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My old school solid UI mock-up for Pillars of Eternity


Grotesque

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Just for fun, I want to point out some of the hell we have to go through when designing UI. Thanks for being a good sport! I encourage people to keep making mock ups because it might show something that we haven't thought of yet. If Kaz showed me this I would give him these notes to work on:

 

1. Combat log wouldn't resize properly in that position. It would quickly overlap the camp and stronghold buttons, and it would be even more problematic if you made the backing solid - probably not ideal. It might work better if you made the log look and work like BG2 and it expanded the entire length of the middle and could be resized up and down.

 

2. There's many more abilities that can be displayed that what you have room for (remember you also need to account for quick items and items that grant abilities). There's no room on the right to expand it. I'm not sure of the ability count that you need account for. First level priests have nine spells. 

 

3. Our general policy is any mock up needs to display status effects, chants, focus, wounds, animal companions, etc. These are pretty important to display on the HUD. You have the room for it, so it's not that big of a deal, but I thought I would mention it. 

 

4. You are missing the formation and stealth buttons. Again not that big of a deal since you have the space. 

 

I suggest making the portraits larger, just to see how it looks since you have the room for it, and move all of the middle elements to the left side and make them smaller. 

 

Kaz would have to show mock ups for varied resolutions include high and low res 16:9, 16:10, and 4:3 to see how things fit together. This can be a pain in the ass, but it will save hours of time down the line if he finds things don't fit in a particular resolution or aspect ratio. 

 

I really like the look of it. It's a great start, and thanks for sharing! :)

 

-Adam

 

 

That's my redesigned UI based on your feedback.  

 

Everybody's feedback would be appreciated. :)

 

http://s7.postimg.org/ozlzsnnbf/Zazaaa_1.png

 

 

Zazaaa_1.jpg

Edited by Grotesque
  • Like 19

  After my realization that White March has the same XP reward problem, I don't even have the drive to launch game anymore because I hated so much reaching Twin Elms with a level cap in vanilla PoE that I don't wish to relive that experience.

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Zaza_3.jpg

 

Zaza_7.jpg

Edited by Grotesque
  • Like 8

  After my realization that White March has the same XP reward problem, I don't even have the drive to launch game anymore because I hated so much reaching Twin Elms with a level cap in vanilla PoE that I don't wish to relive that experience.

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:blink: Stealth Lions invading the town :p

But yeah, I like this style :)

(are those vegetables in the quick-item slot? :huh:  )

Edited by Silent Winter

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Still too big, still too much dead space, still totally clunky.  That said I can't imagine an "old school IE" UI looking any better.  Nice job!  The UI's deficiencies aren't your fault, it is a side effect of the U design to begin with.

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:blink: Stealth Lions invading the town :p

But yeah, I like this style :)

(are those vegetables in the quick-item slot? :huh:  )

 

 

Pop a carrot anytime, anywhere!

 

 

Zaza_9.jpg

Edited by Grotesque

  After my realization that White March has the same XP reward problem, I don't even have the drive to launch game anymore because I hated so much reaching Twin Elms with a level cap in vanilla PoE that I don't wish to relive that experience.

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Zaza_3.jpg

 

Zaza_7.jpg

 

I really like the solid trimmings of your UI,  and the magnified portraits.   While the background on the left bar is beautiful,  the sparse distribution of the small icons is a little grating and seems haphazard in placement.  The space to clickable area seems wasteful,  it would probably be better to either enlarge them,  or stick them all on the top of the bottom left with the other similar icons.   

 

Alternatively,  It would be nice to perhaps leave these icons down where the inventory ui is and have an expanded inv and equip UI on the left bar instead.

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I think there could be a few functionality optimizations done to that UI to make it better. I will post about it later on the Codex for you Grotesque.

 

 

I was thinking about of some basic character information on the left side of the screen

  After my realization that White March has the same XP reward problem, I don't even have the drive to launch game anymore because I hated so much reaching Twin Elms with a level cap in vanilla PoE that I don't wish to relive that experience.

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pretty nice! I've not played the beta yet so I don't know this, but when you have a ranger and a pet, how is the pet shown in the group? Does this take into account a pet? Also, I think the money in bottom should be with the inventory area. What would be in the bottom right side if there wasn't any magic users or spells selected? Is that combat box the actual size, or did you shrink it to fit the space? It feels a lil small to me to read from, but if it's just combat #'s then it's fine. As far as the select and formation buttons go, I feel like those should be more central of the hud area because you're more than likely going to be fighting in the center of the screen, and you'll want to be as close to the action as possible without selecting all over the screen with stuff going on. Granted you can pause and select over there, but it seems like it should be closer to the party side since you'll be clicking on portraits anyways. I think it's pretty good overall, I def like the portraits on that side, but it would be nice if the user could choose right or left side if they wanted.

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ZAZA_99.jpg

 

The globe from Baldur's Gate makes a comeback! :)

Edited by Grotesque
  • Like 1

  After my realization that White March has the same XP reward problem, I don't even have the drive to launch game anymore because I hated so much reaching Twin Elms with a level cap in vanilla PoE that I don't wish to relive that experience.

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It pretty much ticks off everything on my list:

  1. Good size and placement for character portraits
  2. Log in middle
  3. Rest of stuff you can think of at the bottom
  4. Stuff that does not fit in bottom bar on left
  5. Solid, ornate, good-looking, theme suiting P:E

Yeah, I bet there are details to fix, but the important stuff is there.

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"Well, overkill is my middle name. And my last name. And all of my other names as well!"

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Still too big, still too much dead space, still totally clunky.  That said I can't imagine an "old school IE" UI looking any better.  Nice job!  The UI's deficiencies aren't your fault, it is a side effect of the U design to begin with.

This is true, but people have to decide what they want. If they want a totally space efficient UI, which contains every icon, and using it will need the least mouse movement, you get a general UI like PoE or if worse, neverwinter nights. 

 

I specifically want a good looking UI, which is like a painting in itself. The UI mockup above is perfect in this regard. It looks great, and although not perfect, it has every function we need.

Edited by Zack Fair
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J_C from Codexia

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Don't like it. I like minimalistic designs myself altough I would prefer portraits and all on the right side. Monitors are wider than taller and as such putting most UI elements at the bottom takes too much space imo and would be better to take right side for it. The biggest reason why i have window's task bar on the right side :p 

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I really want a "drop anything here" bar of quick slots. For my most used spells, or commonly swapped weapons, or whatever. Having to hover over individual spell levels is a minor inconvenience when I only cast certain spells of certain spell levels after a certain point anyway. I rarely used anything other than Slicken or Eldritch Aim for example, for first level Wizard spells.

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just out of curiosity, why not go with a spherical hud similar to temple of elemental evil?

Because it's neither as quickly accessible nor does it feel natural and comfortable. Also, it doesn't address the screen view problem that many people tend to complain about (right click on an enemy....and suddenly a giant radial menu pops up blocking your view of the world....right in the middle, even!)

 

I can't stand Wheel HUDs. In both ToEE and Planescape Torment I found myself constantly wrestling with them.

Edited by Stun
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would someone please upload a photo with a druid with animal companion?

  After my realization that White March has the same XP reward problem, I don't even have the drive to launch game anymore because I hated so much reaching Twin Elms with a level cap in vanilla PoE that I don't wish to relive that experience.

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It Obsidian don't want to implement this UI (or a similar to this), they could make 2 UIs, and let people choose between them. I think if we have the final look of the UI, it would be easy to implement it into the game. If a modder can make it, a professional dev would have no problem doing it in a day.

J_C from Codexia

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