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KickStarter Mechajammer (formerly Copper Dreams) - cyberpunk RPG from Whalenought Studios

mushaden

Scholar
Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
334
Wow did they loan out someone from an insane asylum to do the character art? I mean I'd still buy it, but the graphics/visuals just keep getting stranger
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Messages
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://whalenoughtstudios.com/community/forums/topic/copper-dreams-character-creation-mockup/

CopperDreams_CharacterCreationMockUp.png


We’re hoping to get an early version of character creation in when we start beta testing the game soon, and we got to mocking up a wireframe with some random art to start getting ideas:

It’s similar to the layout of the character sheet, as familiarity between UX is always a good idea. However with a single panel like this, tabs are needed to go through all the options you have building your character: appearance, birth kit, age, on-file, and advantage/disadvantages, as well as all their info or pictures to go with them. Tabs are efficient, but are about as fun as a fax machine to think about using.

You create your character pretty much immediately. The Dungeon Master tells you that you’ve been picked up for some trivial crime to be shipped off, and it opens with your character silhouetted in a restraint-bag hanging from a ceiling-conveyer belt network, bobbing through some rooms until halting in a comfortable looking office where an emigration officer hails you and starts taking your information for deportation.

What we thought would be a bit more interactive with this was transitioning to an overhead shot of the ‘desk’ between the two of you and using modular panels you can drag around to represent the different pieces of paper on a desk in front of you. These would stack and overlap, and you could arrange it anyway you want.

We previously had this system setup with character inventory bags at one point, and can repurpose it for this for testing. We really like the idea of making it seem more physical — like creating a p&p character, minus having a pen to doodle around the edges, which, maybe we should also add in that case [Hannah edit: no]. Thematically for the feels of the game — this is a dystopian, cyberpunk world that is analog, a future without internet or touchscreens. Being able to include that into interfaces where we can is an idea we like, and character creation would allow us to start off on the right foot.

We’ll hopefully get something like that running mid-month and show it off! Should be fun.
 

Heretic

Cipher
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
844
From colors, font, affordances, even frikkin text alignment, this game seems to strive to be as unusable, overwhelming and incomprehensive as possible.

This will be a text case for the decades to come in how NOT to design a visual interface.

I can point out several mistakes in each of the screenshots and I'm an amateur who just read a few books:
  • Low contrast everywhere, in text as well as in line graphs
  • All caps text is harder to read
  • Font with chaotic letters - different baseline and skew for each letter
  • Hard to read at a small size
  • Missing max skill values
  • Data shown before labels in the status pane
  • Unclear buttons (dark gray vs light gray plus sign, what?)
  • Information of unclear value - turn distance
  • Information better presented on a paper doll (can use limbs)
  • Centered Virtue names make scanning harder

I'm not even talking about the graphics, where each square shows five things at once, not prioritizing them, again, low contrast everywhere, everything blurs together...
I also have my reservations about the useless innovation and confusing naming in "Virtues" and "Aptitudes" (aka Attributes and Skills - a long used terminology): Vigor vs Stamina, Cunning vs Grace? Why? What for?
What is "Stock", what is "Chained", what is "Sub"? How do attributes influence skills?

[Why] [is] [everything] [in] [square] [brackets] [?]

This is all one graphical mess.

A game where form trumps function, and the form is ugly.
 
Last edited:

buffalo bill

Arcane
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
1,004
From colors, font, affordances, even frikkin text alignment, this game seems to strive to be as unusable, overwhelming and incomprehensive as possible.

This will be a text case for the decades to come in how NOT to design a visual interface.

I can point out several mistakes in each of the screenshots and I'm an amateur who just read a few books:
  • Low contrast everywhere, in text as well as in line graphs
  • All caps text is harder to read
  • Font with chaotic letters - different baseline and skew for each letter
  • Hard to read at a small size
  • Missing max skill values
  • Data shown before labels in the status pane
  • Unclear buttons (dark gray vs light gray plus sign, what?)
  • Information of unclear value - turn distance
  • Information better presented on a paper doll (can use limbs)
  • Centered Virtue names make scanning harder

I'm not even talking about the graphics, where each square shows five things at once, not prioritizing them, again, low contrast everywhere, everything blurs together...
I also have my reservations about the useless innovation and confusing naming in "Virtues" and "Aptitudes" (aka Attributes and Skills - a long used terminology): Vigor vs Stamina, Cunning vs Grace? Why? What for?
What is "Stock", what is "Chained", what is "Sub"? How do attributes influence skills?

[Why] [is] [everything] [in] [square] [brackets] [?]

This is all one graphical mess.

A game where form trumps function, and the form is ugly.
Maybe those are all theoretical flaws in a graphic design class on good contemporary videogame graphix & UI, but nothing in the actual picture presented is even slightly hard to read or ambiguous. Like, at all. It's clean and simple, no bs. Maybe worst problem is all the numbers will scare away casuals, but I see that as a positive.
 

buffalo bill

Arcane
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
1,004
Also, the only words in square brackets are tokens of the word "able" next to "walking", "crouching", "crawling", etc. You seriously can't understand why it might say that there?
 

Heretic

Cipher
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
844
Also, the only words in square brackets are tokens of the word "able" next to "walking", "crouching", "crawling", etc. You seriously can't understand why it might say that there?
I am talking about all three screenshots shown this week:
[+] [-] [X] [ABLE] [VIGOR 10] [LOGIC 4]
Maybe those are all theoretical flaws in a graphic design class on good contemporary videogame graphix & UI, but nothing in the actual picture presented is even slightly hard to read or ambiguous. Like, at all. It's clean and simple, no bs. Maybe worst problem is all the numbers will scare away casuals, but I see that as a positive.
It is not clean and simple, at all.

Let me show you a few screenshots from games made by similar small teams.

This is the pinnacle: Clear sections, clear labels, active elements immediately recognizable, good use of screen estate. Text contrast could be a bit higher.
ss_e318caa12a4be11e8284b1aa40324cd1d5d8ec7f.1920x1080.jpg


Next: Good readability (nice font and contrast), good sections, could use more screen estate and better text alignment of what is basically tabular data
ss_c5849e8df4fdb59ee926ff4dba1a087eb9d876b1.1920x1080.jpg


Created by just one man, looks like developer design: Good sections, nice readability although the contrast could be higher, could use better typography and not centering everything. Active elements ("Reset last levelup") should be clearer.
Still, overall well comprehensible
ss_805c76c1637c1995b4573e04d9219ababca55d12.1920x1080.jpg


Going on, worse readability because of the font and the color, could use more screen estate instead of scrolling, but very nice display of tabular data, clear active elements (skill increase/decrease buttons) and informative sections.
ss_9d018a908b7a6db8d0b4d17a99006bfbec4d3638.1920x1080.jpg


The perennial non-designer: Could use more screen estate, but great readability despite the decorative font, great alignment of labels and data, informative skill sections
ss_73cdd3abcf802a004264c6c0f5f01a3f26281f7a.1920x1080.jpg

Now compare the abomination we're talking about

No sections, all skills mashed up together, unreadable font combined with all caps and low contrast colors, bad information hierarchy (Attributes aka Virtues are the most important, but not placed accordingly), bad naming (Virtues, Aptitudes, Sub, Stock, Chained)
D3YD0HuWAAcvxCg.jpg:large


I know this is just a mockup, but still: Again, bad font, low contrast, unclear information hierarchy, no skill sections, unclear active elements (What does the X next to the portrait do? Are the words "Appearance, Birth Kit, Age, On File" tab switches, dropdown toggles, labels...?)
CopperDreams_CharacterCreationMockUp.png
 
Last edited:

sebas

Scholar
Patron
Joined
Dec 20, 2015
Messages
282
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut
You think if these two join Otherside Ent, the company's project management skills would go up or down?
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Messages
13,512
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I messed around with the alpha for 10 minutes. Visually, it is a mess and from a gameplay perspective, they kinda just throw you into the game without much explanation. Still believe that I will like the game in the end, but they should maybe have waited a bit more for alpha. Combat felt like a mess. Here are some descriptive text. I'm eager to try out 1.1.
FA054194683B2E6860AADD205231C0B6B460A747

14DE9772BEB4744E17B8EDFC36A73F07089FDB70

BC4670BCDAC2596D775C4426EE2BA138A58B1503
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
I think opening up the alpha for playing can be a bit of a mistake. People will tear it apart and it's only in alpha, not even beta yet.
 

The Wall

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck Zionist Agent
Joined
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Messages
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Location
SERPGIA
Now these latest shots remind of GTA:Cyberpunk Vice City. Which is weird cool

Whalenoughts' art director must be Sheogorath himself and he's using wabbajack brush. Only sane explanation, really
 

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