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Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:14 am
by Chrysillis
Will you make the UI more mod friendly in the future? Also the silver buy button is way out of proportion with the other buttons, making it look really ugly...

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:18 am
by loftar
Chrysillis wrote:Will you make the UI more mod friendly in the future?

I'm pretty sure it's quite mod friendly as it is. :)

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:37 am
by Sevenless
loftar wrote:
Chrysillis wrote:Will you make the UI more mod friendly in the future?

I'm pretty sure it's quite mod friendly as it is. :)


I agree it's *mod* friendly. But we really need to do something about vanilla vs custom clients. If we're going to have a vanilla client that is mostly non-functional compared to the benefits of custom clients, we shouldn't even have a download link to said vanilla client. I realize it's a matter of picking favorites otherwise, but it's "unprofessional" as a game.

Is there any way to get this unified somehow maybe? Or at least borrow some of the more critical features from the customs that arise so that the vanilla isn't a "noob or casual experience" player's client of choice only.

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:56 am
by APXEOLOG
I wish loftar's client be perfect. I usually prefer playing to coding. The main problem (i think) is that loftar haven't got enough time to develop both client and server. We are all usually waiting for some new game content from him.

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:15 pm
by Sevenless
APXEOLOG wrote:I wish loftar's client be perfect. I usually prefer playing to coding. The main problem (i think) is that loftar haven't got enough time to develop both client and server. We are all usually waiting for some new game content from him.


I don't mind that. But maybe we should have download links to your client and enders client instead of the vanilla client.

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:39 pm
by MagicManICT
APXEOLOG wrote:I wish loftar's client be perfect. I usually prefer playing to coding. The main problem (i think) is that loftar haven't got enough time to develop both client and server. We are all usually waiting for some new game content from him.


That's my problem, too. (I have a stack of design docs that I think would make some great apps and games... but can't seem to get off the games to actually code them.)

I have to agree about the time issue. Many have suggested that Paradox hire one of the third party folks to work on the client while loftar can focus on the server.

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:08 pm
by loftar
I merely have a couple of loose 'pinions on the subject at hand.

The main thing I regard custom clients for is matters of preference. Take APXEOLOG's transparent UI, chat modifications and such things, for instance. I don't think you can say that those things are strictly better (or worse) than the default client. Some people just prefer their UI in different ways, and there's no "one size fits all". I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Another category includes things such as the "flattening tools" of Ender and APXEOLOG. While I can, of course, appreciate the usefulness of such tools, I consider them horribly ugly. Red-green lines running up and down the game world? No thanks. I keep a not-so-secret ambition to instead develop lighting modes (more contrasting diffuse reflections, some pre-calculated ambient occlusion on the ground, and so on) to make height differences more pronounced in a more natural and not-so-repulsive way, but, well, time and what it allows me to do. In the meantime, though, I don't even think it's that hard to flatten ground without them (Ctrl-digging and Ctrl-dropping work quite fine for my needs, at least).

Functions like the minimap radar is yet another different thing. While I consider it falling into the previous category to some extent, I don't dislike it at all as much, and would probably not mind it all that badly in the default client. However, I can't use Ender's or APXEOLOG's implementations, because they are hacks. I think that's quite OK for custom clients, mind you, but it breaks the basic model of layering and opaqueness that I ascribe to the protocol and thus I can't use it myself. I have an implementation of my own in mind, but it has not been a priority.

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:12 pm
by sabinati
How about a better camera for default client at least?

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:35 pm
by loftar
sabinati wrote:How about a better camera for default client at least?

Such as what? I'm open to suggestions, but you know I won't accept the freecam as an answer. ;)

Re: Skinnable UI

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:44 pm
by staxjax
loftar wrote:
sabinati wrote:How about a better camera for default client at least?

Such as what? I'm open to suggestions, but you know I won't accept the freecam as an answer. ;)


Is it because of 'the void' that can be seen when using freecam?

Personaly, I like playing old school top down style...but it would be nice if the screen wouldnt rotate on its own :/