More emotes (and hot keys)

[JFK_360NoScope]

So a problem with this game is it's hard to communicate well. I assume lacking text or voice chat was to make it more family friendly (which is fine) but the current emojis don't really communicate everything you need (or simply want to tell your team) This both makes things harder to communicate and simply less fun. Like an "oops" emote, don't symbol, shock, a bored emote, an afk emote, things of that nature. Some are simply just helpful to know, and some communicate vital information.
The other problem is on keyboard, you can't select all emojis through hotkeys. You have to cycle through wheels and walk in the direction of the emote which is greatly annoying, so it would be great if there was another method of selecting the emotes without hotkeys (or being able to rearrange the keys)

[Stencil]

Originally posted by JFK_360NoScope:

So a problem with this game is it's hard to communicate well. I assume lacking text or voice chat was to make it more family friendly (which is fine) but the current emojis don't really communicate everything you need (or simply want to tell your team)

YES, exactly! We're ESRB "E" rated and on Nintendo Switch.

The game uses Discord as a means of supplementary communication, just like OG Overcooked 2 does. If you are not working well with randoms, you can always find players in the official Unrailed! Discord Server and communicate via voice chat. Even though we allow text and voice chat here, it's opt-in and centrally moderated. Devs don't need develop moderation tools, chat filters or to pay out for server infrastructure when Discord provides it all on the free. Chat filters are also just easily bypassed.

Right now the Devs have taken over development of the long awaited console updates in-house and are currently hard at work in that regard. From another post I wrote: "It's just a bit hard to add features to address game feedback before console is updated as it would cause issues with online Cross-Play."

One solution I have talked to the Devs about implementing is the ability to use the NUMPAD (Sorry TKL and 60% keyboard users!) to quick select the emoji you want by pressing the number in correlation to the emoji and position on the Emoji Wheel (instead of having to walk in the direction of the emoji you want to select, which can be a bit tricky). This still allows you to use the function and number row as dedicated hotkeys for the first 2/3 Emoji Wheel pages. This would probably mainly apply to the 3rd and last page page of the Emoji Wheel BUT, it can be useful for players who might have a hard time memorising the dedicated hotkeys and need to pull up the visual.

Currently, you can:
- Hotkey the 3rd page of the Emoji Wheel
1 key vs. [CTRL] + [SPACE] + [SPACE] to get there.
- Individually hotkey all the emojis on the 3rd page of the Emoji Wheel
There is just not enough keys on the keyboard to map out the 3rd page of the Emoji Wheel when the default is mapped for 2 player split controls with a single keyboard.

Eg. I've hotkeyed my arrow keys to the direction arrow emojis however, it does interfere with my ability to easily directionally walk the emoji I want since I usually use my other hand on the arrow keys for that.

Also currently:
- We have AFK emojis, which would be the clocks. They are supposed to represent being AFK for 1 minute and then 5 minutes.
- There is a "shock" or rather "surprised" emote but I suppose that is only reserved for the Robot for acting all surprised that you derailed/crashed your locomotive or perhaps your impressive Unrailed! score.

What would be some good examples in your opinion of the need for a general "Don't" emoji?

While there probably won't ever be a text chat, quick chat in the shop is probably something to look into.

[Stencil]

You'd have to argue a use case for where if you don't like something being done, a thumbs down emoji wouldn't work in its place.

[Noba]

Possibly an option could be a mouse based emote wheel?
Left click to path, right click to open the wheel.
Have all categories there (basic emojis, requests for resources, symbols, vote), and then beyond that you select the option. It would be much quicker to slide the mouse than to try and remember which button on the keyboard to press.