New AOE UI

[Buckethead]

Hello everyone!
I created a new interface for the game, simple and objective (I believe)
While there is several, they do not pleased me ..

Without further ado: at the moment it only works with europeis civilizations and is not fully functional (lack only the part to select the deck), but I'm posting to see if you guys have some suggestions or ideas.

Sorry for my bad English

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[iNcog]

That's an interesting development no doubt.

Though it's not quite as polished as Ekanta's UI (yet).

[DivineFire]

Yeah it is rather interesting, I can't say I like it but that doesn't mean much lol.

[Buckethead]

That''s an interesting development no doubt.

Though it''s not quite as polished as Ekanta''s UI (yet).

What do you mean when you say ''polished''?



The Ekanta''s UI not please me for being extremely polluted (IMO), full of unnecessary information that will hardly use ..



Anyway, I would like your opinion, how can I polish it.

[iNcog]

my opinion isn't worth much unfortunately

your job is really good and i might even use your mod over ekanta's if you can get it to work with asian civs and whatnot

your UI feels just a bit too cramped

[Aeten]

very good job, make it work with every civ and a lot of people d use it. Also ekanta has some interesting stats, like villagers and army numbers, the most important ones imo.

[Mr. Pecksniff]

Isn't this the same as cheating

[DivineFire]

Can we just not start the "Are UI mods cheating discussion please"...? Or I mean while we're at it we may as well have a nice chat about the explorer glitch,

[edeholland]

The markted trade shortcuts in Ekanta's UI is definitely an unfair advantage though. :p

[Aeten]

Can we just not start the "Are UI mods cheating discussion please"...? Or I mean while we''re at it we may as well have a nice chat about the explorer glitch,

hahaha yea thats a way bigger cheat than any ui :p

[domerino]

Can we just not start the "Are UI mods cheating discussion please"...? Or I mean while we''re at it we may as well have a nice chat about the explorer glitch,

I''m sure he was $100% serious. Also, i like the design, very minimalistic and clean.

[Aeten]

The markted trade shortcuts in Ekanta''s UI is definitely an unfair advantage though. :p

What is it?

[musketeer925]

Hm, I did something similar with my UI, but I went much further than that. As minimalistic as possible. It doesn''t look very commercial, though, it''s just very practical, it eliminates all the BS from the screen.

I''ve also added new fonts to the game.

Is your UI available for download somewhere?

[Buckethead]

@incog
@Aeten
Your opinion is very well living, as well as the others!
I will add support for all civilizations soon, I'm making it calmly ..

@neuron
Could post your UI here? I would like to see what new things you've added, I might even have new ideas.

-- Edit

WOW
Very clean your UI, Neuron! Fascinating!
I think the same, much of the UI things are accessible for shortcuts, are not required in the UI.

Your UI gave me several ideas, thanks for sharing!


@all
I imagined a compact UI, with only the basic information (equal to original UI)
The Ekanta UI has information that is rarely useful (IMO): Amount of banks, armies and boats. This information you can see once and remember or calculate quickly, to gain space in the UI.
I thought about putting the exchange of resources in the UI but you can select the market (shortcut) and do the same.

[yohomes]

Are units stats not showable?

[musketeer925]

I'd be interested if you just upload the bare files Neuron, IMO that looks pretty nice (also a radical difference from all other designs).

[iNcog]

Oh wow Neuron that is really super impressive. You never cease to amaze me.

[WickedCossack]

I'd download that. So much space !

[musketeer925]

IMO what's so attractive for me is that it doesn't have a panel.

[tilanus]

Anyway, I would like your opinion, how can I polish it.

I generally like your simplistic approach, but I''d advise you to decide for one style and make it consistent. In HC the top UI with HC level, XP and aging bar still has the AoE3 visuals. Also, for your flat design you should, like Neuron, use another font than the AoE3 one, something without serifs and also no fantasia font. In HC I particularly like the way you emphasized the ages in the deck with an additional transparent square, sweet. The resource menu is cool with the population added in the same style as the resources, but Neuron''s single bar is not only more compressed, but also very classic since the resource bar always used to be arranged in a single bar on the screen''s top in every Age of Empires. What I like a bit more about your UI though than about Neuron''s is that you''re trying to preserve at least some of the original AoE3 UI''s layout.

I do agree that - especially in multiplayer - a more reduced AoE3 UI is beneficial. However, - for me - it can get too technical and minimalistic, therefore only becomes a good UI for particularly skilled players who know the game and its hotkeys inside out. Technical/Minimalistic UIs feel cold to me as they''re all about effectivity, but not about immersion. Seeing more of the actual game doesn''t do the full immersion job if the visually contradicting style pulls me out of it again, everything I see on the screen has to harmonize. The UI is not your enemy, but your friend. And games that were not structurally designed for immersive controls like From Dust do not gain them by simply removing everything of the UI except the least of what is necessary to keep it fully functional.

I personally think Neuron''s minimalistic UI is great for online veterans and for them it seems worth releasing IMHO. The advantage to have more game space is superb. Like it very much. Not sure I like the "commerical look" though, possibly because the two parallely existing aesthetics don''t mix well and the additionally granted layout could have a better arrangement of UI elements.
Seeing that he''s using a widescreen, I''m not sure how well some elements scale though at more narrow screen resolutions. I''m particularly sceptical about the unit stats which can consume quite a lot of length due to the high ratio of boni/mali given to units. Funny sidenote, the idea to compactly arrange various buttons reminds me of some WoW UI mods in which the screen bottom was bombed with buttons. Luckily AoE3 is RTS and not RPG.