UI Design Help?

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Comments

  • I see your updates and I like them :-)
  • I've started playing around with the cursor graphic as well. I like the current one, but the blue color doesn't quite fit with the current UI style, but I'm also afraid that making it white will cause problems and lead to it being "hidden" in other UI elements, so I've got some ideas that I'm playing around with.
  • So, I realized that shields might need some extra love in the icon department, in light of that, here's a quick mockup of some new shield icons.

    image

    The "All Shields" icon would be used for the Shield toggle button on the Weapons station, the other icons would be used in info displays and for Engineering. Thoughts?
  • Might make sense to incorporate the abstract "ship" you've used in the other icons; to make it really obvious how the shields relate to the ship.
  • The "All shields" can also be used for the fighter, as they only have a single shield ;-)
  • Got new button images from John. They seem to work really well, even when scaled down.

    Running a new build right now so we can all see the result.
  • daid said:

    Got new button images from John. They seem to work really well, even when scaled down.

    Running a new build right now so we can all see the result.

    I can't wait to check out the new button states in-game
  • We still need a Hull icon as it's pink (missing image) at the moment
  • kwadroke said:

    We still need a Hull icon as it's pink (missing image) at the moment

    Very true... does anyone have any ideas?
  • some aura agorund the ship?
    or
    something like a floor tile?
  • wopot said:

    some aura agorund the ship?

    That's what I was thinking. Use an outline of the Arrowhead (heading.png) or something.

  • A spanner ?
  • a few tests for discussion :
    image
  • a few tests for discussion :
    image

    Out of those ,my vote is E or F.
  • I don't think the details of F will look nice when scaled to the "proper" size.

    I like D and E myself.
  • I'll work up a version similar to E...
  • edited April 2016
    I also prefer something near the "E" version.

    I've also made a few other tests for the Shields Icons.
    The actual icon is great, but the variations does not seem easy to understand. And... i always wonder if the "medieval shield" form is accurate for a sci-fi vessel.

    Here a few tests for the shields icons, those were inspired by how the shields look on the tactical view :

    image

    image
  • I also prefer something near the "E" version.

    I've also made a few other tests for the Shields Icons.
    The actual icon is great, but the variations does not seem easy to understand. And... i always wonder if the "medieval shield" form is accurate for a sci-fi vessel.

    Here a few tests for the shields icons :

    image

    image

    Hmm... I actually do like the concept for the shield directions, but I think the "medieval" shield icon still has a role to play, since "a circle" doesn't necessarily make an obvious representation of shielding. I think this may be a scenario where we combine the two or use both for different purposes.
  • edited April 2016
    I'm ambivalent with this one.

    I think the Circle is defenetly one of best symbol to represent sci-fi shields. They are often ofter magnetic shields in spheric form, or as as second skin on the spaceship. As they are portrayed both in the game as sphere in 3D and as a circle in the tactical view... I'd say it's not bad at all.

    But indeed, out of context, a circle may mean anything.

    Here is a new test with different shields icons. I think they could work, but have the flaw of not showing the front/rear as the ship icon can do.

    image

    Whichever we chose, I think the most important is to understand well the direction of the shield.
  • I'm ambivalent with this one.

    I think the Circle is defenetly one of best symbol to represent sci-fi shields. They are often ofter magnetic shields in spheric form, or as as second skin on the spaceship. As they are portrayed both in the game as sphere in 3D and as a circle in the tactical view... I'd say it's not bad at all.

    But indeed, out of context, a circle may mean anything.

    Here is a new test with different shields icons. I think they could work, but have the flaw of not showing the front/back as the ship icon can do.

    image

    Whichever we chose, I think the most important is to understand well the direction of the shield.

    Here's what I recommend, the directional indicator for shields benefits from the "heading" icon, as it indicates the correct direction of the ship in relation to the shields, but any instance of buttons for activating shields should utilize the filled kite shield icon.

    I'm not 100% sure what we're going to do about the shield icons in Engineering yet... I haven't gotten that far, but I'm sure we'll think of something.
  • Ok, here's my iteration of @Capt_Lapadite 's designs for shield direction indicators. Keeping the more medieval kite shield icon for the shield toggle button on the weapons station.

    image
  • UP for the "code red/yellow" screen.

    I've tried up some quick mockup and I think it would be best to put the alert color in the background. Maybe also changing the color of every UI element (normally in white) for a more dramatic effect. For more customization, the Relay player could be able to create new alert level with a variety of color applied to all the ui+alert background texture.

    image

  • I created on a re-work of the Red/Yellow alert graphic several hours ago. I'll post it later when I get back to that machine. Much more simplified and just an outline. Could use it as a placeholder until a better solution is found.
  • UP for the "code red/yellow" screen.

    I've tried up some quick mockup and I think it would be best to put the alert color in the background. Maybe also changing the color of every UI element (normally in white) for a more dramatic effect. For more customization, the Relay player could be able to create new alert level with a variety of color applied to all the ui+alert background texture.

    image

    I'll say that I'm not necessarily opposed to the second column design, though with the current system it wouldn't really work, but I have a feeling @daid wants to change the alert code anyway.

    Sorry I've been radio silent guys, you know how life gets in the way and all that :P

    Hopefully I'll be able to pour more time into the UI pretty soon.
  • Sorry I've been radio silent guys, you know how life gets in the way and all that

    I noticed your hosting went dark a while back, are you ok?


    I'll do some quick changes so the alert image is behind everything else. Should not be that hard and will be a good start for a different image, and it makes sense not to overlay all the controls.
  • daid said:

    Sorry I've been radio silent guys, you know how life gets in the way and all that

    I noticed your hosting went dark a while back, are you ok?


    I'll do some quick changes so the alert image is behind everything else. Should not be that hard and will be a good start for a different image, and it makes sense not to overlay all the controls.
    We're in the midst of an annoying battle with our host right now (and starting the move away from them). They've basically set up, what I suspect, is a scam with the "company" SiteLock. I won't go into detail, but it's been a delightful experience :\
  • welcome back Interesting John.

    i like the idea of Capt_Lapadite.
    cauz most missions you are allways on yellow alert
    (the sort time of docking do not count ;)


    /me have played on the weekend:
    And eng. gave a rude speech
    "remove this fu*king yellow cancer form my screen, cap
    Or we will die ALL soon." trigger self destroy

  • I've moved it to the background on the latest source, so we can apply a better image now.
  • I'm trying a simplier mockup between 2 things at work...

    image

    Since the round radar window do not show at the same place (or not at all) in every station, I suppose we should use a pattern that do not need to be centered. And since it'll be covered by a fiew elements, it maybe should be wide or cover most of the screen.

    My team of players were in favor of not showing the "code red" text, for the colors are already comprehensive.
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