Prototype Graphics: The idea was to use the background color to indicate the research tree of the tech item. The slot requirements would be indicated by embossed graphics in the empty slots, like a silhouette of a missile for missile slots. Each type of weapon would also probably get a small icon in the corner to differentiate, for example, homing from guided, and plasma from ranged. Tech colors BTW I set to: standard -> light grey biological -> green electric -> yellow mechanical -> dark grey chemical -> blue physics -> red
Well, Cobalt I think they're too realistic looking, if they were clip art styled, then I would approve!
I see no need to change the current icons for canons and missles. Players don't care about the research tree. The only one, who cares about the research tree is the commander and he doesn't need this icons. The only icons I would change are the icons for armor and engine, because they currently look all the same. I have already done some icons for armor (engines will come soon). http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=8384
indicating the tech tree communicates more relevant information through iconography. A Machine Gun from the bio tree? What ever could that be? Also it adds more continuity to the game, helping people understand game flow. I couldn't even count how many times veteran infantry/newer commanders have asked things like "Where is DU in research?" pretending commanders and infantry aren't players of the same game is silly.
The Yes' are slightly winning right now, and if that continues I'm considering finishing the icon set and releasing it. However most of the Yes' are in "Yes, with the condition of a few minor changes" so I'd like to hear what those conditional changes are for people. What would make the icon set IYO turn from so-so to great? So far I've herd suggested... Use simpler cartoonish graphics Use different Engine pics
Great idea, CobaltBlue! The other day, I was thinking about posting a topic about changing the engine icon background colors because it is hard differentiate between them without customizing it. (This can be applied to other icons as well.) I voted "Yes, with the condition of a few minor changes" because there are things that need to be changed. As another user previously mentioned, your icons are too realistic and need to be simplified to fit in with the style of this mod. Also, I think some of the colors you have chosen needs to be changed. Standard -> Light Grey (Good choice since grey is dull like the standard equipment) Biology -> Green (Good choice since biology is associated with green) Electric -> Yellow (Good choice since Electricity is associated with yellow) Mechanical -> Dark Grey (Bad choice since it is too similar to light grey) Chemical -> Blue (Good choice but I wonder if red or orange would be a better suited color) Physics -> Red (Good choice) Everything except the Mechanical Engineering color is good. Although grey is associated with mechanical things, the dark grey is too similar to the light grey. You can fix this by increasing the contrast between the two or change the color of the Mechanical Engineering icon to a color that is unused. (Purple, Orange, etc. Ha, if we had some people with synesthesia, they could accurately determine what color would be best for Mechanical Engineering ) After a few minor tweaks, this needs to get into the game immediately!
Depending on how you render them, I think those will do for now. For the bullets, try to make the shape more "bullet like." In fact, tweaking the shapes of the rest of them will do no harm. As long as the icons retain their simplified design, it shouldn't matter too much. =Edit= You can ignore what I said about changing the shapes. I decided to play around with making an icon in Adobe Illustrator but while designing it, I had forgotten it essentially had to be resized. Decent looking icon... WTF IS THAT looking icon... ... yeah, don't make the shapes too complicated :D
