221 replies to this topic

[Mythos_Ruler]

Thorfinn the Shallow Minded, on 07 June 2012 - 10:08 PM, said:

Is there a good reason for stamina to be shown on the unit's GUI?

There will be. And 'Loyalty' too, for Structures and Female Citizens. (since neither Structures nor Female Citizens have Stamina, it is replaced by the Loyalty bar).

[Pureon]

Thanks again to everyone that's helped out:



Time to ask Brian whether any of this is possible?

[k776]

Well done Pureon. Best mockup thus far!


The only thing I might have comment for is the position of the players name. It's between unit name and unit controls, which breaks apart grouping of similar things.

Can you show us what it would look like with the Player name under the action buttons, and also above (not in) the center panel (move the portrait image down slightly).

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I'd really rather not put the name under the buttons. I think they should stay on the bottom since they are on the bottom when multiple units are selected. So, unless moving them is central to the design, I can do it if you really want, but I don't really see the point.

As for technical feasibility, we can reasonably only color text dynamically. If really we want to color a background like behind the player name or as an outline around the unit icon, then I'll need a way to change the color of a sprite after is is created. We don't have this currently.

The only things this mockup has that the old one didn't are the HP and stamina numbers and the specific unit name. I kind of thought that either we wanted more info, or a smaller panel size. The attack / armor icon doesn't offer much (I'd prefer more info). There is more space apportioned to the resources than attack and armor and many resources cannot gather at all (and those that can will only gather for part of the time anyway).

Just some food for thought. I'll make up whatever interface you all want (where I can), just wanted to mention some potential issues.

[rjs23]

A thought just hit my mind: I'm not sure if other games has this feature but what if you place those buttons (train, research, or upgrades) ABOVE the unit/building instead of placing those buttons in the UI container?

Heres a rough image of what I'm talking about: (using the Mythos_rule's screenshot that i modified)


Those buttons are transparent until you mouse over them which then becomes completely solid.

Edited by rjs23, 08 June 2012 - 02:53 AM.

[FeXoR]

rjs23, on 08 June 2012 - 02:49 AM, said:

A thought just hit my mind: I'm not sure if other games has this feature but what if you place those buttons (train, research, or upgrades) ABOVE the unit/building instead of placing those buttons in the UI container?

Heres a rough image of what I'm talking about: (using the Mythos_rule's screenshot that i modified)

Those buttons are transparent until you mouse over them which then becomes completely solid.

That way the buttons position on the screen will differ which is bad for playability. In addition representation in the graphic engine might need some ms to pop up - time that might be important in some situations.

There where games that used this e.g. The battle for middle earth. It's priority was clearly look and feel and so it was not balanced, had a bad unit AI, the player AI cheated like hell without matching any moderate player and the playability sucked.

In general to the space in the centered frame: I got no problems with it but just to say what uses much space in comparison to the use in game:
- The unit picture use much space though an icon about as big as in the production frame would do (even better) to recognize the units type. A large representation could be shown in a tech tree or civilization guide.
- The health and stamina bar do not need to be labeled IMO. A mouse over that shows the name of the stat (health/stamina) and the actual/max values should be sufficient. The bars represent the state of the unit (fresh and healthy/exhausted but healthy/rested but ingured) quite well IMO:

Edited by FeXoR, 08 June 2012 - 12:15 PM.

[historic_bruno]

WhiteTreePaladin, on 08 June 2012 - 12:57 AM, said:

As for technical feasibility, we can reasonably only color text dynamically. If really we want to color a background like behind the player name or as an outline around the unit icon, then I'll need a way to change the color of a sprite after is is created. We don't have this currently.

We can dynamically create a sprite with the player color (guiObject.sprite = "colour: r g b a"), it's something we already do for game setup and tech pairs, to name a few. It may not look as snappy as Pureon's image, some tweaking of alpha is needed and possibly a second overlaid sprite to get that shininess.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

Ben, that should work. I guess creating a new one every time isn't too bad for performance?

[edit] Wait, it's not creating a new one. I wasn't able to get that to work before, although I don't remember "colour" being part of it.

[Pureon]

Would the sprite use a dds alpha channel similar to player colour on units? I will supply that file if and when it's needed.

Brian do you have Photoshop?

[historic_bruno]

Pureon, on 08 June 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

Would the sprite use a dds alpha channel similar to player colour on units? I will supply that file if and when it's needed.

I don't think the UI supports that yet, but it might be simple to add since it uses the shader/material system? For now, I was just thinking a simple flat colored bar with some alpha and an optional second sprite for borders, highlights, or whatever enhancements we want. IMO the player assignment boxes in game setup already look OK on a similar background:

[Pureon]

historic_bruno, on 08 June 2012 - 11:40 PM, said:

IMO the player assignment boxes in game setup already look OK on a similar background:

Very true, no need to reinvent anything.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

Quote

Brian do you have Photoshop?

No, I just have GIMP.

Looks like it doesn't matter in this case though.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Sometime we really should redesign all of the menus and various windows with an eye on consistency. Pureon with his graphical skills would be a big asset here.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I tried to make it somewhat consistent, but it could certainly be a lot better.

[Pureon]

Brian, here's the 'panel_middle.png' texture file for the GUI layout - it should just replace the existing one, everything's in the right place. Let me know what else you need.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

Really don't think that's going to work well considering it provides no flexibility whatsoever, but I'll use it anyway I guess. (Just to explain: as an artist you'd want the original with layers if you have to edit. As a programmer, it's nice having separate pieces to move things around, update to new fonts, etc.

If you're one hundred percent satisfied with everything, then it doesn't matter as much.

[Pureon]

You know what's best. I'll let others chime in.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I'm making it work right now, so do let me know of any changes as soon as you can.

[historic_bruno]

Pureon, on 09 June 2012 - 06:11 PM, said:

Brian, here's the 'panel_middle.png' texture file for the GUI layout - it should just replace the existing one, everything's in the right place. Let me know what else you need.

Hmm, what happens when we need to adjust the height of those shaded bits or change their spacing if the font needs more room? Then we not only need a new texture but all the code has to be updated as well. I agree with Brian, it really needs to be split into separate pieces (preferably a minimal set of reusable pieces).

[WhiteTreePaladin]

Ok, updated. It's not exactly the same, so let me know what needs fixing.