Graphical User Interface. A term used to describe the tools available to the player to interact with the game.
39
votes
9answers
23k views
Good GUI for OpenGL [closed]
I am starting to learn OpenGL with FreeGLUT using the Superbible and the knowledge i have from my elementary graphics to brush up on my skills.
To get more from this experience i want to integrate a ...
23
votes
8answers
1k views
Why should I choose to design a health bar rather than heart containers?
When designing any hero-based game, be it adventure, RPG, brawler, or similar, you eventually need to decide on your health system. Barring any regenerative systems with zero UI (like Call of Duty), ...
23
votes
9answers
6k views
What C++ GUI library can you suggest?
I'm building my own game engine in C++ and I'm currently deciding on what user interface I should use.
Should I use a library? Should I make my own?
19
votes
7answers
7k views
HTML5 Game (Canvas) - UI Techniques?
I'm in the process of building a JavaScript / HTML5 game (using Canvas) for mobile (Android / iPhone/ WebOS) with PhoneGap. I'm currently trying to design out how the UI and playing board should be ...
19
votes
3answers
4k views
How do you approach resolution independence in raster based graphics content?
Those games that are not fortunate enough to run on a locked platform spec, like handhelds, need to run across various resolution formats and aspect ratios.
In a 3D game you might have a HUD or menu ...
18
votes
7answers
1k views
Interfaces 101: Making it Pretty
I've made a few games which I've actually released into the wild. There's one particular issue I run into over and over, and that's the issue of the interface/theme of the game.
How can you make ...
18
votes
6answers
734 views
Coordinate system handling for 2D UI
Following on from the aspect ratios question, I'm interested to hear what other people are using when working on 2D UI systems (most likely their own home-grown solutions). Specifically, how do you ...
14
votes
3answers
1k views
What are some good (retro) symbols for magic/mana/energy?
Much like a heart is used a lot for health and lives in old retro games...
...what would be a good icon to use for Energy, Mana and/or Magic points?
12
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the best way to make a main menu system?
I know that's it's easy to make buttons that highlight when you move your mouse over them, but when it comes to sub-menus I'm kinda stuck. Anyone got some tips on the best way to have a main menu with ...
11
votes
6answers
3k views
Immediate GUI - yae or nay?
I've been working on application development with a lot of "retained" GUI systems (below more about what I mean by that) like MFC, QT, Forms, SWING and several web-GUI frameworks some years ago. I ...
9
votes
2answers
540 views
In a GUI, should input be handled when the button is pressed or released?
In the menu system for our game (selecting levels, options, etc.), the player presses the a button on the gamepad to go to the next screen. I coded the menu system to wait until the button is released ...
9
votes
9answers
3k views
GUI Elements - How to go about them?
Note: I plan on making my own GUI system. It will be good for learning, lightweight, only have bits I need, ties in with the game, etc.
I was thinking about how to do it. The elements I mean are:
...
9
votes
1answer
1k views
Separating physics and game logic from UI code
I'm working on a simple block-based puzzle game.
The game play consists pretty much of moving blocks around in the game area, so it's a trivial physics simulation. My implementation, however, is in ...
8
votes
1answer
236 views
Is it possible to make calculations in a Quake 3/Live hud?
I would like to add a new field to a Quake 3/Quake Live HUD that shows the following number:
min(health + armour, health * 3) * (1.5 if guard_rune else 1)
This is the amount of damage you can take ...
7
votes
1answer
5k views
Making a HUD/GUI with OpenGL (LWJGL)
I'm at the stage in my game development where I need to make a HUD or GUI. I've never gotten to this part, so I don't know how its done. I tried rendering a simple quad at a fixed position on the ...
7
votes
3answers
798 views
Is gameswf usable? [closed]
The project page indicates that it's pre-alpha code, and suggests the actionscript support is weak. Flash UIs are nice, so I was wondering if anyone has experience getting gameswf to the point where ...
6
votes
3answers
153 views
Where to show user shot's power on touch screen?
I want to show user shot power in standart way
(the more user holds finger on the screen the stronger is shot)
Where is the best place to show this icon on touch screen(when I use mouse it's better ...
6
votes
3answers
485 views
Font outline in OpenGL, FTGL
I'm using FTGL library to render fonts in my game, but I have completely no idea how to create an outline around text. Achieving a shadow could be easy, because I can simply do it like this:
(pseudo ...
6
votes
5answers
433 views
What are the pros and cons of non-unique display names?
I know of at least big title game (Starcraft II) that doesn't require unique display names, so it would seem like it can work in at least some circumstance.
Under what situations does allowing ...
6
votes
4answers
327 views
What standards should designers/artists follow when giving UI assets to coders?
How do you or your company require designers to deliver their assets to coders? Do they deliver a PSD? A series of 24-bit PNGs?
If you are a coder, what would you include in a best-practice ...
6
votes
2answers
726 views
Graphical Interface Design
I have the following problem: Although I know some of color theory, and the interface design ideals (about how it must be usable, and etc...), my interfaces are REALLY ugly. fugly, eye bleed material, ...
6
votes
1answer
799 views
Gui Implementation techniques
I've been working with a few game oriented gui libraries trying to find a good fit. More specifically, a GUI that will work on Windows,Linux,iPhone, and Android with minimal special code.
In my ...
6
votes
2answers
728 views
What in-game user interfaces are available? [closed]
I'm wondering what options are available for in-game interface libraries (not OS-level interfaces) and what are your opinions about them?
Please put only one library per answer and follow this ...
5
votes
4answers
415 views
Creating non-rectangular hotspots and detecting clicks
Say for a game with irregular hotspots (say Risk, or a strategy game like Paradox's Hearts of Iron or Crusader Kings), how do you
Define a non-rectangular hotspot of irregular shape (much like a ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Are there any good UI widget toolkits for Pygame? [closed]
Are there any good, modern widget toolkits for Pygame? I've looked at PGU, but it's apparently unmaintained.
5
votes
4answers
434 views
Console-type interface in game
I am currently programming a very simple 2d game in C# with XNA.
I was wondering how to implement a console-type interface in a game or graphical software like there is in Skyrim or Counter-strike or ...
5
votes
2answers
279 views
What to think about when designing a simple GUI for a quiz game
I am coming close to finish my first iPhone game ever, as a matter of fact also my first programming experience ever, which is a quiz game. I have all the functionality i want and is currently ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Can a standalone WPF application create an interface that looks like a Flash interface?
It seems like WPF was created as the application answer to Adobe's Flash. Silverlight is used for creating web pages. But, can that same functionality be pulled into a standalone WPF application. ...
5
votes
1answer
203 views
How to highlight non-rectangular hotspots?
So my question is highly related to Creating non-rectangular hotspots and detecting clicks.
Yet again, I've irregular hot-spots (think the game Risk). So basically, we can detect clicks on these ...
5
votes
2answers
718 views
How do I render my own DirectX Stuff to a full screen WPF's DirectX surface?
Basically Danny Varod seems to know as he posted it as an answer to this question:
Display a Message Box over a Full Screen DirectX application
I think, theoretically this might work, but I have no ...
4
votes
3answers
629 views
What C++ containers should I use for my UI elements?
I am writing some UI stuff for my games in C++. Basically its a very common problem, but I dont know the best answer yet. Suppose inside my UI Library I have a view class which renders 2D/3D scene. ...
4
votes
3answers
251 views
Runtime Storage vs Static Storage
Runtime Storage (hardcoded) vs Static Storage (file storage)
(original question)
I extended my engines GUI from
procedural style to object orientated
style, but I still have to create
...
4
votes
3answers
565 views
How can be data oriented programming applied for GUI system?
I've just learned basics of Data oriented programming design, but I'm not very familiar with that yet. I've also read
Pitfalls of Object Oriented Programming GCAP 09. It seems that data oriented ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
Unity3D GUI - what exactly it does when create controls and check their statuses?
On unity3d website in the manual on this page: http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/gui-Controls.html
I found an example of "GUI.changed" function usage(below). And it looks like it ...
4
votes
4answers
897 views
Have a while loops but inputs depend on events fired, what are some ways on getting the input?
I think I'm at a conundrum here, I've creating a matching game in C# winforms. And I'm 90% done, the only thing left is the game loop.
The matching games consits of two multidimensional arrrays which ...
4
votes
1answer
861 views
Defining GUI control event responses using Lua in C++
I'm using Irrlicht(C++) for a 3D engine, and it has a built in GUI system. The GUI events are something like this:
switch(eventtype)
case button_pressed:
stuff
case ...
3
votes
3answers
325 views
What is the name for the little numbers that appear over characters' heads when they lose health?
...you know the ones. Something like "value overlays" or "value pop-ups" describes them quite well, but I was thinking they might have a real name?
3
votes
7answers
5k views
GUI for DirectX
I'm looking for a GUI library built on top of DirectX- preferably 9, but I can also do 11. I've looked at stuff like DXUT, but it's way too much for me- I'm only needing some UI controls which I would ...
3
votes
1answer
277 views
In tools development, what languages and technologies are currently in use?
I am an aspiring tools developer currently in university. Normally I use both C++ and C# to and from but as my time at university is coming to an end, what language and technologies are worth focusing ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
is it possible to use c# GUI toolbox in an XNA app?
I need both reach GUI features of c# toolboxes and fast rendering features of XNA, is there any way to merge these two into one app? or is there any other way? for example some equivalent to c# ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
Anyone have a game UI recommendation? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What C++ GUI library can you suggest?
I am creating a simple 2 dimensional GUI for an RPG game. It will be pretty simple and will contain a few windows a chat box. Does ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Can an iOS application have an explicit quit button?
I've heard a rumor that you cannot have an explicit quit button on your app when it goes to the Apple App Store, can anyone verify this? It seems that most applications do not have one, and there is ...
3
votes
2answers
493 views
Should Game Gui APIs use themes?
I'm making a GUI API (in C++) for games which uses Allegro 5 as a backend. I looked at how GuiChan works and noticed that they intend for the user to override the paint event and do all the drawing ...
3
votes
3answers
153 views
Keeping track of focused widget in GUI tree
I'm designing a GUI framework based on trees of widgets. Widgets are general control and container structures that are everything from panels to buttons to file dialogs. Widgets have an array of ...
3
votes
1answer
165 views
Tech Tree layouts for games?
I'm trying to do a tech tree GUI for my game, but i have limited width and the tree has alot of branches, the problem is if I make them small to fit the width, the tech tree is too small to read.
For ...
3
votes
1answer
132 views
Rendering only a part of text FTGL, OpenGL
I'm using FTGL library to render text in my C++ project.
I can easily render text by using:
CFontManager::Instance().renderWrappedText(font, lineLength, position, text);
Unfortunately there is a ...
3
votes
1answer
207 views
Revamping my GUI to be more efficient and less brute
I am building a Java game from scratch right now. So far, it runs fine, but the issue is with my GUI and how it works. Basically, it's a tile-based game. Each time the person moves a different image ...
3
votes
1answer
784 views
2D game engine for UI - suggestion needed
I am planning on making a simple real-time strategy game from the series Stargate Universe. For those who don't know, in the series' center is a spaceship called Destiny. It has a nice control room, ...
3
votes
2answers
857 views
UI design examples?
I am not asking the theory of UI design, or how to do one, I am asking for examples and resources, like... How to draw this fiddly stuff, or how to code another circular thing, or a gallery of game ...
3
votes
1answer
168 views
GUI device for throwing a ball
The hero has a ball, which shall be thrown with accuracy in a court on iPhone/iPad. The player is seen from above, in a 2D view. In game play, the player reach is between 1/15 and 1/6 of the height of ...
