I wanted to flesh out the core UI I have in my head, and see if it would produce any major challenges – as (from a code point of view) it’s needlessly complex 🙂
From the players point of view – it should look purdy darn slick when it’s done.
The core idea is that the display is “3D” as if overlaid directly into your eyes (think Google Glasses + Oculus Rift). Eventually, HUD elements will track/follow objects in the scene to provide extra detail on them – like details on a target when it’s on screen.
Right now this “3D”-ness comes from the simple 2D views being wrapped around a cylinder with you in the centre. It’s all animating – with view frames growing/shrinking, and panning about the HUD, and can print text wrapped around the cylinder to maintain the illusion.
2D wireframes and textures will fill the views – as per the norm. The net result is a “Windows OS” like feel but wrapped around a cylinder.
The next stage is to render 3D objects in front of these frames – such as a wireframe of your vessel showing it’s status, the local star system map – even the galactic map.
Touch/Mouse control will then let you drag these frames about to layout the HUD as you see fit, and where applicable resize/minimise/maximise/close them just like normal “windows” in your OS.
I will put up a video when I get more interesting UI elements in there to show off the dynamic effect – for now, here’s a proof-of-life working concept shot 😉
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