Suggestions to the team: Action screen UI overlay/GUI

flabbyjack · July 25, 2014

I saw some of the recent previews and gameplay demos of Pillars of Eternity, and had some feedback I wanted to share with the team working on the UI. I want to discuss three things;

1) The Pillars of Eternity (PoE) action screen overlay

2) Spark discussion about action screen UIs

3) Share novel and innovative action screen UI ideas with the design team

In case you missed it... which is easy to do because the UI is so unobtrusive, here's what I'd like to discuss.

action screen UI overlay: Foreground-rendered display element in the game's action screen, where the player uses the mouse to select (left-click) and move/interact (right-click) their characters around the environment.

Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about

At a glance, it's very... rectangular. OK! This UI is straightforward, minimalist, and probably quite useful (that's good!) but it is also very plain (that's bad)

Let's discuss the visual elements that make a satsifying action screen in an action RPG. Let's not discuss the inventory system here.

What makes a good game UI? It's easy to answer that because good UI is a basic tenent of design.

Aesthetics
Intuitive
Seamless response time
Functional

IMHO PoE falls flat on its face in terms of aesthetic appeal of this screen. I have a few key takeaways about aesthetics of RPG GUIs over the years. In no particular order, here's what I like and would want to see. The PoE action screen overlay should

frame the content in the main pane
fit the overall mood of the game so it doesn't seem out of place
not contain a bazillion useless icons. Did anyone actually press the 'Main Menu' icon in Baldur's Gate, or did you just hit Escape or O?
highly detailed/decorative
shouldn't be boring
make good use of transparency. I'm not talking about dithering the overlay or anything, see some of screenshots below. Don't just blank out the bottom and sides with a bar, even if it looks like its made of stone or somewhat resembling a ~~scroll~~ parchment (Can't say scroll without getting screwed by Bethsoft). Adding transparency or 'sharp' corners and curves adds necessary depth to the design
use aesthetically pleasing golden ratio
not have a bunch of rectangular boxes around character portaits, or at the very least please don't have rectangle portraits with smaller rectangle bars for stamina and health, yuck!
My personal preference: It's gotta be badass! Nobody wants a boring old health globe or health bar. Jazz up that health globe with an undead goat on fire or something

Examples of good UIs from a recent favorite of mine --

Plz plz plz notice how these 2 action screen UI overlays are different. This is because in this particular game (Inquisitor, originally in czech then painstakingly translated) had separate overlays depending on your starting class.

I submit to the developers that the action screen UI overlay for Pillars of Eternity should change as the game progresses. This would make a substantial impact on the player at a low cost. Keep in mind that the player will (probably) be spending most of their time staring at the contents framed by the action screen UI overlay.

Another idea: as the characters gain max HP, the size of the HP bar should increase. This works well if the HP bar is depicted as something long and cylindrical like a staff or vial.

One fun example: Chapter 1 action screen overlay could contain some vines covering the edge of the screen, as the player's health dwindles the vines begin to wither and die, or return to their full vigor if the player is healed. As the character gains max HP, the vines increase in depth and length (but not necessarily a proportionate increase). Chapter 2 darkens the vines and begins adding thorns. I just realized that this should be a simple thing to implement using Flash layers, but that's an unrelated matter as it's not Flash and the vines wouldn't be the only element in the UI.

On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised by the text based mini adventures in PoE ala Space Rangers 2 or Darklands. Those would work really well for random encounters, too.

PS - I have searched forums for overlay and GUI but turned up nothing, so I made a new thread

PPS - I am too newbie on these forums to be endowed with a signature So i'll just paste some Nirvana instead

Underneath the bridge
The tarp has sprung a leak
And the animals Ive trapped
Have all become my pets
And I'm living off of grass
And the drippings from the ceiling
It's okay to eat fish
Cause they dont have any feelings

MasterPrudent · July 25, 2014

I can appreciate that you're new to the forums but I'm not sure what search terms you were using when checking for threads related to GUI:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63851-update-54-art-update-work-is-in-progress/

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64769-fear-uiv2/

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63854-ui-style-preference/

As you can see there have been some truly epic threads on this topic and every last possible permutation has been considered and fought over. I'd also be surprised if UI was something Obs would consider redesigning at this stage of the project.

Silent Winter · July 25, 2014

not contain a bazillion useless icons. Did anyone actually press the 'Main Menu' icon in Baldur's Gate, or did you just hit Escape or O?

I did (use the icon) - at least for the first few playthroughs - I agree that there shouldn't be superfluous icons that get very rarely used and could be put in a different menu-screen.

My personal preference: It's gotta be badass! Nobody wants a boring old health globe or health bar. Jazz up that health globe with an undead goat on fire or something

Er, no. I'd prefer a 'boring old' functional health-meter