Fantasy Realm Online Forums: Game Discussion: Interface Redesign (Mockup):
 Post Date: 1/22/2014 12:29 AM #1 
Posted By:
Am

Member Since:
1/3/2014
Title: Interface Redesign (Mockup)

Spent some time redeveloping a UI with features I would love to see.

Let me know what you guys think:  CLICK HERE

It is obviously a work in progress, and am totally willing to hand the PSD file over to Chris at no charge if he's interested in implementing it.

 



Last Edited: 1/22/2014 12:42 AM


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 Post Date: 1/22/2014 3:10 AM #2 
Posted By:
Chris The Avatar

Member Since:
1/17/2011
Administrator
Title: Re: Interface Redesign (Mockup)

What I like about this layout:

1. I like the location of the health bars and was planning on implementing something of sorts on the new UI.

2. I like how you are displaying durability bars next to the equipment. That is a great idea!

Under our new UI layout we will be shooting to give players more map space with different map resolution offerings as well as less cluter. We will also be allowing players to implement there own "soft hot icons" that we will likely show as a slider across the bottom and giving players the ability to position different elements where they want.



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 Post Date: 1/22/2014 3:38 AM #3 
Posted By:
Am

Member Since:
1/3/2014
Title: Re: Interface Redesign (Mockup)

Thank you much for the kind words,

If you want to make use of any textures or layers, let me know.  I can email over the PSD.

All of the content is mine alone (for the exception of your work wink), except for the background wood texture, that is creative commons commercial work allowed.



Last Edited: 1/22/2014 4:05 AM


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 Post Date: 2/17/2014 3:28 PM #4 
Posted By:
Time

Member Since:
2/15/2014
Title: Re: Interface Redesign (Mockup)

Hey,

I was browsing the Forums yesterday and came across this. I find the suggested GUI a must happen change.
Let me elaborate.

I fell in love with this game because it is exactly what I was searching for. The game is very interesting and I believe it could be so for more players aswell. It has everything needed to succed now that people are getting sick of same old MMORPGS. wink But the major drawback is the GUI.
Immediately as I started up the game I said what is this? I'm sorry Chris but the fact is that it looks like something of an old Atari Arcade Game. cheeky No offense meant, once I got familiar with it, I realised it functions great. But for the first 20 minutes I didn't know that the "Bag" opens the inventory. laugh People that come for the first time expect something simmilar to modern games and can quickly decide to leave if everything doesn't fit their idea of a game.



I find it interesting on how you are planning to develop the new GUI and I had some ideas myself. I would like to share them if you're interested. heart

Time



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 Post Date: 2/18/2014 1:13 AM #5 
Posted By:
Chris The Avatar

Member Since:
1/17/2011
Administrator
Title: Re: Interface Redesign (Mockup)

 

You are welcome to share anything you wish, I generally take concepts I think are good; rarely a whole design.... but in any case share anything you wish.

 

"I'm sorry Chris but the fact is that it looks like something of an old Atari Arcade Game. cheeky No offense meant, once I got familiar with it, I realised it functions great. But for the first 20 minutes I didn't know that the "Bag" opens the inventory. laugh

As far as your comments go I am not offended but disagree with you on the Atari graphics. Id say there far greater than most independently developed rpgsand on par with some of the others :-) Sure there not supertech 3d graphics but have you seen an atari game...

People that come for the first time expect something simmilar to modern games and can quickly decide to leave if everything doesn't fit their idea of a game"

In all honesty I hate 9/10 modern rpgs (mainly because there first person 3d or focus too much on graphics) I have seen and the whole idea of them all being almost the same is miserable. I dont want a UI that is almost identical to other modern rpgs. Nor do I want it to be bad either... I think the current UI has been decent and has evolved with time and it will continue to evolve with the game.

The 90's had the best generation of RPGs focusing more on gameplay and content over graphics. That is what I am shooting for... I mean no offense to the younger crowed but the modern generation of gamers wants to spend no time figuring anything out. If you cant read the tutorial for 5 minutes or at least click around to figure things out you are probably not going to get very far in any game thats worth playing.  



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 Post Date: 2/18/2014 11:37 AM #6 
Posted By:
Time

Member Since:
2/15/2014
Title: Re: Interface Redesign (Mockup)

Ahhh yes Chris I completely agree with you and I fear that I might have been misunderstood smiley

I love the graphics of the game, especially at night because the lightning system of light emmitting sources looks outstanding! Like I mentioned, the game itself was exactly what I was looking for, so this style of game graphics 2D/3D is great and I've no wishes to change it.

In my post I was reffering to the GUI, mainly to everything around the game panel or game screen if you wish. I've mocked up something in my spare time, and since I'm doing college next to work and I don't really have much of it sad, and came up with something like this

You may click on the image to open the large version wink
Mainly the features I'd like to point out.


First of all, there is no need for a round map since there is no camera rotation. A square map would be easier to understand in terms of direction aswell as getting your general bearings more easily, I am reffering to newer players.

As the map gets smaller there is more room for other stuff. My suggestion is Tree System based Menus. Five major categories which all have alternating five lower bottom categories. Yes, they would change with each top category.

The first one - Character would have.

Overview - Character Equipment View, Health, Mana, Spirit, Hunger, Weight, Experience Bars and Active Effects from equipment - The pannel you see and the general pannel people would be playing with.

Equipment - Character Equipment View and all armor and weapon bonuses - Protection Vs Axes and simillar.

Skills - The entire window of skills transported into the side pannel.

Titles - In form of a list.

Magic - The magic book.

The second one - Inventory would have.

Overview - The same Backpack Icon, Character Equipment View possibly plus the inventory transfered bellow it with side buttons for categories.

Value - A tab that would show you, without opening your treasure tab how much Gold Coins you are carrying and would also display the entire worth of your inventory summing up your Gold Coins and the worth of each item. Note, damaged items would count as being damaged, so 1/150 platinum armor would only count for 1 Gold Coin.

So far that is it, but three more could be added later.

The third category - Social would have.

Quests - The quest list, same Quest Icon, transferred to the side pannel.

Friends list - A place where you can add friends and click them to chat with them via private chat, you would be able to see who is Online and who is Offline.

Ignore list - Sooner or later every game needs one.

Party - The Party System with each player in the party in its own row with Health, Mana, Spirit and Hunger shown next to the name. Party options, disbanding, changing leader, loot options and simmilar would be found here.

Clans - Clans bring a lot of social interactions in games and would have a list simmilar to Friends List with Clan Rankings and Titles.

The fourth category - Global would have.

Full Map - Opens the full map like it does now, also achievable by clicking on the minimap.

Spirit Travel - Saved locations list and option to travel there.

Property - All property options already exsisting and to be added such as who is invited, freeze and unfreeze items, host a party and more.

Highscores - Possibility of viewing highscores in game, displays a list over the entire pannel.

The last category - Options would have.

Game - This would also include translucency options.

Graphics - Everything graphical related.

Sound - Everything sound related.

Hotkeys - Assign and unassign hotkeys.

Quit - The quit button is located in the options menu and the game can be quit only from here.

The major point in changing the menus is that since the game window is small and there for poses a limited visibility, there should be as much as possible happening around the screen as not to obstruct the view. Actions such as opening the skills menu completely obstruct it and can be life threatening in some cases. The menu change would hopefully remove these issues. (Also I know that you can move windows out of the way in full screen but I like windowed mode because you are allowed to do other things, for me that is logging Drops and writing down Item Information cheeky)

The game window would not have a windows window around it, I do believe there is a command for it in every scripting language, so it would look as in the image. This brings a possibility of looking a little bit more professional aswell as allowing cleaner GUI design, the downside is that there will be no minimize window. But a Show Desktop would still minimize it, aswell as a right click and Minimize of course.

The chat idea is as it it seen, with colors for each Category as well as an All Category Button to show activity in all Categories respectively.

Clicking a Menu Category would color its backround White like seen in the image, all others would be Gray. Just to know where in the Menu you currently are.

 

That's it, I hope it didn't take too much of your time to read this through.
I really hope that you will be able to find some interesting information from all this, I really appreciate your effort, heart
Time



Last Edited: 2/18/2014 11:43 AM


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