Faction Based GUI

[turin]

I think a dark brown, with a wood-grain texture, and silver inlaid in vague leaf-shapes, would be cool.

[irrevenant]

Ah, you're right. OK, then: the themes should have subtle enough textures to have it be mistakeable for no texture.

Perhaps not this far, but yes, textures should be very subtle, especially when text will overlay them.

And they must also be dark where text overlays them. Again, this is for readability.

This is just a thought, but need text colour be the same as the default theme? Could it use (e.g.) black text on light grey instead of white on dark grey? Or is this a bad idea for aesthetic reasons?

[Becephalus]

Black text = bad. trust me.

Really like where this is headed so far. I am almost tempted to do some mockups myself even though I am no artist. Nice work by the original poster.

[turin]

Yeah. Too bad he hasn't been around since august.

[wayfarer]

Well one question what is possible with the customizable GUI. Just fonts or a little bit deeper like Warcraft III, I still got some stuff flying around which had to be overworked but could be useful.

[Jetrel]

Well one question what is possible with the customizable GUI. Just fonts or a little bit deeper like Warcraft III, I still got some stuff flying around which had to be overworked but could be useful.

a little bit deeper like Warcraft III.

This includes things reaching out and overlapping the game screen, although I'd be careful not to overdo things.

And if something doesn't pan out well enough for mainline, it could be used as, say, a GUI unique to a campaign like UTBS; this is something quartex had wanted.

[wayfarer]

Well that sounds interesting.

Ok I got some further questions , would it be possible to add a tailored image that gets resized depending on the resolution.

What I want to do would be for example for a elve theme that the right site of the screen is ornated with a tree while the edges would switch over to roots and leaves.

Before I could try something I must know.

1. if it is possible
2. what size and how I had to cut it
3. I will need some help with the coloring (-> I would keep it to monochromatic gray but I still need someone for the finer shadings)

[wayfarer]

OK guys I haven't asked for the sense of live. I have at least expected one answer . So I can conclude that the interest is zero if you don't mind mine too.

[Ranger M]

I just don't know the answer, although I still think that factional GUIs would be cool.

[Jetrel]

OK guys I haven't asked for the sense of live. I have at least expected one answer . So I can conclude that the interest is zero if you don't mind mine too.

Sometimes people, like me, have things to do. Asking such a question at what is FIVE IN THE MORNING for me is typically not going to get an answer for at least 12 hours, if not more.

I know people don't believe it, but yes, I do actually sleep, sometimes.

1. if it is possible

Yes, Dave said he has support for transparent overlays spilling over the game area.

2. what size and how I had to cut it

I'd say 'the same size as the interface images,' except that they're cut up into components that get repeated. The background shapes of things like the map, and the little unit window have to be the same size.

3. I will need some help with the coloring (-> I would keep it to monochromatic gray but I still need someone for the finer shadings

If you make something good, I'll have at it.

[wayfarer]

Ok thanks thats all I wanted to know.

If I have harassed you than I'm sorry.
Part of the problem is that I developed the bias that I run though closed doors.

[zookeeper]

1. if it is possible

Yes, Dave said he has support for transparent overlays spilling over the game area.

Assuming that I understood what wayfarer was asking for, then that would be something I tried to do at some point but found to be currently impossible with the theme WML. It's something I'd very much like to have, though (just imagine how much nicer the panels and menus could be made to look).

[Darth Fool]

Well that sounds interesting.

Ok I got some further questions , would it be possible to add a tailored image that gets resized depending on the resolution.

What I want to do would be for example for a elve theme that the right site of the screen is ornated with a tree while the edges would switch over to roots and leaves.

Before I could try something I must know.

1. if it is possible
2. what size and how I had to cut it
3. I will need some help with the coloring (-> I would keep it to monochromatic gray but I still need someone for the finer shadings)

As one of the guys who has both played with the theme WML (dfool theme, oddly enough) and hacked the underlying code I can say that if I understand your question, it is possible. Basically what you need is three graphics, the head of the three with all the branches, the trunk, and the roots. You then can have the branches and roots of fixed size with the trunk expanded/contracted to fit the available space.
Edit: or you could just expand contract a single image, but this risks having weird distortions when you go from small screens to very large screens, since the side bar is a fixed width. What is perhaps needed is a way to specify that the space should be filled by tiling an image not just expanding/contracting. I'll have to think about that one and how to do it.

It has been a while since I have actually played with the theme WML, but if you get stuck, let me know and I can try and give a hand. The good thing about having me give a hand is that if it can't be done with the current code, I know enough to be able to upgrade the engine. The bad thing about me giving a hand is that you will need to be a little patient if you post the question to the forum. I can go days (gasp) without reading the forum, but a PM will get my attention.

[wayfarer]

OK that is fine. I puzzled a little and found that the game menu is divided in six different parts which will be displayed in the GUI.
As I understand. The whole assembly of the Interface is first the game graphics than the menu backrounds (roughly divided in the six parts) and on top of the menu layer the icons and buttons.

I would first refine this six backrounds without breaking the layout.
http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... piezz6.png
Than I would like to introduce a new layer which would add the ornations, backround, or whatever divided in the same six pieces. And in the last step the GUI would draw the the buttons on top of it.

I've checked out the user Campaign "Return of the Legions" which uses a custom theme and looked how it was done.
As I don't know anything about WML but I believe that the theme just overrides one of this 6 menu pieces. So I think that might be possible.

To conclude I would make two new layers.
The first one with basic backrounds brocken into six pieces.
The second the ornations (probably a complete pic) also brocken into 6 pieces.

The more backrounds would get finished the more could get interchanged between the different themes.

Ok do I understood everything or do I have a bug somewhere ?
Anyway I can slowly start to build something up.

[Pic]

That link does not work for me wayfarer

I will also do something on this at some point, i dont have a computer that is mine at the moment and as this is quite a big project it might not be for a while, but just so you know i havn't forgotten it.