In the discussion about the power bar, I noticed that some of the feedback was a bit more low-level, so I thought to roll with that and ask, what style of UI do you like?
Are you more in favor of a translucent Glassy style, with nearly transparent backdrops to the UI elements, such as seen in this example?
Is a more opaque Glassy style more in line with your desires?
Or even a completely Glass setup?
Do you prefer a sharper, more brushed metalic look, such as found here?
Or a dark, glossy look, such as here?
Something like a more traditional MMORPG?
Perhaps a future-tech look?
This is not about picking one or the other, but feedback, to see what people are thinking. UI technology has progressed a great deal, but many MMOs still use the same basic UI style approach from Ultima Online and Everquest.
(shoutout to one of our artists, who has done UI work before and helped develop this list)
Technical Director
Read enough Facebook and you have to make Sanity Checks. I guess FB is the Great Old One of the interent these days... - Beamrider
OMG!!!
I've been waiting for this (being someone who missed the Kickstarer, and who has been watching the Kickstarer threads with envy [of which I was locked out... of? Grammatical and bracket complexity.
?!?!])
I feel like Mary Cahtarine Ghallager getting to finally be a "Superstar!!!" Underarm sniiiii--ii--ii?--iiiiF!! Aaaaaand... JUSTIFIED!!!
Ok, now... opinions:
Clean. Neither fantasy or hi-tech. Superheroes come from all walks (it takes Different Strokes to Save the World).
SO... STRONGLY non-traditional Sword N Sorcery MMORPG nor "Modern brushed metal" . Clean and clear and open to interpretation.
I'd direct you towards (one of the few things I like about) The Secret World, or, obviously, City of Heroes itself.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Personally, I love all of those except for the traditional MMO style one. I can't really envision the complete colored glass one as a menu but it wouldn't be my first pick. As far as the futuristic one goes. There's quite a bit of clutter, too much to concentrate on. Not trying to do the "Pick one or the other" things but it's hard when those are the options given so I will expand on why I think that way. I agree with Empyrean, I like the clean cut menus that don't have too much clutter and just look simple. I'm sure after a while of I would be able to figure out where everything is and get used to it. But I prefer the clean simple UI's.
When it starts out though, It would be nice to be able to customize everything. Maybe a quick UI menu, where you can have your "favorite" selections in a clean cut page. And then you can go to the actual UI menu with ALL the options that is a lot more cluttered with information.
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
My preference would be for the translucent Glassy style with options to change the color and the ability to move it to different positions on the screen. Very similar to like it was in COX.
Have to essentially reiterate others here, for the default one it should be a clean minimal neutral one. I think option 1 2 and 5 fits that very well.
I like the looks of the Brushed Metal, but I'm hoping that there will be (eventually) some customization options here as well. Although since this is the look of your personal UI, that could easily be done by our (hopefully) thriving add-on community. ^_^
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
All of them :).
Add them all in and allow for basic selections that are predetermined and advanced selections to allow for mix and match.
I'm going to bring this up again because I seem to get no feedback from others but on the issue of clutter...
Add an ability to move UI windows to a second monitor. I'd love to have the entire league window of all 48 players open during a raid and still be able to see my character along with a map and chat
-AlienMafia (Justice Server)
Main: Thorns 13xx Badges
As always, I second the idea of have all the details of a character, map, stats, and more on a second screen.
As often as I could in CoX, I would try to make the the screen have as little as possible on it. I hated the clutter on the main screen but you sometimes have to have a map and chat. So if that could be available but not on the main screen, that would be amazing. All I want to see on the main screen is the game, health, and the power tray. Not to say that anything couldn't be moved if desired..
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
I admit to being attracted to the bright glassy colors for buttons. For bars and frameworks, I'd choose 'adjustable' both in transparency, density, and color/shade, to some extent. I also agree with the call for multiple, dockable, movable elements.
Be Well!
Fireheart
I think it makes a difference if we are talking about pop-up windows or persistent elements during gameplay.
I like the ability to adjust the transparency of pop-up windows and anything else that has a background field to it.
For persistent UI elements, I recommend removing the background field entirely, like what you did with the "Completely Glass Setup" example. I'm all about maximising the viewable area.
As far as style is concerned, I favor the cleanliness of the future-tech look. Skeuomorphism can be nice, especially if you want to emphasize that something is a button or a dial instead of just an indicator. So perhaps a combination of future-tech with some dark-glossy skeuomorphism where it is needed.
Also, I think we will have some characters who claim to be aliens, some characters who claim to be out of time from the past or the future, some characters who are more arcane, some who are more technical and some who are more organic. I think it would be nice to have a few style options available so the players can choose one most appropriate to their character.
[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.
I really like being able to set the transparency of the UI elements, to the point that the buttons can almost appear to float on the screen.
I like them all, as well, although probably not any one of them for all my characters. As Empyrean pointed out, a traditional fantasy UI wouldn't mesh very well with a tech-oriented character. If UI tech is as far along as all that, isn't it in the realm of the possible to choose a UI skin much like we choose a forum skin?
As far as the glossy / glass look goes, the one potential problem I can see there is that the reflections could cause problems for the nimbus.
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Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
I would prefer something clean, with little in the way of texture. Like Empyrean said, "Superheroes come from all walks (it takes Different Strokes to Save the World)". Out of the above, the semi translucent appeals to me the most. Maybe add in some of the "future tech" elements to the look if it's not too intrusive.
I think CoH had a combination of that - kinda future-y but very clean and straightforward - and I very much liked the CoH UI. Give options to make the UI translucent (or not), and good customization options (movable, new tabs, colour, etc).
Personally have to go with translucent glass. Though I do hope this is something that could be opened up to modders in some way. Not that I am one but there are a lot of smart and creative people that could do some magic with UI's if given the opportunity.
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I'd say a slightly less shiny/sparkly glass look with an option in the settings for translucency and opaqueness.
Puny Heroes.
I would like something like an exterior Widescreen mode similar to that of eq2 were you can mount the interface UI controls outside of the widescreen box. instead of being trapped inside the visual area. So I can have a uncluttered view of the action. I have 36" widescreen tv//monitor and would like to put it to practical use. And I think something like a complete glass standard mmorpg controls would work. Bit unless a lot of the higher powers are trigger powers on the use of
the lower powers or are auto powers we would definitely need more then 12 slots. I actually managed to come up with a system that used all 10 power trays and only needed 7 of them to to be visually displayed to have every power at my finger tips.
[CENTER][URL=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm][IMG]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/18.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER]
[URL=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-knhgv6lgbrs/UA_riCKAHNI/AAAAAAAATxE/u-sgh23bZhc/s640/wonder_women_by_penichet-d47up0l.jpg [/IMG][/URL]
me too. I like my HUD UI elements to be minimalistic to a point. like for the chat window... scrollbar can have up and down arrows with a clear outline when its active. But when its no longer in use, i'd like the outline to fade out, and just see a translucent up and down arrow. Arrows don't have to shrink in width, but if its not too much trouble, that be neat! :D
fyi, my UI unity3D tool isn't done yet, but it lets me prototype fairly quickly. If you need to test out a concept, i can, or anyone can, throw something together to play around with.
ex:
older Windows Desktop in browser: http://kissui.izzysoft.com/support/index.php?action=demos;sa=desktop
drag n drop, pan and zoom with middle button: http://kissui.izzysoft.com/support/index.php?action=demos;sa=301DragDrop
Nice for people that have unity3D. its free to play around with.
I like the glass one too, if were talking about the HUD... but i feel for a Settings type of dialog, a bit less translucency may fit more to my liking, like the Dark UI theme. :)
I have to say I am loving the brushed metalic that would be my first choice. Second would be future tech. Great job on the list by the way. Keep up the good work! :-)
Hip hooters Nee!
Thanks for providing a few different UI examples to consider. As others have mentioned I tend to be a "less is more" type of person when it comes to GUIs. I understand a "cluttered" GUI might present more information but if it's too cluttered then that info gets lost in the chaos on the screen and becomes semi-useless. We aren't going to be flying simulated F-35 fighter jets so we don't need all sorts of lights/switches/do-dads covering half the screen.
As far as your examples go I like the first couple of "glassy" styles. They seem more modern and generic enough to be able to apply to all sorts of heroes or villains. Of course as others have also said it would be great to have as many options/styles as possible and being able to rearrange the various UI elements on the screen would be cool as well.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
While the clear favorite seems to be the nice, clean glass look with an opacity slider, a few people have floated the idea of a selectable UI skin. I'd like to strongly + 1 that.
IF it is fairly easy to do, having a glass UI as default but with "Magic", "Tech", "Bio", etc. options would be a really nice customization feature that would enhance game-feel more than you might think (since it affects the very "lense" through which we experience the entire game).
Obviously multiple UI skin options is not a primary concern--especially if it's time-consuming or expensive--but in a game based on customization, options, and immersion, it's more than just a "nice touch".
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
My preference in City of Heroes was to have both my Trays and Chat Windows be little more than lines enclosing low opacity areas. My preference is to have my trays and chat window on the bottom of the screen at the corners (chat left, trays right) and have them be low opacity when I'm not mouse hovering over them so that I can "see through them" (kinda sorta) most of the time to catch visual details.
In the context of this thread, that means either complete glass or translucent glassy.
[img]http://img.freepik.com/free-psd/colorful-shiny-buttons-psd_393-6.jpg?size=338c&ext=jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.pixeden.com/media/k2/galleries/258/003-glossy-ui-kit-glass-transparent-app-psd-button-clean.jpg[/img]
A big part of the reason for that is ... IMMERSION.
I have to be able to SEE the world in order to be immersed in it. The more I can "ignore" the UI sitting on top of my view of things, the better I am at feeling immersed in the game. This is something that Tabula Rasa and Elder Scrolls Online managed to achieve to a very high degree.
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Default could look similar to what CoH/V had, plain semi transparent, color tintable, to start you off.
+1 to the additional Magic, Tech, Bio, etc.. themes you can buy from the in game store.
hehe.. Did you think they would come Free? ;)
Transparent glassy for sure. With opacity slider or option for people who need clearer contrast.
Absolutely! Must monetize! I want MWM financially healthy and able to fund further development!
Assuming we're going to be buy-to-play with free a period and then freemium after that (I think I'm correct in that is the planned business model?), then maybe premium gets skins, free to play can buy individual skins?
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I've no issue with selling UI skins, but MWM would have to label those very, very clearly. If people get the idea that what they're purchasing are extra skill bars things could get very messy.
I'll also take the opportunity to reiterate that I would appreciate it if every purchase were clearly labeled whether it's per character or per account.
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[font=Pristina][size=18][b]Hail Beard![/b][/size][/font]
Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
I'd like a few skins made by the developers, or maybe just one vanilla skin that is useful, clear and generic. Then I would want to engage the player mod community. I think that is something the players would enjoy tinkering with and free up the developer resources to generate actual consumable content.
[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.
Translucent Glassy style with transparency sliders and colour options for an active game play UI.
Dark Glossy for the Settings-type screens.
Have some basic skins, Tech, Magic, Bio, available at the start of the game (colour customizable of course), with ones developed at a later stage of the game available for purchase (either IGC or Real Monies). Allow the player base to submit IDEAS, not DESIGNS for future consideration. The difference being that you can give a shout out to a player who submitted an IDEA that inspired a new skin design, but you would have to pay to use someone else's DESIGN.
I'd be happy with any of these except the traditional fantasy one, which I dislike with an enmity that borders on the unreasonable. (Though I still argue that big square power buttons lead to inscrutable mini-paintings instead of useful, inter-power-set-spanning icons.) I'd probably shy away from the future techie one, as it looks too busy, but of course MWM could use that style without having quite so much on the screen -- or, as is hoped, allow us to decide how much we want on the screen.
The only problem I have is that none of these feels particularly superhero-y. I'd love a UI that conjures up images of comic book frames and fonts. The completely glass setting is close, but still not quite exactly it.
I'd also like to +1 the idea of having a basic starter UI that's similar to the one from our old game and then a selection of these fancier UIs for sale as MWM has time to develop them.
Spurn all ye kindle.
When I read this I think of bookspines making an image when placed together on a shelf in proper series order. Did you ever see any tool-bar spanning icons like this in a game before? I think that's brilliant. It might be difficult to tell which power is which, but the idea is pretty sweet.
[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.
For the love of all that is holy and unholy do NOT use Comic Sans or any similar "handwritten-style" of font. That right there is murder-worthy in the design world - it's not an easy font for reading in even moderate amounts. Plus it's one of the things I do NOT like about the Champions Online UI. Not saying you have to use serifs all over the place, but there are much cleaner and easier to read sans fonts.
OK, have the default fonts not "handwritten", but please have Comic Sans or similar available as an option. ^_^
Edit: For that matter, lots of fonts as options, to help the player get into the mindset of the character. Techy fonts for inventors or space aliens. Late nineteenth century fonts for cowboys and steampunks. And so on.
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
Big ol'e +1 for options like fonts even within a particular skin whenever feasible.
Feasibility being the potential rub.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Sorry, I didn't choose the best description for the concept. I meant icons that are linked to the type of power (single target, arc, self, defence debuff, etc) that are used in multiple power sets, not a scheme that spans internally across a power set.
I understand what you're thinking of, and it's an interesting idea, but I wouldn't say it's appropriate for power button icons. For one thing, it would create the potential for conflict between the player's placement of the power buttons and the full image. I also think such images fail in any attempt to provide useful information for identifying powers. But maybe that kind of scheme could be applied elsewhere?
Spurn all ye kindle.
This makes much more sense.
PBAoE, Single target Melee, Single Target Ranged with a DoT, Single Target Big Heal, Single target little heal, Single target HoT, Buff, DeBuff, etc., etc., each has its own icon, independent of the powerset it is associated with. That would be the shapes. Colors could be used to distinguish things like offensive, defensive, and support categories.
But as soon as we start combining effects and/or augmenting additional characteristics, icons like this could get confused.
[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.
[img]http://static.srcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Babylon-5-Logo.jpg[/img]
Behold the power of [url=https://www.google.com/search?q=medium+serpentine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8]Serpentine Medium[/url].
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
for some reason i just hate those pretentious looking fonts. >:(
ex:
[img]http://image.prntscr.com/image/a205fa0e1dde422384c2b73e8e071c0d.png[/img]
.. and find others more soothing to my inside beast.
ex:
[img]http://image.prntscr.com/image/8db76f09fd4c40a6a3f5d7d8fe18b7fb.png[/img]
[img]http://image.prntscr.com/image/a941010ecc3a4ce98d24400a34e53c0c.png[/img]
Serpentine and similar stylistic fonts could work for titles and headers and the like. But it's best to go for a nice simple sans font like Myriad Pro, Univers or Helvetica for body text or text that is going to be displayed at a small point size ("fancy" fonts could be more difficult to read at smaller display sizes).
Noto
Technical Director
Read enough Facebook and you have to make Sanity Checks. I guess FB is the Great Old One of the interent these days... - Beamrider
My personal preferred "go to" (true type) font for reading is actually Book Antiqua.
[img]http://www.fontsplace.com/free/images/b/book_antiqua_font_preview_characters.gif[/img]
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Ooo - I like that one.
It's one of the few which has few issues with multiple languages. Plus, look at the Symbols and monochrome emoji a moment. Hello chest logos!
Technical Director
Read enough Facebook and you have to make Sanity Checks. I guess FB is the Great Old One of the interent these days... - Beamrider
Not to mention the archaic languages support that might show up in game, like Phoenician, Old Persian, Runic, Cuneiform, etc.
Cool.
[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.
I'm guessing most of you guys are thinking the Gameplay when you're commenting on these UI styles. I'd like to ask you guys to consider the chargen a moment as well. Obviously, UI has to be more prominent there. Now you've played City of Heroes, you've played other games, and you've seen these style examples as well. What, if any, adjustments would you find most appropriate there?
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[center][color=#ff0000]Interior Map Lead and UI Designer[/color][/center]
In character generation, I'd prefer we stayed away from the skeuomorphic designs like "Brushed Metallic" and "Traditional MMORPG" since they are each very stylistically focused on one genre (actually both look like they're from the 80's) and not as generally applicable for the story we are telling ourselves in our heads when we are designing our character. And I wouldn't be able to take "Full Glass" seriously for this game. I think its just too whimsical for what you are trying to do.
If we do end up going for skeuomorphic design, then something like "Glossy Opaque" or "Dark Glossy" would be better since they carry less information about what genre they originated from. "Translucent Glassy" loses its appeal in a non-gameplay setting since there's nothing we're trying to see behind it when we are in character creation.
Having said all that, I still like the "Future Tech" the most, even though the example you showed is more busy than a good UI should be. But in order to tell the difference in that scheme between an indicator and an object, a little skeuomorphism wouldn't hurt. I would keep the 2D simplicity of that design, but I would make the ui's interactable objects hover just barely above the background like they were painted on the front side of a thin sheet of glass separating them from the background and text.
[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.
Something I'm noticing in a lot of UI designs (Not just MMOs) is that they often cannot be accessed or manipulated without a mouse/pointing device. It may be good to have these controls keyboard-accessible. I know that the whole purpose in making the UI design 'shiny' is to attract point-and-clicks. That's great! However, for precision control, keyboard/digital is more accurate.
Be Well!
Fireheart
I really liked the simple style of COH where there were just thin borders, and fairly opaque. Completely clear is the worst way to go as the conversations and buttons could blend into the busy background. Traditional MMO display would be my choice, but more tailored to fit a modern non fantasy style.
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[color=#FF0000]Graphic Designer[/color]
The what?
You're assuming we know what you mean by this term and that it is intuitively obvious. Please provide disambiguation information to both positively identify as well as negatively exclude what you mean here. This is yet another example of use of inadequately explained jargon.
Please explain what you're talking about, what you intend to be using it for, and why it might need to be prominent as a UI element ... so that we can all work with you on the same page and proceed from a common understanding and set of assumptions. Lacking a complete context, you could be talking about billing credit card numbers for buying Stars from inside the game for all we know.
I mean ... we don't want this sort of thing to happen now, do we?
[youtube]ZuYbDP2kDfg[/youtube]
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
I'm assuming chargen is short for character generator.
Correctamundo.
[hr]I don't use a nerf bat, I have a magic crowbar!
- Combat Mechanic -
[color=#ff0000]Tech Team. [/color]
With regards to the chargen I think you want something non-intrusive, such as translucent glass and opaque glass. Despite the number of sliders and colors and everything that will go into generating I think the character should draw as much of the focus as possible. This is one of my pet peeves with certain automotive sites. They give you large areas for selecting packages and add-ons and all that but only give you a small preview image of the car. The pre-stingray corvette site was one of the worst offenders. Not that I could afford a 'Vette but I like to dream.
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These two (1 & 3) jumped out at me also. The round glossy because it reminds me of CoH and I have come to dislike the squares in so many other MMOs. And the second because like Redlynne said: immersion. A combination of these two would be great. Which I imagine would be simple enough with transparency and color sliders like we used to have.
Players being able to create and share UI skins would also be fantastic. Brings back memories of making Winamp skins (which I still totally use). The only problem I can see, and maybe it's been mentioned, is well.. I know I'd be very tempted to create a throwback CoH skin. And I'm sure others would too. But I don't know where on the IP infringement scale this would fall, if it all.
I'm so excited :D
[size=12][b]TINK SMASH[/b][/size]
[url=http://dbgradio.com]DBG Radio[/url]
it might be nice to see if a Sims 4 UI might give us inspiration.
ex: https://youtu.be/DLqvbpPjFnU
[youtube]DLqvbpPjFnU[/youtube]
Personal request,
Please keep as much of the UI available for us to turn translucent and have scroll over opacity. One of the MAIN reasons I'm able to enjoy Wildstar is the ability for me to keep all the windows and UI out of my way and give me as full vision of the battles.\
I prefer "High Tech" but I'd like a in-lore reason for it. In Wildstar all the data on the screen is info from our "Datachron" and in Shadowrun each runner has a "Commlink". There WILL be a communications/identification system that exists in this world/lore and I as a roleplayer have always found it easy when whatever info I can /inspect is displayed in-lore rather than OOC
Crowd Control Enthusiast
I concur with the prevailing sentiment. Things I would personally like to emphasise:
* Movable UI elements
* Scalable UI elements
* UI elements that can be hidden
Stylistically, I've always enjoyed rounded edges, simplistic shapes, and a neutral, slightly futuresque look. A reimagining of the CoH look would also work for me; I really rather enjoyed it. It still visually sits well with me, even so many years on. That could be nostalgia speaking, of course.
For the chargen, I'd say the UI should be out of the way and easy to use; by the latter I mean it should be easy to navigate through and any interactible should be clearly visible, operate smoothly and feel very responsive.
of Phoenix Rising
Am I
I feel like a huge outlier in this discussion, because I personally hate having a transparent UI. I very much ask that if such a UI is implemented that an option to adjust the opacity is included.
I have a tendency to group icons leaving gaps between them (basically so that I don't fat-finger long recharge emergency/defensive/buildup type powers), and having no background in the empty spaces between groups of icons makes it look absolutely awful.
Likewise, having a transparent background on any sort of window where you've got text you need to read is just no.
I definitely favor Opaque Glassy, Dark Glossy or Traditional MMO (Styled artistically in a matter fitting for a modern setting).
With regards to the CharGen specifically, that's an area where I would actually find the transparent UI useful, so as not to obstruct your field of view when trying to zoom in while modifying your character's appearance.
Personally? I prefer the future-tech look, feels more super heroey
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
[CENTER][URL=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm][IMG]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/24.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER]
The interface needs to be as simple and clean as possible so that the important elements on the page are the focus and not the interface itself. For example, look at the CoH enhancement screen:
It has a minimal skyline background, a few simple boxes and colored bars. The real information is in the power icons followed by the enhancements themselves. I should point out the psychological satisfaction of hearing and seeing new slots placed and filled. The "feel" of filling those empty slots and seeing your character's power grow.
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This summarizes my hopes and dreams for CoT. Check it out if you'd like.
+1
"THE TITANS ARE COMING! THE TITANS ARE COMING!"
To my mind, the glassy one (1st) is the best in the list and so for several reasons :
[list]
[*] as the game takes place in the modern world, or even a futur one, this one seems to fit well with this. Modern enought to be either actual or futuristic look
[*] as it is already said : being able to adjust opacity and color could give more immersion in the world and not "polluate" the view if the UI is not appreciated by one or another
[*] it is as simple as needed, to me,
[/list]
But the classic MMO style is sure value ^^ People wil not be lost...
Moreover, i can't forget what i read. Having different options for the UI style like tech, alien, organic... And what about letting the user "installing" his own template of UI ? just let the player choose the image files he wants to "dress" his UI ?
One another thing, to me, is really important, is to be able to move and adjust the UI elements size so as to place elements as i want to. How many times did i try to move something i don't want to see during a long session game ? for example, FFXIV almost succeed in gaving me what i was wainting for :)
Concerning "other" UI, like in the lobby or the character creation, i think it could reflect what it shows. Maybe the shapes could be what personnalize the CoT style, but the matter could reflex "where" the player is. Base management, character creation, mission creation, mission reading, etc can have differents matters but still have the same style or even "big families" can share the same matter (management can be like steal, creation can be like plastic, general UI can be in a glossy style)... Not that it is a patchwork at end, but just like in the press, having some reading direction.
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The awesome thing about CoH's UI is that it had a very unified design. Design elements were reused all over the place and generally worked the same wherever you found them. The enhancement tray and its slots looked similar to the enhancement screen skill rows and their slots, just with the backgrounds slightly changed. The city skyline background you see in the enhancement screen was also in the character generation and costume editor screens.
Areas were framed with textured borders that look like blue (or red, for CoV) trim. Text was white with black borders and, from what I remember, stuck with two fonts: the "hero" font (dunno the name) for titles, big buttons, and banners, and Helvetica (or Arial or whatever) for information, chat windows, minor buttons, and speech bubbles. [i]No Comic Sans,[/i] despite "Comic" in the name.
CoT is going to need a similar kind of visual uniformity to help tie all the parts of the game together and create its visual language.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
Ok, so talking about uniformity, i thought about something this night :D (it was night in France ^^)...
Glossy is my favourite style... But, plastic, in people mind, is cheaper than steal... Wood is more "respectable" than plastic... Gold is more "Oh my gosh" than plastic... Matter matters (lol i'm proud of this one for a foreigner :D). Which feelings CoT should have in people mind ? Solid and robust like steal ? Flexible and malleable like plastic ? hard llike rock and unchangeable ?
I think the matter of the UIs is really important. Whatever it can be translucent or not. it's not something to take ligthly :)
What do you think about doing a mindmap to look at what CoT should seems like ?
https://framindmap.org/mindmaps/index.html
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What I enjoyed about CoH/CoV is that it didn't look "too fantasy" or "too sci-fi" so that it could appeal to people playing for their own personal tastes. The game had separate places with mysticism/magic and places of science/space, so that it scratched that itch for everyone.
I enjoy the completely Glass setup mostly due to nostalgia at how it looks like enhancements from CoH/CoV, plus who doesn't like some shiny buttons? But in the end, I'm mostly a sci-fi tech guy, so I like all the information Future-Tech shows me, although I imagine others could be overwhelmed by it. While I have my preferences in aesthetics as stated above, in end I really only care that I can adjust the opacity and be able to move/re-size the UI around as I see fit.
Many moons ago, someone posted this on the CoH/CoV forums about UIs, and I always liked it:
[IMG]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t108/cobaltazurean/cromhud_zps67yuolme.jpg[/IMG]
Wow, that's a busy UI. You'll spend all your time looking at everything but the target.
Looks like it's inspired by military aircraft control panels and HUDs.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
That was my deduction as well. That, and the image was titled 'cromhud' when I saved it off the forums.
And I agree it is busy, but like I said I leaned towards Future Tech as the most aesthetically pleasing of the options, however stating that it could also be considering overwhelming for someone else.
I strongly agree with this statement. Also it was clean and clear. The Secret World does a pretty good job with this too.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I also strongly agree with this. I did enjoy my time in TSW, despite it being a major departure from CoH/CoV.
Edit: I enjoyed it EXCEPT for dungeons. Timers on dungeon loot drops is fine, timers on the dungeon itself is asinine.
Yeah. I REALLY wanted to like TSW. The idea, stories, and atmosphere are absolutely amazing, but the implementation is unbearable.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Yeah. I REALLY wanted to like TSW. The idea, stories, and atmosphere are absolutely amazing, but the implementation is just unbearable.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Apart from the powers list, where your temp/costume powers resided... that became unwieldy after a period of time.....
Egads, forgot about that. Yeah, that was a dumping ground. I could avoid even touching it for years until we started getting temp powers all over the place.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
Since this thread has no answer since some days, do our help was usefull or useless ? :D
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Not useless, we're processing the answers and will have some concepts upcoming.
Technical Director
Read enough Facebook and you have to make Sanity Checks. I guess FB is the Great Old One of the interent these days... - Beamrider
Nice ! Thanks for responding :) (or maybe rather answering)
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A bit (super) late to this discussion, but I wanted to add my 2 inf anyway.
The two that most stick out to me are the final, future tech look, and the first translucent glassy look. Both of these seem to fit the overall aesthetic and tone of the world better than the others. Classic MMO style (the fantasy one) would be jarring and janky to me when put into a superhero world. I could see the translucent glassy one as being significantly less intrusive than some UIs are in games. This could be, as I see it, a potentially big issue with the futuretech look. It might LOOK cool, but how jarring will it be? I'm a big fan of function over form, and even if it doesn't look as good, I would prefer a less in your face HUD.
What about setting up some UI customizability outside of the standard "resize and move stuff around?" What about being able to actually change the "theme" of your UI, or even the color scheme? Somebody comes into the game as a magic-based hero, and they want to create the classic fantasy MMO look to their UI? Great! Somebody like me comes in, who wants a minimalist UI that won't break muh immersion? That's fine too.
Just an idea.
Ostensibly we, as your beta babies, will be happy to give you our critique on whatever you choose once we're trying it out :)
Name: Safehouse
Ranger: Gunner
Primary: Force Blast
Secondary: Atrophic Aura
Tertiary: Kinetic Melee
Travel Power: Parkour
Status: Traveling. Following rumors of a huge city in Massachusetts that is teeming with supers.