RPGDX > Forums > General Discussion > GUI compo entries and comments

Bjorn · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:39 pm Post subject:

Last day of the competition is almost upun us. I think we've already had some nice entries above. If somebody still wants to make an entry, do it while you still can! :-)

Rainer Deyke · Demon Hunter Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 672

Circumstances beyond my control have conspired to keep me from working on my entry, so it looks like I'll have to enter it in its current unfinished and ugly state. I have uploaded a demo (Windows only) at http://eldwood.com/tmp_stuff/oak_demo.zip so you can see how the interface actually works. Please see the included readme file. It runs a lot smoother than it looks.

white_door: If that's your final entry, could you please explain the control scheme? It's hard to judge a user interface without knowing how it works, regardless of how pretty it looks.

white_door · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 4:35 am Post subject:

umm.. sorry about that...

Basically there are seven keys in the game: the four arrow keys and action (ctrl), secondary (alt), and inventory (space).

as I said its an action rpg, so pressing [action] will activate the primary weapon and [secondary] the secondary weapon... in the direction you are facing.. the weapons will include swords, magic books, thrown weapons, and traps you may set.

When you hit [inventory], the game pauses, and you may equip items in the action and secondary boxes. You may also activate any unequipable items you wish (like potions and other special items)... pressing [inventory] again returns you to the game. (the inventory may be seen at the bottom of the screen, right next to the primary and secondary weapon slots)

The main menu is accessed by activating a special item in your inventory, other such menus would be accessed in a similar way.

janus · Mage Joined: 29 Jun 2002 Posts: 464 Location: Issaquah, WA

Happy · JonA's American snack pack Joined: 03 Aug 2002 Posts: 200

I don't think this needs an intricate explanation.

You don't need to offer suggestions or comments or anything. This GUI is perfect.

biggerUniverse · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 7:10 pm Post subject:

Simplistic, self-explanatory, unpretentious. Reminds me of Zelda. The use of a custom font is also a nice touch.
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janus · Mage Joined: 29 Jun 2002 Posts: 464 Location: Issaquah, WA

Here's my second entry. It's kind of inspired by my experiences with Linux - it's an attempt at streamlining the traditional RPG GUI , and GUIs in general.

white_door · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 8:44 pm Post subject:

umm.. well I'm sorry if I wasn't clear but I thought that I said the you don't equip special items, instead you can activate them directly from the inventory.

So you would hit [inventory] (pauses game), then you just select the menu with the cursor and press [action].

Bjorn · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:21 pm Post subject:

Sorry to be so late, but I only finally decided to work a bit on my entry today. Here's the small version (click for big):

The bar to the right works a bit like the Mozilla sidebar. Multiple things could be rolled out at the same time, or it could be totally collapsed to see more of the game itself. Each tab would have a shortcut to open/close it. Pressing tab would bring focus to the sidebar where you can navigate with your arrow keys and use two buttons, activate and cancel, so manage your inventory and stuff.

The other part of the GUI is the chatbox, inspired by the idea of a multiplayer convention. Pressing enter will add a bar where you enter you message, which disappears with enter too, and anything you typed will be send to the chatbox. Multiple channels for same screen/map/group or global chat would probably be nice, but not incorporated in the screen yet. The avatar shown is from the one who send the last message.

Bjorn · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:35 pm Post subject:

A small addendum. I changed my mind about the usage of keyboard. The player will be controlled with the mouse to be able to cope better with server lag (as this is a multiplayer game). It would only be logical if you'd just control the GUI with the mouse too.

Nexinarus · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 11:45 am Post subject:

late entry, but i slaved for hours over this design. its far better than any of the others. By far. Way by far.

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Bjorn · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 11:59 am Post subject:

You lucky guy, I am just busy putting together the entries so you'll still be in. You're probably disqualified, I'd just need to figure out why. Can't be bothered with that now, though. :-)

Bjorn · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:36 pm Post subject:

Competition over, comments still welcome. Please cast your vote in the GUI compo voting thread.