Pretti! Interface-graphics

[callehe]

very nice looking android. I like the overall look very much.

3 suggestions for improvement: 1 instead of having a "crafting" roof, why not doing something like elhoim like a engraving of a craftsman or even a statue?

2 remove the centre pillar it's obscuring the paths leading to the ingredients (alternatively remove the paths altogether).

3 change the colour on the letters.... neon turqouise is a little hard on the eyes

 

[OlSheep]

Oh come on, Android, Marsal, will you let Elhoim dominate a deserted domain?

I hope not, I just wish I had the time to roll out an update every five minutes ;-) But now I'm too tired to even just comment on this rough sketch I did...

[pic]

Edit: typo

Nice work. Darkening the boxes and changing the head's color really made a huge difference. The interface should blend much more smoothly with the game.

I think you forgot to add the arrow buttons next to that piece of armor.

We need a way to vote or something...

 

[Fresh]

Excellent work, but still... that turqouise should be changed. Bronze metallic or gold perhaps?

Yep. Or ruby/blood red.

 

[callehe]

something like these in the background maybe?

http://www.geocities.com/sfetel/pic/ifaistos3.gif

http://www.grouptravelleader.com/1_2006 ... _birm2.jpg

 

[John Yossarian]

Holy shit that's beautiful android. Like callehe said try a different color for the text, and i'd remove the paths (they made the original better, but I think yours will be nicer without them). I really like the roof thingy, but I'd be nice to see what you can do with the suggested statues. Again, awesome job.

 

[Longshanks]

Had some spare time and thought I'd see what I could do.
It's very basic, first time I've used paintshop, and I have little creativity .

Only rough, still need to adjust sizes, add backing for icons, change font.



Edit: By the way, I think Android's design looks great (and I like the head).

 

[Marsal]

The new-old UI:
Frame: keep / get rid of?
Item highlight: keep / get rid of?
Background for crafting: keep / change / change tone?
Weapon slots: keep the stone / change back to frieze from earlier versions?
Icon style: good / bad?
General: keep making similar style UIs / give up this style?



Crafting screen:
(EDIT: added scroll arrows)



Dialog screen:

 

[Hazelnut]

Oh come on, Android, Marsal, will you let Elhoim dominate a deserted domain?

I hope not, I just wish I had the time to roll out an update every five minutes ;-) But now I'm too tired to even just comment on this rough sketch I did...
Edit: typo

I like it, especially the columns. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with your designs when you get enough time to work on them. Do drop that awful blue/turquoise colour though.

We need a way to vote or something...

I've been assuming that this thread will end up with a shortlist of 2-4 popular designs that have been developed and discussed, with VD/IT creating a new voting thread with the finalised shortlist for people to vote on. I'm not sure how long VD will let this run for, but it's important to give other designers time to catchup with Elhoim who's obviously had a lot more time to put into this over the past week.

 

[Elhoim]

Crafting Screen White Marble Edition:

 

[The_Pope]

I'd say darken the text a little, or make it shinier. Right now it blends into the background too much.

 

[spacemoose]

android, get back in this thread.

bury the silly statue head a bit more and thats it. now get started on the skill, dialogue and crafting screens

 

[Claw]

Not a totally rhetorical question: if there's a good reason, say so.
I don't see it at present.

Uhh.. why the fuck ask me? I'm not the game designer. I have no bloody idea if it needs to be there. I just said I prefer the floppy over that disc shape.

Clarity / legibility are non-issues in themselves - only aesthetics matters.

Clarity and legibility are relevant for the aesthetics, though.

Btw, funny idea.. I don't know how feasable that is, but we could go with Roman numbers. Known for their clarity.

Character Screen RC1:

Yes.

OlSheep: You are kinda detallist, aren´t you? I´ll see what I can do, but for me it´s barely visible.

Oh, I've seen them since the first appearance, I just didn't feel like bothering you with it at that point. Of course you'll have to get rid of it eventually.

4- I'd like to know what people think on this too though. To me the save icon seems a pointless distraction. Do any other RPGs have such an icon with other gameplay related ones? I can't think of any.

Realms of Arkania does. BoD less so than the sucessors, since you can't access "game options" in every situation - which is inconvenient - and this was changed with Star Trail, thankfully.

 

[Elhoim]

Crafting Screen WME v2:

 

[Claw]

Hey, how about giving people some time to look at and comment on your screens occasionally?
Btw, I prefer the "carved" look on the HP/AP text myself.

This one is too bright for my taste. You went straight from your (not very) dark background with bright text to the opposite, even brighter and more contrasting than VD's original design.

I thought the reason for switching to bright text on dark background was because many people felt that were superior to dark text on bright background.
Now reversing that decision and going way beyond the starting point seems irrational to me.

Oh, and I was never too fond of the black text really, I just couldn't think of a way to improve it.
Black text on white background is just wrong.

 

[Elhoim]

Hey, how about giving people some time to look at and comment on your screens occasionally?

Oh, I know Android designs will win the day. I´m just doing it for fun. The only way I will "win" is if something happens to the other designers.

 

[serch]

Your are understimating yourself. WTF a humble codexer? Get with the times, man. I'm jerking while looking my screen full of hot desihns.

 

[Marsal]

Updated screens and a char screen draft.

 

[Elhoim]

Okay, a darker crafting screen:

Crafting Screen RC3:

- Changed background color and texture.
- Added lava.

 

[hiciacit]

I liked the light marble better. Think it would look nice as well in the text box instead of that shit-colored brown.

 

[Joff1981]

That's your best craft screen so far, the background colour is much better than either the white marble or the mud colour on previous screens. I think the text box should use the same background colour though as it looks a bit out of place at the moment.

 

[Astromarine]

yes, switch the text box to that background color. The current brown is too warm and rich a color to blend in with the rest.

The Upgrade and Close text as well as the "Crafting" title look too blended in with the button and title bar backgrounds. Make those letters metallic or something.

Also, hang in there. I like your work the best of all three. There's things I'd change, sure, but Marsal's is WAY too busy and Android's too "clinical" for some reason, I like your colors a lot more. I don't like the icons and would prefer something more stylized (in the vein of that other diablo-fonted shopjob someone posted a lot of pages back. His icons were superb I feel.

 

[callehe]

Here' some suggestions:

The new-old UI:
Frame: keep / get rid of?

rid. at least on the world screen, don't wan't to mess with view

Item highlight: keep / get rid of?

add a slab/freize instead that the item lies on

Background for crafting: keep / change / change tone?

maybe make it less pronounced? the details are way to visible right now, and distracting (consider this for all screens)

Weapon slots: keep the stone / change back to frieze from earlier versions?

i like the new style but the freize would make the interfaces more cohesive

Icon style: good / bad?

add a touch of colour, while keeping some of the general UI hue

General: keep making similar style UIs / give up this style?

i like the style, but consider changing colour back to brown, i liked that one much more.[/quote]

 

[denizsi]

Ah finally both of my fave candidates coming up with more

Android, I like it However, I agree with others that the turquoise doesn't fit but it might if you use a much darker tone, and the roof element could use some revision. I love the overall feel. Again, the "veins" leading to the materials, they could also use something a little different in my opinion, or removed entirely.

Marsal, the colour range again, it's leaning towards a metallic look, I thought the previous rebalance of colours was good, and I think you could brighten the dialogue and crafting backgrounds just a little bit. Also, you could add some additional elements for boundaries etc. for the crafting screen and that probably would mean cutting background into pieces or removing & replacing it. Also, the relifes on dialogue screen is kinda distracting from the text. You could try some filters on them to make them look flat. I like the face but I really wish it had a use as a button because it's so fitting for such a thing. Maybe you could add some subtle elements to the circular area around the face to imply inventorial use and make the whole disc inventory button?

Elhoim, for the fist time, I liked one of your latest designs, but it's only the crafting screen. Is that white texture the same one you used behind items, slots etc.? It looks great but I don't know if it's because I like the bright view or that it doesn't have an as contrasting texture pattern as the one used behind icons & slots.

And somethign new here as well; Longshank's interface shows premise but it draws attention from the game scene with contrasting tones and looks kind of childish, but I kinda like it.

 

[android]

very nice looking android. I like the overall look very much.

3 suggestions for improvement:1 instead of having a "crafting" roof, why not doing something like elhoim like a engraving of a craftsman or even a statue?
2 remove the centre pillar it's obscuring the paths leading to the ingredients (alternatively remove the paths altogether).

Thanks everyone. I would like to do some broken statues like here http://static.flickr.com/99/312115360_d61c1406e0_o.jpg maybe instead of the pillars, or in the character sheet, but that's a lot of work an I'd do that probably only if Vault Dweller would choose my designs.

3 change the colour on the letters.... neon turqouise is a little hard on the eyes

Yeah, yeah, I don't know what you people have against that colour, I like it. But due to popular demand, I've made some gold, bronze and MAGICAL BLUE METAL versions. I would still rather stick with something untraditional. I also removed the head, which people didn't like, but you can be sure it will appear somewhere else ;-)

To make my design better I would do the following if I had the time:

- divide the background plane into stone blocks
- make the text more readable
- add some rubble to the bottom
- add details to the roof, pillars etc.



Now to comment on my competitors
- every time I look at some graphics and think: yeah this is pillow emboss photoshop effect at default settings, it almost makes me cry. If you really have to use them than do it so that it is not easily discernable.
- text is not readable so well. I think you need a better, simpler font. Those fancy fonts are good for captions, not for paragraphs in the text box.
- the original design needs some bigger changes, changing just the background color won't make it any less amateurish.
- the beveled boxes around the numbers are awful.
- I like the latest designs by Marsal, but those backgrounds are maybe too grim, they remind me of graveyards.
- also some Elhoim's versions are nice, but more changes would be necessary. You should not try to please everyone as it is not possible.

Sorry if this is a bit harsh, but that were also the reasons I was protesting against the original design in the first place. I think Vault Dweller should not skimp on the interfaces and hire a professional to do it properly. Of course it's not the most important aspect of the game, but as someone mentioned before, you will be looking at it all the time while playing and also people will make first impressions based on the screenshots.

Also technical question to VD: You mentioned earlier that you have different interfaces for different resolutions, how is it done? Do you scale them to fit or enlarge the background like in Baldur's Gate? If you scale it, wouldn't that mean that you'd need the interfaces in as high as possible resolutions? I guess you wouldn't want 800x600 picture to scale up to 1600x1200...

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I throw in my towel by the way. Android's designs keep getting better and I can't get down the design I want.