UI Practice…

[Pbcrazy]

This is nothing more than a simple little UI i made just for practice. Don't really plan on making a game for it (though it would be interesting with such a small space), just trying to get my pixel skills back up to pace. I really like the 8bit look, with over sized pixels. Thought I'd see how it looks in a UI.


Tell me what ya think!

[Adamse]

I really like it, simple (: would look very odd seeing how small it is though….. :P

.... also very cute.

[Medleyy]

Pretty cool. Is it meant for an inventory or something?

[Pbcrazy]

@Adamse: Thanks, aye, it's pretty dang small, but I think that'd kind of be what would make it fun. Resize it a little bit though first, add a couple extra tiles in both the x and y on screen. But almost same size.

@Aeri: Nope, that would have been the full size of the game screen. The bottom bar being like a hotbar thing I suppose, and the top box the main game screen.

I made it so small in the first place, cause when pixeling menus, I find it easier to work with a smaller screen, and just resize.

[Fuu]

@Pbcrazy:

> Nope, that would have been the full size of the game screen.

No.

[Pbcrazy]

@SuperSake:

> No.

Please note, I said I wasn't actually creating a game with this, and that if I did, I'd increase the screen size a couple extra tiles. I personally like small screens.

Though, for curious reasons, could you please expand on your… "no"?

[Jeff]

@SuperSake:

> No.

Yes.
Now I really want to make  a little game with a UI like this. This is a pretty nice and fresh idea.

[Pbcrazy]

@Eckhart:

> Yes.
> Now I really want to make  a little game with a UI like this. This is a pretty nice and fresh idea.

Thank you. New and fresh, exactly.

Rather than doing the over done, give yourself a new playground to have to fit into, and see what happens.

[Wing]

@Pbcrazy:

> Thank you. New and fresh, exactly.
>
> Rather than doing the over done, give yourself a new playground to have to fit into, and see what happens.

Someone on Mirage a long time ago did that. I don't know if he ever finished, but it was pretty interesting.

[Pbcrazy]

@Wing♣:

> Someone on Mirage a long time ago did that. I don't know if he ever finished, but it was pretty interesting.

Ya, I think I remember that too. I can't recall if he ever finished either…

[Pbcrazy]

Well, I'm bout to head to bed. But I just got done making these couple mockups for the [IndieJam](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,78560.0.html) that I really like, so I wanna show them off. :)

NOTE: This is not a guarantee what the final game will look like. It could be something entirely different. I just came up with this while everyone else was asleep.



[Wing]

Wow that's nice. Good work so far!

[Medleyy]

The guy is wearing harem trousers. This upsets me.

Or I'm guessing from the radiation symbols, he was present at Chernobyl?

[Pbcrazy]

@Wing: Thanks!

@Aeri: Ha, I had no control over the character, one of the other team members made him. And actually, the radio active symbols are there, because I didn't have any good looking stars as pickups, and I thought they looked more fitting. xD

[Pbcrazy]

Getting it working in the game. Had to do a whole lot of interface coding, since all of the interface is handled by DX8 and our own input code. We don't use the frmMain subroutines other than to update keycodes and mouse variables.


And a variant I did


[Pbcrazy]

Here's some edits of the original. I don't like the colors in any of them really, can't seem to get a good color at the moment, perhaps tomorrow I'll have better luck.





I was thinking of doing a miniGame, super simplistic RPG. Melee combat only, you have a total of 6 inventory slots (along the bottom), which also include any equiped items.  The premise being, do more with less. Since I'm limiting myself screen wise, I can just add buttons or stats or anything to compensate for bad gameplay. I'll have to think outside the box for adding in features. Stuff that doesn't necessarily rely on a UI element.

It's a bit of a challenge for myself I suppose. What can I do with this, and only this? I'll of course add a chatsystem box that can pop up, as well as a health and stanima bar, and a money counter. Oh, and no mouse, or at least, nothing requires a mouse. Play the game entirely with only a keyboard. ;)

[Jeff]

I'm going to give you the idea I had when I saw this.

A survival game based around crafting. You click an object on your menu and then click another object, and there's a good chance they'll fuse. For instance: Rock+Stick = hatchet. Add another stick and you have yourself an axe. Add another rock, and there's a pickaxe. It's essentially based on crafting. Hide and a rock could make you a sling. Some wood and spidersilk could make a bow.
It's just an idea, have fun with it.

@Pbcrazy:

> The premise being, do more with less. Since I'm limiting myself screen wise, I can just add buttons or stats or anything to compensate for bad gameplay. I'll have to think outside the box for adding in features. Stuff that doesn't necessarily rely on a UI element.
>
> It's a bit of a challenge for myself I suppose. What can I do with this, and only this? I'll of course add a chatsystem box that can pop up, as well as a health and stanima bar, and a money counter. Oh, and no mouse, or at least, nothing requires a mouse. Play the game entirely with only a keyboard. ;)

That's an idea, but never limit yourself with GUI elements. That's silly. Try to use this new GUI to your advantage, rather than disadvantage. Focus on the hotbar, try to do a lot with it since it's the most conspicuous point.

[Pbcrazy]

@Eckhart:

> I'm going to give you the idea I had when I saw this.
>
> A survival game based around crafting. You click an object on your menu and then click another object, and there's a good chance they'll fuse. For instance: Rock+Stick = hatchet. Add another stick and you have yourself an axe. Add another rock, and there's a pickaxe. It's essentially based on crafting. Hide and a rock could make you a sling. Some wood and spidersilk could make a bow.
> It's just an idea, have fun with it.

Hmm, seems a bit like a cross between the crafting system in Minecraft, with the inventory system in Runescape… I like it though, and to hell if someone says it's copying. Everything is copying, the point is to make modifications. ;)

Haha, that probably makes something like 3 different game ideas each using the same UI.

@Eckhart:

> That's an idea, but never limit yourself with GUI elements. That's silly. Try to use this new GUI to your advantage, rather than disadvantage. Focus on the hotbar, try to do a lot with it since it's the most conspicuous point.

Limiting/Freedom, Disadvantage/Advantage, it's all how you look at it. I don't consider using only this UI and it's elements as a limit or disadvantage, more like a challenge on a new canvas. And of course, the actions revolving around the hot bar could be important, but the question I had was, just what can you do without one (buttons, text boxes, etc)?

For example, I had an idea for a perma-buff system, in that you can collect these "trait cards" and if you equip them, they disappear from your inventory, and appear in the bottom left of your game screen as icons. Each of these cards give a certain buff or passive effect of some sort. However, once equipped, they can never be unequipped, only replaced by other cards.

[Jeff]

@Pbcrazy:

> For example, I had an idea for a perma-buff system, in that you can collect these "trait cards" and if you equip them, they disappear from your inventory, and appear in the bottom left of your game screen as icons. Each of these cards give a certain buff or passive effect of some sort. However, once equipped, they can never be unequipped, only replaced by other cards.

You could make those cards just increase your stats, then you don't have to worry about a stat system too much. Instead of having spells like in eclipse, you could have spells that are cast from items, ie wands, so you don't have to worry about a spell menu. The same idea can apply to skills. In fact, every single weapon could have a unique skill that you can use with it, maybe by right clicking the icon. It would be a pretty interesting system I think. I know Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced uses a similar system, but not quite the same. It'd be unique.

[Pbcrazy]

@Eckhart:

> You could make those cards just increase your stats, then you don't have to worry about a stat system too much. Instead of having spells like in eclipse, you could have spells that are cast from items, ie wands, so you don't have to worry about a spell menu. The same idea can apply to skills. In fact, every single weapon could have a unique skill that you can use with it, maybe by right clicking the icon. It would be a pretty interesting system I think. I know Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced uses a similar system, but not quite the same. It'd be unique.

Ehh, I hate magic, haha. Nearly none of my games have it in them. And besides that, I think the screen is too small to really do any ranged combat. But the right click to do a specialty is interesting. Though I want to try to eliminate the mouse, so perhaps "CTRL" to attack, "ALT" to do a specialty, arrow keys and WASD for movement (that way left and right handed players can have their appropriate positioning), the hot bar selection is of course handled by numbers 1-6\. Perhaps "enter" or "space" to pickup an item, and maybe "shift" to interact (stuff like talk to NPC or open door, etc)? That should keep all the player input to a minimum. I'd probably end up using the mouse still, but the only thing it could do that you couldn't keyboard wise (without a little complication anyway), is hover over objects or items to have an info panel pop up.

I always follow the K.I.S.S. rule as much as I can. Less overhead controls and flashy stuff, more gameplay and fun.

[Jeff]

@Pbcrazy:

> I always follow the K.I.S.S. rule as much as I can. Less overhead controls and flashy stuff, more gameplay and fun.

Yeah, it's a good ideal. Which is why you should make it simple for you and just let the player use the mouse. I don't understand why not to use it, really. It would be useful for hovering over stuff, rearranging the hotbar, clicking stuff, and many other purposes.

Of course, if you're planning a game so simple that you can truly do all that you need with just 1-6, WASD, ctrl, shift, and space then you're probably fine without the mouse. Just don't let your challenges inhibit you from making an awesome game.

@Pbcrazy:

> And besides that, I think the screen is too small to really do any ranged combat.

Definitely a good point, hadn't thought of that.

[Pbcrazy]

@Eckhart:

> Yeah, it's a good ideal. Which is why you should make it simple for you and just let the player use the mouse. I don't understand why not to use it, really. It would be useful for hovering over stuff, rearranging the hotbar, clicking stuff, and many other purposes.
>
> Of course, if you're planning a game so simple that you can truly do all that you need with just 1-6, WASD, ctrl, shift, and space then you're probably fine without the mouse. Just don't let your challenges inhibit you from making an awesome game.
> Definitely a good point, hadn't thought of that.

I agree, the mouse would have it's place, but designing a game that doesn't _require_ it's use. I'd allow the mouse to be used to do the nice little stuff like you mentioned, but I want the meat of the game to be controlled without it. If that makes any sense?

[Jeff]

@Pbcrazy:

> I agree, the mouse would have it's place, but designing a game that doesn't _require_ it's use. I'd allow the mouse to be used to do the nice little stuff like you mentioned, but I want the meat of the game to be controlled without it. If that makes any sense?

I think I get what you mean, but I don't understand the motive. You shouldn't make a game where you need to constantly switch back and forth between mouse and keyboard, that'd be cumbersome for the player.

[Pbcrazy]

Motive = Cause I feel like it. ;)

I don't really make games for players anymore. I just make them cause I want to. Hobby kind of thing. So if I get a weird irking to do something seemingly odd, I don't care. Haha.

I see what you're saying though, just not sure I want to do it is all.

[Jeff]

@Pbcrazy:

> Motive = Cause I feel like it. ;)
>
> I don't really make games for players anymore. I just make them cause I want to. Hobby kind of thing. So if I get a weird irking to do something seemingly odd, I don't care. Haha.
>
> I see what you're saiyan though, just not sure I want to do it is all.

Huh. I didn't understand your philosophy, but now it makes more sense. I can't relate, when I make a game it's just to make the game I'd like to play, not to try some crazy new shit. I usually just write about crazy new shit, then not act on it :P

Best of luck to you.