GUI Design

[geever]

You can't trust players to follow a tutorial either. If it were anything other than an absolutely vital function, I wouldn't mind so much. But if the player can not rotate the earth he can't play the game, so this needs to be as clear and present as possible.

I think the best will be putting it to a little popup, showing it by default and let players disable it if they want.

-geever

[mor2]

I agree with origin about it being on the right side, including the scrollbar. I would say the menus should be icons, but we'll need to do some work to make it clearer what the icons represent.

I agree the mouse is much better, but I think it should remain for those users who don't right-click. Otherwise we run the risk of assuming the player has discovered how to rotate when they may not know how. In the future it could be something that could be toggled on/off by the player.

with consistency in mind it make sense to put it on the right side, since most of the other menus are on the right and probably most of you got used to it through 2.3 but for me its much more natural to place it on the left, nevertheless you can flip it easily. (just center the  text so it doesnt look weird)

other than that i think accessibility is a little better, mostly as before i grouped frequent used controls around the most used control(time). making the time control bigger, moving the less used globe control (as said before its not as useful as right mouse but still needed from user friendlessness prescriptive plus its looks good   )

other than that i grouped the alerts (allow much more place for additional info without breaking the layout) although i am not sure if such changes are in the scope of the redesign and what about moving the 'message options' button to options?


anyway its just a suggestion, trying different color scheme, location, design, hopefully it will help (i also included the pdn - paint.net file if someone want a hack at it)

[bayo]

I agree the mouse is much better, but I think it should remain for those users who don't right-click. Otherwise we run the risk of assuming the player has discovered how to rotate when they may not know how. In the future it could be something that could be toggled on/off by the player.

I think we can work on the globe to use left click to move it. For example Google map do it.

I think the best will be putting it to a little popup, showing it by default and let players disable it if they want.

I would prefer a button to display it... i mean it is not displayed by default.

[mor2]

here is another attempt, this time its the tactical screen  (click to see full size)
,
the second is the same but with menus open.


1. location for additional info (edit: probably soldiers name)
2. Added button to soldiers portrait to allow access to its statistics.
3. H-hour bar, which i really love (hope to see more of it)
4. Weapon control, shows currently equipped weapon and ammo quantity/ type (useful for weapon with multiple ammo types) - i am really not happy with this and will rework it, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
also as before you click the button (which i forgot to add) to open the inventory.
5. simple to use, click to use(change stance or change RF mode) or right click to reserve, which will light a red light (inspired by H-hour bar)
6. the rest of the menu option will be there.


its wip, mostly a proof of concept, so i'll appreciate any suggestions, questions etc...
dont forget, i hate XYZ, fix this or this doesnt work for me - is also input and is better than none at all (although my skill at editing is very limited especially without access to photoshop)

few questions from the top of my head:
a. How would you feel with one weapon control for both hands?
b. Clicking on equipped weapon to use or do you prefer a special button for this?
c. How is the color theme?
d. do you prefer minimalistic approach, small icons, etc?  how will you feel about down sizing the floor 1-8 bar, even thou its very used?
e. how does this looks on higher res? (here i have a few years old laptop that cant get any further than this)

X. what font is used in ufoAI/ your favorites ? i am tried of copy pasting because the fonts i try looks ridicules.
 

p.s. sorry for no background and poor quality screenshots but even as it is i had to retry 3 times to upload them with this crappy wifi.

[Kildor]

I like dropdown button below soldier`s head, I don`t like reload button, it is very large, also there is very much space eaten by borders and other nonsence elements

[Mattn]

this is the font we are using at some places - but it isn't free

the font we are using for the menu depends on the translation, but the defaults are here

[H-Hour]

I like the drop-down from the soldier's head as well. The 4 and 5 elements do tend to waste space and could stand to be improved a bit. The overall look of it is nice, but it seems pretty generic to me.

If we anchor the bottom elements to the left-hand weapon like you have, it would be nice to have the right-hand weapon slot shrink horizontally when not used.

[mor2]

I don`t like reload button, it is very large

me neither, its was just a temporary overlay to fill in the gap and test something, personally i dont intend to place a reload button at all.
in my opinion, what can be more natural than clicking the gun to shoot and clicking the ammo to reload and near have easy access to the inventory so you can replace both, no?

also there is very much space eaten by borders and other nonsence elements

in general i agree but you cannot make the borders much smaller and keep them easily distinguishable from everything going on the map.
plus with those borders the bottom bar is 25% smaller than the current one.

The 4 and 5 elements do tend to waste space and could stand to be improved a bit. The overall look of it is nice, but it seems pretty generic to me.

If we anchor the bottom elements to the left-hand weapon like you have, it would be nice to have the right-hand weapon slot shrink horizontally when not used.

the reason its this way its because i just placed them as anchors, while i was trying to decide how to make the weapon control, here few of the variants i was considering:



left side are the two weapons variants and right side are the one hand variants either shrinking or providing additional info instead (we can also make it as two separate controls and hide the left-hand control when not in use, like you said).
one of the problem's is that i dont know enough about all the weapons combination's and layout to be sure i cover all scenarios.


as for the generic part, i am not sure what you mean, you mean the schematics or the design? you want something more hitec?

[H-Hour]

as for the generic part, i am not sure what you mean, you mean the schematics or the design? you want something more hitec?

I mean that the metal borders look nice, but they look like a lot of website templates (PHPNuke!) or game GUIs I've seen before. It isn't very distinct, I think.

[mor2]

i was trying to go for the same metallic/greyish look the current hud use but make it more sharp, its can be replaced. right now its mostly placeholders, so i can focus on the most important part - improving functionality (like you did with bar), any suggestions for the weapon control? ( or better any intention to make one yourself  )

btw is it possible at all to have two different layouts for one weapon and two weapons?

[mor2]

ok here where i got so far:

clean look.


comments, soldier stats and inventory.


fire mod control, possibly second hand placeholder and other unfinished stuff.



so any suggestion what todo with the second hand weapon ? (pop it on the right side or change the current)
any functionality change ( i think i included most of the previously discussed ideas, no?)
should i still downsize the borders? (wouldnt it look empty on larger res screens?)
any future additions that i should account for ? (something from 2.4 or further?)
 

i'll try to upload the pdn (this time more layer and easier to play with) in case someone want to give it a hack
but its 660K even after using 7z so i might have to wait until i'll be back home.

[mor2]

a little fix to the above, showing the stance/RF mode  + reservations, and the 2 weapon combination.
which leaves me only with un implemented end turn, spotted aliens and way to dark option/floor control.

[H-Hour]

This thread has become a mess because we're juggling too many things: changes to the UI layout and functions, suggestions for entirely new artwork, etc.

I've started a reassessment of the battlescape HUD here. That thread will try and organize existing and new suggestions for the battlescape and figure out what can be implemented in the near future. I hope that it will be the beginning of a long process that will see adjustments to the UI and new artwork, but we must take it one step at a time.

This thread remains the place to discuss new artistic themes, though, so please continue as you were. I only want to make it clear that new artwork won't likely be implemented soon unless a complete set of graphics exists to replace the currently-used graphics (as they fit into the current UI layout). Suggestions that require new UI layouts or functions are still very much welcome, because I think this thread has generated a lot of interesting ideas.

[Bartleby]

avatar had a great gui. is there a way to make parts transparent?

[H-Hour]

avatar had a great gui. is there a way to make parts transparent?

Are you referring to this or this?