Posted this in the Discord will add it here also so it doesn't get lost.
NEW LOOK
[img]https://i.ibb.co/m9fw9sH/City-of-Titans-AB-UI-FULL.jpg[/img]
So, I did a little work in Paint because I wanted to showcase what "I feel" would be the ideal look for the Avatar Builder. I added a few things that are currently missing, such as the must have Undo and Redo buttons. I also added in a Guild button that when selected would include Guild options(set by Guild Leaders) to the top of Spandex Patterns and Detail lists, as well as your Base and Emblem choices(Guild Colors and Mats would be automatically applied to these when selecting the Guild Base or Guild Emblem image.) I also moved a few things around to make it looks cleaner and more symmetrical.
Moving the Environment button to the left above Skin Material puts it in a nice area so you can move the Environment choices it opens up vertically underneath it with a scroll wheel. This way you can include as many different environments as you want without it getting cluttered. You can also allow the environment choices box to stay open freely clicking on each of them until you find the one you want, then either click "Environment" to close. It would naturally automatically close if you select "Skin Materials" or any of the Body Sliders and visa versa.
Lastly I removed the "Camera Presets" text as I personally feel it isn't needed, just having the icons out over the "Enter Island" button feels good and doesn't take up to much room on the right side to interfere with the length of the Emblem/Base Sliders situation.
You may have also noticed the Avatar is starting out with "Pure White" colored spandex. This is something else I would love to see happen. The Avatars shouldn't be starting out in a material that doesn't apply colors correctly. Right now you start out with Pure White selected but your spandex looks grey. This needs adjusting. In the image I used the Material "PolyesterLayeredMeshReverse" as it is the best material for apply colors at their truest. If it's possible to remove the mesh and keep the ability to apply colors in this way it would be a perfect starting point when entering the AB.
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Made additional changes the the UI. I think I managed to squeeze everything in that the AB needs in a way that still manages to look pretty sleek and sexy.
Included a "Costume Themes" button that opens up images of costume sets in the same area you would make the rest of your costume selections from.
Added a pair of Dice which act as a Random Costume Generator button.
Made changes to the Camera options icons. Added a lil camera so it's perfectly obvious what those icons are for. Removed the doubled up gloves and boots and simply put a L(positions camera to the left side of body) and R(positions camera to the right side of body) where you can just move the camera up and down to see both the arms and legs that you want to focus on.
Changed "GUILD" to "LEAGUE" because it just made more sense for a superhero game. Justice League, League of Assassins, etc.
Changed the Body Type selections into a single button that can either be used to simply switch back and forth between male and female OR to open a drop down list to choose even more body types from when and if that ever becomes a thought. At least the UI will be set up for it.
These are all generally good things worth being considered. Anything to help "streamline" the GUI will be helpful in the long run.
I'll just mention a quick point about the camera presets. Having 4 dedicated buttons for "right and left arm" and "right and left leg" is probably a bit of an overkill. I've spent several hours using this GUI and never once made use of those buttons even when I was trying out asymmetrical outfits. The only buttons we really need are one that zooms in on the head/face, one that zooms in on the upper body (centered on the torso but including both arms), one that zooms in on both legs and of course the "reset" zoom button. Reducing the number of camera preset buttons down from 7 to 4 would save a bit of screen GUI real estate that might be better used in other ways. Remember the GUI already lets you zoom in and out to any part of the body you want (via scroll wheel) so if you really wanted to focus on say one arm you could already do that without a hardwired button on the GUI.
This is an example of the type of "streamlining" that eventually needs to be done here.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Made a bunch of changes to my original post. Replaced the image with a new and improved one that includes a bunch of things to make the AB hit the next level of awesome.
Having only two camera preset buttons that are "left side/right side" oriented would be less cluttered than the four individual arm/leg buttons we currently have. But like the current buttons I probably wouldn't bother to use your 'L' and 'R' buttons much either.
If I was working on asymmetrical arms or legs I'd want to compare them against [i]each other[/i] (arm to arm, leg to leg). I likely would never care about seeing one arm and one leg together either zoomed in or not. I'm perfectly willing to accept that might just be me and that everyone else would love to see that for some reason. *shrugs*
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
really nice but i think it would be nice if the randomize button will affect everything and not just costumes.
maybe add a checkbox next to it for those who only want it to affect costume parts only.
What about Random options such as:
- Everything
- Body only
- Costume only
- Colours/textures/patterns only
All of these obeying any locks we place on specific elements so those don't change.
Spurn all ye kindle.
I think that "everything" and "patterns and color" will be difficult in that way that some pieces of costumes don't have the same option of color (some have 1 or 2 colors, others have 3 or 4 options).
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Sorry, I didn't mean choose one Random option to apply to everything; I just meant choose a random option from each category. They don't have to match.
Spurn all ye kindle.
random options could be nice, that way each can choose the level of randomization that he wants.
not a bad idea atall
You have a note about producing a pop-up when clicking the enter island button. The text there should ask you to save the costume.
It's probably not an issue for the full game but if you fail to save when entering the island, you lose all your changes and can't return to AB once you enter the island.
Second Chance: https://store.missingworldsmedia.com/CityOfTitans/SecondChance/
Dev Tracker: http://cityoftitans.com/forum/fixing-dev-digest
Dev Comments: https://cityoftitans.com/forum/dev-comments
Here's a big update to my idea's on how to clean up the UI for the AB. Also a few other idea's that involve the AB. I went ahead and made a bunch of images to help get the ideas across better. So let's dive in shall we.
First pic will show how I envision the AB to look when it first loads up. Notice the character is facing the screen(with the face or the body should be facing the screen at start.) Also notice we're starting out with white attire, the base material should apply colors in their most true form. I moved the Environment and Camera options in order to keep the center of the screen clean so you can focus on the character when tinkering. Added Costume Themes for a friendlier AB experience. The "Enter Game" button as it should be named should also have a pop-up warning to make sure you actually want to leave the AB.
[url=https://ibb.co/c8zGXnz][img]https://i.ibb.co/WzSbpJS/AB-1.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/MG0vjmM][img]https://i.ibb.co/JyJ1b95/AB-2.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/wWDV9pb][img]https://i.ibb.co/k8YjRqr/AB-3.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/9V9ZPBy][img]https://i.ibb.co/nnsPp4Q/AB-4.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/1dyD9Qc][img]https://i.ibb.co/0F4gf25/AB-5.jpg[/img][/url]
Here is a pic that showcases how to better go about Emblems to be able to use them in more ways.
[url=https://ibb.co/X2Bk32w][img]https://i.ibb.co/kHn69Hd/City-of-Titans-AB-Better-Emblem-Customization.jpg[/img][/url]
Here's an idea to make sure the Spandex Thumbnails don't become over-cluttered with combinations of the same thing. We need need distinct cutoffs between the different area's of the body.
First pic show's the idea. The following pics showcase some of the head, neck, and hands options that can be moved. I may have took the liberty of adding some hand options I would personally like to see. :D
[url=https://ibb.co/FsWZfP6][img]https://i.ibb.co/8zBvRhM/AB-Spandex.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/Bg9CsHd][img]https://i.ibb.co/XzqCJfN/Thumbstrap.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/q5mZxhy][img]https://i.ibb.co/dgkh7XW/V-Cuff.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/6v7V0DP][img]https://i.ibb.co/Q83zvYN/Fingerless.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/Th5TZm4][img]https://i.ibb.co/88VBJ6r/Full-Hand.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/pKzjVXt][img]https://i.ibb.co/Zg8z4Tn/Low-Neck.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/J5DssTm][img]https://i.ibb.co/0hHGGLm/Mid-Neck.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/jwSTPvk][img]https://i.ibb.co/QH4f3Fv/Full-Neck.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/1Tq2Lhn][img]https://i.ibb.co/0rMJc8X/Clipped-Neck.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://ibb.co/C2dLzMV][img]https://i.ibb.co/Ryn89BQ/Full-Head.jpg[/img][/url]
These are some really good suggestions, @Cooltastic. I really like moving all the spandex options to a single menu,
One other thing that really bothers me is the four color boxes (right, under "details") should change to reflect the color choices of whichever item is selected. Furthermore, there is plenty of room under those four boxes to also place up to 24 material and color combos that players have saved.
[hr]I like to take your ideas and supersize them. This isn't criticism, it is flattery. I come with nothing but good will and a spirit of team-building. If you take what I write any other way, that is probably just because I wasn't very clear.
Huckleberry, as I noted in a post elsewhere (https://cityoftitans.com/comment/177221#comment-177221), I’m currently working on making the AB be able to display all settings on the character. In the current release copy, only the left side sliders do this. A somewhat harder problem is streamlining the design process, and various options are under discussion.
For storing material/color settings, the shelf already does that, accessed at the top of the box that opens when you click one of the four material buttons. Perhaps “the shelf” is not a good name for the feature, though. Took me a while using the AB before I figured out what it meant.
(iathor on Discord)
[color=#ff0000]Tech Team [/color]
I personally like the name "Shelf." I just wish there was a way to wipe the shelf. Sometimes I scratch a character idea and hit the "Reset", but all the stuff I saved to the Shelf are still there. So the shelf ends up getting way to long. I never seem to shelf more than 8-12 at most while making a single character though. This is because you only really need 4 choices saved for you're upper body so you can match your lower body with them, and another 4 for your gloves to match your boot choices if you need too. So we don't NEED a ton of shelf space, just the ability to delete them.
Yeah, I've been using the shelf when I play with the AB and I suppose that's good enough since the only time we really need it is when we are actually picking a color+material (colmat?). I was aiming for an overview sort of layout so that when I select a costume item, the four existing colmats are depicted and any saved ones from the shelf are shown as well, just below. As long as we get a real-time depiction of the four colmats for the currently selected item, depicting the shelf items is gravy.
[hr]I like to take your ideas and supersize them. This isn't criticism, it is flattery. I come with nothing but good will and a spirit of team-building. If you take what I write any other way, that is probably just because I wasn't very clear.