GUI concepts Hello, new forum member here. I have some usable skill in Photoshop, so I made a few HUD concepts for Empires some time ago. Let's get straight to the point. Here they are: I first went for a BF-like, digital-looking, "immersive" design, with glows and scanlines and stuff, but it turned out to be too bright for outdoor locations, and the sheer amount of information the HUD needs to display makes it a poor choice. http://i2.minus.com/iJTntxi7JTjqJ.png Full resolution: http://i.minus.com/ipWhYsrfXCfTB.png That said, I made another one, with translucent black boxes to make it easier to read in bright environments. However, this choice results in a cluttered and (sadly) not-as-awesome HUD. http://i.minus.com/ibjZ0N3tYOPM5s.png Also, apologies for the "AP". I kept thinking of Fallout when I made these. Oh well, "action points" does sound nice too, doesn't it? With both decides choices having their pros and cons, I'm openly looking for suggestions. If these concepts are considered to have potential by the community, I might go on and create concepts for everything, including the main menu and in-game GUI. I hope my work can contribute a bit to one of my favorite mods, and thank you for taking your time to read this!
wow i really like the style of the first, looks quite fresh even though you said its BF inspired ... (the fake-7segment look of the numbers is very cool, now id like too see that in an actual 7segment font, but maybe readability suffers too much?!)
I also prefer the first one. But I would replace the dark gradient at the top with similar dark boxes from the second one. I would make them a bit lighter / more transparent though.
its exactly the lack of boxes that makes it look nice colored themes per team would be nice though. brownish red/blueish darkgrey* backgrounds and their bright counterparts for text - might also solve the contrast issues? *or maybe just use the minimap icon colors just a bit desaturated and darkened/brightened
I have intensified the blue glow. The contrast issue still exists, but at least the top of the HUD is a bit easier to read now. It's a tough job to resolve the contrast problem while still trying to retain the futuristic digital look. Also, my vision of the future main menu: http://i.minus.com/ib2lP3w3STC3bU.png ...and the loading screen: http://i.minus.com/ibiCIe4t7xvkJC.png Need moar suggestions!
Nobody will ever sell me on any other GUI style than the current one, but the main menu looks sexy and so does the loading screen but it has too much text to read in the short amount of time it takes to load up the game.
I just had to find something to fill the gap but I do think it's too much to read during the load time, so it's up to people what should go there. As for the HUD, to each their own. I will not feel offended if my concepts are not considered for use in the future. I just want to contribute everything within my capabilities to Empires.
Not a big fan of non-segmented health bar. Its kind of useless on the stamina (it helps a little with seeing if you can jump without pushing it), sure, but knowing your hp is a little more important. A single long bar like that takes too long to accurately asses.
Good point. I might as well abandon the bars and go for numbers instead, or stick with the good ol' segmented style.
The bar looks a bit long because it is that small, but I am pretty sure it is the same length. Also bars are not meant for accurate assessment at all. They are meant to get a rough idea at a glimpse, that is exactly what you want to do with health in a video game. Quite in contrast to ammo. Concerning the contrast, either make the blue more dark, so that the contrast of the glow and the text itself makes it readable, or put dark boxes behind them and angle them in the same way. If you can read it on a white and a black background equally well, you got it.
make everything a tiny bit larger. for the bars not neccessarily longer though, i think parts will be hard to read if so small. but that could be because the image is small aswell ...
man that main menu is so much better than what we currently got. and for some reason i have a craving for pizza now too. i will admit i am a sucker for the black box one. im a fan of the minimalist look, and the less curved edges for the sake of curved edges the better. the only thing i would say is add colors akin to what the empires has for resources and tickets etc, so that all the info doesnt get drown out
That stuff looks amazing. A question I have is if it's possible to have the black boxes, but they're transparency is such that they show when the hud is projecting against something too bright to see it and no where else. If you could do something like that then that hud would be golden.
Please keep the bars. Or just add the numbers next to them. It helps seeing it easier while having intense fight. Especially for stamina. And would probably liked them a bit bigger actually. Could say the same for ammo, but not as important. But anyway, this HUD looks so nice that I think I would even pay for it Liked the one on the first screenshot. How about just outline everything with very thin black line? Wondering how that would look..
I do like the first concept a lot. And I hear what z1000m is saying about the segmentation. To be honest, you could just shove in a 25% marker break and it would be fine. And the extra 20% you get from health upgrade could just give an extra lengthy line at the end. Making it feel more like a buffer.
Will never understand the complaints on the stock gui. Still, My main thing is the lack of bullet display. I rather enjoy that and empires is one of the few games to have it. I don't quite get what you or other people mean by saying the first is hard to read, I think it is very easy to read. Then again it looks like the whole screen has a bit of a gray filter on it. Still, the idea of just kinda graying out just the top so it is easy to read works I think.
