GUI Design, Version 1

[TerranRich]

Here is another version of #2 (this one is 2a), with round buttons instead of square ones, and the buttons over which the mouse cursor hovers are orange/yellow instead of a lighter grey:



Do round buttons look better? I think it shows more negative space... some "breathing room", if you will. And the orange/yellow matches the logo (which I brightened a little bit) and the lines in the mouse diagram. I'm going for a grey and orange/yellow color scheme.

[Matti]

I like the colors and the rounded buttons.

.. but do you really think it's necessary to have the two mouse button functions declared at the top of the screen while you are playing? Doesn't make sense to me.

[TerranRich]

Why doesn't it make sense? How else is the player supposed to know what the default action is for the item he/she is about to click on?

[Matti]

Well, of course it makes sense to tell the player what the mouse buttons are for, but the player has to know that just once, or are the mousefunctions changing depending on rooms/chapters?

[Ryan Timothy B]

I imagine it will depend on what the mouse is over, of course.

If it's over a can of worms  Left click will still (and probably always) be Look  and  Right click would be Pick up (or eat).  Changing constantly on the top of the screen to whatever action Right click would enable.
I think it's actually a really good idea.  So you will know what action it will do before it does it.

[TerranRich]

Yes, exactly what Ryan said. I stated it twice above. Depending on which item you're hovering over, the mouse functions will change.

Left-click will always either be "walk" (over walkable areas) or "look" (over hotspots, objects, and characters).

Right-click will be the default (and only) interaction, such as "talk", "take", "use", "open", "press" (for control panel buttons), etc.

I plan on using a crosshair cursor for the room, and arrows for exits. (Maybe even a door-opening animated cursor for door exits.)