Hi guys. I need to figure out my user-interface for the RPG, but I''m having a little design trouble. What game has the best user-interface? Can you post a picture or link to a screenschot? Are 3D user-interfaces a good idea? I''m a little out of idea''s, so if you got some - it''s appreciated...

I''m a big fan of the Unreal UI. I feel that the Quake interfaces are too ''dummied-down'' and antiquated, the Unreal Engine basically has the menubar, popup windows, its windows-ish.


-Ryan "Run_The_Shadows"
-Run_The_Shadows@excite.com
"Doubt Everything. Find your own light." -Dying words of Gautama

I think the best user interface that i''ve seen for an fps is that of halflife. Keep it trimmed, effective and temporary. There''s no need in these games to have data being displayed that the player doesn''t want to see. Have you played halflife, need i explain?

A designer doesnt need to know everything about code, they just have to have an appreciation for its limitations and how those limitations affect features they may wish to include in their design. - Drew

the UT Interface was soooo slow... At least on my PC (P3 450, 192 mb ram, GeForce DDR) but probably because I ran it in Opengl, well.... didn''t like the way it was either... wo Window-like. I liked HL interface pretty much, although it also had it''s problems switching from one menu to a submenu and back...

just my opinion..
cya,
Phil

Visit Rarebyte!
and no!, there are NO kangaroos in Austria (I got this questions a few times over in the states

Ooops, just found out that you didn''t mean the menu system
HL had a great interface! I really loved/love it (Cstrike rulez *G*) the UT interface was to complicated for me *LOL* hehehe.

cya,
Phil

Visit Rarebyte!
and no!, there are NO kangaroos in Austria (I got this questions a few times over in the states

Even not counting the menu system, i still put my vote with UT.

he''s making an RPG guys, so I don''t think the HL or UT interface would be appropriate. My advice is to find a game similar to what you''re making and see what kind of interface it is using. Then change things around until it is what you want. Oh and I have two general tips: if you have a list of words put them on the side, and stack them. If you have any other kind of interface put it on the bottom. The reason is that most people read left to right, so you want a horizontal interface, except in the case of the stacked words.

baskuenen,
For an RPG, I think that the GUI for Ultima Online works really well. For one, you could place items into containers without a grid system... what this allowed was for a user to customize his backpack or his bank-box in a way that made sense for him...

Just my 2 gold pieces worth,

Game On,

Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

View is real 3d, but do you go for realtime (seems logical for 3d but not mandatory...) or turn-based ?
Third person or first person view ?

For a real time first person, I like the way daggerfall does it, either you can move using the arrow-cursor or you can move like a FPS. The player can choose his mode of interaction with the world, this way you don''t loose players because you think it ought to be done one way and not the other...

Dialog and text output should be stacked up or down

You can use transparency to allow more view to be apparent

Allow for keyboard input as well as Mouse

Player customization is good as the player can choose where he likes things to be.

Some way for the player to filter the output is good too. Some will want detailled stats whereas others will prefer just health fatigue and mana (for exemple). Some will want to see a text indicating the sucess or failure of an action, others prefers to have only a visual feedback...

Avoid deeply nested menus as they cut the action too long for the player to enjoy, more generaly every actions should need no more than two clicks

Can''t seem to think of anything else right now...

Most games have their status panels at the bottom of the screen because people tend to focus on the top two-thirds of their monitors when they read, and that''s where you want all the action to be. It just feels more natural.

I recommend avoiding words whenever possible on a GUI, because reading wastes too much time in a game. Remember your market: most people don''t want to read a video game. Leave that to the book writers. The monitor is designed to show graphics for a reason, so make the most of it.

My second suggestion is to keep all your menus short (I''d say no more than five items unless you absolutely need more, but three is a better limit for dialogue and pop-ups). Try to consolidate everything to one or two menus, because nobody wants to dig into five levels of menus just to equip an item. Convenience is the keyword here.

If you''re going to display a lot of text, either for descriptions or dialogue, please don''t stuff it into a tiny box at the bottom left of the screen where nobody will ever notice it without straining his eyes (cough FALLOUT cough). Place it boldly in the upper two-thirds of the screen, especially if it''s important to your story.

That''s all I''ve got for now. I hope this helps.