Golden Delicious client theme rework attempt

Development discussions for TMW's official client, alternative clients and client adaptations.


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Are these screens better than "old" Golden Delicious released in TMW?

Yes, new version rocks!
4
80%
Nope, new version sucks!
1
20%
It's not that simple (post comment).
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 5
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Hello=)
TMW Classic
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Golden Delicious client theme rework attempt

Post by Hello=) »

Background: info: I've eventually spotted some cool looking buttons somewhere. I remembered I have mtpaint installed and got damn curious if I can pixel some comparable lighting effects using just this thing alone. Challenge accepted! After some trial and error I've got buttons and window title which are looking far more glamourous compared to currently released Golden Delicious client theme.

I've also got idea its a chance to chew on some few smaller discrepancies. Sreens below are WIP and incomplete. There is still plenty of stuff to do. Tabs should be themed more in line with buttons, it not yet done since I have made buttons a bit larger, reduced their borders and it took quite some fiddling with coordinates to get it right. It seems I would repeat this adventure for tabs as well. I want to try to change cursors to fit overall colors better. I dream to improve or replace hourglass animation, its quality is below of what I would really like. The dream is to have enjoyable theme which is eye candy yet affords reasonable usability and looks more or less in spirit of fantasy-themed worlds/games and somesuch.

I would like to get some critique and ideas on what I could change to improve appearance and user perception. I'm also not sure if I should target releasing it as merely new version of Golden Delicious or go for making that a new theme. The former could aggravate some players due to considerable changes. The later would somewhat increase client bloat. So neither solution is perfect.

Some hints on what colors to try or what to change are welcome as well. As example I've attempted blue windows backgrounds instead of brown, similar to some fantasy themed games I've seen (full implementation of this idea would take me doing a lot of re-coloring, but screen gives idea what it could be, I can go for it if it seems worth of it).

Images:
Spoiler:
blue version
blue version
Screenshot1.png (106.63 KiB) Viewed 2872 times
brown version
brown version
Screenshot2.png (103.89 KiB) Viewed 2872 times
Last edited by WildX on 15 Feb 2018, 00:41, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Spoilered large images and moved to appropriate section (Graph. Dev. > Client Dev.)
TeZeR.D
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Re: Golden Delicious client theme rework attempt

Post by TeZeR.D »

Hi t3st3r,
I am an avid fan of good themes and good artwork (seeing as I pioneered both). I am especially glad that someone like yourself has taken time out to contribute and make a theme such as this!
First off, regarding the new "looks":
1) I definitely prefer the new versions, the *old* version features a lot of dark features (which are fine ingame, but *eh* during the login phase). This has two effects - one, most players when choosing a new theme judge by the effect it has on the login/startscreen page as this is quickest/most efficient. So if you desire to garner more use, I would put some effort into making this area the focal point. Secondly, a cool startscreen is cool.
2) I feel like the the new versions (either) are great - and provide an improvement on the startscreen area. Furthermore, I prefer the brown (second) version; I think it provides a much needed contrast to the popping blue you have included, while in the other version the blue feels slightly grating and repetitive.
Now the current *old* version ingame:
I like it! But since you asked for improvements I have a few:
Again, the black can be grating especially on parts of the client that feature little/no transparency; I imagine in the new versions this is replaced with a different colour?
An other (slight) issue is the colour of the fonts especially for HP/Mana and so forth; they seem weird, I think white will be better. In addition to this, I feel the buttons will be better (INV/STA/etc) with a lighter blue. Finally, a key issue with having such a dark background for interfaces means it can negatively affect dark items (e.g. it makes my eyepatch not visible at all).

This is a great theme, good work!
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Hello=)
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Re: Golden Delicious client theme rework attempt

Post by Hello=) »

Hmm... thanks for feedback! I'm feeling a bit tempted to complete that brown version of updated theme. And overall I've got feeling it rather feels like updated and improved version of older theme so I hope I wouldn't get eaten if replacing old theme (with brown version of that). I have it mostly-working for me (and actually playing like that for some time). But still got some GFX quirks to iron out before giving that to players.

As for login: I'm somewhat agree it could be improved. But I'm not sure if theme can bring own background picture. It can suggest default background if I remember, but not sure if it can also bring one as part of theme, and so far client resources seems to lack appealing background image for "dark" themes I guess. It also implies bringing rather large "resource" (hence added bloat) and should fit well ALL servers. That makes whole idea a bit challenging. But I would agree it is something to chew on in terms of good player's experience.

As for progress bars.... 4144 told one can put bitmaps on these. I'm curious to try that eventually. I can imagine it should look great if one manages to get it right (and no problems occur under different configurations like e.g. x2 active, etc, etc).

Also, wait animation sucks and I'm aware of it :D
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