Fade is awesome, good job! I think that's the better approach. It makes your eye focus less on the UI and allows for better concentration on the battlefield. It also removes useless elements that aren't really needed. Minimum but effective is best. I know you're limited by code at this point. (Titanfall - Source) http://www.pcr-online.biz/_media/images/mice_and_kb/2014-02-16_00005.jpg (ND - Source) http://www.phoronix.net/image.php?id=0x2014&image=amd_nuclear_3_med. - It looks like the background image is slightly dark and the text color is what brings it out. Maybe the font as well?
Seems like people are conflicted on the fade, I've had a few people say non faded is better too... Non faded (but still 30% transparent) version is now live in the testing beta. I'd say try it out and if people are saying they're too distracted and it needs to fade, we'll go with that. As much as I would love to have a different style it isn't possible. The health and stamina bars currently cannot move and everything has to be adapted around that position. I also have a minimap fix that I'll upload later on - it won't be in the official version because it changes other menus that use the same textures, so you'll all have to download it from the forums yourselves
Thanks for the update and for your work. I understand the conflict regarding UI transparency but personally having a semi-faded UI would be better because you can actually see through it, which would be beneficial. I mean you want to be able to see as much of the battlefield as possible. UI elements should not be in your way and obstruct your performance.
Couple of things: 1. the sprint bar is divided in 14 sections? why 14? can we make it 10? each being 10% 2. Calculator doesn't show 100%
@Xyaminou Sprint bar is divided that size because it is exactly 3 of those bars to jump. If we divided it into 10 it would be something dumb like 2.6 and nobody can do that Calculator ammo will be hidden soon, because the calculator shows it anyway. What your screenshots tell me is that the health bar is too low - it needs to touch the camera health. Also 276fps? Damn dude, nice
I'm also going to make the non transparent parts rounder (look at the sky and you'll know what I'm talking about) and change the transparency from 33% to 15%, it's much easier to see the health bar against gravel textures like emp_money
Yeah I realised after posting that the sprint bar is the divided the same in the current version, never really paid attention to it, but hey now I know why, thanks. a few more things: The grenade counters looks weird right now indicating "5/5", it should only be "5". The "commander bar" (top left) and "resource bar" (top right) are too transparent, it's hard to read when you're looking at the skybox. Any recent graphics card will cap your FPS in Empires (300), but that's only when you're alone and nothing's built, I'm on a 970 (that I had to buy because my 570 died) and I still get drops to as low as 30 FPS in certain maps with 25vs25.
No worries - I myself didn't realise why it's divided like that and had the same idea as you The top panel thing I'll do tonight - on certain maps like canyon it looks awful, on some it looks great. Different maps must do the skybox differently is my guess. That... actually... won't be changed. It's very obvious and very annoying, I agree. But it's on the code side of things, and I've been told theres no way to get that done easily or this patch. I really hope people don't judge the UI based on that - it will be fixed next patch, but for now we'll have to hang tight. Sorry.
I'm going to dump WIPs here as I make them so you can all provide input and tell me what you think will work and what you think won't. This current menu is something I whipped up today while learning how to actually use photoshop instead of doing everything manually in what might as well have been MSPaint. Holy fuck is photoshop way faster, jesus christ. Anyway, this menu is going to be tabbed with the Loadout and Squad Selection menu, so it's in the baby stages. Enjoy!
Nobody is going to see this because nobody who goes on the forums plays the game, but here you go anyway. I've made the icons blend in and be way less retarded (thanks valve for having a wiki more up to date on empires than we do) and added some generic scenery shots for the other panels. Voila
Briefing will have its own panel alongside a larger map and important information/hints. Yes, I'll play around and see if I can make a nice one. I agree, they're all great except for the AutoAssign which doesn't really fit it's theme. Panels/tabs will go in this order - Briefing, Team Selection, Loadout, Squad Selection. They'll all be in one screen so people who forget keybinds aren't fucked as long as they can remember one of the buttons and just mouse click to where they want to be.
will the tabs work? it looks a bit small for loadout ... ... also autoassign doesnt say "click me as preferred method to pick a team". team selection should be small and auto all over the page.