Please HELP!

Contribute art for mainline Wesnoth.

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VaZqeZ
Posts: 3
Joined: October 17th, 2014, 7:43 pm

Please HELP!

Post by VaZqeZ »

Hi, I'm "VaZqeZ" and greet all fans of this great game. ;)

For a long time I play and watch the development of this game. So I wanted to finally contribute.
I am a freelance graphic designer and my focus is on the creation of game UI (User interface).
Last time I did the UI in the game "Open General" and preparing to work on a new UI in the game "Panzer Corps".
I want to create a new UI "Complete Overhaul" for Battle for Wesnoth.

I need from you advise what I should know about creating UI (skin) for this game.

Which topics in the forum should I focus on?
What files in the game I need to edit?
Need a specific program?
Can I change the size of the entire menu and buttons?

Thank you in advance for any advice! :)
Last edited by VaZqeZ on October 18th, 2014, 1:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Iris
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Re: Please HELP!

Post by Iris »

Hi, and welcome to the forums!

Have you tried version 1.11.17 yet? We had a major UI overhaul in previous 1.11.x versions — the changes compared to 1.10.x should be evident if you take a look at our screenshots gallery.
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
VaZqeZ
Posts: 3
Joined: October 17th, 2014, 7:43 pm

Re: Please HELP!

Post by VaZqeZ »

shadowm wrote:Hi, and welcome to the forums!

Have you tried version 1.11.17 yet? We had a major UI overhaul in previous 1.11.x versions — the changes compared to 1.10.x should be evident if you take a look at our screenshots gallery.
Yes, I have installed version 1.11.17.. I would like to just that even better! :D
Imagine a menu something like Diablo III ! :mrgreen:
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SFault
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Re: Please HELP!

Post by SFault »

VaZqeZ wrote:I would like to just that even better!
"If it's not broken, don't fix it" ;)
segmentation fault
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iceiceice
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Re: Please HELP!

Post by iceiceice »

Hi VaZqeZ,

Here's a basic rundown of how our gui code works.

- Most of the UI related images are in the images folder. (Game related images appear separately in data/images or what have you.)

You should be able to just replace those files to see different stuff in game. That's probably the easiest way to make UI changes.

- "Can I change the size of menus and buttons?" In some cases yes, in some cases it requires C++ change unfortunately.

Historically -- most of the GUI was thrown together by Dave in C++ (unless I'm mistaken about who did it.) Most of this code, basically gets the job done but has many drawbacks, i.e. it explodes when you change the resolution, and its very hard for non-programmers to change any of it.

Since 2008 or something, there is a second GUI system we have called GUI2 which was made by Mordante. It is very thoughtfully designed, flexible, etc. and it is designed so that non-programmers can change the appearance of windows and widgets by editing WML files. However it is not complete, it is missing some basic widgets and functionality, and it's quite complicated to fill these gaps. Progress has been slow completing it for a long time. Only part of the game has been rolled over to GUI2. In general GUI2 and the "original" gui elements don't play together very nicely. It's a bit hard as a user to tell which things are GUI1 or GUI2 just looking at it in the game.

The "in-game" GUI layout, i.e. the sidebar and all that stuff, is controlled by something called ThemeWML. ThemeWML interacts with GUI1 exclusively (unless I'm mistaken). ThemeWML allows you to change the layout and positioning of things.

The title screen is written in GUI2 now, so if you want to change that you have to change this file (for starters):

https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob ... screen.cfg

If you want to make a new in-game theme, you might want to have a look at these files:

https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/tree ... ata/themes

- "Imagine a menu something like Diablo III ! :mrgreen: "

Ok, but you might want to keep in mind, wesnoth tries very hard to support low end machines, even phones and stuff, the last time there were even moving parts on the title screen we got bug reports about massive slowdowns, like here: https://gna.org/bugs/?func=detailitem&item_id=16722

So I think videos of fireballs everywhere and such might have to be an "optional feature", even if someone wrote the C++ code to support them ;)

- "What forum topics should I focus on?" Hard to say, here's an old thread with some ideas: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24598
VaZqeZ
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Joined: October 17th, 2014, 7:43 pm

Re: Please HELP!

Post by VaZqeZ »

Thank you very much for the info iceiceice!

My next step will be to start a new topic with my concept art for the new menu.
According to the comments and suggestions I will be even more edit concept art until we all agree that it looks "very" nice and functionally. Then I start with the very creation of the new menu to the successful final end.

My overall goal is not small. I would like my graphic style menu push up as the official menu (GUI) of this game. :oops:

Anyway, thanks again for the info and I look forward to future collaboration with Battle for Wesnoth Dev Team. 8)

Off topic: If someone play game Wasteland 2 I created a compilation of portraits for the game (largest on the Internet).
A few days ago I created a small website where you can download the package: http://vazworks.sitey.me
Last edited by Iris on October 19th, 2014, 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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