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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

Short draft version for now.

3 GUI Top-Layers:

Layer 1: Choice of GUI type. (allowing totally different looks for the end result) Layer 2: GUI type tweaks. Options may differ per type (and include things like colour, text font, text size) Layer 3: Minor tweaks: Positioning (if mobile), resizing and locking of windows.

Many functions of layer 2 and layer 3 apply to more then one particular GUI-type. These functions, such as changing colour or transparancy, are shared. Thus installing a second GUI type might only imply loading a different configuration of already present plug-in-functions.

Reverse reasoning:

The layer 3 functions are first level of interaction: such as opening and closing window, keeping them open, and resizing them. The layer 2 functions give the ability to change aspects of windows more than in the default way. Colour change, make it drop-down or pop-up. The layer 1 functions radically change the look and usage of the GUI. Keyboard only GUI (giving layer2:keymapping), Mouse only GUI (with drag and drop interface as well as point and click), and also defining weather there's a menu-bar at the top, as well as setting wich higher level functionality functions can be used.

Note, all these layers change nothing to the functionallity of the game, just how this functionallity is accessed.

Typically there would be a Keyboard_Module, Mouse_Module and Window_Modules of different types. (the current (0.0.13) windows are one type, the windows as used in the proposed GUI a different one, though they are similar.

Two concepts arise: Skin and module:

A module is particular type of basic functioning that can be permuted with other functions(modules) of the same type. (eg: 2 keyboard_modules: one for a normal keyboard usage, and one to mimic console games; and 2 or 3 window_modules)

A skin is a choice of modules that gives full access to all game functionality, and is playable.

(you could make your own skin from modules, that's part of the idea, thus adding more ways of interfacing with the game.)

One proposed GUI type, in more detail:

For now just the concept picture:

http://themanaworld.org/archive/momotaro/themanaworldguiideav.png

Note how I forgot to mention the radar map. It should probably go in the Player info window, compacting the info inthere somwhat.

Player Doll could be made as an expansion of Player info (ie click (somewhere) in player info to transform player info into player doll, with stats). Then again, that could be left for a second GUI type.

--Momotaro 14:05, 25 Jun 2005 (PDT)