Creative process and GUI design #2

Hello again!

Tarita here, the artist who has been tasked with the challenge of creating a passable looking UI for Interplanetary.

So, last time we were left with a combination of UI styles, right? I promised I would show you where the UI is currently heading, so here's a mockup:

Please keep in mind that the look of individual elements is far from being set in stone, and that the image above is just a mockup and does not accurately represent what the in-game UI currently looks like. We have just begun alpha testing, and in the light of the new feedback we may have to adjust some things.
The mockup should, however, give you an idea of what kind of style I'm aiming for.

Overall, the style is pretty simplified, and I like having some empty space between stuff. Even when adding detail, I'm trying to keep things simple and stay consistent with the limited amount of colours and light effects. I prefer not to add any extra fluff that doesn't have a distinct function or a reason to be there.

The elements in the mockup are somewhat large. This is partially because they have to work with a variety of different screen sizes, and still stay readable. I think that the increased size complements the simplified style nicely, but some people have told me that it makes the UI look "cute", which may or may not be problematic.

Earlier I told myself that the boxes would be neither blue nor gray, but in the end I had to go with gray.
Why? Because I found that only gray was neutral enough for the rest of the game.
I wish to leave the main stage for the planets and the space background, so the UI can't be too colourful or pop out too much. I don't want the player to miss the subtle details of the starfields on the background just because I insisted on having screaming, bright- yellow boxes on top of everything. This is, incidentally, also one of the reasons why I favour transparency and lack of boxes whenever I can.

Sometimes things pop out too much.

The other reason for the gray main colour is that I'd like to introduce some colour-coded information to the UI, such as icons and text, which are more visible on a muted background. Having a few splashes of colour is a breath of fresh air that also makes the dark graphics of Interplanetary feel slightly less grim and murky.


That's all for today, thank you for reading! In the future I may write more about the individual elements and the design choices and concerns behind them.

You can follow the progress on Interplanetary on Facebook, twitter or the game website.

Interplanetary Alpha Update: Online Play!

Hello testers and non-testers alike! Interplanetary has rolled out with a new, updated version of the alpha!

Former testers can use their old alpha code to download the improved version. New testers can also give it a try by shooting us a private message on Facebook, Twitter or IndieDB.

Just drop by at www.interplanetarygame.com and test away!

Remember, the alpha test is for the Windows version, but you can contact us, if you would like to try out a more experimental Mac build.

The Changes

Quite a few things have been changed and many of your own suggestions incorporated. The big thing, of course, being Online Play! It's now possible to face your friends all over the world!

Here's a list of major updates and fixes:

Features

• Online multiplayer enabled
• Missile targeting changed to be more intuitive
• WASD rotates camera in Build Mode
• Weapon trajectories highlight when mouseovering the weapon list
• Planet orbits highlight with mouseover
• Camera moves and stops more smoothly
• Power Grid animation added
• Slight delay added to Power Grid connections
• Various balance changes
• UI improvements
• Minor graphical updates

Fixes

• Missiles now hit where they're supposed to
• Fixed a lock-up when ending turn after incomplete targeting
• The infamous "flying buildings"-bug is now less likely to happen
• Smoke effects displayed in correct spots
• Repairing buildings now updates properly for all players over LAN/online multiplayer

Our most hardcore testers can take a look at a super detailed changelist here!

Interplanetary Alpha

Hello, everyone! As you may have noticed, we've had some big things happening recently. We released a new alpha gameplay trailer, have been handing out alpha test codes to willing participants and even got featured on Rock, Paper, Shotgun! Feels good, man.

Today, we'll be going into more detail about the alpha (which you can get here, once you've pinged us about a code.)

Interplanetary Alpha Features

So, what is actually included in the Windows alpha version? Well, the very basic gameplay is there, but being an alpha version, even that's not shaped to perfection yet. It is possible to finish a match and even have a bit of fun doing it! The proper feature list is:

• Hotseat and LAN multiplayer
• Hotseat is currently restricted to two players, while LAN allows for more. Because the feature is not finished however, the game ends if the host loses.
• Structure building
• You can purchase and set some basic structures on your planet, forming Power Grids. It is also possible to repair, sell and reconnect buildings to the Power Grid.
• Power Grid
• You can connect structures together, so that they're linked to a Power Plant that keeps them online.
• Cities
• The function of Cities is greatly simplified in this version: they act as your planet's health, their population grows, they generate Material and Energy and act as connection points for your Power Grids.
• Resource Management
• It is possible to gather Material and Energy, using Mines and Power Plants.
• Defenses
• Forcefield and Kinetic Defense can be built to defend your planet, for the cost of Energy.
• Firing weapons
• Basic versions of railgun, missile and laser are usable. In the current build, the missile doesn't always hit where it's supposed to.

These are the features you can test. We really welcome all kinds of comments, whether you think something would work better differently or that some features are unbalanced. It's very easy to change the basic values, such as weapon damage and planet speeds, but bigger changes take more time.

A big thing we want to get comments on is the targeting and firing of weapons. Is it fun? Does it work? All the values of the planetary system, from gravities to planet sizes, are easily fixable, so don't hesitate to give your thoughts! 

What's to come?

We are planning on updating the alpha version periodically, so people can also test newer features. This will go on until we reach what we determine to be the beta-stage.

Some features to be expected sooner or later:

• Single player against AI
• Intelligence mode
• Adds some fog of war-like features
• Technology progression
• A tech tree allows players to choose their strategy better and unlock new buildings and bonuses
• Expanded City functionality
• The players will be able to allocate the population to work on Projects that give certain bonuses
• More features!

Happy testing everyone! Send us comments and we'll take your experiences into account when planning the next build!

Interplanetary Alpha Testing and Gameplay Trailer!

Suddenly, a real gameplay trailer! Excitement!

We've been very hard at work these last couple of weeks, but it's been fruitful. We're proud to properly announce the alpha testing of Interplanetary! How to get in on this action? A couple of steps:

1. Contact us! You can do it in a lot of places, Facebook, Twitter, IndieDB, our DevBlog...
2. After receiving your nice message, we send you a code.
3. Go to our brand new website WWW.INTERPLANETARYGAME.COM, enter the code and receive your alpha!

That's it! We will be updating the alpha every couple of weeks. We'll give you a heads-up on Twitter and Facebook every time that happens, so stay in touch!

Have fun testing and remember to send us comments. The most useful feedback wins a little prize!

What's up, Interplanetary?

The game is actually starting to look kind of nice! After all the recent devblog posts, we thought it would be nice to get back to the basics for a moment and give a little update on how we are doing with Interplanetary and internal Team Jolly Roger stuff.

Interplanetary is prettier and more functional!

It's true, a big part of why I wanted to write a quick status update is to showcase some of the new graphics! We've been busy implementing a graphical beauty that we won't be ashamed to show around. Of course, this is still not final, but it's a nice improvement to what we've had in the past.

We've come a long way...

...and we're still not done!

We're currently working on creating something nice looking and playable for o
ur upcoming visit to DigiExpo in Helsinki. Something big is brewing and we'd like to have a nice slice of the game to show to people there, and maybe even let them try it hands-on.

As for the gameplay, we basically have all the basic features of the game present, one way or the other. For showcasing the game, we're concentrating on getting the targeting phase work properly and feel good. It is, after all, a major draw of the game. The other main feature that we aim to polish, is the building of structures and maintaining them. These two features by themselves already make a kind of a nice little game, but there's a lot more in store for the next version.

TJR is a company, for reals!

This is quite huge for us: we managed to break free from the grasp of our university and form an independent company, officially known as TJR Games! We're still the good old Team Jolly Roger, just a bit more official.

Starting a company wasn't a simple thing to do, and preparing for it has slowed down the game development considerably at times. There was a period, when we didn't actually have a work space to do our game development and the team was separated to work in their homes. This rarely works.

Was going to add a picture of the office, but who cares? The game looks nice.

Luckily, we found an office space for a manageable price and filled it with computers and other stuff needed for game making. For a new indie company, this wasn't exactly cheap overall, but at least the situation is more stable now and work can resume in normal pace. Or, extranormal, since we're in a full-on crunch mode! Busy, busy.

Hungry for more screens? Check out our stash of pics, from the oldest of versions to the new shiny ones.

Northern Game Summit 2013 & how to pitch a game

Full house!

Northern Game Summit was held second time last week, and we thought this would be a perfect time to share our experiences.

Kajaani is quite a remote place to hold a gaming conference at, but NGS was still very populated event. (And the only one to date that has started with karaoke!?) All in all the event was pretty excellent, we had a chance to meet lots of new people and keep in touch with old friends. The lectures we're interesting too, even after some technical difficulties.

Afterparty was a big part of the event as usual. The organizers came up with an interesting combination as the stands you would expect to see in most gaming events we're actually part of the party. Worked very nicely!

Ever played Alan Wake on 300" screen?

This time we took part in the pitching contest, which was probably the most important single event throughout the summit. While the pitching didn't go as well as it could have with proper preparation, it was well worth the trouble. Pitching an idea in front of real business people is an excellent way to get some free EXP, something we definitely recommend to any game developer. Since it's possible to learn from anyone, not only from the best, check out this short list of what we gathered:

-Prepare early. This provides you a chance to go through your presentation multiple times and in different mindsets, and gives you more time to...

-Practice. This one should be obvious, but it might still be just a little bit too easy to trick yourself into believing you know your idea/project well enough to present it spontaneously. Do this in front of someone not familiar with you as well, if you have a chance. There a second layer to practice as well: In addition to practicing every single pitch, you should practice pitching in general as often as possible.

-Gather your team, or at least consider doing so. Preparing a game pitch is something you can do alone, but it's almost always better if you can prepare it with your team or even a couple of friends. This helps you to cover multiple points of view, get more feedback and root out some hitches that might have gone unnoticed.

-Back it up. Do some research that prepares you for difficult questions about your target audience, competition, sales estimates, even tech. Including those things in your pitch in a simple format gives a feeling that you know what you're doing, as long as they are facts.

-Make it look good. Having some cool concept art can definitely help you get the point across. Mockups or bullshots are better, and if you have a chance to include a short section of gameplay video, you're all set!

In the process of preparing for a pitch one time too little.

PS. We haven't completely forgotten about Interplanetary either. The development effort is back on track and running smoothly now that we have settled in our new premises. More on that later!

Creative process and UI design, part one

Hello!

I'm Tarita, one of the two artists in our team, and this is my first blog post here. My main task in Interplanetary is to help to make the User Interface fuctional, and hopefully, also pleasant to look at.

Thankfully, I have studied graphic design in the past, and my previous game projects have provided me with enough experience to understand that design work like this involves more than just throwing a few boxes here and there and calling it a day.

So, the theory side is pretty well covered, but my hands-on experience? Very little. Our team size used to be a lot smaller, and as the sole artist my attention was mostly directed at in-game assets. I had made some UI graphics, too, but there wasn't enough time to actually concentrate on them, not properly. Interplanetary is my first chance to redeem the hasty UI:s of the past, so to speak.

Despite this, my first mockup sketches for Interplanetary were conservative: Electric blue elements surrounded by a subtle shine of blue light. I wasn't satisfied. While the combination definitely looks appealing, it's also a very common sight in scifi games, and I wish to avoid sticking to the most obvious style choice. I was looking for something modern and sleek, simplistic rather than cluttered and glossy.

Pictured: creative process

After "some" time, blood and bitter artist tears, I ultimately came up with three different style options for us to choose from: a) A light and delicate combination of solid metal parts and transparent holograms, b) Solid, traditional boxes with a white color scheme, and c) A mix of typography and colourful, yet subtle elements that obstruct the game view as little as possible.

Based on the sketches, we decided to go on with C, but we dropped the main focus from the typography elements and I was requested to tone down the amount of colours. To compensate for the losses, I picked up the white colour scheme (originally from B) and decided to use partially transparent objects instead of plain text.

To be continued...

In my future posts I will shed light on some of the many hassles of designing a functional UI, and provide you with some images of the final UI style. See you there!