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Thread: Sleek GUI screenshot!

  1. #1

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Hey, it's me again, still progressing smoothly on my to-be-named online game. :)

    Again, no actual playable content. I spent today hammering away at the GUI system for the game, and needless to say, I think it looks awesome. However, getting input from others is great too!

    Here's a screenshot displaying the general features of the GUI. Windows, buttons, labels and fully customizable colour schemes which are consistant throughout the components.

    I'd like to hear any suggestions or feedback about making it look better, or ideas for additional functionality. Thanks!

    (Yes, same old map :P)



    For those of you curious, I'm using OpenGL with Delphi via the awesome dglOpenGL header translation.
    Game-Dev Journal: http://skirmish.dreamhosters.com/devlog/

  2. #2

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    That's awesome. Are you using textures for the GUI or just smart use of colours. I'm thinking of using just colours and lines. I will probably start work on my GUI next week when I get a few days off.
    [size=10px]"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." -- Paul Dirac[/size]

  3. #3

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Indeed, very nice!

    Perhaps a dropshadow to make it stand out a bit more. That would be nice to see. Also does the button actually behaves like a button? ie does it have hover/pressed/unpressed states?

    Keep it up!

  4. #4
    Co-Founder / PGD Elder WILL's Avatar
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    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Hmm... how about trying some 'background' tinting for special menus like Pause screens or the Main Menu... basically when the game action takes a break.
    Jason McMillen
    Pascal Game Development
    Co-Founder





  5. #5

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Quote Originally Posted by cragwolf
    That's awesome. Are you using textures for the GUI or just smart use of colours. I'm thinking of using just colours and lines.
    Yep! I'm thinking of adding in a blended 'grid' texture for some added feel to it.

    Perhaps a dropshadow to make it stand out a bit more. That would be nice to see. Also does the button actually behaves like a button? ie does it have hover/pressed/unpressed states?
    What do you mean by a dropshadow, exactly? Like a dark blended shape of the box behind it? (My terminology is weak, hehe) As for the button, yes it does have states. Currently only mouse-over and on-click states, though, since the windowing usage will be fairly simplistic and not require that level of complexity.

    Hmm... how about trying some 'background' tinting for special menus like Pause screens or the Main Menu... basically when the game action takes a break.
    Not quite sure what you mean by background tinting? Could you provide a little screenshot or pseudo-code or something?

    Thanks a lot for the comments/ideas! :)
    Game-Dev Journal: http://skirmish.dreamhosters.com/devlog/

  6. #6

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Quote Originally Posted by cragwolf
    I will probably start work on my GUI next week when I get a few days off.
    You probably want to write you own, but keep in mind that JEDI-SDL has an excellent GUI already written for it by Igor - http://sdlcontrols.sourceforge.net/ and screen shots available @ http://sdlcontrols.sourceforge.net/scrshot.htm and he even has a form designer.

    Quote Originally Posted by Malver
    Not quite sure what you mean by background tinting?
    I think what WILL means is like a fade out effect when a dialog needs the user's full attention. So the game would pause and fade out, while the dialog has focus, then once the user deals with the dialog, it would return the game back to it's normal colour.
    When I worked on Hero X, as we didn't want to do anything overly fancy/CPU intensive, what I decided to do was to use a colour keyed pattern to get the faded out effect. I would pause the game, blit the pattern across the width and height of the screen and then display the dialog or options screen. When the user presses escape, the game is un -paused and the natural game loop takes care of drawing the screen the way it should look.

    Anyway, just my 2 QBert's worth.
    <br /><br />There are a lot of people who are dead while they are still alive. I want to be alive until the day I die.<br />-= Paulo Coelho =-

  7. #7
    Co-Founder / PGD Elder WILL's Avatar
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    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Quote Originally Posted by Malver
    Hmm... how about trying some 'background' tinting for special menus like Pause screens or the Main Menu... basically when the game action takes a break.
    Not quite sure what you mean by background tinting? Could you provide a little screenshot or pseudo-code or something?
    Oh an example is easy. Change the Hue and Saturation of the screen 'behind' the menu windows. What will it look like? Well go to shutdown Windows XP and watch your desktop change tint. There is probably the easiest example I can give you.

    Oh and yeah... the reasoning is basically what Dom said.
    Jason McMillen
    Pascal Game Development
    Co-Founder





  8. #8

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    why must everything have gradients or bitmap backgrounds? i like the gui how it is, looks great. nice and simple

    are you planning on adding list boxes (with multiple columns) edit boxes and things?

  9. #9

    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Quote Originally Posted by tux
    are you planning on adding list boxes (with multiple columns) edit boxes and things?
    The GUI isn't really going to be a significant focus of the game (action, yaay!), so I'm going to try to avoid many of the more intristic components. The only other two I'm planning are listboxes and inputboxes.

    @Savage and WILL: Ah, I understand now. Such an effect wouldn't be difficult to do, but I'm somewhat in agreeance with tux; it's a fairly clean and simplistic interface, and I'm afraid of shattering that. ;) Hehe, that aside, chances are I still will experiment and try something similar out.
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  10. #10
    Co-Founder / PGD Elder WILL's Avatar
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    Sleek GUI screenshot!

    Simpliest way to do any kind of effects or things for the menus would be to use a buffer for the actualy 'game screen' and manipulate that. And in the case of SDL, it's rather easy. In fact one function if I recall... However depending on the effect it may slow stuff down, but if the action is paused this isn't such a huge deal... just depends on what you have in mind to do.

    Perhaps a much simplier effect along the same lines would be to just draw a checkerboard image(every other pixel is black or transparent to form a checkerboard) and draw that over the game screen behind the menus to bring the focus of the player's eyes up to the menus.
    Jason McMillen
    Pascal Game Development
    Co-Founder





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