Possible Alpha-ish PoE UI screencap

[IndiraLightfoot]

Cubiq: Nope. I meant the forehead. It looks like it has weird eyebrow ridges and a rather special nose too, a bit like those giant people in the Avatar movie.

That part I just assumed was some kind of shadow or even effect.

[Elerond]

It looks like that there is three UI element's in use (Character portraits, control panel and log). As their plan is to make game support different resolutions, I would guess, if they go with solid bar design, that they will keep UI elements separate even in final design and they will fill the caps between elements with background or overlay art, which will make making UI look good and usable in different resolution easier, than going with one element design and it also gives much more flexibility during testing as can move, add and remove UI elements with much more ease.

[PrimeJunta]

OT @IndiraLightfoot I just gotta say, great avatar. That drawing always was one of my favorite pieces of D&D art.

[IndiraLightfoot]

PrimeJunta: Thanks, I really like it too. However, I swapped to it for a much sadder reason:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/65939-rip-david-trampier/

[PrimeJunta]

That is sad. I had missed that news. I didn't know anything about his life story either.

 

His work lives on. That's more than can be said for most of us. :salute:

[Hassat Hunter]

Rhakshasha are awesome... (though I can never get their name right... xD)

But I guess you already knew that I think that

[Infinitron]

It looks a lot like the Age of Decadence UI.

[IndiraLightfoot]

It looks a lot like the Age of Decadence UI.

Any screenie?

[Nonek]

Personally i'd ideally like a little more atmospheric frippery, but so long as it performs its function then I am more than happy. I found that IWD2's ui always had me going to the wrong place for some reason, even at Kuldahar I was still making mistakes, however that encouraged hot key use somewhat. I do favour one handed mouse use in general however, as pipe and beverage add very much to my personal pleasure periods.

[Elerond]

 

It looks a lot like the Age of Decadence UI.

Any screenie?

 

 

[Gumbercules]

If I recall correctly, the original UI that they showed was just a photoshopped mockup, not something from in-game. They likely won't add any decorative embellishments or solid connecting material until near the end, once the size and layout of all of the UI elements have been finalized. Until then it makes sense to keep things simple and minimalist, so that changes can be made without additional or redundant work.

[rjshae]

I do like that minimalist design. It's very clean and functional. Presumably the panels are relocatable.

 

Hopefully it can be reskinned for those who like controls taking up more screen real estate. Or maybe offer two types of interface: one for the svelte controls crowd and the other with the more solid look.

[Kjaamor]

Seems contrary to everything they have said about the UI so far, which leads me to think this is not what the game shall use.

 

However, if it did, I wouldn't cry a river.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Kjaamor

[Hassat Hunter]

Okay, for all of you interested, I decided to scuff off my old IWD1 and IWD2 screens and took inventory of screenspace (in pixels). These were made 1024x768.

 

612k (IWD1 small log)
558k (IWD1 large combat log)
614k (IWD2)

 

While the sides took 50 pixels per bar, IWD2 took 80 pixels more from the bottom to make up for it, and with the combatlog at max, you still had 15pixels more vertical space in IWD1.

It looked so much worse... and for what? 2k more pixels on screen. Do I readily give up a bad UI for a guid UI for that? Yes, I do...

[Karkarov]

 

I will say... again.... L shape is stupid.  It was designed that way due to lack of screen space not because it "flowed well".  Obsidian's own more modern UI work (planescape torment/icewind dale 2 even) all avoided it, and for good reason.

And they are all horrible (Especially IWD2's gigantic block of bottom UI).

So your point is?

 

Maybe it was designed due to that reason, but hey... it still looks and works a lot better than what tech says we should use these days, so why not?

 

Right except screen size has gotten even bigger since then and the only reason Icewind Dale 2 had that huge block was the text window.... which can now be on the side .... I think the block will be a might smaller now.  Or would you like me to start posting images of mockups I did *again* which show how all these functions can easily fit on the bottom of the screen, be functional, and still look "pretty"?

 

The conversation has been had, give it up.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Okay, for all of you interested, I decided to scuff off my old IWD1 and IWD2 screens and took inventory of screenspace (in pixels). These were made 1024x768.

That's a 4:3 aspect ratio, which the IE games were designed for. The UI will be designed for a widescreen display now. So that analysis isn't much use.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Quetzalcoatl

[Hassat Hunter]

Good point, which is why I personally would prefer the L shape... a sleek, small bottom and side... allowing proper character portraits of a good decent size, and not takes up too much space on the bottom.

Not too much to ask for no?

 

EDIT:

I mean, every single other game knows it's easiest to look at characters in the topleft of your screen, why doesn't anyone told Obsidian yet why that's so?

Edited April 22, 2014 by Hassat Hunter

[Karkarov]

Good point, which is why I personally would prefer the L shape... a sleek, small bottom and side... allowing proper character portraits of a good decent size, and not takes up too much space on the bottom.

Not too much to ask for no?

 

EDIT:

I mean, every single other game knows it's easiest to look at characters in the topleft of your screen, why doesn't anyone told Obsidian yet why that's so?

Right Like Diablo 3 where your hp/mp/action buttons are on the bottom.  Or Dark Souls where the hp/stamina meters are at the top left running horizontal.  Or borderlands where they are in the bottom left... again horizontal.  The only recent game like this one you have in your favor UI wise is Dragon Age Origins.... which you say you hate and has a minimalist design... which you hate.  No game has come out in the last five years with the kind of UI you want where it hasn't also been god awful or for a real time strategy game that needs 80 different buttons all the time.  Even MMO's don't put things on the sides by default anymore, other than quest trackers and party portraits which are always done in a minimalist and floaty way.  Which again.... you hate.

 

Also as a long time MMO player I can tell you top left is where you want your party portraits.... when you are a DPS or a Tank cause then they are out of the way and you don't have to look at them because you don't care other than to make sure they aren't dead.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Karkarov

[Elerond]

EDIT:

I mean, every single other game knows it's easiest to look at characters in the topleft of your screen, why doesn't anyone told Obsidian yet why that's so?

 

Top left is good place for most often used UI element in countries that use left-to-right-up-to-down writing, because people have internalized, because of reading, from young age that new things start from top-left corner. Which is also why one shouldn't put UI elements there if they aren't meant to be looked constantly, but instead of bottom bar which is last place where most people look, making UI HUD to be much less obtrusive, but still being easy to access. And for most  people that use mouse with their right hand bottom-left corner is easiest and fastest place move cursor (which is why it is default location for start menu button in Windows for example) .

 

So bottom-left corner is much better place for character icons if their main use in game is to select characters, and top-left corner is best place for them if their main purpose is to convey information for the player.

[Hassat Hunter]

And I think their main point is to convey information.

 

And I hope, unlike MMO's Karkarov plays, I don't have to look at a skillbar at the bottom all the time like in The Old Republic.

Not to mention the whole Diablo 3, Borderlands or Dark Souls party you need to control I seem to have somehow missed entirely. Odd, ain't that?

[IndiraLightfoot]

Hassat Hunter: A Witch Doctor with a Gargantuan, a pack of Zombie dogs, a Follower and a Fetish Army can be quite a handful... 

[Hassat Hunter]

And how do you control their hitpoints while in combat? (honest question, since I have no interest at all in playing Diablo III in the slightests)

[IndiraLightfoot]

Hehe, I'm just pulling your leg!   They all have minds of their own.

They all get portrait icons (except that bizarre army), though, so it feels a bit like having your own little party, almost like soloing a Druid with a lot of summons. However, when in multiplayer, the portrait icons do stack along the upper left side of the screen. Still, any serious D3 player, use shortcuts and mouse buttons for all of that, so I nearly never click on any icon (it's not at all like a classic CRPG).

Edited April 22, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[Mannock]

Yeah it looks like an updated Aloth, as I pointed out on the codex.

 

That was my assumption too.

 

Btw, are we certain the photo is genuine?

Edited April 22, 2014 by Mannock

[Karkarov]

Hehe, I'm just pulling your leg!   They all have minds of their own.

They all get portrait icons (except that bizarre army), though, so it feels a bit like having your own little party, almost like soloing a Druid with a lot of summons. However, when in multiplayer, the portrait icons do stack along the upper left side of the screen. Still, any serious D3 player, use shortcuts and mouse buttons for all of that, so I nearly never click on any icon (it's not at all like a classic CRPG).

Yes, and their portraits are put at the top left..... getting ordered horizontally going right.... in a floaty minimalist way....  I am sensing a pattern here.