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[simprosederek]

I'm retrofitting an existing older project with some new features and a new, refreshed UI based on my improved knowledge of Photoshop and the like. The project will be on Steam Greenlight, titled Redemption: Eternal Quest. I've been studying UI design and the like and been fascinated recently by the field.

Here's an example of the old main menu screen of the original game:
http://simprosestudios.com/guild.jpg

And here's my newly redesigned one:
http://simprosestudios.com/newguild.jpg

I think it's quite a bit better. My goal was to increase the polish and slicken things up more. What do you guys think?

[ryansumo]

The update looks fantastic, and really shows what how far you've come.  The only thing that is a little confusing to me is the "check" and "x" boxes in the top area.  They seem a little out of place, although I'm sure they serve some purpose.

One other thing I'd mention is that the elements in the top seem to have been given a little more love than the elements on the bottom, which look a little more streamlined and less detail.  I'm just nitpicking, but I think it would be good to either give the bottom elements some more detail or strip out some from the top so they're more unified.

On another note, I'm also looking to redo a lot of the UI in our game, so would love to know what you're using as study or reference material for UI/UX.  Keep up the great work!

[simprosederek]

The update looks fantastic, and really shows what how far you've come.  The only thing that is a little confusing to me is the "check" and "x" boxes in the top area.  They seem a little out of place, although I'm sure they serve some purpose.

One other thing I'd mention is that the elements in the top seem to have been given a little more love than the elements on the bottom, which look a little more streamlined and less detail.  I'm just nitpicking, but I think it would be good to either give the bottom elements some more detail or strip out some from the top so they're more unified.

On another note, I'm also looking to redo a lot of the UI in our game, so would love to know what you're using as study or reference material for UI/UX.  Keep up the great work!

The books here are all very useful and i've read many of them: http://blog.templatemonster.com/2013/01/04/top-10-user-interface-books/ and studied numerous game interfaces and worked to up my Photoshop skills as well.

[ryansumo]

Thanks for the link!

A lot of UI stuff out there is aimed specifically at web developers.  Did you find that they translated easily into UI for games or was that a bit of a struggle?

[simprosederek]

Thanks for the link!

A lot of UI stuff out there is aimed specifically at web developers.  Did you find that they translated easily into UI for games or was that a bit of a struggle?

It is a bit different IMO, since a web site's function is aimed more at utility much of the time, and a game's display may need to adapt to whatever is happening in the game and aimed more at saving clicks and displaying information in a polished and slick manner. Some of the same UI ideas apply to both games and sites though, such as keeping things intuitive for the average user and not making users hunt around for data they need to make use of the game or site.

Made an alternate version of the screen that I think works with the color palette better, perhaps? What do you guys think?
http://simprosestudios.com/guildalt.jpg

[ryansumo]

Yeah I think my trouble is I don't have an established framework for how to deal with UI questions in a game.  Usually I just go by "feel" which is a terrible way to go about things unless you're super experienced with UI already.

The update looks good, and certainly blends into the background better.  this gives you the ability to easily highlight important things in the UI should that special case arise.