Game News DoubleBear Reveals Dead State GUI

[Kos_Koa]

so if someone suggests something that would improve the UI or anything else that I do, then I'll make the changes

Well, there was the suggestion to keep everything together instead of having it spread out all over the place. I'm fine with the portraits separated to the left but is there a reason the noise-meter is there as well?

I did mock-ups of the noise meter in different places on the screen, and the only two places that seemed decent to me were the top left and right, but considering that you'll have to look at the allies portraits for information anyways it seemed like the best choice. If testers don't like the placement then we can change it. Playtesting will likely iron out any ui issues.

How about those buttons in the bottom right corner?

I wasn't happy with how I handled that area too, I might incorporate them with the middle ui but I'll have to run it by the team first.

Regarding the rest of what you said, clarity of information to me is the most important thing, so if the theme makes the readability suffer I'll do what I can to fix that. Also I have some ideas that'll hopefully make the ui look less like a "school rpg" and more like the game it's supposed to be.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I think the noise meter should be in the top middle.

Before you make such decisions, have a look at how other games place indicators:

There are several possibilites, but I have never seen a gauge crammed in the top left corner like that.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Hm.

I wish to know more, Torque.

I think it's too late for them to use that now, but everyone else should take note. Resizing GUIs is not only for AAA+ games.

 

[EG]

I think it's too late for them to use that now, but everyone else should take note. Resizing GUIs is not only for AAA+ games.

What are they using?

Downloaded the demo to fuck with it sometime this week; it doesn't seem to apply for different aspect ratios (the default is apparently 4:3), as those have to be changed manually, component by component?

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Wait. So is Kos_Koa Brian Mitsoda or the guy responsible for Art?

 

[EG]

Wait. So is Kos_Koa Brian Mitsoda or the guy responsible for Art?

Or is he a more coherent Prosper, just fucking with us?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Wait. So is Kos_Koa Brian Mitsoda or the guy responsible for Art?

I thought I was Brian Mitsoda. Come on, guys, make up your mind.

 

[Elhoim]

Ah, yes, the teleporting.... we have dismissed that claim.

Except we didn't?

- You don't start the vignette in dialogue anymore, but in a enclosed area with minor interactions. You can save, check your gear, etc.
- You no longer get directly into dialogue the first time you visit the bandit camp.
- When you send the raiders to attack the mine, now you have a chance to spend SP, check inventory, etc.
- You are not forced in a dialogue with Antidas as soon as you get the evidence.
- You are not forced to craft a forge when you get Carrinas writing.
- You are not forced in a dialogue with Antidas as soon as you convince Mercato.
- You are no longer forced to go get the ring after successfully forging the letter.

And there are quite a few places we added the teleporting as an option, and some other places in which we still want to add more freedom (like in the mine).

 

[Clockwork Knight]

That was supposed to be just a dumb joke at VD's expense, but that's nice to know anyway.

 

[Tolknaz]

Look at meee! Also, buttocks buttons.

Ah, life sure is well on the butthurt boulevard...

 

[FeelTheRads]

Can't hurt the feelings of developers can we? Then they won't come here anymore. Because everybody has to care about developers acting like teenagers whenever somebody criticizes them.

Also, yeah, can't criticize unless you're an expert (preferably a guru) in the field of what you're criticizing.

Fucking retarded hippies.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

indie developers have their artistic vision to stand by too

 

[General Maxson]

Can't hurt the feelings of developers can we? Then they won't come here anymore. Because everybody has to care about developers acting like teenagers whenever somebody criticizes them.

Also, yeah, can't criticize unless you're an expert (preferably a guru) in the field of what you're criticizing.

Fucking retarded hippies.

How can your pleb mind understand that expertly crafted field if you're not an expert like the developers?

 

[EG]

VD doesn't appear to have feelings to hurt.

Somehow he is immune to you bastards.

 

[Elhoim]

Resize in T3D is quite bad with bitmap images, especially for buttons. In the next version of AoD all screen have custom image files for different resolutions and make better use of higher ones. In the case of Dead State, the main GUI is modular and is a lot "tighter" in 1024x768 (all elements are closer together). We are making it a little more gritty too.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Are you sure? Have you tried typing resize()? Try again. It's gotta work. I've read it on the internet.

 

[EG]

Are you sure? Have you tried typing resize()? Try again. It's gotta work. I've read it on the internet.

And if that doesn't work . . . spend a few days writing your own BMP scaling code! That'd be fun . .. actually. Or just steal it from the openJDK . . .

For that matter, if usage of absolute coordinates is an issue, why not create a relative coordinate class?

 

[Volrath]

Why the fuck do people even use Torque? It sounds like an extremely shitty engine.

 

[Melcar]

It's cheap?

 

[shihonage]

2D interfaces are always a challenge in modern age of variable screen resolutions. Things were easier when you could just lock the game in a single resolution and control everything - i.e. Fallout, Diablo...

 

[Vault Dweller]

The most important aspect of an RPG engine is the scripting language (Torque's stength), not whether or not it can resize gui properly.

 

[Kz3r0]

Fourteen pages discussing a GUI.
Be honest guys, if you don't have your proper twenty sided die to play DnD you don't play at all, am I wrong?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Be honest guys, if you don't have your proper twenty sided die to play DnD you don't play at all, am I wrong?

Jeez fuck, what the hell is wrong in discussing the UI in a topic about UI? Did anyone say the whole game will suck because the UI is bad? And if you don't comment/criticize how the hell do you expect to ever get what you want?

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

A topic that stays on topic! And also, that whole "Goosebumps" theme is wicked-retardo. I'm not letting that one go.

 

[Burning Bridges]

2D interfaces are always a challenge in modern age of variable screen resolutions. Things were easier when you could just lock the game in a single resolution and control everything - i.e. Fallout, Diablo...

You will have to resize elements that need to maintain a certain aspect ratio to look right in all engines but if your engines can't properly scale an image or text then it's a bad engine. Especially for making an RPG. Text looks like shit, making an RPG? Hello.

In C4 all scaling works perfectly, all 2D in general works perfectly. In Torque and Unity it works for shit, because they are terrible engines. Even Unreal and Cryengine, the most FPS-oriented engine ever made where they could care less about GUI it at least scales things properly.

Alternate plan to better engine (which is not as bad as it sounds) is to implement Scaleform or Qt, or if you can't afford that knockoff brands are available.

Interesting, this must be the fifth time or so I see someone recommend C4. I really think I should have a go myself.

And yes, being more of a 2D guy I'm interested in Qt too, mostly for their reputed implementation of OpenVG. Do you have any experience with that? Another OpenVG implementation is Amanith, and it allows hardware accelerated seemless scaling of everything, including GUI. It's just not clear if they are really developing it. You should download the tiger demo and see the scaling capabilites. I think once a standard like OpenVG is generally adopted it will become the future of 2D graphics and interfaces. What we normally have today, engines that cannot do multiple resolutions, interfaces that cannot scale, graphics that cannot be zoomed etc, belong to the stone age.

P.S.

Scaleform is from Autodesk, I warn everyone, to not ever touch that!