Hi all. I'm back from a long vacation and have caught up on this thread. I thought I might have a chance to keep up with it while I was gone, but that didn't happen.
I agree that the direction needs to be nailed down first because that will ultimately resolve many of the other issues when we know the answers to some of these basic questions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragowulf
- What do we want to achieve? Why?
- How do we want it to differ from the current default UI? Why?
- Who would be the target audience? Why?
- Should it replace the current default UI, but be toggleable like the old map vs. new map? Why or why not?
- Should there be advanced features such as click-to-cure? Why or why not?
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Here are my ideas/opinions on the above questions.
1. Build a new UI that is more current and reflects the changes that have been made to both the game itself and UI Scripting/XML. Also focus on performance to minimize the impact that the UI has on frame rates.
2. The new UI should have a clean, fresh look with the XML reflecting a more organized structure lending itself to easier modding and customization. I'd like to see a more HUD-based approach with fixed elements rather than a floating window approach.
3. I think the target audience should reflect all play-styles with an emphasis more towards new and casual players. Advanced/hard-core players are more familiar with the inner-workings of the client and have a greater knowledge of client commands. They are more likely to switch to a third-party UI or use game commands as shortcuts regardless of how successful this new UI turns out. I think the greatest gains can be seen by making a UI that is friendlier and less daunting to new users yet provides enough accessibility to features for casual and even hard-core players that don't need that extra level of scripting and detail that third-party UI's often provide.
4. This UI will need to work like any other third-party UI. It cannot sit "on top" of the default UI with a simple toggle. It would have to be loaded like any other UI. If we end up patching this UI down with the default, we would make sure that switching between the two via /loadui command or in-game interface worked smoothly.
5. I would lean more towards leaving out advanced features like click-to-cure for some of the reasons I listed in #3. Its not my intent to create a UI that replaces the work you guys have done in your own custom UI's.