New GUI

Heloo

I've been working on new GUI for OpenArcanum project, and I would like to know your opinion about the results:



It's just a prototype, some things are going to be changed, but since I haven't received much feedback yet (since ArcanumAlive forums are pretty much a wasteland), it might already look like a krap. :roll:

If you have any suggestions, tips, ideas - throw them on me, I would really like to know them.

P.S. I'm not sure if this is the right subforum for this topic, so please move it if its not. :thumbup:

 

I for one actually consider the Geshtianna statues there a nice touch.

Short opinion of the GUI:

I like the arrangement, but I have some reservations about colors.

Long opinion of the GUI:

Arcanum's GUI is rather subdued, with the only distinctively conspicuous elements being the lighted up buttons and health & fatigue bars - in other words those elements which are important, and should attract the players attention.

That being said, I'm not a big fan of the magic symbol with the Tempus Fugit aura around it at the top and the crystal ball in the lower part. While nicely implemented, they are unnecessarily distracting and making the GUI a bit too gaudy. Perhaps if their sepia equivalents were used instead...

On a different note, the gear in the top left corner and the bars for spells & items above the XP & SK bars are of shades of brown which seem too standing out / not really matching with the rest of the GUI, I'd say.

By the way, what does that SK stand for?

 

Thank you for the feedback, both of you, I really appreciate your suggestions and criticism

I could remove them, but they were added in second version of the prototype, because first version looked too much plain and common. Maybe it will look better if they were in golden shade? like the original Geshtianna. By the way, if you wish to see previous version (without Geshtianna), then check out the original topic, it contains some images of it

You are right! The first question that I asked myself after I finished it, were if its not too much distracting, since I added too much elements to it and made it much more colorful than the Arcanum's GUI is.

I'll try to tweak it later, make some elements more or less eye candy, and also do something with that colorfulness.

Slippery Kitchen or Skill, choose one that suits you, but as far as I remember, original GUI has two gauges, one for experience and one for skill points no kitchen in it...

By the way, I'm not sure if you have seen this before:


It was made before I decided to create own GUI. Maybe I should use this one instead of trying to make a new one?

 

I like your version a lot, ZeroBot. The bling is distracting, and maybe over-done, but I like where you're going. The big cog in the corner is great, and the wee compass too. I like the idea of a bunch of interactive artifacts, like the crystal ball and the cog. If they were buttons rather than bling, it would be awesome, kind of like a steampunk/magick version of the good ol' pipboy interface from Fallout. I love the wee angel/demons around the sustained-spell boxes - that's a very sweet little piece of busyness.

The Geshtianna statues are unnecessary and distracting, but it would be nice to see something similar there. A male-female dichotomy would be more balanced, or a good-evil pair, or better yet a symbol of magick and tech, perhaps a tree and train? Another option would be the symbols from either side of the menu screen, you know, the clockwork on one side and the skull+spider on the other. As it is, two human goddesses would be inappropriate for most characters. I'd love to see a big fat symbol which is different for races and maybe another one for magickal/tech apptitude. I suppose that would entail a LOT more work, so my two cents is that you (1) Move the big cog to where the left statue is (2) move the crystal ball to where the right one is (3) lose the white squares from the wood panelling (4) lose the blue magick symbol and the temporal animation and (5) pat yourself on the back, because this is awesome work.

PS - If it was feasible (and I got no idea how hard it would be) I'd love to see a little avatar of the player character in the bottom left and a little symbol of whether the aptitude is magick or tech in the bottom right, taking the place of the Geshtiannas.

PPS - I'm trying to give as much feedback as I can; I just looked at the prototype without the statues - much better, I think they add nothing. And I find the white squares on the wood panelling to be too much as well. I hope you excuse my ill-considered, rambling criticisms, I'm making an effort to express my reaction because you asked, not because I think it is in any way lacking. Respect!

 

Uh, the 2 bars in original Arcanum GUI are actually both XP bars. There are no skill bars.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o61/ ... -38-58.jpg

The upper, red segmented bar represents the total XP between your current and next level. There are 10 segments, so every segment represents 10%. The lower, yellow continuous bar represents XP within those 10%. For every full 1/10th of gained XP, the top bar lights up another segment, and the yellow bar resets.

It is thus possible to very accurately gauge the amount of experience you have (in %).

In the above picture, I have about 54% of required experience for next level.

On the GUI note, I think the skill and spell effects bars should be more neutral and/or darker colours. The spells, which are very colourful, and items, which should stand out, will be lost in that redness/blueness of yours.

Speaking of which, the SLOTS themselves should be even darker, so as to accent items you put in there. This especially concerns grenades, potions and other items without a "classification" (like "Weapons" icon).

 

That second pic you posted, Crypton - while much more minimalistic, I have to say it is very pleasant. The shadow & lighting effect is very climatic and calming. That your work?

The only thing I don't like about that one are the bubbles in the health and fatigue vials, they seem rather redundant. Unless they are dynamic, that is, in which case I'm all for.

How many % of experience required for levelling up do I have here?

 

This is actually a great feedback, so thank you very much! I'll try to follow your suggestions, and when another version gets finished, I'll post it here as well, and if its okay for you, I'll PM you, so you might be able to tell me if it needs more changes, okay?

Uh, you are right, my bad, stack overflow, haven't played Arcanum for years Anyway, I also want to thank you for your feedback.

So how would call it? Should be something short... or maybe it will be better to remove these gauge captions?

Yep, its also my work, it was actually a quickie, since I used a original Arcanum's GUI graphics, and modified it in way I thought that would be most suitable for any screen resolution.

And these bubbles in red and blue vial? its actually another unused content I found in Arcanum's art directory. Its made as animation, bubbles travels from bottom to top, and when they reach the top, they blows out It actually looks good, so I've reused that

EDIT: More pics at facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/ArcanumAl ... 2623004080

 

It might be 9% per bar, not 10%. My bad.