Status Bar improved GUI

appleide · Post by **appleide** » January 13th, 2006, 4:09 am

Eh.... It's all good then...

Except, I still think it might be better if the orb was on top of the hp bar...

Shrink the hp and XP bars, make them thinner or something and then darken the colors so that it could be seen just as well?

Or maybe your idea of unannoying people when the hp and XP bar was switched could be better...

-> What i might be working on · Post by **Eleazar** » January 20th, 2006, 7:40 pm

OK, based on feedback, from here and ICR, and some further thought, i display yet another improved version of the status bars.

I moved the bars 2 pix closer to the unit which gave me the room to expand all the "orb" icons. It also gave me room to use the crowns instead of the stars. The "orbs" were just quickly resized, I can make them stand out better later.

Comments from left to right:
1) the old way, though the trunk is a little different. Notice it's obvious inferiority.

2) Notice the little "tail under the "orb" this give the orb something to center over, and more importantly indicates that there could be a bar in this spot.
3) The normal XP bar is as wide as the HP bar.
4) Enough of the icon should show behind the crown to be recognisable
5) A little crown to replace the "hero" icon used in some scenarios. I propose that if a unit's death will loose the game, that this crown automatically be used by the game. Also notice that the AMLA XP bar is thinner. Pay no attention to the colors, i'm exparamenting.
6) The semi-transparent unselected version. Notice the "orb" doesn't go transparent. I don't think it ever should.

dtw · Post by **dtw** » January 21st, 2006, 10:41 am

My simple feedback: complexity for complexities sake is always a bad thing. At low res that is just going to look a mess and is really not necessary information - the status bar on the left is perfectly capable of showing this information

Post by **turin** » January 21st, 2006, 4:45 pm

I don't think the triangles are a good idea. They look ugly, and clash with the other spheres. I think keeping the current system of only having spheres is a good idea...

JW · Post by JW » January 21st, 2006, 4:53 pm

#4 is the best. The mini-crown in #5 is also good.

-> What i might be working on · Post by **Eleazar** » January 21st, 2006, 5:23 pm

dibblethewrecker wrote:My simple feedback: complexity for complexities sake is always a bad thing. At low res that is just going to look a mess and is really not necessary information - the status bar on the left is perfectly capable of showing this information

How is this more complex? the only thing i'm adding is a distinction between units that can attack and those that can't -- arguable something the game should have had all along.

turin wrote: I don't think the triangles are a good idea. They look ugly, and clash with the other spheres. I think keeping the current system of only having spheres is a good idea...

Clash with what other spheres? With this proposal there is only one sphere (the ally orb).
The old system has flaws that should be obvious:
1) it uses the same graphic to convey unrelated concepts, i.e. how far your unit can move, and if a unit is allied.
2) It relies only on color to make the distinction, which can make things difficult for those with color blindness.

Besides the fact that the bars can be with the wrong background difficult to read (with the current system), the advantages of this change will be primarily for the new players. If team-color-ellipsis are turned off, it's not at all intuitive that red,yellow,green orbs = your team and blue orbs = your allies.

Post by **Dave** » January 21st, 2006, 5:30 pm

I think the triangle is okay.....but I think the triangle/orb whatever should go on top of the hitpoints bar. Units with no xp look weird at the moment.

David

JW · Post by JW » January 21st, 2006, 5:33 pm

If you use the triangle I thikn you should decrease its size by a pixel in width/height, however it's perceived.

Post by **turin** » January 21st, 2006, 5:34 pm

i just think it looks wierd. Also, I think they look too high-tech... but if no one else sees what I mean, that's fine too.

Tux2B · Post by **Tux2B** » January 21st, 2006, 5:40 pm

It looks quite weird, indeed. Most of all that triangle.
And transparency was good, as it showed more of the unit. Now you can't see the unit very well.

-> What i might be working on · Post by **Eleazar** » January 21st, 2006, 6:05 pm

Dave wrote:I think the triangle is okay.....but I think the triangle/orb whatever should go on top of the hitpoints bar. Units with no xp look weird at the moment.

I agree it's a little wierd, but in change as Dave suggests, we have to choose between options that are IMO worse/difficult, because:

the "orb" icons are up against the edge of the hex boundry.

(worse) OPTIONS:
1) change the graphics engine so the orbs can go outside of the hex. (i'm all for this

)

2) Move the bars over, 5/6 pixels into the graphic. I think this is bad because it covers up more of almost any unit.

(i'd rather see the horse than have the orb always over the HP bar)

3) Switch the XP and HP bars. IMO the best solition, next to the one i've proposed. The disadvantages are:
--a) Everyone will expect the info to be in the opposite bar for a while.
--b) We loose the extra space for seeing the unit we get when the XP bar is short or gone.

(with XP on the right we usually get to see the whole unit)

Tux: i say again. "i'm not proposing to change how semi-transparency of bars works in the trunk"

Cuyo Quiz · Post by **Cuyo Quiz** » January 21st, 2006, 6:48 pm

Invert the triangle?. Maybe that will make it be related more to a pointing arrow than to a modern building or somesuch.

-> What i might be working on · Post by **Eleazar** » January 21st, 2006, 7:28 pm

Cuyo Quiz wrote:Invert the triangle?. Maybe that will make it be related more to a pointing arrow than to a modern building or somesuch.

I feel like i'm repeating myself more than should be neccessary on this topic.

Edit: this information made blatantly obvious in previous post.

Cuyo Quiz · Post by **Cuyo Quiz** » January 21st, 2006, 7:52 pm

Weird. That post wasn't there when i posted, or even after i did. But anyway, if it can't be made to fit in the hex, i'm beaten up in brainstorming, i guess, unless you want to try with other forms such as flat ovals, but that feels almost like streeching it too much.

My apologies.

Rastignac · Post by **Rastignac** » January 21st, 2006, 8:11 pm

Would be great if I could turn off all unnecessary status bars and orbs...