I've been dwelling into the gameplay mechanics and redesigning some aspects of it. As result, I had to scrap the common inventory functionality trading it for the good-old-independent inventory system per character.
The bottom right panel is empty as I'm still undecided on its functionality. I'm thinking of using it for a quick way of repairing and crafting items, or displaying stats of the selected character. I'm still not sure. If you have any ideas, let me know about them.
I love it! May I hug you? :D
ReplyDeleteLOL! I thought to myself, Moorkh is going to love this post. ^^
ReplyDeleteAbout that panel, some ideas:
ReplyDelete- a hireling / temporary party member and specific interactions related to that
- an extended version of one of your currently quite minimal existing ui sections
- world information window (time of day, date, weather, temperature, elevation, etc.)
- current quests
- notification icons (broken weaponry, level-up) at a glance, ordered by importance opposed to time as in your info ticker. just click on icon to get to relevant interface
I also like your idea.
Oh man, those are very nice ideas! Your idea of hiring party members also crossed my mind. Having world information is also a very good suggestion. Now that I think, I could expand on that by displaying info on the fauna, collectible plants and other info that about the biome the party is in. Perhaps I can make it multi-purpose with buttons to access specific data of the world, items and other information. All this without obstructing the 3D viewport.
ReplyDeleteI'll let it for now empty as the mechanics take shape. But yeah, that was really helpful; thanks to your suggestions, I already have established what I will use it for.
+1 to all of Moorkh's ideas.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of offering an alternative UI mode with less detail, and how it looks overall.
One issue I've been thinking about recently is which UI layout is better: one where all the elements are grouped together on one side of the screen, or one where they're spread across the viewport?
The main advantage of a grouped layout (like Underlair had before) is that it's easier to use: less distance
moving the eyes across to read it and less distance moving the mouse to interact with it (disregarding controller supports here). The disadvantage is that switching between min/max modes is not practical as the viewport gets redrawn to new dimensions.
It seems like modern games favor the latter, even with monitors being larger. I'm just not sure why.
BTW - I didn't get a notification about this post.
@shoTgun, unfortunately, the new inventory space requirement, kills off the old UI premise. But yeah, it was better for handling items across characters. Regardless, you will have the ability of passing items from one character to another by using shortcuts, i.e. selecting multiple items and pressing the character's number to move all those items there (to be done).
ReplyDeleteThe viewport is not resized when the inventory panels are visible, they simply appear on top of the 3d viewport; players can still play with open or closed panels, it won't make any difference as all action appears in the center.
Right! my mistake. The viewport just gets hidden either way.
ReplyDeleteTrivia: Actually, the viewport size is as seen in the minimized UI version. It only goes, like, 8 pixels underneath the UI in the bottom and both sides, so that the "dented" parts of it shows the 3D world. ^^
ReplyDelete