This is a bit premature, seeing as I haven't even made any backgrounds yet, but I fancied trying my hand at a GUI for my forthcoming game.
I've gone the silhouette route simply to make things easier on myself.
How does it look?
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/Captain_Stu/AGS/GUI-main.png)
And here's how it would look on screen (with no background...).
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/Captain_Stu/AGS/GUIscreen.png)
It's all pretty dark. I think it's supposed to look like wood, but the objects are really hard to see. And if even so, with a texture like that, I'd expect the objects to be anti-aliased. I can tell what the walk, talk, touch and see controls are (the eye needs some help), but the save, load functions are confusing. Why not write out the word or make it a separate screen, like if you hit esc. I'm guessing that the briefcase is inventory.
No idea why it says "BASTARD!" If it's the title, it should be a little more fancy.
My first impression is that it looks very nice and clear.
I wouldn't use the colour black for the items though; but some sort of light brown / yellowish maybe.
The save and load are very clever (although unclear to people who never played adventure games) but I'm having a hard time decrypting the symbols underneath it.
Maybe it would be better to have one button which leads to a GUI with save, load, quit and info on it.
Since the word balloon is shouting abuse, it would be funny if the hand was giving you the finger, but then again, some people might take offence, so it's probably not a good idea.
Yeah, I like how the save/load feature is drawn, but I have no idea what BASTARD! is supposed to mean, and the actions look rushed and out of place. Maybe if they were the same color as the border and anti-aliased it would all fit, brown with a black outline and a shadow under them? That'll look more all together, don't ya think? Oh, and it looks way too big for the screen, but if that's what you want, then by all means!
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that BASTARD is the game's title/name?
As for the GUI ... it looks cool enough on a black/empty background. I'd need to see it over an actual in-game background to make a stronger opinion on it's usefulness! But it's a good start.
Yeh, Bastard! is the title... this may change as time goes on, but at the moment I like it and it suits the feel of the game I am hoping to create. Anyway, does nobody read signatures anymore? Hurry up and get your asses over to my recruitment post and start sending me them PMs already ;D
Thanks for the generally positive feedback and thanks even more for the crits. I will be working more on the items but I chose the silhouette style simply to save time... A few of you have said that it would look better with anti-aliasing... call me a heathen but won't that just make it look blurry? However, I'm a listener so I will take your suggestions and see what I can come up with.
Thanks guys.
Quote from: Stupot on Fri 18/04/2008 15:35:50
A few of you have said that it would look better with anti-aliasing... call me a heathen but won't that just make it look blurry?
The text is anti-aliased, but it doesn't look too blurry to me.
Quote from: tube on Fri 18/04/2008 15:44:08
Quote from: Stupot on Fri 18/04/2008 15:35:50
A few of you have said that it would look better with anti-aliasing... call me a heathen but won't that just make it look blurry?
The text is anti-aliased, but it doesn't look too blurry to me.
Hehe, funnily enough I tried to unAA the text by blackening the half-hearted pixels around it, but I ended up butchering it so I decided to leave it... I'm equally likely to butcher the Items when I try to AA them... but I'll still try anyway because I need the practice.
Perhaps a solid color of brown around the black icons. Not sure if it'll look ok, but I'm having a slight problem (at first glance) distinguishing between the background and text. Of course AA with the black on brown, and the brown on the GUI background.
It's basically good, but the black sillohuette's seem to sit on top of the gui, whereas I think they'd look better if they looked inset. If you just anti-aliased it a little bit... It would improve it alot.
*Due to a request by a member, I've had to stop 'rating' individuals works with my stars system. Sorry.
It's functional. You could use it as it is and get away with this... It's not bad.
But I would still improve it a little bit.
* Black icons don't look that good. It's a very tiny pixel space, why not make lovely, colored icons?
* Save/load icon area is quite cryptic. I would simplify that a bit, and have less pixel hunting around there
* Jagged/double-edged black borders don't look that good. Maybe a bit anti-aliasing would help?
* cellular brownish tile on whole gui is a bit too exaggerated and contrasty. It almost feels like it's more important and sticks more out than actual icons! I would pull back on that one.
* If you're planning to make any those... ;) meters, or even a score thingy, rethink center area. Maybe make smaller "bastard" and put meters there?
OK then... Here's my plan of action:
1. AA the whole lot...
2. Make the save/load options less cryptic :-\.
3. Make the items more colurful
Then I'll report back here...
InCreator... I won't be doing the meters ;) this time around... I'd never be able to code it in... but who knows when this is done, and I feel more confident with AGS then a sequel might be in order, with meters. This game will be similar to the original in theme only.
Hi Stupot,
There is nothing that I can add more than the others have,
but why not try to make the cursors and other item look like they are carved on wood (the base IS wood, right?), you could do the same to the base image highliting the curves and shades like if it was a wooden plank.
It's just a sugestion ;D,
other than that, I would draw the eye icon filled with a dark brown making it similar to the other icons where I would paint brown as well.
Ah, and your GUI look cool :)
I, too, think it would look much better if the objects were etched into the GUI instead of being solid black.
Any headway Stu?
Quote from: Questionable on Tue 29/04/2008 18:13:32
Any headway Stu?
I'm afraid not... computer issues and coursework are holding me back at the moment, but I'll be on the case asap.
The pinky on the hand is kind of driving me crazy..It's a bit pointy, and looks kind of akward.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v386/JuJu_Gurl/hand.jpg)
I made the pinky more attached to the hand, (though this does make the hand look a bit fatter) and made it less pointy.
I just put it in white so you could see it easier.