Help with 320X56 GUI

[Nacho]

Hello guys... I am making a GUI, and I need help. Please answer the questions before critics, because this are the issues I really have doubts about, but after that, any advise will be taken inconsideration, of course.



Do you understand the icons? Would you explain them in a readme.doc, or will you write the action in the cursor after clicking in the icon?

Guess the icons, and look if you have guessed correctly...

Spoiler

Look, Examine, Ask, Talk, Walk, Pick Up, Give, Use, Push, Pull, Ope, Close

[close]

Have you guessed them? Did it take too much to you, or has it been quite intuitive?

Would you change the "Open" icon for one with a closed box (therefore, you should have to open it) And the "Close" for an opened one?

Do you like the pallete, or should you change it, adding more tones?

What would you put in the middle? I will definitelly put an @Overhotspot@, but, something else? A police plaque? The guy is going to be a detective...

And, yeah... the BG is a Police Quest 3 one, it's just for filling the image... Don't mind it.

Thanks... ^_^

P.S. After the questions, paintovers are wellcome too...

[Boney]

I don't see the purpose of both having look + examine and ask + talk...
the open and close icons are fine, they were easy to read.
in the middle: a private eye logo? maybe...

[Becky]

All of the icons seemed pretty intuitive to me.  I think they work fine.  Open/close...well I prefer to have the "open" box as the Open action, that makes the most sense to my brain

Boney: looking at something and actually examining something are completely different actions.  As is talking to someone and asking someone someting.

[Boney]

but a conversation can include both questions and comments...
and having two icons for something that is basically the same thing is one icon too much...

[Nacho]

Examine and look is a difference I've seen in some Adventure games and it makes sense to me, specially in a detective game. One think is to look to a jacket "This seems to be an old jacket" and the other to examine it "The jacket has a matchbox of the Shaman Pub in the pocket".

Same for asking and telling... Shit, this post is almost exact to Becky's... 

[Ashen]

I agree. Since this is a police-based game, you could think of it as the difference  between 'Converse' and 'Interrogate'. And at the risk of repeating Becky (again, since Nacho posted while I was typing) 'Look' and 'Examine' is a logical distinction in this case. Or look at the first Gabriel  Knight game, which had the same options.

The only icon I couldn't immediately get was 'Give' - perhaps because of where it is, I thought it was 'Carry'. Knowing what it is, however, it makes perfect sense and the rest are fine. Still, I'd certainly explain the icons in a ReadMe and if you don't have anything in mind for the middle, adding an '@OVERHOTSPOT@' with mode might make sense too. For the background, I think a police badge/shield would work (is that what you meant? Like is on the lectern in the temporary BG), but maybe lower its opacity so it doesn't stand out too much against the blue.

[nihilyst]

I had problems identifying the "pick up" symbol. I'd use a hand or something.

[zabnat]

I had trouble guessing the meaning of pick up and give icons. From the arrow I guessed pick up would be something like lift, so not too far off. I first though give would be then push, but when I saw push icon and counting what's left I figured it was give. Also on the first time around I couldn't make up what the guy was doing in the pickup icon. Was he carrying a rock or what
So yes I would explain them in readme. Palette is good for a GUI and open-close are good as they are.

For the center I must say I'm not a fan of something that I feel is not absolutely necessary in a GUI. I always used shortcuts for commands when they where available so the verb buttons usually come unnecessary for me. And somehow I think the center is a little narrow for @OVERHOTSPOT@ or would it be multiple rows? What I would personally do is to pack verbs and inventory in two rows and have @OVERHOTSPOT@ on top of them, maybe even on transparent background if background size is not decided yet.

[CaptainBinky]

Howdy!

Yeah, I pretty much sussed them all out, with the exception of "pickup" which I did by a process of elimation. I assumed that one of the icons must be pickup so therefore it must be the one left over. I still can't work out what the icon is supposed to be, I'm afraid.

I like the consistency, except for the "look at" which breaks that consistency - every other icon is black outlined and a discrete object(s) or part of an object on a sandy backdrop.

The only other issue I have is that the blue arrows you use indicate reletive movement of the object you're interacting with (pull towards me, push away, pick up to me, give away, etc). On "Open" and "close", the arrows don't work for me because there's no reletive character like in the other icons with arrows. Perhaps you could do a different style arrow, like an arc almost like motion lines indicating that the lid has been opened or closed. Since as it is now, to me, these arrows more imply putting something in, or taking something out of the box.

Cheers,

Cap'n Binky

Push and Pull are great, though!

[Ashen]

I still can't work out what the icon is supposed to be, I'm afraid.

I see it as a figure in blue trousers and a brown jacket, kneeling down to pick up something by his knees. The head is out of the frame, and the arm covers the 'break' between the legs - which might be confusing some people? Making it look like a single round blue mass rather than two legs.
Like zabnat, I first saw it as 'Lift', before realising it was 'Pick Up' - I think that 'Lift' is what made me see 'Give' as 'Carry', the character has his arms extended, to hold a box or something.

[CaptainBinky]

I see it as a figure in blue trousers and a brown jacket, kneeling down to pick up something by his knees.

Ah yes! Obvious when you know what you're looking at 

[Peder 🚀]

I must say I did not have any difficullities understanding them
And I also think they are nice but to explain them in the readme could be a good idea .

I likes the colours and I agree about what to put in the middle, a police badge and to add the @Overhotspot@ would be nice.

[Neil Dnuma]

Adding the activated verb to the @Overhotspot@ would normally eliminate problems of icon-readability, eg. "Open" when clicked changes to "Open door" when mouse over door.

[Scummbuddy]

You could have the police plaque slowly come in, piece by piece, as a sort of reward for doing well in the game. Or you could award different medals/plaques for reaching different acheivements in the game.

[Nacho]

Hey guys, I wanted to come and say that I am reading the comments... I will try to upload updated work asap, with new icons... I am taking all the advises in consideration.

[Ali]

I endorse the distinction between look and examine and between talk and interrogate. Bravo!

The only buttons I'm not sure about are open and close. They appear on many GUIs, not just this one, but they seem unnecessary to me. You can rarely open something that's open, nor can you close something that's closed. To my mind in most circumstances you'd just need an open/closed icon.

[EagerMind]

"Pick up" was the only I couldn't get. At first I also confused "open" and "close" with "put in" and "take out". You might want to do what Captain Binky suggested about changing the arrows for "open" and "close." I also agree with Ali that you probably don't need these as separate actions, but one action that toggles (if it's already open, you close it, and vice versa). I think people will figure out what these do pretty quickly if they're actually playing the game, but you may want to include a readme that tells people beforehand.

As for the middle, I'm not 100% sure what you mean by @overhotspot@. But how about a large picture of whatever the player is examining or has currently selected in their inventory? If this is a detective game, you could provide some visual clues besides just relying on what the player tells you about the item.

[Babar]

I too found the pick up and look icons confusing. I was wondering...."Pray icon"? WOW! That would be useful in a game! I know it might break the consistency and style of the icons, but I would have another person in the GIVE icon (who is recieving). I also had some confusion with the OPEN and CLOSE icon. It looked like a PUT IN and TAKE OUT icon (something to do with inventory?). Perhaps you can use a door instead of a box? I guess for me there is a clearer connection between DOOR and OPEN than with BOX and OPEN.

For ease of use you could have text pop up along with the mouse when you move it over one of the icons?

[Nacho]

Here it is... The badges in the middle are the typical plaques the cops have in their chests "Valkowiak", and things like that... There I'll contruct the sentences "VERB/THIS/with THAT" (I.e: "Use" "Gun" on "Criminal"), I hope it will make sense and will make the icons "recognisability" less necessary.

Now I am more open to see paintovers if someone feels like could help ^_^.

And thanks for all, guys... 

[zabnat]

Actually I just now understood how the person was in the pickup icon Maybe it could have something in his händ that he's picking up? And somehow the look icon pops out being different than all others. But I don't know if just an eyeball would work there. Give icon is much better now and the colors are better now.