Microbe GUI Finalisation

If someone could do me the favor of making a list of all the required GUI elements, EG: Menu button, corner panel, then I could make a quick imageset -unless we still haven't decided on the design. Personally I like the semi-transparent bubbly design, although this might be bias as I made the design

As seen on the previous page Oliver has already started with imagesets and later layouts, so the two of you should put some effort into coordinating!

As previously stated, I've started work on creating imagesets for the main environment, and at the moment I'm working on creating an editor concept, but that does leave a gap in the shape of the main menu. There's been a lot of discussion on it in this thread, but as of yet nothing's been decided upon. Personally I think something based on Nick's layout but with a design more in line with the rest of the GUI aesthetic would work.

Hey, I'm up for it! Although I need refreshing on both the design scheme you are using and also Nick's concept. In fact, I feel quite useless at the moment. We need to work together more instead of going on our own opinions. We need to decide:

• The overall layout

• The colours used

• The shapes and formatting

• The texture overlays(if any)

Also, has the microbe Editor layout been decided? Are we going with the concept that Moopli and I discussed-or still up for debate?

~scio created a concept for the Microbe Editor which is what we decided to use. It's the gameplay that we are still deciding on a GUI for (well we actually do have it mostly finalized).

The editor layout will look something like a combination of ~scio's original concept:

Spoiler:

and the reel idea you and Moopli have been working on:

Spoiler:

with a colour scheme (I presume) similar to what's so far been decided for the environment:

Spoiler:

Oliveriver wrote:

The editor layout will look something like a combination of ~scio's original concept:

Spoiler:

and the reel idea you and Moopli have been working on:

Spoiler:

with a colour scheme (I presume) similar to what's so far been decided for the environment:

Spoiler:

I think it's best to keep stats as a minimize-able thing on the right side of the screen, since some people'll want to see how their edits affect their creature while they're making them.

I presume the reel's only going to be in the structure tab.

Is blue going to be the theme color of the Microbe Stage?

There are no theme colours. We just use what looks nice.

What color should the grid in the editor and select hey be? I'd go with white. Also I think we should have selected organelles black borders turn white and make them flash between it's texture and white every second.

These are all really nitpicky things that will naturally be implemented as we work on the GUI and don't need to be worried about right now.

NickTheNick wrote:

There are no theme colours. We just use what looks nice.

but surely it would be sensible to have a uinform colour sceme across the microbe stage

NickTheNick wrote:

We could perhaps start planning out the concept for the multicellular stage?

Ok, but we will have to discuss the colours, elements and overall design before we start concepting/coding

Edit:
@Oliveriver I have designed a layout based on ~Scio's concept and the reel idea. For consistency's sake, I have left it for you to add the border and all the other effects.

Spoiler:

The editor should have a undo and redo button added.

T0N12 wrote:

The editor should have a undo and redo button added.

Yep. They're going to be the two buttons around that bigger one at the bottom-center, right?

As I mentioned in the Offline thread, I'm away at the moment. While I still have access to a computer, recent problems with it mean I can't open the program I've been using to design the GUI. So for the time being (possibly the worst time being, considering how a release with GUI was planned) I'm pretty much useless here.

@MitochondriaBox
Yep.  :) 

Ten days later and I finally have said program working again. Unfortunately I'm now in the run-up towards the start of school again, but I should still have at least some time to work on the GUI. I know ~scio's been working on the editor, so for now I'll stick to finishing the associated XML files for the environment.

EDIT: Not relevant whatsoever, but my reputation is now the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. I'll put in another edit once I've got some work on the GUI done.

Since I'm working on coding the environment GUI (but I still want to show some sort of progress before it's complete), I might as well post the editor concept I've put on hold to see if anyone has any thoughts:

Spoiler:

There's not really all that much, and the most important part, the part reel, isn't there, but it still gives a good platform to finalise the design.

Good work on that so far. If you need any help, such as if you feel there might be some button you are missing, feel free to ask.

@Oliveriver Looks good! Although I feel that the coloration on the MP symbol is a bit off

@TheRabiesGuineaPig
Meh, that was just a guess really. I think ~scio created a better MP symbol somewhere . . .  I just need to find it.

Also, Moopli's agreed to help with getting some of the environment GUI into code, so in the meantime I went back and worked on the main menu GUI design, which will be part of the entire system anyway:

Spoiler:

Options, tools, extras and credits are, for the moment, greyed out, as they haven't actually been added yet. The background was made from an amalgamation of heavily edited microbe stage backgrounds and ~scio's original planet image.

It would be cool to have an actual planet behind the logo, and when you start the game there is animation of zooming into the planet before loading the cell stage. I might dust off blender/sculptris and give this a go.

There are several animation aspects planned in the main menu, but for now it's better not to worry.

EDIT: Also, huzzah, finally a complete ThriveGeneric image!

Spoiler:

(Although it may not look like it, every button is confined to its own rectangle).

Many of the buttons are greyed out as they currently don't function - statistics, for instance, doesn't yet have anything to show. I've also momentarily abandoned the idea of a parts wheel - by the time we have someone with in-depth knowledge of GUI design and coding, it will certainly be time to revisit, but for the moment trying to create a working image set makes my head hurt.

One of the reasons I've been struggling so far is a lack of forward planning. The buttons and files ended up ridiculously scattered and inconsistent (shadows...don't get me started on them...), and working with them became impossible. So I went back and started again, this time keeping some sort of size and format consistency throughout, while also retaining appropriate layouts for reference in preparation for writing the imageset and layout files.

ANOTHER EDIT: Forgot the cursor.

YET ANOTHER EDIT: Added it, but haven't bothered to upload the new png. If there's anything else I've missed I can do the same pretty easily.

Excellent work on the GUI Oliver! I especially like the design of the main menu, and as Rabies was saying in the future we could add in some interesting animations in the background, particularly when a new game is started.

What is the next step required now that this is completed?

An imageset XML file and a layout XML file (both much easier to do than they were when I didn't have a progress save at each place) will need to be written, then it's of to the coders to write the looknfeel files which control animations. Since I have a free day tomorrow, I should completely finish the first two XMLs.

EDIT: Ok, the imageset's done, but there are a couple of quick questions I need to check:

• What should I do about the microbe saving and loading panels in the editor?
  
• Do all pixel measurements have to be integers?
  
• What should I do with the main menu background?
  
• The PNG of the current GUI has point 0,0 at the top left, whereas I've been using the bottom left. Is there a way to change the imageset XML to read this or will I have to replace the measurements with their positions relative to the top left?
  

ANOTHER EDIT: Scratch that, I'm still having problems with setting up the text boxes (and by problems I mean I forgot about them completely). I doubt simply colour-shifting the current set of images will work as every button has a slight gradient, so assigning a solid colour to the text boxes will result in it not matching entirely. Would making them all transparent work, or does that defeat the point?

Quote :

Do all pixel measurements have to be integers?

For imagesets then yes. For defining layouts and sizes, you can define it as a fraction of the games windows width.

Quote :

or will I have to replace the measurements with their positions relative to the top left?

You'll want to replace them I can do it for you if you prefer

That's two of your questions at least.

Right, new ThriveGeneric (with a corresponding imageset) created with point 0,0 in the top left, all pixel measurements in integers and the original GUI's text box pieces:

Spoiler:

I should be able to at least make a start on the Main Menu layout file today as well.