Design Question (GUI for RPG)

News & General Discussion
1

What is your opinion, how should a proper RPG work developed with desktop as a target platform? My current prototype is:

1152229--43880--$GUIdesignprototype.png
Incase the picture attatchment doesn’t work use this Dropbox link:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/128339680/Pictures/GUIDesign.png

EDIT: THE TEXTURES USED IN MY GUI ARE NOT MADE BY ME. They are made by"Ironbound Studios" and are avaible for free on the asset store. I am merely prototyping/speculating how the GUI should work/handle/feel, not how the coloration and graphic design should look.
Link to the pack if someone happen to want it: http://u3d.as/content/ironbound-studios/necromancer-gui/1Ax
Just to clear up potential confusion.

As you see it’s pretty compact and you will be able to navigate with the use of tabs, but won’t be able to open several windows at once, like, let’s say, WoW. As of now the game works like a 3rd person game, that means the mouse cursor will be locked and invisible, you open the “Character Window” (what i call the window that you see in the picture, i’m planning of doing things like trade windows in a separate window.) with keyboard-“E” (toggle behaviour) as of now, will also players set it for themselves.

Should i go with the “central hub” kind of thing i have going on right now, or a more “advanced” thingy that WoW has where you can have alot of windows open at the same time (This is useful for more experienced players, and i can see the usefullness of it, but i bet newer players might get confused by it.). Now, i won’t try to cater to the noobs, i want to harvest as much playability/controllability as i can out of desktop computers that things like consoles/smart phone based games lacks, but i guess i need to ask what kind of RPG GUI design you RPG fans out there prefer.

So:

  • My prototype?
  • WoW-esque?
  • Skyrim-esque? (It covers the whole screen and from what i can remember you can’t see the main game from there)
  • Other?

I’m not entirely sure what kind of game this should be, if it should be completely singleplayer, or have server based multiplayer, or even an MMO in the long run if i have the time/skill. If it is multiplayer you have to think about things like chat and such, you could get away with easier designs for a singleplayer game.

Also, what is your opinion on the size of the window, should windows be resizable, should they be draggable or locked (i have it draggable right now).

I am using the Necromancer GUI textures that i got for free from the Asset Store, btw.
Not sure if this sub-forum is appropriate or not, but i guess mods can move it to the appropriate forum if needed.

2

Also, tell me to upload a better picture if you can’t see what is going on in the one i uploaded. The 4 tabs say “Inventory”, “Skills”, “Statistics” and “Quest” (respective order.)

3

Mind re-linking the picture? I can’t see it. A simple link to the source would be nice as sometimes the forums mess up and some people are not able to a image.

4

I’ll upload the picture to my public dropbox and link it that way instead of uploading it directly to the forums.

5

Link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/128339680/Pictures/GUIDesign.png

6

I would say have only 1-3 windows that all have their certain function. Like one window will be the one you have designed right now and will display inventory, skills, stats and quests. Then maybe have a chat/friends window if you decide to do multiplayer. Then possibly a map window if you want to include that. Windows should be dragable but remember their last position so you don’t have to constantly move the windows back again after you are done with them.

7

Yes, that is the design i am going with right now. All windows that are logically similiar (like, all things that affect the players character…the one in the picture), one for social things (Chat, trading) and a third that is about the game itself (Map, game help).

But sometimes you might want to multitask and have access to “Inventory, Statistics, Chat”. Or “Chat, Map and Game help window” or whatever mix they want. I see the usefullness in that, but it can get messy. I might have so people can choose for themselves what kind they will use, but this feature is low-priority and might not be added.

8

Just have a button that can be clicked to turn a certain tab into a new Window. So when I am looking at the tab’s contents I can just click a button and have it become a new window.

9

I don’t really understand what you meant there. You mean like Chrome or Firefox tabs works? Like let the players design their own windows.

Something like this:

  • Create window or use preset
  • Let the player add Tabs of their liking into a window
  • One window will only show one tab at a time.

But i guess you will run out of shortcuts sooner or later so might be wise to limit the total ammount of different windows you can create or make the player be able to add shortcuts only to a few of them.

My prototype as of now has no actual content, but i planned to make it so when you click “Inventory” the inventory related stuff will be shown, and when you click, let’s say, “Quest”, the quest related stuff will be shown.

10

What I mean is that you have the player data window that has stats, inventory, quests and skills then lets say I want to have inventory to be it’s own window, so I click on the inventory tab and click a button in the tab which makes a new window just for the inventory. You can also allow people to design their own window if they want to. So they could have all their questing stuff(Chat, friends, skills, quests, etc.) all in one custom window. This will allow players to have a fully customizable experience. Possibly even allow people to have about 5 custom presets so the window location and custom windows are set for that preset, so you can quickly decide what you want without having to re-configure all of them.

11

So you mean a single window that shows all kinds of things, but not alot for each? Kind of like a “Jack of all trades, master of none” kind of deal? And then make you able to open inventory into a new tab for full info about only inventory data and stuff?

12

Think of it like a web browser. Lets say I have Youtube, Unity Forums and Twitter open, then I want to only see Youtube for some reason so I just make a window just for Youtube instead of having it in a window with Unity and Twitter.

Think of it as a tree:

Player Data<

Inventory
Stats
Skills
Social<
Friends
Chat
Quests
Game Info<
Map
Game Help

Then just have the abillity to take any of those tabs and make a custom window like this tree:

Custom Preset 1<
Custom Window 1<

Chat
Friends
Map
Inventory
Custom Window 2<
Quests
Game Help

Custom Preset 2<
Custom Window 1<

Chat
Friends
Custom Window 2<
Map
Inventory
Quests

You see what I am getting at?

13

make sure to also have the interfaces set up to not over power the game, as in do not make them all over the screen. Coloration plays a big part to into what the environment is. If you have a very colorful world do not you use colorful GUI elements. Also do not worry about it being to flashy either. Most games now tone down the flash and keep it clean. Some styling is fine, just keep it reasonable.

14

Not really tbh, i feel stupid.

You mean something like this?

#Preset is a template over everything that you can customize, you can have a max of 5 custom presets.
#Window is…a window that holds tabs
#A tab is what defines what the window shows

Preset01
Preset01: Window01
Window01:Tab01(Shows Inventory in Window01)
Window01:Tab01(Shows Quest in Window01)
Window01:Tab01(Shows Map in Window01)

Preset01: Window02
Window01:Tab01(Shows Game Info in Window02)
Window01:Tab01(Shows Statistics in Window02)
Window01:Tab01(Shows Skills in Window02)

Preset02
… Does the same thing as Preset01 but with different windows/tabs for those windows

15

Pretty much this is what I mean:
A preset is the location of windows and their contents.
A window is a movable and re-sizable object that stores tabs.
Tabs display the data such as the inventory or map.

I hope that clears it up.

16

@Prion
Yeah, the all over the screen thing, AKA WoW- esque GUI.
I wouldn’t mind a game that does that, if it allows alot of customization. Some bigger companies make very simple GUI but they lack alot of functionality.

Also yes, i will try to keep my GUI as clean as possible, i don’t really care about flashiness, just functionality - and i made this thread to ask how the functionality “mapping” should be layed out, if i ever release a game i want to know what kind of interface people want but still keeping as high functionality as possible.

17

Yeah, then i get you. Letting people have like…10 different presets/windows allows for BOTH “all over the screen” high functionality kind of thing and a simple clean/more casual approach. I like this idea.

18

@Fanskapi - have you got a game to go with the GUI? Or are you just considering GUI ideas and haven’t even decided on a game yet?

19

Hahaha, yes. I don’t got a game yet! But i’m working hard on making one - i’m just prototyping/planning the GUI right now. Anyways, user interfaces in RPGs are important, so planning ahead isn’t a bad idea, or is it? :slight_smile:

I basically just got some basic AI using Aron’s A* implementation and some simple combat system, i’m going to work on inventory/equipment wielding (which will pave the way for more advanced combat) as soon as my friend finishes a human model. (You might think downloading one would the best option, but he is finished soon anyways.). Might aswell just get to learning how the GUI works, because i will need it when making the inventory/equipment things.

20

Here are some overall thoughts to keep in mind when designing your GUI.

A: It is the first thing players will see. It is also, typically, the only thing that they will ALWAYS see when playing your game. This is the face of your game, so don’t skimp.

B: The best GUI is one that you never notice. Not to say you should have everything built into the game and have NO GUI, but it shouldn’t be glaring at people, screaming “LOOK HOW COOL I AM!” Be stylish, but subtle.

C: Only show the player what they need to see. You may be tempted to put all kinds of cool charts, meters and info on the screen, but if I don’t need that information, then I don’t want it on my screen.

D: (To somewhat counter C ) Always show me what I expect to see. Put vital information on the screen. Put secondary info no further than 1 click away. Never make things more than 2 clicks away. So “click 1” open a window, “click 2” select a tab or open secondary window (The player won’t be happy about this, but they’ll deal for the sake of organization). I shouldn’t have to go any deeper than that, because the average human brain starts getting confused at that point.

Hope that helps!