Game News DoubleBear Reveals Dead State GUI

[Burning Bridges]

So you like a bar stretching across the entire bottom of the screen that serves no purpose, and incredibly tiny buttons that have no readability what so ever. Do I look like a troll?

Ok that's enough. I have a lot of time, but not enough to teach you how to make a UI scale.

I understand if A&B don't post themselves, but if they want to make a serviceable game, they will need people with technical expertise in the team, not only good writers and a clown.

 

[Spectacle]

Lol, this thread has so many amateur "interface designers" spouting bullshit. Comedy gold!
It's a good thing this is "RPG" Codex and not "GUI" Codex, or we'd be better off closing down the site :D

 

[villain of the story]

How is the installer for the game? I demand that the installer is more flashy than the cheapo generic installers we get these days. I DEMAND an animated installer like in the old Westwood games or those ones that had lots of background stuff like Activision did in Interstate 76 or Battlezone. Those were the fucking days!

Stick the GUI debates up your arses! The decline started with the rise of the installshield program!

Surely we'll tackle the issue of the installer but this thread is about GUI, mang

 

[villain of the story]

Lol, this thread has so many amateur "interface designers" spouting bullshit. Comedy gold!
It's a good thing this is "RPG" Codex and not "GUI" Codex, or we'd be better off closing down the site :D

You mean like all the other "amateur" game "developers" spouting bullshit which literally consists of everyone ever partaking in a RPG discussion on the Codex? :shocked:

Also:

Finally, when exactly have you subscribed to the ESF school of thought when it comes to critique? You know our words. If it's too hot...

 

[EG]

How is the installer for the game? I demand that the installer is more flashy than the cheapo generic installers we get these days. I DEMAND an animated installer like in the old Westwood games or those ones that had lots of background stuff like Activision did in Interstate 76 or Battlezone. Those were the fucking days!

Stick the GUI debates up your arses! The decline started with the rise of the installshield program!

At the very least, we need a themes package for Windows 95 (complete with screensavers) if this game is to be viable.

It has to be certified for Windows (but not .NET)

And, it must be included in the next Game Sampler for Windows.

Oh, asking for outmoded gimmicks is fun!

 

[Spectacle]

Lol, this thread has so many amateur "interface designers" spouting bullshit. Comedy gold!
It's a good thing this is "RPG" Codex and not "GUI" Codex, or we'd be better off closing down the site :D

You mean like all the other "amateur" game "developers" spouting bullshit which literally consists of everyone ever partaking in a RPG discussion on the Codex? :shocked:

Also:

Finally, when exactly have you subscribed to the ESF school of thought when it comes to critique? You know our words. If it's too hot...

The difference is of course that people here have some clue about RPG design, but this thread simply has random clueless posters stating their personal opinions as if they were facts.
I'm certainly not telling anyone to stop though, as I said this is comedy gold.

 

[Burning Bridges]

GUIs are the best way to evaluate a game and the people who are making it.

That's why many so many developers want to chain your attention with graphics and hide their GUI (which is usually not very good).

 

[Burning Bridges]

Lol, this thread has so many amateur "interface designers" spouting bullshit. Comedy gold!
It's a good thing this is "RPG" Codex and not "GUI" Codex, or we'd be better off closing down the site :D

You mean like all the other "amateur" game "developers" spouting bullshit which literally consists of everyone ever partaking in a RPG discussion on the Codex? :shocked:

Also:

Finally, when exactly have you subscribed to the ESF school of thought when it comes to critique? You know our words. If it's too hot...

The difference is of course that people here have some clue about RPG design, but this thread simply has random clueless posters stating their personal opinions as if they were facts.
I'm certainly not telling anyone to stop though, as I said this is comedy gold.

Another of these girlish posters.

Perhaps you should deliver some argument. Instead of this performing like in kindergarten. It's clear that it's you who is clueless about the topic and you're just hoping that some governess will help you out.

 

[commie]

GUIs are the best way to evaluate a game and the people who are making it.

That's why many so many developers want to chain your attention with graphics and hide their GUI (which is usually not very good).

I don't know...there were many good games in the past that were worth persevering through despite a bullshit GUI. This was particularly noticeable in the early 90's with the faux Windows style and/or icon based GUI's, many of which were fucking awful. Often the game itself was quite good if one overcame the desire to rage quit because all the icons looked the same and you couldn't do anything easily.

Sure, a good GUI is worth its weight in gold but even at worst, I can't see this GUI here as worthy of much rage. Game doesn't look tactical enough to need anything elaborate. Never had much hope for this both in terms of gameplay and setting...fucking zombies suck.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Sure, a good GUI is worth its weight in gold but even at worst, I can't see this GUI here as worthy of much rage. Game doesn't look tactical enough to need anything elaborate. Never had much hope for this both in terms of gameplay and setting...fucking zombies suck.

Never said it was worth much rage. I guess most people were just totally taken aback when Mr. Hat came and wiped numerous good suggestions off the table, with absolutely inane arguments.

 

[villain of the story]

Same here, I have endured horrible atrocities in the name of GUI but since the news item is about GUI... there is just no reason not to bitch the fuck away.

 

[A user named cat]

You can but it's a lot of work. I'm not even sure if any developer has even attempted it, since 16:9 and 4:3 aren't the only aspect ratios.
<snip>

Doesn't the High Resolution Patch for Fallout do just this? The installer even allows you to choose from different UI designs, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Volrath]

ITT: people list their favourite shitty GUIs. Seriously Wizardry? ToEE? Are you people fucking retarded?

 

[Burning Bridges]

What's yours then? Neverwinter Nights 2? Skyrim?

 

[Volrath]

Something that's functional and not intrusive. As for my personal preference: Deus Ex.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Deus Ex & System Shock had very good inventories, without doubt.

What's wrong with the inventory in Wizardry 8 which I posted?

The main problem in TOEE's GUI was that the fonts and widgets were already too small when the game came out, and this became even worse whent the screen resolutions increased.

I'm finding it actually quite all right at 1280 * 720

 

[zeitgeist]

Could someone from DB please explain the reasoning behind the whole game having a school theme, which is so incredibly in-your-face now that the GUI is revealed? I understand the school as a shelter concept to some extent, and I definitely understand having the GUI related to the game setting (see Dead Rising games for an example where a zombies+real world setting (mall/casino)+themed GUI combo works reasonably well, with the warning that the GUI in those was meant for the TV screen), but when combined (with amateurish design blunders further messing things up) it makes the game appear as something you could've randomly downloaded from all those casual game portals when they cropped up in the early 00s.

 

[General Maxson]

Yeah, they should make it less sterile and realistic (setting). I don't want a fuckin' office or school theme or GUI. I have enough of that in RL. This should be a bad ass zombie apocalypse game (and I don't mean that in next-gen-new-audience sense, but more like fallout 1 is a kick ass post-apocalyptic game)!

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's more that everything about AoD is pretty much half assed anyway...

... and when I see it thrown in my face that it's part cluelessness and mostly laziness and not giving a shit then what's the point?

It must be so hard to have all that wisdom and be constantly frustrated by clueless, lazy people who keep throwing half-assed shit in your face instead of begging you for guidance. I feel for you, bro.

 

[Burning Bridges]

To be honest the school theme so far didn't bother me. I mean you must select some theme and a properly done school theme is much better than any not properly done or otherwise stupid theme.

I just thought some things about the interface are in need of improvement. For example in phantasmals JA2 mockup you would see the equipment for all your characters simultaneously, whereas in the official Dead State you must select every character individually, meaning a lot of additional clicking. When I then hear suggestions for better interfaces dismissed with inane reasoning (aspect ratio), I get second thoughts about the competence of everyone involved.

It's a silly "news" post to show a nonworking mockup of the game's GUI after 3 years at any rate

They worked three years on this? It doesn't appear so long ago since I first saw it.

I checked it. It was first announced in August 2009, so it is really almost three years old.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I just thought some things about the interface are in need of improvement. For example in phantasmals JA2 mockup you would see the equipment for all your characters simultaneously, whereas in the official Dead State you must select every character individually, meaning a lot of additional clicking.

It's not my game and I'm not involved in any decision making, but:

A) it's not a tactical game like JA2, so the comparisons are pointless.
B) Why do you need to see inactive characters' equipment? Again, it's not JA2, where you need to see the big picture and correct mistakes before you get into a fight.

When I then hear suggestions for better interfaces dismissed ...

There were a lot of good suggestions that I liked because I *prefer* things a certain way, but nothing that was undeniably better. In fact I'm surprised that so many confuse personal preferences with facts, but do carry on.

 

[Burning Bridges]

A) it's not a tactical game like JA2, so the comparisons are pointless.

B) Why do you need to see inactive characters' equipment?

For the same reason that I want to see active characters' equipment.

 

[chewie]

And some common sense here, lots of people have made GUI layouts before and there's no big magic to it . No one here has ever made a complete RPG including AoD team, and most people would make something terrible of they tried.

My take on this: There is a lot of magic involved. (scope: indy game development)

Making (game) gui layouts and making a (game) gui are two very different things. Making the gui layout typically stands for: some non-programmer fires up <tool of their choice> and throws in all of the cool ideas using all the power the <tool of their choice> offers. Mostly that tool is Photoshop or the like.

Making a gui is (if you're lucky) a programmer taking these static proposals and turn them into code BY WORKING AROUND THE LIMITATIONS the gui system has. If you're unlucky, the artist tries to do that himself. And the worst case: your programmer designs & implements the gui.

All in all you can at least provide a gui which works (let's you control stuff) or best case: your gui is awesome, but as you can see in this thread, that's very unlikely. But the big trouble starts once people start using insane resolutions like - let's say 1920x and realize that certain texts etc. are not readable anymore - or that 1000px (width) are mostly filled with dummy content / space (see the widescreen screenshots of PsT). And don't make me started on height issues.

Game guis != your (hopefully) dynamic gui in e.g. browsers or desktop apps. Those dynamic guis have a shitload of specs & work behind them - while your average game gui lib hasn't.

So it's kind of funny to demand a full flexible gui from games that are made by small teams - as the gui system alone to provide such luxury would eat up most of the dev time those small teams can afford.

Honestly? I never install widescreen "patches", I play the games in the resolutions they were designed for. Saves me at least the time to complain about tiny fonts - which I can then use to play & enjoy the game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

@ Bridges:
Not an answer. You need to see active characters' equipment to use it during their turn.

 

[zeitgeist]

A) it's not a tactical game like JA2, so the comparisons are pointless.

What is it then? There's turn-based combat, there's a similar view of the battlefield, there's a party, there are hit points, action points, an inventory, skills, stats, what could it possibly be if not a tactical game like JA2?

Is it perhaps a tactical game like JA2, only worse?