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AlphonseCapone — Interface
Published: 2007-06-19 18:07:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 7876; Favourites: 29; Downloads: 279
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Description
Interface:This is a purely fictional, ever changing interface of a game idea that I have. This image is "drawn" in Microsoft Paint, or Paintbrush (Yes, I know... I am crazy
). Hence the odd quality. The image is drawn to give myself an idea of the general layout of the interface and its features in the game. With that in mind, the features, the look, and the general placement of... stuff... are subject to change... drastically!. I also drew this to play a bit with paintbrush... we all love paintbrush.Inspired by a devation made by: :
You can find it here: [link]
Well, as said, 100% paintbrush drawn image. The only reason I used photoshop was to arrange the contrast and to save it as jpg.
I will submit a scap of this image with numbers flashing at the various features I have in my mind, and also add some more menus in the image itself at a later date. I will add links to the different section in this devations description, linking to the ones in scraps.
....
The game?... What game?
A game based on my biggest universe. Or... well, the universe is just a continuation\alteration of this universes storyline ahead to the year 2635.
The game I have in mind is an RTS, and its main features (Features that are kind of a MUST) are:
-Real Scale:
Very important for the main feature I will get back to.
-You are In-Game
The person that controls the army is you. And you are also controlable on the battlefield in two modes.
First mode is the normal mode, where you work as a regular infantery unit.
Second mode is the capital ship mode. In this mode you will be located in a capital ship orbiting whatever battlefield you are on. Additional special abilities can be researched and placed on board the capital ship.
Bue to the "real scale" of the battles, the capital ship can be destroyed. Also theese two modes can be changed in real time with the construction of some special buildings. Like a space elevator, shuttle launching pad for interstellar travels. Teleporters etc.
-Advanced unit construction:
While mass producing units is possible, you first have to "create" them by researching and developing 3 major unit characteristics:
---Armor
---Weapon
---Augmentation
Each that will give the unit aditional improvements on its bases stats.
-Projectile based:
Meaning if a unit fire off a rocket, the rocket will be a projectile, that can miss and even hit a friendly unit. Also the explotion does damage based on the size and where it hits. It also means that the unit can miss, even if it fires off a laser. But the stats that I mentioned a bit above will come into play at that point. So yeah, it will be to a degree "luck" based
-Ability to enter structures:
This is something I have yet to see at a large scale. (I think they had it in Commandoes 3) But basically every structure you build, you are able to move infantery units inside. The structures can be all from the first basic power plant, and things you can do with that powerplant are many once you are inside.
Firstly, if you construct a structure, it will work by itself because of computer systems that automate everything. But you may place one infantery unit inside for a boost in performance.
You may place infantery units inside without taking the performance boost for both their protection, and protection from infiltration.
Also in later game, an upgrade will alter the sides of the power plant, creating extra halls and windows, allowing the infantery to protect the power plant by shooting at incomming enemies.
If it is a hostile power plant, depending on the infantery avaliable you may place explosives, destroying the powerplant. Infiltrate it, revealing enemy information. In the case of power plants I guess it will reveal how much power the enemy uses and what structures the spesific powerplant powers. Or even take it over.
And a lot of other features ofcorse. But those 5 are the main ones.
Any features you would want in an RTS or comments on the features listed... Giev critizizzle!
Related content
Comments: 50
please add me msn... jorge_tolinho@hotmail.com
please talk to you?
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Hey there. Did you know your artwork could be used in a professional game? Well it can. Our team here at VisionXtreme have a group of 3 artists 1 coder and 1 Developer in the team. We need your help to design armour, weapons, gui skins and character models for our game. Thanks so much I love your artwork!
Mendi Meyer at The VisionXtream Team
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Great design, I really like it - and, ow, did you really draw all this with Paintbrush? oO
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very very very impressive man to make that in paint. Im too making a game mine is a trading card game though. Yours looks to be really intrestng, how has the progress been for the game so far?
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The progress has been slow, but rewarding. I finally decided to start on the design document a few weeks ago. Its not that long now, but with my vision, I expect it to be several 100 pages long in the end.
MMORTS FTW ^_^
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ah very nice man. so how do you plan to make it flash, game maker, progam it from scratch?
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Program it from scratch.
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Aye, those were good times *nostalgia*
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Your not crazy-- your INSANE!!! This is wicked man!
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ooh, this is so retro strategy game 
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nice job, looks like a total anihilation HUD like how its quality bring out a "retro" design
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Projectile Based:
LikeWarhammer 40k Space marine Rockets, they have a chance to hit, right? And if you micro you can dodge them like Boxer jumping over Lurker attacks...? Is there a homing device upgrade?
In Game: Is it like Heroes of Warcraft3 or is it like the commander in Warzone? You ride around stuff in FPS fashion, but you need to also macromanage yer units and economy... like that?
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Projectile based is as you described, yes.
Each unit fires a projectile that travels a set distance and speed, all depending on weapon type and all that. The faster a projectile goes, the larger chance it has to actually hit something. All wepons apart from laser weapons are particle based, even machine guns.
When it comes to upgrades for the weapon systems I have come up with quite a few.
Some examples on the unit:
Mainly there is accuracy. Each unit starts off with a set accuracy, the higher % the larger chance they have on a direct hit on a static target. If you get a higher % than 100% they will simply do more damage.
On the weapon:
You have various speed upgrades. Both for projectile and rate of fire. The higher speed a projectile has, the larger chance it is to actually hit a moving target. Laser weapons have maximum speed, and if the unit has 100% accuracy, there is no way he can miss.
Also as you said there is smart targeting upgrade, which makes the weapon fire homing projectiles (Both missiles and bullets). Althou here, the slower a weapon projectile is, the larger chance it is to get in a hit (this is because the projectile turns in a set speed... which also is upgradable ofc)
So yes, you can micro units to dodge certain slow moving projectiles such as slow moving rockets or artillery shells.
I will get back to weapons and weapon upgrades later on... so you will get an even more detailed description of the system then
In game:
It is a RTS so you see everything from top down view like WarCraft.
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those hexagons on the left side of the screen are like the superpower/superweapons thing in Command and Conquer 3, right?
and its like warhammer where all the icons are small. 12 small icons on the bottom right, and the upgrades screen between the unit info display and the 12 command buttons
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What the freaking hell? You did this in MSPaint? I don't believe you!
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Indeed, crazy that you used MS Paint to do this, it looks good aside from the bottom right is a tad small, it makes the eyes want to avoid looking down there. But I'm still impressed, and laying out a game idea like that is very good, keep at it.
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I'd love to see all the black areas filled in, to get a feel for what the thing would look like during play. Oh, sure, it's not an actual game, but that sort of attention to detail would produce a very strong portfolio piece.
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Sure, I did some copy\pasting on the things that I could use again at various places. Cause quite honestly I did not want to draw the whole deal over again or slightly different. And also a lot of "half" drawings that I copied and flipped to make an entire entity of it.
But if you are refering to the original reference image I have to arrest you a bit.
I did not copy\phaste from the reference image. I went down to pixel level and redrew it with the colors I could use.
I think there are a couple things that are almost direct copies of your designs. The top buttons on the minimap, and the menu button, which is the thingimajigg sticking out on the centre. A little sircular button thingy. And.. .well, the general color sceme I guess... But I did not copy\phaste from the reference image. If anything I copied to the extend of doing it all from scratch at pixel level.
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Cool, Im glad that it has been created from the ground-up. Be carefull with that kind of stuff, I dont think many artists like when people say they get "inspired" by copying original pieces of the work and rearranging them all over the place.
Peace.
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This is fucking sweet-ass. I heart pixel stuff, and especially sci-fi shizzle like this. If this were a winamp skin - omg! Anyway, one drawback to using a pixelart-based UI in a game is of course that it won't scale with resolution... :/
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Well, your dreams are true:
[link]
And yeah, the final interface will not be pixel based, so no worries there. I just did this one to practice pixel art, and to at the same time get an idea of how the layout would be.
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Ah, you based it on that classic I see. I have that skin already.
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The interface looks attractive. The numbers for the resource bar need a little more emphasis. My greatest concern would be that the interface implies a very complicated command and control scheme that might be too complicated for many mainstream players. Overall, however, the design looks VERY slick. Kudos!
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Oh yes. The main idea of the game is to get it very complicated.
Already when you start up with you as the commander on the battlefield the complication is evident. And creating your first unit will be an "adventure" in itself.
One of the parts of the game will the unique and individual consern for every unit you create. Sure, they may look the same, but each of them are own individuals that gain experience as you fight, and they are all renameable to whatever you may want. With the experience comes a lot of extra stuff that would be a bit too much to explain now
What can I say... I am one of those who likes it complicated
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Hmmm.... about the complication of adding hallways and stuff to structures... that reminds me of the game i forgot whats it called... something something 2160. Its set in Mars, you fight human organizations on Mars. You get this central command structure dropped in from orbit, like WH40K Space Marines structures, and then you have more options to build stuff, including pipeways that run around the base (cuz this is Mars, and when ppl wanna get from one place to another without an envirosuit, they go through tunnels/pipeways instead of venturing into the thin atmosphere) I dunno what this does practically, i forgot, you can put turrets on these things, enter/exit gates in the pipes, and powerplant reactors. Heard of this game before?
Are units promotable? Do you like the REd Alert 2 promotions where Master units are entirely different in terms of firepower than their unpromoted counterparts with increased attack rate and new attack affects, or do you like Armies of Exigo type where units that get promoted barely get any bonuses except 2~4 attack + bonus armor points but still same attack rate and attack animation, etc.?
Wow renamable units... Thats like Civilization games where you can name your generals and heroes...
What about inventory? Are normal units able to receive items? HAve you heard of Warwind?
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Not heard of that game... but I have something similar in mind for the deep space missions (on planets and in space itself) I have planned in the game.
Units are promotable in 3 different ways actually.
The first one is the classic one, where the more they kill, the more experience they get, and after a set ammount of experience, they gain a rank. This type of rank only inflicts the infantery units stats. If you want cooler attack animations or rate of fire, you have to upgrade the weapon itself on the unit 
The second one is phurcaseable promotions. Here the unit have to have an experience rank that meets the phurcasable promotions requirements. There will be special weapons and upgrades avaliable for theese ranked people, as well as nice augmentations that give auras and such.
The last one is set ranks, where the units have a set rank. This is for hero units which are either constructable or given when you play.
And yes, renamable units, absolutely everything is renamable, to give a personal feel of your army. When you construct an infantery unit, they are given an ID code. As an example, the first unit you create will be named "Infantery" with his ID number behind "000.002". So not only are your generals and heroes renamable, but everything you lay your hands on. (This also helps to create a roleplay atmosphere.
Normal units can not recieve items apart from the 3 slots already avaliable on the unit. Your commander however can, as well as certain hero units, or units that are spesifically designed to act as inventories. And yes, I have tried warwind... its a fun game
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Haha, remeber the Obblinox Colossus?
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That's prolly the most amazing thing i've ever seen done in Paint! I'd love to offer a bunch of input to ur game, too - i've often thought RTS's are lacking pretty much what u've described, and i've got a bunch more ideas i'd love to actually see implemented
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By all means, share!
I would love input and new ideas.
Ill tell you more about the ideas and the potential of the game actually comming true as well.
And lets do it over notes so we do not clutter this place
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What is that thing in the top right corner that resembles a compass without needles? Never seen that one before in RTS except one...
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That is a clock to show the time of the day if you play a mission on a planet. Certain units see worse at night, and others use the night as stealthy cover. And as usual multiple upgrades and tweaks are avaliable for the general light on the battlefield. Such as lights on powerarmor, to darkness generators which creates darkness.
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Indeed, you ARE crazy. But in a good way. This is awesome!
Ever thought about getting a job in a game development team / group / corporation? (or whatever the fucking hell it's called. I don't remember) I think you should.
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if you keep it all in only one blue-tone you may bore the player. like the upper part with the ressource-bar: you've got to emphasize the numbers somehow so the player can easily see them instead of searching them because of the monotone colors.
just my two cents.
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As said, its not what the interface will look like, its just to get an idea what features will be in it. I even posted it in italics at the beginning 
The blue color is soothing, cold and futuristic. Sure, it is not final, but I am afraid the final one would appear blue with chromed high tech looking metal. Pluss the final interface will be animated as well: Such as when the game starts it will animate into place, the hologram screens (All the blue stuff) will sometimes have data circuits animated behind them, and they will also flimmer, or flutter, or whatsitcalled. It is also "upgradeable". A feature will animate into place as soon as you build or unlock whatever feature it is. And ofcorse the clock in the upper right corner will spin as time passes by.
The important numbers are already bigger than the other extra informative ones. But sure, a bit more shine to them can't hurt.
Your two cents are nice and shiny... I am going to keep them for myself.
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Glad you accepted my opinion
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O_o what?
Where?
If anything it is StarCraft 1
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well...there is no much difference in sc1 and sc2 interface...
In matter of fact...only graphics are better...and they added few more units to each race...
Kinda disappointing
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Aah, not much ey? There are some similarities, ofcorse. But they have changed a bit.
I believe the thing is, it is StarCraft. Now you do not mess with perfection, and it is its own gimmick, sorta. Pluss the interface is near "perfection" on what information you gather, and where.
Anyway
StarCraft 1:
[link]
The terran one, has the same layout as the protoss one (And the zerg for that matter), but you get the idea.
StarCraft II
Now, if you go here: [link] 
Other than that, myeah, its pretty much the same layout.
But yeah, I did have starcraft in mind when I sketched out the interface. But that was SC1, so the similarities, such as the "menu button" which is replaced by the 3 unit accessories is there. The buttons on the TOP of the minimap instead of the sides... etc.
And not only the graphics are better, not only interface style, but game style. The whole system has changed. You have the new IK system (which means the unit models collide with the ground, and the models does not "disappear" into the doodads etc), physics, new spells, new units, old units (<3), continuing storyline, rock\paper\sissor unit system. While it might seem as an expansion, it is a totally new game. You can no longer pump out 24 carriers and win the game. There is no more massing one unit, such as the goliath or hydralisk. You have to think strategically. And for now, you can select as many units as you want, not just 12.
But then again, if you are like me, a hardcore SC fan, you want as many similarities as possible, since you do not mess with perfection!
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aaah...it's been LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time since I heard someone talk about SC so fanatically...
I used to had these 2 friends back in late 90's early 00's that were very very obsessed with CS...
They played it for years and years...and many hours each day...
I was medicore...I liked it...but was never too big of a fan...
But I do agree it's the best RTS ever
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i was kinda thinking the same thing about how it kinda looks a bit starcraft like. but i really like the colours and its real shiny
i look forward to seeing more
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Sounds like a BIG game.. high requirements.
Anyway, I like the interface, and the game sounds fun too.
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