I've been working on a set of 16x16 for the commander minimap. I figured that commanders will be looking at these icons for strategic info more than anyone else. So I decided to make 16x16 first to insure maximum readability at that size.
I can still scale up to 32x32 and rework them a bit to look nice for the players' larger minimap. It's just that the scaled down examples of 32x32 to 16x16 really lose readability from all the ones I've seen. I guess the idea is that once you learn the 32-size it's easy enough to distinguish 16-size icons.
I hope mine turn out good enough to be useful for someone. I'll post some my 16-size icons later today.
EDIT: I need to rework a few after seeing the folly of using too much black/dark gray. I'm not really much of a pixel artist, just been enjoying some time in PS again.
aeroripperJoin Date: 2005-02-25Member: 42471NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
I've made a extremely sloppy comparison image with the NS1 original greyscales of what we have so far. Somebody feel free to clean them up since my paint skills are lacking:
I'm still a sucker for look of Supernorn's pixel art since it seems to be the most comparable to the old NS1 minimap. All of them so far are showing a good spectrum of different directions the art can take though.
Thanks guys. I took the hint from some of the posts in the thread and did a second pass on the icons I'd already finished. In general the outlines look softer and it's a bit easier on the eyes. I think it will be hard to choose between some of the submissions as everyone has taken a different approach, which is quite interesting.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
<!--quoteo(post=1826675:date=Jan 24 2011, 01:20 PM:name=Supernorn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Supernorn @ Jan 24 2011, 01:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826675"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Thanks guys. I took the hint from some of the posts in the thread and did a second pass on the icons I'd already finished. In general the outlines look softer and it's a bit easier on the eyes. I think it will be hard to choose between some of the submissions as everyone has taken a different approach, which is quite interesting.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Excellent. nice job on making an easy read of unused RT points and softer outlines. now just change the death markers to skull and crossbones or something else. cant see who's been killed with those colored X's next to each other, alien or marine. other than that i think your set is ready for submitting, my friend. :)
<!--quoteo(post=1826668:date=Jan 24 2011, 02:46 PM:name=aeroripper)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aeroripper @ Jan 24 2011, 02:46 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826668"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've made a extremely sloppy comparison image with the NS1 original greyscales of what we have so far. Somebody feel free to clean them up since my paint skills are lacking:
I'm still a sucker for look of Supernorn's pixel art since it seems to be the most comparable to the old NS1 minimap. All of them so far are showing a good spectrum of different directions the art can take though.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Supernorn, personally I think you should mark the level 1 commander chair and hive too. Seeing that blank chair or hive icon doesn't indicate it can be leveled up. It doesn't make sense to just jump from nothing to "L2". After seeing a normal icon jump to level 2, a player may think other objects with "normal" icons could be leveled up too. How would they know if a power node could be leveled up or not? I like XVisions chairs but personally I think the third chair should be changed to 3 stripes. Although using the Frontiersmen symbol is a cool idea, it doesn't express what level the chair is except for maybe "max level" (Which the player now has to figure out). The hives (in other people's sets) could have a better level indicator too like a box bar or circle bar (see pic below)
<!--quoteo(post=1826675:date=Jan 24 2011, 10:20 PM:name=Supernorn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Supernorn @ Jan 24 2011, 10:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826675"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Thanks guys. I took the hint from some of the posts in the thread and did a second pass on the icons I'd already finished. In general the outlines look softer and it's a bit easier on the eyes. I think it will be hard to choose between some of the submissions as everyone has taken a different approach, which is quite interesting.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Un-powered powernodes are gray? Or will there be a new look?
Looking good. At supernorn: maybe just the numbers within the hive (etc(, but therefore bigger numbers? Would be easier to spot I think. The L isn't needed anyways, is it?
<!--quoteo(post=1826716:date=Jan 24 2011, 04:55 PM:name=gorge.ous)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gorge.ous @ Jan 24 2011, 04:55 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826716"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Looking good. At supernorn: maybe just the numbers within the hive (etc(, but therefore bigger numbers? Would be easier to spot I think. The L isn't needed anyways, is it?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I was also going to suggest getting rid of the "L" but then I thought of how it may lead to confusion. People may think a level 1 hive is really just "hive #1" and a level 2 hive is "hive #2" (since all they are seeing is a number on top of it). They may think that this is how hives are identified for strategies (instead of like Hive West or however it is done now).
Mr. EpicJoin Date: 2003-08-01Member: 18660Members, Constellation
edited January 2011
Nice progress all!
Supernorn: Your icons are mostly great, though there are a few things I noticed: -The doors are a little off. How about making the standard door the white color of the present welded door (and the locked door) and on the welded door add a black or gray zig zag like Tig's? -Power node is the right idea, but make it a little larger OR make the bolt larger and more contrasty (eg: make it larger and surround the bolt with white while keeping the shape and size of the outer area the same) -Marines look great but compared to the original you may want to try to brighten the gun to emphasize direction -death locations are not good right now, how about making the marine death a skull or skull and crossbone and for the aliens do like a pile of bones or something. -Extractor looks too much like the CC and other buildings, perhaps rotate it so that the X shape doesn't follow the profile of the CC? -IP doesn't have enough brightness at the center area, and maybe there isn't enough shape definition. Perhaps a swirling shape to a bright center would make it stand out more. -weapons module armory has that X shape in it that makes it look more like the other buildings, perhaps remove the grey elements that make up that x so as to keep it looking more like the other armory but leave the jutting parts to give it the enhanced shape and add a W or something if it isn't distinct enough.
Its a really good collection of icons, it definitely has the feel and just needs some tweaking to help make some of the elements stand out more.
Runteh: Your icons are definitely the least conventional, there are some really good points (like capturing the shapes of the alien buildings, they are instantly recognizable) and some that I'm not sure work (like having everything non-alien be more of a made up icon than a shot of the model). I think that difference could work if the iconified marine and neutral objects are done really well, but at the same time the difference may be both visually jarring and confusing. The other issue in all of that is that your icons seem high res and I'm not certain their visual quality is scaling down when you have to reduce them. Maybe try to scale with extra contrast to maintain more of the detail? -The alien side of things looks great, definitely your own look (very model-oriented) and you made some of the alien structures instantly recognizable. -I like the I II III armory, the IP has the right sort of shapes and bright center that makes it stand out, and the extractor looks different enough from the other buildings. -Not sure about the CC double lines, maybe do single horizontal lines? -The doors are nice, I like the way they convey the state very quickly. -Death locations are a little funny, I would probably confuse the bullets with an ammo pack though.
Its a promising set if you can make it work scaled down and if you can make the difference between neutral icons (like doors, deaths, etc...) and marine icons a bit greater.
Tig: Your icons are interesting in that they are extremely frugal, definitely the most successful low-profile set. I like how well you captured the shapes with such few pixels, the alien side of things is quite good, and most of the sizes are spot on. The use of scale to differentiate the objects is really good, I like teh proportions of the player icons in particular. -The dotted/filled black line denoting upgrades is a bit difficult to make out on lvl 3, perhaps use a full white line instead of black. -Death Xs need work like everyone else's -Armory levels are too different, I would think they were completely different building types. -Updated alien icons aren't surrounded by the dotted line/full line motif, it may work better than inverting the colors.
This set has a lot of promise, keep working on it!
Xvisions: Excellent set so far, the hive levels work without having to rely on the numbers and your CCs make a lot of sense. Keep scale in mind and do the rest of the set, I really like the marine buildings (IP is awesome, res node looks different, and at least the first two armory levels look good). Do more!
To the others out there try to fill out more of them and be sure to provide
<!--coloro:#000000--><span style="color:#000000"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Still dont like the fade as much ^^<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
i like your style over everyone else's, but i like supernorn's marines better than the arrows, the arrows make me think of radar blips for some reason.
edit: i think you should remove the horizontal lines in the middle of your command chairs to make the I, II, III more prominent.
edit: i need to redo a lot of mine if i hope to compete.
<!--coloro:#000000--><span style="color:#000000"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Still dont like the fade ^^<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
PlasmaJoin Date: 2003-04-26Member: 15855Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
Is anyone colourblind? Do these blue/green/red mixed colours make the minimap unreadable for you?
I've seen just one game I think offer the option to do different shaded colours for these sorts of things (just render a greyscale version of the image w/ an overlayed colour) to try and help those users.
<!--quoteo(post=1826744:date=Jan 25 2011, 01:12 AM:name=Runteh)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Runteh @ Jan 25 2011, 01:12 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826744"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But he's got his big claw out! :(<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Somehow my brain wants to see it as a sideview of a strange creature(["frog-like" with crippled arms oO]only if it faces to the right[maybe also to the left], up or down works) - more highlight/definition on the head, darker on his arms => should work better
Looking better, although I think I'll advice against having the tech-node backdrop on the hives. I think those are neutrally looking better if they are more blended into the map itself with a blue/orange tint (depending on which side is viewing the map of course). Just aesthetically speaking.
Also I think you could try adding some white into the commander-icons so they stand out. I'm assuming that UWE intends for the icon to move according to where the commander is currently viewing, so bringing them out a little more couldn't hurt I think. Try some variations on which part to colour white and also if maybe it looks better if you use some transparency (you have the option to use that if I'm not mistaken) so people can still see under the commander-icon if necessary.
And regarding the Fade I think it's the weakest of the bunch, it would look better if it had both arms raised in my opinion on his sides. Right now you can't even distinguish really where the head is easily and despite the claw being its dominant feature, it's not like you'll see them raised like that all the time.
I only have white on 'important to convey' info, and I don't want it on everything. So when you see white your brain goes 'uh oh', and then the cool aid guy breaks your door down.
Oh as for colour, that is up to UWE - and regarding the hives I sent them a PSD with the hives in without the combined tech node back drop. So they can have whatever they please if they like them.
I'm knackered, i'll try alternative Fade tomorrow :(
Awesome job Runteh. It's clean, simple and the icons are very easy to quickly distinguish between each other. I especially like your choice of using arrows to represent marines. The less time a player in game has to spend looking at the mini-map the better and I think your icons do that better than the others.
twilitebluebug stalkerJoin Date: 2003-02-04Member: 13116Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
I don't think it is necessary to display facing direction (of enemies or friends) on the minimap, as it can change in the blink of an eye. Displaying facing direction of players on the minimap only over-complicates it. The Sentry turret is the only exception so far.
Do you really need to know which way that your friendly Skulk, on the other side of the map is facing? Having simple, distinct icons (the gorge top-down view icon is a problem), such as "teeth" for skulk, "snout" for gorge, "claws" for fade would help keep the minimap a lot more readable.
Mr. EpicJoin Date: 2003-08-01Member: 18660Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1826781:date=Jan 24 2011, 08:54 PM:name=twiliteblue)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (twiliteblue @ Jan 24 2011, 08:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826781"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't think it is necessary to display facing direction (of enemies or friends) on the minimap, as it can change in the blink of an eye. Displaying facing direction of players on the minimap only over-complicates it. The Sentry turret is the only exception so far.
Do you really need to know which way that your friendly Skulk, on the other side of the map is facing? Having simple, distinct icons (the gorge top-down view icon is a problem), such as "teeth" for skulk, "snout" for gorge, "claws" for fade would help keep the minimap a lot more readable.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Direction is important, it allows you to infer direction (where to go) without having to watch the icons move. Runteh will redo the fade and the set will match, the remaining issue is what to do about the marines. Are arrows appropriate?
<!--quoteo(post=1826644:date=Jan 24 2011, 06:45 PM:name=Tig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tig @ Jan 24 2011, 06:45 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826644"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->this is something i wish you had put in the guidelines before i started. i designed my scale to specification of the sample minimap pictures given...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> The icons should be 32x32, as it is listed in the guidelines. I am merely referring to the overall size of all the icons, which we can scale down on our end. But, as far as having some icons smaller within the 32 to keep them in scale with the others icons, that is still preferable. So, if that is how you've been doing it, it should be fine. We don't have plans of scaling each icon individually depending on what it is, its much easier for us to just scale them all down uniformly.
<!--quoteo(post=1826785:date=Jan 24 2011, 09:06 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Jan 24 2011, 09:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826785"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The icons should be 32x32, as it is listed in the guidelines. I am merely referring to the overall size of all the icons, which we can scale down on our end. But, as far as having some icons smaller within the 32 to keep them in scale with the others icons, that is still preferable. So, if that is how you've been doing it, it should be fine. We don't have plans of scaling each icon individually depending on what it is, its much easier for us to just scale them all down uniformly.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
thanks for clarifying, that's good to know. commander icon? used for overlay at tech point or free roaming centered on where the commander is currently viewing?
<!--quoteo(post=1826786:date=Jan 25 2011, 04:18 AM:name=Tig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tig @ Jan 25 2011, 04:18 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826786"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->commander icon? used for overlay at tech point or free roaming centered on where the commander is currently viewing?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
also: is the hive/cc icon overlaying the techpoint or replacing it? same for res nodes
<!--quoteo(post=1826621:date=Jan 24 2011, 11:49 PM:name=Runteh)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Runteh @ Jan 24 2011, 11:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1826621"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just one more post from me, there are already too many from me on here. I just keep going back and tweaking things based on feedback! I will submit these finally to UWE.
I think everything is on here.
With regards to brightness/contrast/etc, that is all easily tweakable.
<img src="http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4301/joniconspsd2.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Loving it so far. My favourite of all the current submissions. Especially the marines as arrows with a green circle.
<i>Edit: just going through, answering my own questions, based on the guidelines...</i> I don't know what some of the icons are though. What's the arrow without the green circle? <i>Heavy - yeah, that works. Alternatively you could have the same as the standard marine but flip the colours, so light green for the circle and vice versa. Or just all dark green, light green "outline". More dark green than light green would definitely lend itself to the concept of "heavy", I think.</i> What's the dark green equilateral flat triangle opposing two narrow light green triangles? <i>Jetpack marine - This is good, I would advise adding a circle somehow to maintain the theme.</i> What's the bullets, and the slash? Death markers? <i>Generic dead marine/dead alien.</i> I would just go with skull and crossbones - colours already differentiate them (actually, why is the dead marine red and the dead alien green?). Maybe get creative with an alien skull for aliens. What's the circle/eye and the circle/star? Alien/marine comm?* <i>Yep</i> *What are these for? Do they show where they're currently viewing? Are the circles with arrows facing in waypoints? <i>Arrow to squadmate, arrow to waypoint - not sure how arrow to squadmate is meant to work in-game though</i> Is the thing that looks like a grenade from a GL a grenade? <i>Yep.</i> Why is it red? Are the little icons near the hive in west wing, eggs? What's the icon above west wing (next to your sentry in the icon group image)? <i>ARC moving - deployed is good as is, maybe add an arrow for moving ARC</i>
The sentry gun, although it looks good, still is a bit too bulky. You can see the effect when you have more than one close to one another, as you did in a previous image. I still don't like the fade. Kinda looks like a flea on its side. The gorge's "snout", if that's what it is, is a bit weird. Silhouette is possibly a little too similar to the skulk as well. There's not a lot of contrast between the tech/res nodes and the structures on top of them, so that part doesn't look as good as it could. The MAC is maybe a little bit bulky and non-descript. Consider maybe a "box" (possibly keep the same silhouette), but add a standard robotic hand/manipulator like, <b>-C</b>
Comments
Will go about some changing!
I can still scale up to 32x32 and rework them a bit to look nice for the players' larger minimap. It's just that the scaled down examples of 32x32 to 16x16 really lose readability from all the ones I've seen. I guess the idea is that once you learn the 32-size it's easy enough to distinguish 16-size icons.
I hope mine turn out good enough to be useful for someone. I'll post some my 16-size icons later today.
EDIT:
I need to rework a few after seeing the folly of using too much black/dark gray. I'm not really much of a pixel artist, just been enjoying some time in PS again.
<img src="http://i.min.us/iejzYS.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7577/comparisonsfinal.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I'm still a sucker for look of Supernorn's pixel art since it seems to be the most comparable to the old NS1 minimap. All of them so far are showing a good spectrum of different directions the art can take though.
<img src="http://blackmage.org/supernorn/bigmock3.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://blackmage.org/supernorn/minmap4.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Excellent.
nice job on making an easy read of unused RT points and softer outlines.
now just change the death markers to skull and crossbones or something else. cant see who's been killed with those colored X's next to each other, alien or marine.
other than that i think your set is ready for submitting, my friend. :)
<img src="http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7577/comparisonsfinal.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I'm still a sucker for look of Supernorn's pixel art since it seems to be the most comparable to the old NS1 minimap. All of them so far are showing a good spectrum of different directions the art can take though.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Supernorn, personally I think you should mark the level 1 commander chair and hive too. Seeing that blank chair or hive icon doesn't indicate it can be leveled up. It doesn't make sense to just jump from nothing to "L2". After seeing a normal icon jump to level 2, a player may think other objects with "normal" icons could be leveled up too. How would they know if a power node could be leveled up or not?
I like XVisions chairs but personally I think the third chair should be changed to 3 stripes. Although using the Frontiersmen symbol is a cool idea, it doesn't express what level the chair is except for maybe "max level" (Which the player now has to figure out). The hives (in other people's sets) could have a better level indicator too like a box bar or circle bar (see pic below)
<a href="http://img600.imageshack.us/i/myind1.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5622/myind1.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>
But you should indeed change your death-icons. 5% of all males won't see the difference between your red and your green cross.
I see what you did there, in the lower left corner!
Un-powered powernodes are gray? Or will there be a new look?
At supernorn: maybe just the numbers within the hive (etc(, but therefore bigger numbers? Would be easier to spot I think. The L isn't needed anyways, is it?
At supernorn: maybe just the numbers within the hive (etc(, but therefore bigger numbers? Would be easier to spot I think. The L isn't needed anyways, is it?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I was also going to suggest getting rid of the "L" but then I thought of how it may lead to confusion. People may think a level 1 hive is really just "hive #1" and a level 2 hive is "hive #2" (since all they are seeing is a number on top of it). They may think that this is how hives are identified for strategies (instead of like Hive West or however it is done now).
Supernorn:
Your icons are mostly great, though there are a few things I noticed:
-The doors are a little off. How about making the standard door the white color of the present welded door (and the locked door) and on the welded door add a black or gray zig zag like Tig's?
-Power node is the right idea, but make it a little larger OR make the bolt larger and more contrasty (eg: make it larger and surround the bolt with white while keeping the shape and size of the outer area the same)
-Marines look great but compared to the original you may want to try to brighten the gun to emphasize direction
-death locations are not good right now, how about making the marine death a skull or skull and crossbone and for the aliens do like a pile of bones or something.
-Extractor looks too much like the CC and other buildings, perhaps rotate it so that the X shape doesn't follow the profile of the CC?
-IP doesn't have enough brightness at the center area, and maybe there isn't enough shape definition. Perhaps a swirling shape to a bright center would make it stand out more.
-weapons module armory has that X shape in it that makes it look more like the other buildings, perhaps remove the grey elements that make up that x so as to keep it looking more like the other armory but leave the jutting parts to give it the enhanced shape and add a W or something if it isn't distinct enough.
Its a really good collection of icons, it definitely has the feel and just needs some tweaking to help make some of the elements stand out more.
Runteh:
Your icons are definitely the least conventional, there are some really good points (like capturing the shapes of the alien buildings, they are instantly recognizable) and some that I'm not sure work (like having everything non-alien be more of a made up icon than a shot of the model). I think that difference could work if the iconified marine and neutral objects are done really well, but at the same time the difference may be both visually jarring and confusing. The other issue in all of that is that your icons seem high res and I'm not certain their visual quality is scaling down when you have to reduce them. Maybe try to scale with extra contrast to maintain more of the detail?
-The alien side of things looks great, definitely your own look (very model-oriented) and you made some of the alien structures instantly recognizable.
-I like the I II III armory, the IP has the right sort of shapes and bright center that makes it stand out, and the extractor looks different enough from the other buildings.
-Not sure about the CC double lines, maybe do single horizontal lines?
-The doors are nice, I like the way they convey the state very quickly.
-Death locations are a little funny, I would probably confuse the bullets with an ammo pack though.
Its a promising set if you can make it work scaled down and if you can make the difference between neutral icons (like doors, deaths, etc...) and marine icons a bit greater.
Tig:
Your icons are interesting in that they are extremely frugal, definitely the most successful low-profile set. I like how well you captured the shapes with such few pixels, the alien side of things is quite good, and most of the sizes are spot on. The use of scale to differentiate the objects is really good, I like teh proportions of the player icons in particular.
-The dotted/filled black line denoting upgrades is a bit difficult to make out on lvl 3, perhaps use a full white line instead of black.
-Death Xs need work like everyone else's
-Armory levels are too different, I would think they were completely different building types.
-Updated alien icons aren't surrounded by the dotted line/full line motif, it may work better than inverting the colors.
This set has a lot of promise, keep working on it!
Xvisions:
Excellent set so far, the hive levels work without having to rely on the numbers and your CCs make a lot of sense. Keep scale in mind and do the rest of the set, I really like the marine buildings (IP is awesome, res node looks different, and at least the first two armory levels look good). Do more!
To the others out there try to fill out more of them and be sure to provide
<img src="http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/9954/iconsoutline.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/323/outlinesmall.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<!--coloro:#000000--><span style="color:#000000"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Still dont like the fade as much ^^<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
i like your style over everyone else's, but i like supernorn's marines better than the arrows, the arrows make me think of radar blips for some reason.
edit: i think you should remove the horizontal lines in the middle of your command chairs to make the I, II, III more prominent.
edit: i need to redo a lot of mine if i hope to compete.
<!--coloro:#000000--><span style="color:#000000"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:1--><span style="font-size:8pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Still dont like the fade ^^<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But he's got his big claw out! :(
I've seen just one game I think offer the option to do different shaded colours for these sorts of things (just render a greyscale version of the image w/ an overlayed colour) to try and help those users.
Somehow my brain wants to see it as a sideview of a strange creature(["frog-like" with crippled arms oO]only if it faces to the right[maybe also to the left], up or down works) - more highlight/definition on the head, darker on his arms => should work better
Also I think you could try adding some white into the commander-icons so they stand out. I'm assuming that UWE intends for the icon to move according to where the commander is currently viewing, so bringing them out a little more couldn't hurt I think. Try some variations on which part to colour white and also if maybe it looks better if you use some transparency (you have the option to use that if I'm not mistaken) so people can still see under the commander-icon if necessary.
And regarding the Fade I think it's the weakest of the bunch, it would look better if it had both arms raised in my opinion on his sides. Right now you can't even distinguish really where the head is easily and despite the claw being its dominant feature, it's not like you'll see them raised like that all the time.
Not sure the mouse bites / colour holes intuitively communicate more powerful / evolving structures though.
Possibly add a colour graduation between structure evolves?
Oh as for colour, that is up to UWE - and regarding the hives I sent them a PSD with the hives in without the combined tech node back drop. So they can have whatever they please if they like them.
I'm knackered, i'll try alternative Fade tomorrow :(
zzzZZZzzz
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<3 it. chibi marine-less ftw.
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Awesome job Runteh. It's clean, simple and the icons are very easy to quickly distinguish between each other. I especially like your choice of using arrows to represent marines. The less time a player in game has to spend looking at the mini-map the better and I think your icons do that better than the others.
Do you really need to know which way that your friendly Skulk, on the other side of the map is facing? Having simple, distinct icons (the gorge top-down view icon is a problem), such as "teeth" for skulk, "snout" for gorge, "claws" for fade would help keep the minimap a lot more readable.
Do you really need to know which way that your friendly Skulk, on the other side of the map is facing? Having simple, distinct icons (the gorge top-down view icon is a problem), such as "teeth" for skulk, "snout" for gorge, "claws" for fade would help keep the minimap a lot more readable.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Direction is important, it allows you to infer direction (where to go) without having to watch the icons move. Runteh will redo the fade and the set will match, the remaining issue is what to do about the marines. Are arrows appropriate?
The icons should be 32x32, as it is listed in the guidelines. I am merely referring to the overall size of all the icons, which we can scale down on our end. But, as far as having some icons smaller within the 32 to keep them in scale with the others icons, that is still preferable. So, if that is how you've been doing it, it should be fine. We don't have plans of scaling each icon individually depending on what it is, its much easier for us to just scale them all down uniformly.
--Cory
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thanks for clarifying, that's good to know. commander icon? used for overlay at tech point or free roaming centered on where the commander is currently viewing?
also: is the hive/cc icon overlaying the techpoint or replacing it? same for res nodes
I think everything is on here.
With regards to brightness/contrast/etc, that is all easily tweakable.
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Loving it so far. My favourite of all the current submissions. Especially the marines as arrows with a green circle.
<i>Edit: just going through, answering my own questions, based on the guidelines...</i>
I don't know what some of the icons are though.
What's the arrow without the green circle? <i>Heavy - yeah, that works. Alternatively you could have the same as the standard marine but flip the colours, so light green for the circle and vice versa. Or just all dark green, light green "outline". More dark green than light green would definitely lend itself to the concept of "heavy", I think.</i>
What's the dark green equilateral flat triangle opposing two narrow light green triangles? <i>Jetpack marine - This is good, I would advise adding a circle somehow to maintain the theme.</i>
What's the bullets, and the slash? Death markers? <i>Generic dead marine/dead alien.</i> I would just go with skull and crossbones - colours already differentiate them (actually, why is the dead marine red and the dead alien green?). Maybe get creative with an alien skull for aliens.
What's the circle/eye and the circle/star? Alien/marine comm?* <i>Yep</i>
*What are these for? Do they show where they're currently viewing?
Are the circles with arrows facing in waypoints? <i>Arrow to squadmate, arrow to waypoint - not sure how arrow to squadmate is meant to work in-game though</i>
Is the thing that looks like a grenade from a GL a grenade? <i>Yep.</i> Why is it red?
Are the little icons near the hive in west wing, eggs?
What's the icon above west wing (next to your sentry in the icon group image)? <i>ARC moving - deployed is good as is, maybe add an arrow for moving ARC</i>
The sentry gun, although it looks good, still is a bit too bulky. You can see the effect when you have more than one close to one another, as you did in a previous image.
I still don't like the fade. Kinda looks like a flea on its side. The gorge's "snout", if that's what it is, is a bit weird. Silhouette is possibly a little too similar to the skulk as well.
There's not a lot of contrast between the tech/res nodes and the structures on top of them, so that part doesn't look as good as it could.
The MAC is maybe a little bit bulky and non-descript. Consider maybe a "box" (possibly keep the same silhouette), but add a standard robotic hand/manipulator like, <b>-C</b>
Edit2: Thanks also, Koruyo.