Archive:GUI development

This page is under construction

A GUI here stands for 'how a program allows you to access it's data and functions'. In The Mana World this is not the main screen, there where all the action takes place, but all the windows such as inventory and stats. However, the damage done to you during combat, showing in the main screen, is part of the GUI, as is right-clicking to activate something, and how moving is done and fighting initiated. This's how the word GUI is used in this text.

GUI Types

Playing many games one comes across many different ideas of how to implement an interface. Most interfaces are unique and specific to a game because of its features.

There are however many RPG games, and many different RPG GUIs. Here follows some notably different GUI, or GUI elements, and the games that (as far as I know) uses them.

-6 key managment GUI (final fantasy series, and many other console games). The 6 keys are the 4 directional keys, an 'accept' key, and an 'cancel/back' key. Usualy the managment screen/GUI itself is called with a 7 key (the start key on game-controlers)

-Player Doll System (many diverse games). Rather than just showing slots with iconic items that are equiped in them, they are put on a big representation of your character, a representation that, typically, would be seen if the stats of that player are looked at, and looks very spiffy. Yes, GUI's are like dishes: good presentation is half the art of a good GUI (the other half is how useful/easy to use it is)

-Some GUIs only use the mouse, but some also have the ability to use a keyboard-shortcut (usually shown through a highlighted letter or underlined letter in the name of the action/menu)

But this text isn't about all the gui's that exist...

Goal of a GUI

The goal of this article is to find, and determin what a good GUI for TMW would be, and what features it should have (from a GUI perspective). It is for now just one idea on how to do this, a very elaborate idea, none the less.

The goal is a GUI that:
-Is fully usable with the keyboard only.
-Is fully usable with a modern mouse (3 buttons, one of which is a scroll button, giving you 4+1 keys and 2 directions) only.
-Functions well using a mix of both.
-Has keybindings definitions. (allowing players to decide what keys to use), including mouse-keybindings --I only remember one game that allows you to rebind your mouse keys: quake, a sorely missed feature in many games.)
-Functions instinctively for mouse usage, or mix. (keyboard is not so instinctive, except for things like i for inventory)
-Is well documented.
-Can be changed (change of position of windows, resizing, ordering of items (alphabetically and by type), give different colour, or use different layouts/skins.
-Has automation functions (like the targeting of monsters using shift-ctrl or shift-rightclick)
-(NOTE: maybe other features are needed for a good GUI?)

Momotaro's GUI Proposition

The text will come later, need to find a way for you to get the picture first (can't upload).

--Momotaro 20:03, 23 Jun 2005 (PDT)