UI design

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by eJayStudios, May 14, 2010.

  1. eJayStudios

    eJayStudios Well-Known Member

    Oct 17, 2009
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    Hi,

    I want to learn how to make nice UI for games, kinda hate the way my game menus looks now.

    Do you know any good tutorials for Photoshop or any other paint program?

    I'm not an artist, but I believe UI can be made by non artistic person if you know tools well enough?
     
  2. TrueAxis

    TrueAxis Well-Known Member

    Sep 7, 2009
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    Pro Motion is really good for pixel artwork.
     
  3. quantumsheep

    quantumsheep Well-Known Member

    Jun 5, 2009
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    The Head Cheese, Top Dog, Numero Uno Honcho, Quant
    London
  4. ArtCoder

    ArtCoder Well-Known Member

    I think you can design a good GUI if you're not an artist and if you were using standardised components (like in most non-game apps) you should have no problem making it.

    But GUIs for games are much more complex as the UI is usually all custom-made. Good graphics (for the interface as well as for the game) are not about the tools you use.

    Having said that, if you can't afford an artist to make the GUI and you're going the DIY route I'd give you the following advice:
    1. Keep your GUI graphics as simple as possible (maybe solid colors and an outline, not much more)
    2. If you're using Photoshop, go easy on the layer effects. If you're going to use them, just pick one, alter the default parameters, and use the same everywhere
    3. Try to use as few colors as possible, make them mean something (e.g. green = good/ok/go red = bad/cancel/stop)
    4. Try to use as little text as possible, but if you include text look for a good font and avoid standard ones (Arial, etc.) Use as few fonts as possible throughout your GUI.

    Of course, those are not rules, just some advice, and I'm assuming you have enough of an artistic sense to take advantage of it...

    You may find some of the tutorials on this site interesting: http://www.guistuff.com/tutorials.shtml
     
  5. peter303

    peter303 Active Member

    Feb 20, 2010
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    I use Xara Xtreme 5 for my apps and considering I'm not really an artist it's very easy to use and get reasonable results. The price is good too, less than $100 i think.
     
  6. Right to the point ArtCoder. Can't agree more with you.
    For games it's all about style. Have you seen Tip-Top: Last March game?
    The game itself (engine/code) aren't that hard but the visual style just rocks it.
     
  7. eJayStudios

    eJayStudios Well-Known Member

    Oct 17, 2009
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    Thank you guys, lots of good info and advices!

    I understand that good artist can do much better job in game UI design than coder, but then again, menus in my game was made by an artist.

    He did a good job on tracks, really like his style etc, but menus looks kinda crap.

    I don't need to do anything super fancy, just to look a bit sexier.

    If I fail, do you guys know a good artist who can make nice UI without breaking a bank? :)
     
  8. You can get some reasonably good work from some providers on Elance.com.

    Just make sure that they agree to do unlimited revisions until you are happy.

    Many list this as one of their selling points as an Elance provider.

    Some providers are 10x the price of others, so try to make sure you have a large number of proposals before accepting any of them. That way you can compare prices to see who is asking too much.
     

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