Guys, I hate so say this but I prefer Daylight's version way more to the one you did :-( The blue/gold saturation is too loud and gaudy and I find it very disturbing. Nevertheless you did a good job with the symbols!
@Daylight : Well done! I really like the borders around the character portraits, the subtle dark grey/copper looks awesome and fitting! I hope the GUI will be modable in order that we could implement new colours/designs...
It's not too bad, the blue obsidian/marble texture is nice.
The part I don't like are the 'dividers'. The gold colour is a bit loud, but the biggest problem is the long strips of gold edging just aren't particularly nice to look at. They'd be nicer as plain gold, the graphics used for the edging isn't pleasant.
Move the four buttons on the left side to the right because there's a big gap there and then spread the portraits out.
I don't understand why some users accuse the critics of "bitching and whining". This is neither civil nor constructive. I haven't seen anyone complain for the sake of complaining, arguments have been well thought out and alternatives offered in a variety of self-made screenshots.
If you can't stand the fact that Beamdog is being criticized, better try and get used to it, because I'm sure the press will widely cover this release, and as always there won't be only nice things said. I am totally on Beamdog's side, but from what we know up until now, there sure will be (valid) things to point out as problematic. If a dozen random guys on this forum notice issues with the UI, don't think the trained professionals won't.
Having seen screenshots of other in-dev game GUIs, I have a feeling that things like button sizes and placement, portrait borders and how the different elements are embedded in the background are likely to be polished a bit more before release.
When you think about it, it doesn't make sense to finalize every aesthetic detail for playtesting, since things are likely to be changed around before the end. I think this applies to some of the issues that people are pointing out in this thread. Keep in mind that until the game is released it is still a work in progress...
@Akuro Photoshopping an image is something fairly easy to achieve and in very little time.
Getting the code and GUI to work well on different resolutions and different platforms is another kettle of fish.
I've never complained about what you are referring to: code, functions, bug-freeness, crossplatform-availability etc. of the UI.
I was talking about *colours* and the *ornaments* of the UI - something which has nothing to do with resolutions and the like. Making the decision to *recolour* the reworked GUI in bright blue and gold is a matter of taste - a taste which I honestly don't like at all because it hurts my eyes.
There are different reasons why I prefer Daylight's illustration of recolouring to the GUI of the devs:
1. As someone earlier wrote: the bright colours and the blue/gold contrast distracts from what happens on the screen itself. 2. Personally I'm used to dark colours when I'm on the PC, because bright colours hurt my eyes, especially at night. As a matter of fact my whole Windows, Firefox and Thunderbird themes are dark coloured. Therefore it may be understandable that I' rather see the new GUI being coloured darker. 3. Last but not least it's a matter of personal taste - I like "LadeJarl's Tutu GUI" (a rework of the BG1 style GUI for BG2) best because of the BG1 stone-theme, there's nothing I can do about it, I just like the "rough" look and if I think of BG1, one of the first things which come to my mind is the well themed GUI
Nevertheless I appreciate the developer's effort and - like I said - they did a very good job with the style of the icons and the technical part of the GUI (zooming in&out via mousewheel is great!), but that, again, has nothing to do with the colour and ornament choices they made.
I guess a mix of the enhanced GUI and a fanmade recolouring will do the trick and everybody will be happy then
I understand what you mean about colour brightness and I myself share this aspect with you, especially concerning about the gold not so much with the stone.
I don't think that the bluish color is the Devs choosing, its just that the stone they have picked to use for the GUI is unintentionally contains high amounts of Iron and Titanium Oxide.. :-)
I just hope it wont fall apart with the Iron Shortage and all...
New UI looks fairly good, it sure looks its missing a polish for release.
What im curious about is how will all this look in a decent resolution aka HD res. The new UI screenshot is 1366x768 which is a basic res for low end computer monitors, similar to 1024x768, just widescreen.
The majority of pc gamers nowadays use HD monitors 1920x1080 or monitors close to that resolution range.
One of the main reasons i was so interested in this enhancement was the fact that i could play my favorite game in a decent ui without having my eyes bleed out on 24" and 27" monitors. I dont feel like using a magnifying glass to read the game text.
Is the new UI scalable for higher resolutions?
If possible can we hava a screenshot in HD res, or at a higher resolution?
After giving it some though I think I pinpointed another issue with UI that bothered me - the buttons.
In the new UI they are very eye-catching and feel very “heavy” and “full” – not being a native English speaker I can’t find better adjectives, but I can explain what I mean. Here’s example from BG1: http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/electronic-arts/bioware/baldursgatemmo.jpg In this case the buttons are not so eye-catching because of its small size and being very symbolic (or minimalistic if you wish to call it so). Here’s example from BG2: http://oldschoolraygun.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/BG2.jpg In this case the buttons are less eye-catching because their background plays well with main background. Silver colour only emphasizes, it doesn’t dominate. And in the new UI buttons are neither the case first, or second. They are eye-catching and I don’t think that they play well with background.
Tl; dr: Think about the buttons and consider making them bit more like those in BG1 or BG2.
The gold piping around the inside of the UI could actually be removed completely, personally I think it frames the play window too much. If the gray stone was just beveled on the inside edge it would give the effect of actually looking through a stone window at the gameplay screen.
As it stands the gold piping is too bright and detracts from the feel.
If that change was to be made the gold border around the chat box would be okay and gold borders around the individual portraits would be good too.
The buttons on the bottom right under the portraits are too jammed together and could easily be 50% their current size or some could be moved to the left of the screen.
The gold piping on buttons, chat box and portraits would be enough without also putting it around the inside of the screen.
Making the gold bright doesn't make it better, after all 99% of our time will be spent watching gameplay and being distracted by shinies is only really good for Cespenar.
A future option would be to release the base UI as a pack of images for modders to work from so people can get to work making alternatives from Day 1.
I know coming out like this is going to surprise most users of this forum, but I love the BG1 GUI. There, I said that.
I agree that the new GUI could do with some frame around characters' portraits, and the buttons could be made less in-your-face. I would also love for the color to be greysh and the look more 3D-ish, as in vBG1. But alas, I want too many things...
I agree that the new GUI could do with some frame around characters' portraits, and the buttons could be made less in-your-face. I would also love for the color to be greysh and the look more 3D-ish, as in vBG1.
In short, you want the BG1 GUI ;-)
BG1 GUI is the best, hard to compete with that, though the Wood-Stone GUI of Icewind dale 1 is pretty awesome also..
@mch202 - don't get me wrong, the new GUI has merits- lots of them, actually. And it isn't finished, so more goodness is going to come its way. It's just that I would like its skin to be more reminiscent of vBG1 for the sake of nostalgia, because I'm just so fond of everything vBG1. Being a remake of vBG1, it would make sense for BG:EE to remind of it, after all.
Select all button needs to be [re]moved to free up portrait space IMO, they look cramped at the mo; New HUD icons look nice though.
Select all and turn AI on/off buttons should not be removed or moved elsewhere because they were there since the original Baldur's Gate. New buttons should be moved to the left side bar or to the bottom bar of the GUI because there is more than enough space for them.
Whohoho! That's one bad UI color choice. Like a wet stick in the eye. And no, the "hide" option doesn't fix the problem since it will pop up the second you press pause. Also portraits without borders is awful.
Have to agree with @Aenor even though the light blue stone does bother me somewhat. However I trust the devs' own eyes not to make anything horribly retina-burning (which the current GUI in the end isn't, especially if you look at it full screen for a while).
Comments
The blue/gold saturation is too loud and gaudy and I find it very disturbing.
Nevertheless you did a good job with the symbols!
@Daylight : Well done! I really like the borders around the character portraits, the subtle dark grey/copper looks awesome and fitting! I hope the GUI will be modable in order that we could implement new colours/designs...
Getting the code and GUI to work well on different resolutions and different platforms is another kettle of fish.
The part I don't like are the 'dividers'. The gold colour is a bit loud, but the biggest problem is the long strips of gold edging just aren't particularly nice to look at. They'd be nicer as plain gold, the graphics used for the edging isn't pleasant.
Move the four buttons on the left side to the right because there's a big gap there and then spread the portraits out.
If you can't stand the fact that Beamdog is being criticized, better try and get used to it, because I'm sure the press will widely cover this release, and as always there won't be only nice things said. I am totally on Beamdog's side, but from what we know up until now, there sure will be (valid) things to point out as problematic. If a dozen random guys on this forum notice issues with the UI, don't think the trained professionals won't.
EDIT: Also see the second screenshot I changed just now, maybe the 12 buttons should be on the same side for convenience?
When you think about it, it doesn't make sense to finalize every aesthetic detail for playtesting, since things are likely to be changed around before the end. I think this applies to some of the issues that people are pointing out in this thread. Keep in mind that until the game is released it is still a work in progress...
I was talking about *colours* and the *ornaments* of the UI - something which has nothing to do with resolutions and the like. Making the decision to *recolour* the reworked GUI in bright blue and gold is a matter of taste - a taste which I honestly don't like at all because it hurts my eyes.
There are different reasons why I prefer Daylight's illustration of recolouring to the GUI of the devs:
1. As someone earlier wrote: the bright colours and the blue/gold contrast distracts from what happens on the screen itself.
2. Personally I'm used to dark colours when I'm on the PC, because bright colours hurt my eyes, especially at night. As a matter of fact my whole Windows, Firefox and Thunderbird themes are dark coloured. Therefore it may be understandable that I' rather see the new GUI being coloured darker.
3. Last but not least it's a matter of personal taste - I like "LadeJarl's Tutu GUI" (a rework of the BG1 style GUI for BG2) best because of the BG1 stone-theme, there's nothing I can do about it, I just like the "rough" look and if I think of BG1, one of the first things which come to my mind is the well themed GUI
Nevertheless I appreciate the developer's effort and - like I said - they did a very good job with the style of the icons and the technical part of the GUI (zooming in&out via mousewheel is great!), but that, again, has nothing to do with the colour and ornament choices they made.
I guess a mix of the enhanced GUI and a fanmade recolouring will do the trick and everybody will be happy then
I understand what you mean about colour brightness and I myself share this aspect with you, especially concerning about the gold not so much with the stone.
http://nsa29.casimages.com/img/2012/09/07/120907110216964626.jpg
I just hope it wont fall apart with the Iron Shortage and all...
What im curious about is how will all this look in a decent resolution aka HD res. The new UI screenshot is 1366x768 which is a basic res for low end computer monitors, similar to 1024x768, just widescreen.
The majority of pc gamers nowadays use HD monitors 1920x1080 or monitors close to that resolution range.
One of the main reasons i was so interested in this enhancement was the fact that i could play my favorite game in a decent ui without having my eyes bleed out on 24" and 27" monitors. I dont feel like using a magnifying glass to read the game text.
Is the new UI scalable for higher resolutions?
If possible can we hava a screenshot in HD res, or at a higher resolution?
Thank you for your time
In the new UI they are very eye-catching and feel very “heavy” and “full” – not being a native English speaker I can’t find better adjectives, but I can explain what I mean.
Here’s example from BG1: http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/electronic-arts/bioware/baldursgatemmo.jpg
In this case the buttons are not so eye-catching because of its small size and being very symbolic (or minimalistic if you wish to call it so).
Here’s example from BG2: http://oldschoolraygun.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/BG2.jpg
In this case the buttons are less eye-catching because their background plays well with main background. Silver colour only emphasizes, it doesn’t dominate.
And in the new UI buttons are neither the case first, or second. They are eye-catching and I don’t think that they play well with background.
Tl; dr: Think about the buttons and consider making them bit more like those in BG1 or BG2.
As it stands the gold piping is too bright and detracts from the feel.
If that change was to be made the gold border around the chat box would be okay and gold borders around the individual portraits would be good too.
The buttons on the bottom right under the portraits are too jammed together and could easily be 50% their current size or some could be moved to the left of the screen.
The gold piping on buttons, chat box and portraits would be enough without also putting it around the inside of the screen.
Making the gold bright doesn't make it better, after all 99% of our time will be spent watching gameplay and being distracted by shinies is only really good for Cespenar.
A future option would be to release the base UI as a pack of images for modders to work from so people can get to work making alternatives from Day 1.
I agree that the new GUI could do with some frame around characters' portraits, and the buttons could be made less in-your-face. I would also love for the color to be greysh and the look more 3D-ish, as in vBG1. But alas, I want too many things...
BG1 GUI is the best, hard to compete with that, though the Wood-Stone GUI of Icewind dale 1 is pretty awesome also..