Hud Vote (the Final Final Vote)

[oDDity]

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Edited March 15, 2005 by oDDity

[oDDity]

MEDIUM

[oDDity]

WIDE

[oDDity]

After seeing it all laid out, I actually voted for the good, old fashioned wide.

[New Horizon]

After seeing it all laid out, I actually voted for the good, old fashioned wide.

He flip flopped!

[sparhawk]

After seeing the screenshot I have the impression that the wide variant is way to wide. The nice thing about the medium that you can see everything with one glance. Could be that this is not so bad when actually in-game.

 

And the numbers should be below them.

[Springheel]

The numbers are better on top, as they take up less space than the icon does.

 

And the nice thing is that the difference between the medium and wide is probably 2 numbers in an .ini file, so it's easily tweaked to your personal preference.

[sparhawk]

That's the way it should be. What I'm always saying. Same for the numbers *HEHE*.

[New Horizon]

After seeing the screenshot I have the impression that the wide variant is way to wide. The nice thing about the medium that you can see everything with one glance. Could be that this is not so bad when actually in-game.

 

And the numbers should be below them.

That's what I like about the Medium choice as well. Everything is within eyeshot. I have to agree with Spring on the number placement. Creates a better balance if they're on the top.

[oDDity]

Looks like wide won by a landslide of 1 vote.

[Springheel]

Well, it seems like we should make the wide version our default then, but include an easy modification in the .ini files for the medium one.

 

So we're going to need separate images for the healthbar and compass, as both can be toggled on and off. And is there any need for an inventory compass now? I don't see one personally.

[sparhawk]

Personally I changed my mind, so I have no strong feelings either way, as long as we have a compass that I can have on all times.

[Darkness_Falls]

I voted for wide, believe it or not Just the fact that the health bar is now under the gem is cool, in my book. Hopefully the health bar will play well and will be visible enough there. I think it will be okay, but as said earlier we may need to briefly brighten up the health bar red whenever the thief takes a blow.

 

I'm hoping whoever does the model for the gem dims some of the bright highlights on the metal surrounding the health bar, and maybe incorporates a gold color for the North point of the compass.

[Darkness_Falls]

And is there any need for an inventory compass now? I don't see one personally.

I don't think there would be a need for one, but oDDity might disagree. Personally, I'd just be okay if we could easily toggle the gem-compass on and off. Why? I can see how some players would want to try and 'rough it' and play using their directional instincts rather than a compass.

[oDDity]

I take it the compass and the healthbar will just be a series of bitmaps now. HOw will the 'popping out' of the health bar be achived? Will that need some sort of an animation with alphas, or can it be handled with ini tweaking?

[sparhawk]

The compass must be a fully 3D model, otherwise it would be hard to rotate it.

[oDDity]

Why? That little compass wouldn't require more than 12 bitmaps for it's limited rotation. All you have to do it tie the directon in with the appropriate bitmap.

[Domarius]

I agree with oDDity.

 

But what if we did it this way instead:

What if the compass was "facing" the player, (like your steering wheel when you're driving your car), that way you just rotate the bitmap, no new frames needed.

It wouldn't look as good as a pre-rendered perspective one though...

[Darkness_Falls]

I think a compass that's in a slight perspective would look better. As for just 12 bitmaps, would there be any 'tweening' of animation frames? Because with just 12 bitmaps, I think it would look kind've lame to just jolt the compass from North, to Northeast to East at those 3 points, rather than have a smooth, somewhat gyroscopic feel, rotation.

 

Why? That little compass wouldn't require more than 12 bitmaps for it's limited rotation. All you have to do it tie the directon in with the appropriate bitmap.

This doesn't leave room for when you're moving in a direction that's somewhere between SSE and SE... Does it? I just want the compass to accurately reflect exactly which direction I'm heading rather than a "snap to direction" (like "snap to grid" in PhotoShop) feel.

Edited March 20, 2005 by Darkness_Falls

[Domarius]

Yeah it probably would need quite a few frames to capture the full rotation smoothly.

 

We should see how much ram this takes up and decide if its worth it, the main thing being that it should be able to look better over a real-time 3D one.

[]-UnderTOW-[]

Well, it seems like we should make the wide version our default then, but include an easy modification in the .ini files for the medium one.

This isn't Unreal engine. It's Doom 3. Menus, weapon readouts, monitors and HUDs are done with GUIs (a far better system than any other for creating such GUIs).

[Springheel]

And your point is??

[Ishtvan]

A .gui file can still reference a boolean variable in the .ini file to see if it should use "wide" mode or "condensed" mode. I think that's easier than making people edit the gui, although they still can if they want.

[oDDity]

Lol, this compass can't even go to East or West, it can only show North, north-north-west and north-north-east. 12 bitmaps are enough to cover that rotation.

This mini compass is for letting you know where North is only, and that's all you need to know.

I intend that the needle should rotate in its limited arc, showing you north when you're facing north.

I assume you mean the compass shoud rotate and the needle should stay put, but that's entirely poinless. If you know where North is you automatically know where every other direction is (unless you have the intellectual capacty of a boiled potato)

[Springheel]

So what does the compass show when you're facing south? I think it makes a lot more sense for the compass to spin 360 than it does to force the player to stop and turn in a circle.