Jump to content

New GUI: Design & Features Discussion


Recommended Posts

Didn't know there was another texture for bars -where is it?

I don't like the icons for attack and armor. I tried to do that but they always looked bad that small. When I made them larger, it looked like they were crammed in there.

I like the civ icon though, shouldn't be hard.

I don't mind the resources on top of the icon, but if we're doing that simply because the unit names are too long then I think our unit names are too long. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm...I have to say, I don't like the split up GUI either :/ My eyes can't settle on one thing, they just keep moving here and there trying to figure out where things are :P

@Brian: What textures do you use for the health and stamina bars? I've made some nice ones in the ui/session/icons folder, why don't you check them out? Or tell me how to change them ;)

;)

EDIT: its art/ui/session/icons :)

Didn't know there was another texture for bars -where is it?

I don't like the icons for attack and armor. I tried to do that but they always looked bad that small. When I made them larger, it looked like they were crammed in there.

I like the civ icon though, shouldn't be hard.

I don't mind the resources on top of the icon, but if we're doing that simply because the unit names are too long then I think our unit names are too long. :P

I was thinking of something more minimal for the attack and armor sections :)

Yes, that's really why :P I'd rather not make short our unit names ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't like the concept of resources over the picture. So here is my concept of a possible layout. I moved the icons for attack and defense to the right so it is more clear that they correspond to the stats also I made them smaller. In the space I freed up I put the gathering resource stacked on top of its number. I also kept shield bearers civ icon idea since I think thats pretty cool.

post-12995-0-91735100-1339429013_thumb.p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried squeezing the resources in with the specific name, but it either made the specific name's vertical area huge, or required removing the generic name's box so the resource count could go in the vertical space between the specific and generic names. Putting the resource information on top of the portrait seems like a much better idea; it avoids mucking up the spacing for non-gatherer units.

I don't feel the player-coloured portrait border adds anything that the shading behind the player name doesn't. The overlapping portrait seems to mostly come from the earlier mock-up where the portrait was much larger, and as Pureon mentioned it currently overlaps the barter buttons in the market. At the current size (96x96px), it could fit into the pane, like so:

GrXo8.png

Everything is rather more compact, but I don't mind it (and the spacing is fairly consistent - 20px for player, 20px for generic name, 22px for specific name). I used a hero's armour stats to show that three double-digit figures fit, but just barely. It'd likely be an issue if "Attack" and "Armor" are translated. That said, there's 46px between the bottom of the statistics panel and the bottom of the stamina bar, compared to the older mock-up's 35px. That may be sufficient to allow for intelligible icons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like this one. To the resource count: Why not switiching the stamina bar directly under the health bar, so there would be place for the resource.

Like this:

Health: 100/100

______________ (<-health bar)

______________ (<-stamina bar)

Stamina 4/20

Edited by kosmo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. I don't like the color band around the portrait. It's overkill since we have the color band behind the player name (which looks very nice).

2. I'd say let's stick with the unified center version for now, then perhaps we can do more to make them into their own panels that can be moved wherever the player wishes (in UI setup screen). Or, the center version can have an option to be placed into the left corner. They look exactly the same, but just centered or left-justified. Then all we need is to make a version that goes into the right corner or is right-justified. It would be slightly different, as the minimap will need swapped over into the corner, but the overall layout would be the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just had a thought (and it is probably more complicated), instead of a config setting... what if players were allowed to dock the panels wherever they chose during the game? There could be predetermined locations (bottom left, center, and right) that the panels would snap to. Just grab something representing a handle and move it to whatever configuration you choose.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just had a thought (and it is probably more complicated), instead of a config setting... what if players were allowed to dock the panels wherever they chose during the game? There could be predetermined locations (bottom left, center, and right) that the panels would snap to. Just grab something representing a handle and move it to whatever configuration you choose.

That's kind of what I've been thinking, but I think the player should have to do this in a separate screen. I could see accidental problems arising with allowing this in-game
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, lets settle on something for Alpha 11, and then we can think about a new GUI system in the future.

@Brian: Go ahead and put the panels back together, then implement this please:

GrXo8.png

It satisfies nearly every requirement/preference for the new panel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, lets settle on something for Alpha 11, and then we can think about a new GUI system in the future.

@Brian: Go ahead and put the panels back together, then implement this please:

GrXo8.png

It satisfies nearly every requirement/preference for the new panel.

One tweak I would like to see is the Hack, Pierce, and Crush values aligning vertically. Otherwise, I am okay with this layout.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about something like this?

W3G0t.jpg

The carried resource icon overlaps the unit portrait, I don't see much problems with having it there, so correct me if I'm wrong :)

I just played around with the stats area, instead of text we can use icons and hence save some more space. Of course we'll need to make some optimized icons for the resolution ;)

Another thing I did, just to beautify the area was add the civ specific emblem or shield. This would change to the respective civ of the selected unit. How feasible is that?

I reaaally like that emblem under the player name. Otherwise the only way we have to find a unit's civ is a tooltip on the player name. It's perfectly feasible if we get the sprites made (perhaps in monochrome with high contrast so they look OK under different player colors?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again to everyone that's helped out:

0ADgui06.png

Time to ask Brian whether any of this is possible? :)

Let's try getting closer to this, which had a pretty good consensus a few days ago. Showing the armor/attack stats just doesn't seem feasible without throwing it all out of balance.

Basically, allocating a space just for rows of attack/armor stats gives them precedence over something else in the UI (and in a prominent location as the eye will travel from the top edge down), but they're static, precedence should be given to dynamic data like resource count, HP, XP, etc. where the user actually needs to look at the UI to see what's going on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...