UI refresh

[dezGusty]

Hi guys,

another minor update.
As I noticed that it would be too much work to get a completely separate skin (Resummoned) ready by the end of this month, I focused on adjusting the existing skin (which I dubbed SWB - SumWarsBase) with some retouches.

Here is the new inventory: It supports the custom colour backgrounds again
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-N2x1RnFFOWx3LVU/edit?usp=sharing

[fusion44]

Looks good! I like it. Make sure you put in that new cursor

[dezGusty]

Hi fusion,

I committed some changes to the ui-refresh branch. Do you think you can try to make a build out of it, so that anyone interested can test it?

It's still a work-in-progress.
What still needs to be done:
- update the "control panel" (the main ui with the health-orb, potions, skills)
- update the character creation screen (should be quick and easy)
- update the multiplayer screens (should be quick and easy)
- update the notification that informs about a restart being needed to apply video changes
- update the dialog screens.

After that: add depth and detail :-)

[dezGusty]

Minor update:

I managed to fix the issues with the fonts being stretched. It seems that they also need to take the aspect ratio into account.
Here are some new screenshots:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-dTQzeWYzZDF6V00/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-SG5VQ1hlQkF4bkU/edit?usp=sharing
However, I noticed that due to the relatively large size of the used pictures, lower resolutions are severely affected around the fixed size areas (like the new title-bars).
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-SjVTenBKMlBXblE/edit?usp=sharing

The changes are checked into the ui-refresh branch in mercurial.

[fusion44]

I'm compiling the branch at the moment. I'll upload the package and update this post when its ready.

The public download link is:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3473245/sw/sumwars_gui_update.zip

Its not fully uploaded yet, but Dropbox tells me that the upload will be completed in 24 minutes

[poVoq]

http://opengameart.org/content/fantasy-decoration

This could be probably extended by two glass balls for the life/mana and used as a center GUI.

Edit: Looks great so far btw. Don't worry too much about the very low resolutions. If it looks ok at 1024x768 it is fine nowadays.

[dezGusty]

@poVoq: I don't think that the decoration fits with the rest of the skin. But I do agree that we do need some decorations on the UI.

I also tried to use another font for the game, and the result looks like this:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-VTZZaVNWVGY1U28/edit?usp=sharing .
Edit: the font is Fell Types, which uses a SIL Open Fonts License 1.1. I think it's ok to use in the game, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll investigate it more thoroughly.

What still needs to be done with regards to UI:
- control panel update. (@Jorge: I was thinking of something like a half human - half skeleton hand holding the health orb. Unfortunately, my skills are not that great when in comes to creating that kind of detail. Do you think you could help out with something like that? Or do you have any other ideas? ). @all: feel free to chip in with suggestions.
- multiplayer dialogs.
- minimap (need to check on turan's progress)
- optional (for later): debug tools (currently using taharezLook skin) and an overall addition of details...

There are also other minor changes that were added to the ui-refresh branch, such as fixes in the way the game treats [ESC] and [ENTER] keys in the dialogs and menu. I hope we'll be able to test it well and merge the changes into the main branch and make a new release in the following 2 weeks (also depends on fusion's availability).

[dezGusty]

Hi,

only minor changes are visible after the work done over the course of this weekend:
- the host game and join game dialogs have been updated to suit the new skin.

Behind the scenes, a lot of rework has been done to make the SWB skin more generic, using a FrameWindow like component, instead of the previous "NamedPanel" widget. Among other things, this allows changing the color of the titlebar by simply updating a property. For instance, this is how a framewindow it looks using a darker teal color:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-c3YwWGkzQ3VoeWs/edit?usp=sharing

The control panel and the minimap are the last layouts to update.

[dezGusty]

Hi,

I made an attempt at updating the control panel to be more in-line with the rest of the skin.
So far, this is how it looks like: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byx-8I_NSC6-WmJlTmZ5TGw0WGs/edit?usp=sharing.

Almost ready :-)

[Dratz-_C]

Hi folks,
I think the work you are doing is very good. I have some constructive suggestions. I hope that it is eventually practical if it is not for the present. Make the entire menu translucent except for the portraits, icons, text, dividing lines and minimal border art. Reduce and eventually eliminate any large ornamentation such as the jewel text backing letting the game underneath help to maintain the suspension of disbelief. A fine example of this approach is the widely popular, user-created interface modification, SkyUI, for Skyrim. Beyond the screenshots, to see it in action look at this 2012 video on a feature of SkyUI and a youtube playthrough using it starting about halfway into the course of the whole game. It has an inventory search with autocomplete that works on any word in the name of the equipment being searched for. I think having autocomplete in the Summoning Wars would, from a player's perspective, help to push the focus away from inventory management and back at the game itself from a playing perspective. Maybe later we could talk about why or why-not a UI like SkyUI should be a model. Again, I mean this idea to be a possible positive influence rather than a harsh, insensitive bash against the current UI. I really do like what you are accomplishing and look forward to any new work you do on it.
Cheers

[dezGusty]

Hi Dratz, thanks for the input.

The SkyUI looks great. Some elements from it could be brought into Sumwars, but a complete redesign would be required for that. Because it doesn't fit with the needs of Sumwars on all accounts.
I think we can move the UI (or an alternate UI) in that direction, as the code was also updated to allow easier changes to the UI in the future.

[Jorge Avila]

Well, we could introduce some minimalism...

[Dratz-_C]

I should have found this youtube video about SkyUI in the beginning instead of linking to that other stuff that might not have been useful but here is a systematic, better description of it. I hope that I am not frustrating you with my failings. Again, thank you for your consideration in this matter and for your continued work on the Summoning Wars UI.
Cheers

[Jorge Avila]

This is the new orb i've been working on =)http://i.imgur.com/A2ABpo5.jpg

[dezGusty]

Hey 
Looks good. It could be improved by animating it I think. I need to look into the animation framework in more detail to see what could be needed. But right off the bat, I think we might need to have 2 separate images: one for the orb, one for the little electrical sparks on the inside which we can animate. Not sure whether it's possible to export those separately, based on the program you're using.