Add a menu for sending quick chat messages

[Pio64]

Using chat in Super Tux Kart is less convenient than in most games that I've played. When using a gamepad it's even worse, because the player has to grab the keyboard (but that's expected). This is usually fine in race mode, but in Soccer players tend to use the chat a little more.

I propose to add a menu, which would be displayed when holding a key. It would allow players to quickly pick and send one of a few predefined chat messages.

Here is a simple mockup showing what it could look like:

[CodingJellyfish]

How to control? We need to make it controllable by keyboard.

[kimden]

I would rather say it's more of an issue for controllers if it's harder for their users to chat — maybe there should be a different interface for chatting just for controllers then. Not sure

With keyboard people online already say hi gj att nice gl hf t def sry for the above phrases without spending much time

[Pio64]

How to control? We need to make it controllable by keyboard.

@CodingJellyfish if there are only 8 messages like on the screenshot, then it will be easy to use it with arrows. Just use one of the 8 directions while holding the menu button. Or we could assign each message a digit (and display it next to the message), so the combination would be: menu key + digit.

If there are more than 8 messages, then I think the user would have to cycle through them with arrows and press enter to confirm. Or they would have to use a mouse (which should probably be supported anyway).

On a gamepad it would be controlled with the left or right stick.

I would rather say it's more of an issue for controllers if it's harder for their users to chat — maybe there should be a different interface for chatting just for controllers then. Not sure

@kimden you are right, using chat with the keyboard is not hard. I was just confused about something. But I still think this might benefit both types of users.

With keyboard people online already say hi gj att nice gl hf t def sry for the above phrases without spending much time

Yes, but I think the fact that players often have to reduce their message to one letter shows that maybe an improvement is needed. It might not be obvious to everyone what t or g means. Sending full words would improve communication a bit.

This is mostly a problem for gamepad users, but I've seen games that are mostly played with keyboard and mouse that have a similar feature. In Xonotic and Quake it's common to see people set up hotkeys to send specific messages. In Xonotic there are even some set up by default and people use them.