, to select the project you want to start (and the quantity in some cases, some projects have a fixed output):
After selecting the project and clicking the arrow, you will get this if the project has a fixed output:
And something like this if it's a project where you can select the size of the batch or how many days of work you want to invest:
In those projects where you can select the size of the batch or how many days of work you want to invest, you will see a number between parenthesis, this number is the amount of grams of the required resource that your character currently has in its inventory.
4. Settings:
Here you can activate or deactivate a wide range of settings for your characters. The settings only apply to that current character. It can be really useful if you don't want your character slot to get lit up by other characters' whispering, or radio messages. In the second folder, you can create your own filters and in the third one you have the option of killing your character from old age (+70 years), which means the character will die from a heart attack and you won't have to do any further action to end its life.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER SETTINGS:
These advanced options might not be primal at first. They are exclusively for event filters.
ABOUT THE CHARACTER'S INVENTORY:
There are several folders in your inventory to keep things organized, thus making easier to find what you're searching. There's also a "show all" button if you rather see all what your character carries at once.
I. Notes and envelopes.
In the first folder you will find your character's notes and envelopes:
There are some buttons before each note and envelope:
1. Point.
It will generate a visible event for the rest of players. Something of the sort of: "You see a man in his twenties (or whatever name they used to tag your character) pointing at note 'Not editable note example' held by a man in his twenties (again, or the name the other characters know your character by)".2. Drop.
With this button you can drop your note and/or envelope so it will be on the Objects page instead of in your inventory. It also generates an event visible for the rest of chars in the same location. Something like "You see a man in his twenties drop a note".3. Give.
This button will display a list where you can pick the receiver. 4. Store.
With this button you can store the note inside a storage item if there's any on the ground or in your inventory. 5. Copy.
With this button you will obtain an exact copy of the note. Especially useful if you want to have a copy of any note laying on the ground without depriving the other players from being able to see that note. 6. Put the note in an envelope.
You can select among your envelopes in case you have more than one. You can also store an envelope inside other envelope.7. Edit.
This button will not appear if the note is not editable. 8. Read the note.
9. Empty the envelope.
This will show you the content of your envelope, where you can read the notes stored there or take what you need out of it. You can also remove duplicates with a single click. 10. Delete.
You can delete an envelope if it is empty. With the "Operations on multiple notes" button, you can store several notes at once, for instance.
II. Raws and items:
1. Point.
It will generate a visible event for the rest of characters in the same location. 2. Drop.
This will also generate a visible event for the other chars in the same location. In the case of materials, you will be asked how many grams you wish to drop.3. Give.
Gives the item to another character. In the case of materials, you will be asked how many grams you want to hand over. Then there will be a drop down box where you can choose the character to give the item to. (Note: Each character has a limit to how much they can carry (15000 grams) - if you try to give something to a character and it is too heavy for them, an error message will say so)
4. Store.
You can put the material into a storage item either in your inventory or on the ground. You will be asked how many grams you wish to store if it applies and also where do you want to store it. You will be informed if the amount you wish to store exceeds how much more space there is left.5. Eating.
. When it comes to nourishing food, your character will autoeat if there is food available in its inventory (and not stored inside of a container). But you can also eat at your will if you so desire. When it comes to healing foods, you will need to click the eat button. You will get information on how much of that restorative item you need to consume to heal your character fully. 6. Use the material on a project. / Use the machine in your inventory.
Some machines are portable, thus your character will be holding them in its inventory. This button will lead you to the machine's menu, so to say, where you can select the project you want to start. We'll be using a mixing bowl in this case:You can automatically add the resources you need for the project if you have them all either in your inventory or on the ground, but you can also do it manually with that "use the material" button. For instance, we don't have enough meat in this situation, so we'll be adding what we have and then we'll go grab more:
7. Repair.
Some items can rot over time and you will need to repair them if you want to keep them in perfect shape. When they lose all their points of structure, the item will break and you won't be able to use it anymore, nor repair it.The interface will display by default the total amount of hours you need to fully repair the item, but you can select the number of hours you want to actually spend repairing the item. You can also cancel the repairing project whenever you want (in the Activities page)
8. Add or change the object's description.
You can customize a lot of items if you have the required tool. 9. Empty storage.
You can retrieve things you have inside a storage and select how much you want to take out.There are also several buttons that only appear in certain categories of tools or items, such as clothes and jewelry, that you can wear
; musical instruments, that you can play ; or cleavers, that you can use to butcher domesticated animals . You can also toss a coin or roll a die . Doing so will generate an event visible to characters in the same location. Coins have an obverse and reverse side, while dice have six sides.III. Coins:
"Money" is not necessarily a concept in the Cantr world; some societies rely exclusively on bartering or trading items for items (or work for items), but some other communities also have a monetary system. So don't panic if you have no coins, that doesn't mean you're broke or that you won't be able to buy things.
IV. Keys:
When you create a lock or manufacture a vehicle, a key will appear in your inventory matching the unique number of that lock. You can tag the key and also make a copy of it if you have a file and ten grams of iron. If the key is obsolete, you can reclaim the iron using a workbench or a stone table.
ABOUT THE BUILDINGS AND VEHICLES PAGE
When you go to your character's page and click the "Buildings & Vehicles" tab you can see every existing vehicle or building in the town you are in. They appear listed separatedly in three categories (when the three of them apply): land vehicles, ships and buildings.
*(*Note: All names have been edited. Any resemblance to existing buildings or vehicles, is purely coincidental).
You can enter
a vehicle or building if the door is unlocked, you have the key, or there is no lock at all (It can be good to check first the local laws about trespassing or find out which buildings are for public use. You can, of course, roleplay a lawbreaker if you desire so -as long as you, the player, abide by the game rules, there are no rules stating you must follow the laws of your society- but your character will have to face the possible consequences, that will vary depending on the community your character is in). If you try to enter a locked building or vehicle and you don't have the right key, you will have different options depending on if you have a crowbar or not:It can happen sometimes that a room/building/ship cabin/vehicle is so full of things that you can't get inside. In those situations, you can pull some of the things out
. As with entering any building or vehicle, you will need the right key to do so, unless the door is unlocked.You can disassemble
certain types of vehicles if they are empty and you have the required tool. By clicking this button, your character will knock on the door. This will be visible on the events page for all characters outside and can be heard by those inside the building/room.Changing names and signs of Buildings and Vehicles:
Clicking on the name of a building or a vehicle leads to a page where you can rename it and it also shows all the signs attached to it. It will say if you are carrying any tools that can be used for altering signs.
You can change how you see a building or vehicle's name without actually altering the sign. This won't create any event nor will be known by any other character unless your character shares that information. It's immediate, no project is required. This is the dynamic name.
For altering signs, you will need to have any writing utensil in your character's inventory. Some are more efficient than others, that will affect how long it takes you to complete the project.
This will change how the name of the building/room/vehicle is displayed for everyone. Signs in position 1 will be used as the default name for the building or vehicle. Signs in other positions are visible on the buildings page under it.
If someone with the power to edit other people's post finds them and feels like correcting them: thanks in advance!
This button in the center in the center is a link to a list of animals in that location. You can interact with them hunting or trying to 
Point at this exit route. It will generate an event visible for all the other characters in the same location.
Follow this exit route. This will take you to the road out of the town. You won't see this icon if your character is currently working.
Improve this exit route. There are several types of 
To get out of the vehicle.
To pull resources from the adjacent location.
To undock the ship from the harbor (or from the town in smaller vessels that can dock to the shore). It will lead you to a page where you can select in which direction you want to undock to start your journey.
This generates an event visible outside if you're in the main room or in the main room if you're in a back room.
With this icon, your character will point at the selected project. It will generate an event visible for all the characters in that location.
By clicking this icon, you will find more detailed information about the selected project such as the initiator, the total length, the repeats left if it applies, the tools needed (when required), etc. It will lead you to a page that looks similar to this:
By clicking this button, your character will start participating in the selected project. When your character is already working, you won't be able to see that icon.
By clicking this icon you will cancel the project when it is possible (when you're the initiator or enough time has passed since its creation) or start a tear down project if progress had already been made and it's something that would result in an object. What you get depends on the type of project. If it was resources gathering, you get the percentage that was gathered by that point; if it was a cooking project, for instance, you get what was cooked by then and the raw resources that weren't used yet.