Thought I'd create a thread about Solid HUD feedback.

Now that it's implemented and I've played the game with it for a while I have some specific feedback to give regarding how it looks

 

• Firstly, I really think everything needs super solid borders, as it helps separate the UI from the game world (which is the idea) and would help ground all of the individual elements better so that they don't look so much like they're just tiled on top of each other (border to be stored in a seprate tiled image in the files)
  
  Below is a really horrible mspaint example

 

• The combat log should NOT be transparent. It looks quite bad when you resize the log over the UI height, as you can see in the picture. It really needs to be solid, with a thick border that tiles up with the increased log size (like in my mockup).
   
• The combat log should extend right to the edge of the screen instead of there being a small gap between the right screen edge and the log. This is not a major deal because the IE Mod allows me to move the log across, but it's just easier.
   
• The default wood texture for the backing needs to be darker/richer. After playing for a while I didn't find that shade of brown to be very nice to look at.
   
• The pattern at the top and bottom edges needs to stand out more / be more colorful
   
• The portraits still look like they "float" on the UI and their highlight doesn't go well with the solid backing. I think that portraits could have a specific backing element that goes over the solid background (stored in a separate image) and the highlight could be changed to "glare" less and glow less outside of it's edge.
   
• To go with a solid portrait backing, there could be something that 'houses' the status icons, because they float on the background as well, and it would look better if they were grounded in the frame too.
   
• The minimize 'gems' could look less modern, and more built into the pieces. Like a round socketed gem build into the specific pieces ?
   
• If possible, could the menu bar elements be split into three if they already aren't (eg - clock, character menu, main menu) so that they can be separated in the IE Mod. I'd like to move the character menu next to my character portraits on the right, but move the menu away and have the clock in the middle.
   
• In general, everything could look more ornate / nicer
   

That's about all I can think of. Hopefully that is helpful

Edited February 8, 201510 yr by Sensuki

Like I said elsewhere the solid part needs to be darker and with a defined edge on the top.  The pattern in the wood could also use a sharpness/contrast pass to make it stand out more.  Also make the hide/show "gems" could look a little less gamey and fit the UI better?  Other than that I think it is fine.  The combat log being transparent is fine for me, it is all about opinions!!!  I do agree it should be against the hard edge on the right though, I can understand why it isn't however as it may become a scaling/spacing issue for different resolutions and a buffer zone never hurts.

You don't increase the combat log size though ? (IIRC anyway)

I have it up literally the whole time.

Edited February 8, 201510 yr by Sensuki

You don't increase the combat log size though ? (IIRC anyway)

 

I have it up literally the whole time.

Half the time I never look at it.  Once you know all the dangerous enemies and stand out abilities there is not a ton of need to analyze exactly what happened in a fight.  I am not interested in the maths, I care about the general gameplay and basics of the mechanics.  There is also the other thing.  It isn't one combat log for solid UI and one combat log for non solid UI.  They are the same log.  The transparent log looks better when you don't have a solid backing, so I would rather not lose that purely for the players who want a solid one.  Like I said... opinions.

Edited February 8, 201510 yr by Karkarov

I assume there's just some piece of code or something in the game that controls the transparency of the log, they could just disable it for the solid HUD version.

The buffer between the log and right edge of the screen is there to prevent the user from unintentionally panning the camera while interacting with the scroll bar in the log. Suppressing panning just in the log area is obviously not good, so we are left with some options:

• Fill the gap with the log frame while leaving the scroll bar in it's place.
• Switching the scroll bar to be anchored to the left of the log.

Either one doesn't feel like a solid alternative to what we have, but if you have any ideas I'm open to them.

I do plan on tweaking the transparency / color of the log's background. Darker character names are very hard to read right now.

For now I've moved on to polishing other UI screens which are in far worse shape than the HUD. But if I see interesting ideas on here I'll fiddle with them in my spare time. Thanks for the feedback.

As  far as the transparency of the log goes Kaz, I think all ya need is to do a gradient overlay so the bottom part in the log remains black for the distance of the border and fades into transparent like it is now, just maybe 10-20% darker. And for the portrait's it actually might fit the context to emboss or bevel them like a picture frame. Also as far as darker characters names, that needs to change - the color of the names, not the bg color. I'd probably only use 3 classes of colors for names. Hero's or main NPC's, Neutral NPC's, and minor NPC's.

Edited February 8, 201510 yr by Falkon Swiftblade

The buffer between the log and right edge of the screen is there to prevent the user from unintentionally panning the camera while interacting with the scroll bar in the log. Suppressing panning just in the log area is obviously not good, so we are left with some options:

Fill the gap with the log frame while leaving the scroll bar in it's place.

Switching the scroll bar to be anchored to the left of the log.

I did suggest a solid border for all of the elements, so perhaps use a thick solid border to the log (and the portrait section, but maybe not as wide as the gap is now so it's difficult to actually miss the scrollbar. That one isn't a huge deal as I said, because I can move the element myself in a mod.

 

More interested in borders, color/decoration, non-transparent log and something that grounds the portraits/status icons better - if you get around to it in the future.

Edited February 8, 201510 yr by Sensuki

The buffer between the log and right edge of the screen is there to prevent the user from unintentionally panning the camera while interacting with the scroll bar in the log.

Is it still completely out of the question to just centre the log?

Here is a mockup made by Grotesque. I think it looks very good:

 

The buffer between the log and right edge of the screen is there to prevent the user from unintentionally panning the camera while interacting with the scroll bar in the log. Suppressing panning just in the log area is obviously not good, so we are left with some options:

• Fill the gap with the log frame while leaving the scroll bar in it's place.
• Switching the scroll bar to be anchored to the left of the log.

Either one doesn't feel like a solid alternative to what we have, but if you have any ideas I'm open to them.

 

I do plan on tweaking the transparency / color of the log's background. Darker character names are very hard to read right now.

 

For now I've moved on to polishing other UI screens which are in far worse shape than the HUD. But if I see interesting ideas on here I'll fiddle with them in my spare time. Thanks for the feedback.

 

How about introducing a switch in the options whether the mouse should pan the view or not? And even a second switch which inverts the decision made with the first switch during combat.

 

My philosophy is that the UI should utilize screen space optimally, without much room between elements. But that's just a personal preference of course.

 

I agree with Sensuki, that the combat log should not be transparent. What's more interesting for me is why he needs to resize the combat log vertically. The combat log doesn't give him enough information in its default dimensions, and I aim to address that by reformatting how the combat log presents data, in my thread here.

 

Like Sensuki, I'm also in favor of more ornate/prominent border of the solid UI as a whole, and of its elements as well - portraits, combat log - instead of having empty space between them. I'd prefer larger portraits, or thicker borders around the same portraits to having space between them.

Centre. The. Combat. Log.

Here is another something that occurred to me while playing - why not add a flap on top border of the combat log which expands it by some amount of height and then returns it back to its default height, to remove the need for dragging up and down each time? Or alternatively, two flaps for up/down on the right side of the combat log, like Baldur's Gate combat log was resized.

There's an auto-resize to default "button" on the combat log. 

You mean on the left side? I thought that one just resized the width.

There's a bug with it's selection atm.

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70334-435-combat-log-resize-selection-area-is-too-small/?hl=resize

I see. So it does shrink it, but does it also pop it out?

No, it doesn't.