UI refactoring

[GFX47]

Keeping you updated about my current work on the game UI:

Before



After



Thoughts?

[mcompany]

How dare you force us to have nostalgia over the current UI?

[LuBeNo]

I like it.

Shouldnt it be Alpha 9 then.

Could you provide a screen how it looks with the symbols next to the strings?

[PPS]

Моё мнение: после - хуже...
My opinion: after - worse ...

[pier4r]

I like the first actually. The second seems way less "work". The only thing that the second has is the "social" tab, that would be helpful to remove a bit of clutter.

Moreover I way hoping in an improvement of the Ai editor. :'(

[Kanishka]

Second One with Extras instead of Social

[TAI]

Second one is too bare. At least keep the menu icons and social buttons from the first one.

[Kanishka]

Second one is too bare. At least keep the menu icons and social buttons from the first one.

That's what we need to get rid of. :/

[harthag]

I agree with the "too bare" group, the outlines make it feel like a game, the plain text make it feel like an office tool. But grouping stuff in to "social" or "extras" or whatever is great. I prefer the icons next to the options text, but that's the least import of the changes to me, personally.

[ConsciouS-0nE]

Second one looks amateur \/(i know you worked for that but)
Looks like youve got some inspiration from other games i guess, again( like the ranks).
But the thing about is that your "original" and i like the first one as it is.

On the first one, just add the social button and its fine.

[Kanishka]

New Idea: First One with Extras Button under Tutorial.

[GFX47]

New iteration:

[youtube]PMbzOOnurdE[/youtube]

[harthag]

A good compromise on the menu options, but I still prefer the outlines.

Is it just a product of your test environment? Or did you change the bot color from blue-ish to completely monochrome? Bring back the color please, it looks like it's a 16 color game from tbe 80's with just the black and white and red...

[mcompany]

Ok, I have mixed thoughts on this. On one hand, I think the old font is much more interesting and really that overall the old look seemed more interesting. On the other hand, there seems to be better positioning of almost every (except the the back button), and I like how the menu keeps the bot in the background when picking a map and how the debugger is more transparent

[pier4r]

Ok, I have mixed thoughts on this. On one hand, I think the old font is much more interesting and really that overall the old look seemed more interesting. On the other hand, there seems to be better positioning of almost every (except the the back button), and I like how the menu keeps the bot in the background when picking a map and how the debugger is more transparent

This, the second iteration looks better.

[GFX47]

I know it's hard to accept changes on a game you play for months but let's try to forget what was there before.

The UI is very important to hook new players as it's how you get your first impression of a game.
Outlines seem to give an amateur feel to the game, I get that a lot from my peers.
I also had a hard time understanding it and found tons of counter arguments, mostly because I'm used to it and too focused on the game to realize it.

But most of them are better game devs and I eventually admitted they may be true.
That's why I've been iterating toward a more "pro"/polished version for quite some time.
And you can't imagine how much time it takes to work on the UI of a game

Several key things were a big part of the negative feedback, and I'm now trying to get rid of it:
- the "Jupiter" font for it's bad readability
- the bluish theme for it's... "ugliness" XD

The first AI editor improvements, like the new node editor, are also coming with Alpha 8.

[pier4r]

I exposed the point of view as first impression as if the game would be new. The second iteration is better thegl, first seemed like (I know it is a lot of work) PowerPoint with a static background.

Once again I repeat myself on the advices from fellow developers rather than the community. I would take them with a grain of salt.

For example one could argue that pages that load content as soon as the user scrolls until the end are the best because used by Facebook and Co, but the reality is that they just suck, point. If one wants to see old content, ends up with fat single web pages and then restarting the search from that point a day after is a pain in the ass. They are pretty but horrible in terms of function.

The same for the ui in a game like Gladiabots. If the ui is pretty and then the ai editor does not have multiple select and copy, it makes little sense, there will be confuse players thinking 'but this is so graphically beautiful and then this function is missing? ".

Moreover I do believe that the actual ui is quite ok. Even the second iteration of the ones posted is nice but I do feel that improving the ui past that is like appealing the players that will unlikely play more than 20 games. Because people that normally are hooked by the graphics, for my experience, do not normally keep playing hard games.

Best example, chess. The simpler the board the better.

With fps games, unlikely you have players fixed with graphical details that join teams to do competitions, because at that point graphical details are secondary.

Edit: of course gfx at the end you decide where the game will go.

[harthag]

- the bluish theme for it's... "ugliness" XD

I wouldn't call it "ugly", personally, but certainly not my favorite either. But I think monochrome is worse. Changing the color (maybe a more royal blue, or a green, let the player choose) is fine, monochrome is ... monochrome

[Wozza]

I think overall the content in the video is pretty good.

For me the new style gives a more modern first impression, where the old style maybe suggests a more retro feel or even that it is being given a robotic theme to align with the bot fighting game.

From a visual point of view the shots of defining logic for nodes on the decision tree look good, my only word of caution here would be that until we get hands on with it, it will be hard to tell whether it is easier or harder to use than the old version which for me is the most important thing,

I'm not sure how I feel about the italic or angled font being used for a lot of headings. I think the couple of places it is used with a shadow look good but I don't love it in the other spots. An example would be at 0:34 in the video - the edit target screen. For me that screen looks great but the edit target heading at the top is the one thing that maybe doesn't look as good as the rest.

Finally what is the plan for the pink / red in the UI? Is your thought that it will replace all the old orange for example at 1:14 the enemy bots and enemy score would be changing?

[Ritter Runkel]

I like the style on the video, especially the moving menue and the added icons in the UI editor. It looks a little bit like jumping from 90th style to something more focused and modern.