The UI work I started last week and planned to finish this week ended up being more difficult than I expected. In particular, the selected cell action indicator (described below) required more coding and some refactoring.
- Separated equipment slots from inventory. One of the many things I did to get a working game early on was to display equipment slots in the same grid as the inventory slots. In addition to simplifying development, I did this because I hadn’t determined what the final equipment slots would be. After deciding on the equipment slots, I needed to move the slots out of the inventory grid and into their own area on the screen. Equipment is now displayed in two columns, one for main worn equipment (helm, armor, etc.) and another for accessories (necklace, ring, etc.), with an image of the player sprite in the middle. Note the sprite does not yet reflect the actual items equipped by the player.
- Selected cell indicator. The cell that the mouse is hovering over is now indicated by a camera frame icon. This makes it easier to tell which cell is selected when the mouse cursor is in between two cells.
- Selected cell action indicator. In addition to displaying the selected cell indicator, hovering over a cell now displays an icon indicating the action that will be performed when left-clicking on the cell. This is useful because the action the player performs when clicking on a cell depends on several factors: the contents of the cell, the player’s proximity to the cell, and the player’s selected melee and ranged weapons. For example, the icon shown over a cell that contains an enemy and is adjacent to the player will display a melee attack icon. Non-combat actions can be displayed, such as opening a chest.
- Moved game menu buttons from the bottom right corner of the screen to the middle right side of the screen. This was done to better balance the UI layout, specifically by making the quick switch slots and menu buttons symmetrical.
- New Map Element: Lairs. Lairs contain a dangerous beast and are littered with bones. They’re generally found in dead ends in caves.
Next week, I’m confident I can close out the remaining UI work. This was my main goal for February, so I’m a tad behind.
Leave a Reply