[BIG Idea] New UI?

[Guest Maane]

Not sure if this has been posted before or not, because today was the first time I decided to check out the EleTD forums, BUUTT:

Have you ever wondered if it would be a cool idea to redo the actual UI of the game for EleTD? If you don't know what I mean, I'm talking about redoing the graphics of the bar on the top of the screen, and the interface on the bottom (minimap/buttonpanel/portrait/info). Some RPG's and other games have done this before, as well as some custom campaigns, and I think that if EleTD had one, it could make this game THAT much bigger. I saw some of mrChaks work, and he is very good, maybe he could help with it?

[Guest minddrifter]

That would be really cool, I like that idea.

[Guest Maane]

Yeah, it would. There could be the Elements flowing across the UI in the order like the MapPreview image.. mmm. Sounds good to me!

[Guest Sancdar]

A large increase in map size for no appreciable benefit? Alright!

[Guest minddrifter]

There's always a catch...

[echinodermata]

I hate games that do this. It turns me away at the start. I also despise excessive use of colored text.

[Guest Warcryptic]

Sometimes things repell, but sometimes these things attract. If you do this, what could be fun, be really professional or strict about this.

[Twilice]

It would for sure make the map bigger.

(If you would get something nice looking can I use it in my TD? Trying to find a nice looking. But I am not a god painter.)

I got an old hacked photoshop

[Guest mrchak]

I've had a little experience doing this (for a Greek Mythology TD I was working on a while ago) and I agree with a lot of the comments; it can really make the map file big, with no apparent benefit; the blp files can be compressed, but they are pretty large (it could potentially add 300-500 kb to the map file size).

It could be fun, if we want to make a BLING version of the map people can play if they don't mind a huge map file, and and there can be the normal one. It sounds like something I might work on at some point, but not high priority. If it's not done really well it will be an eyesore and really bad for the game.

As a side note, anybody who needs a good graphics editor check out "Gimp" for raster graphics or "Inkscape" for vector graphics. Both are open source and available for both Windows or Mac. http://www.osalt.com

[Twilice]

Raster and Vector grapichs?

Whats the difference.

I want a program to make it a bit watery for my flooded TD.

Edit: Is there a try limit or is it 100% fre?

[MagicalHacker]

Raster and Vector grapichs?

Whats the difference.

I want a program to make it a bit watery for my flooded TD.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics. Raster graphics are the type of graphics you're probably familiar with.

Edit: Is there a try limit or is it 100% fre?

Both are Free software in the Free Software Foundation sense of the word.

[Twilice]

Yay thanks ......so wich one to use?

Vector for best qualtiy?

[Guest mrchak]

Use Gimp for the UI, you want to create TGA files. You will need to learn how to use alpha settings.

Also check out paint.net, its a free raster graphics program which might do the job as well.

I'm suggesting these programs because they are free and open-source, they are not necessarily FAST TO LEARN.