Making it Work: UI Skins
![Dee](https://forums.beamdog.com/applications/dashboard/design/images/defaulticon.png)
The discussion here brought up the subject of the Siege of Dragonspear UI skin, which we've been calling Dragonskin.
There are a couple of ideas and proposals that have been mentioned, though nothing specific has been mocked up:
There are a couple of ideas and proposals that have been mentioned, though nothing specific has been mocked up:
- The skin doesn't fit with the first campaign in BG:EE. It should only be used for the Siege of Dragonspear campaign.
- The skin may be too dark for some people on desktop platforms.
- It would be nice to be able to select from a list of available skins instead of being stuck with whichever one is currently installed.
Post edited by Dee on
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Comments
Having an option to select which skin to use is also a good idea, but in that case, consistency should be a priority, meaning that certain windows (Black Pits ending again as an example) should be reworked for all different skins.
Still, I'd support a option to swap between skins if you want. And the ability for modders to create additional skins would be cool.
I personally would never change from Siege to bg2 or bg1 variations.
I personally find the SoD skin much to dark and very much out of sync with any of the previous versions of BG or BGII.
For me, the SoD skin is so dark, unappealing and out of character, that I literally can’t stand to look at the screen long enough to play the game. I would not be interested in playing any game that came with such a depressing skin.
I certainly would not want it to be used to replace either BGEE or BGIIEE ‘s current skins.
As has already been mentioned here, I think that having the option to use the BGII skins for all three games would be a good compromise. The BGII skin has been used for modded BG games, using something like Tutu, for many years now and people seem to like it.
It would have the added benefit of Beamdog not having to consider the cost of creating entirely new skins for players who don’t like the SoD one. They already have them.
I miss the old grey stone UI.
Would that I had more artistic ability, I'd try to do something about it myself, but alas...
And I like how the consensus on this thread has pretty much been "options, please" from the beginning. It's the one thing we haven't been arguing about.
Currently there is one major difference between SoD and the rest - the main menu. I think it would have to be agreed here which one to keep for all games.
SoD has:
-Buttons arranged clearly in a column
-Changing campaigns, loading, continuing a game possible from the first screen
-Background graphics extended for bigger resolutions
BG2EE has:
-Buttons arranged in a "circle" at the center, only six slots there, but unmistakable BG2 trademark design
-The first screen only allows to select a campaign, has a different design
-Background only covers 1024x768 space, the rest is black
Most likely some mixture of these points has to be made. Keeping the superior functionality of SoD while keeping the BG2 circle design too.
Of course, options means more work on the developer end, so the developers will have the weigh the gain of each option against the additional workload it provides.
Currently we have: Campaign Selection > Game Selection (Single or Multiplayer) > Go!
Maybe the order of screens on first load should be: UI Skin Selection + Campaign Selection > Game Selection (Single or Multiplayer) > Go!
In that way a new aesthetic that works for a double functioning screen to select UI skin and campaign could be created, and it's after that selection that the SOD, BG1, BG2, other layouts are then fixed. A kind of Best of Both Worlds approach....
Campaign Selection buttons
Continue
Single Player
Multiplayer
Options
Quit Game
Adding a button that pops up a UI skin selection would be the ideal approach for me.
I'd say add one option called "Automatic", which automatically uses the blue interface in BG1+ToTSC, the dark interface in SOD, the gold interface in BG2+TOB and the wood interface in IWD+HOW.
That option should be the default option, giving the end user the interface that belongs to that game originally, and then if the end user doesn't like it, they can go and change it around.
But I'd like a shortcut straight to that selection from the first screen. This process has shown that for many the feel of the games is as important as the functionality of the games and being able to very easily change that is, for me, a resulting fundamental requirement.
A good example of this is the instances where people have said "I really don't like X" in the forum, not realising that X already exists in the options screen and could be turned off. I've seen more than a handful of those ...
I agree fully that there should be an 'automatic' option to play each part of the game in the original skin, as well as the ability to override and use one skin for all.
I'd say the UI skin selection should simply be three components:
1) A list of the available UI skins (with room for modders to add more skins); selecting an item from the list, shows....
2) A picture of the 'look and feel' of the game for the selected skin, and
3) A 'use this skin' button is enabled (and a cancel button).
Nice and simple.
Anyway, it is a graphic option, I really don't see why it should be out graphic options. Devs must obviously promote it in the patch notes.
Having a shortcut to such a fundamental choice helps people, especially unfamiliar or less technical users, and I don't see why an additional shortcut on the campaign selection screen is bad.
It's effectively saying 'which campaign do you want to play' and 'how do you want that campaign to look'....
That decision goes hand-in-hand.
Also, if a person doesn't realize he has a graphic option available in graphic options, it's not a game's fault and it doesn't mean all those options should be on the main menu screen.
I'll mod my own 'shortcut' in if needed...