Hello...Are these any good for the game im planning?

[NightFang]

ok so yeah im making a game but im kinda making it when the beta for SGDK 2 comes out but in the mean time....

Ok here's a status bar i was planning to use:

The yellow at the top is for spirit, the blue below that to the right is for water stored, the light blue is for sheild, the red is for health (obviously), the four different colors just below the health are magic coordinating with the color of the element, then the green is exp.

Then i have these so far im making more but just a starter for the first map im not to sure for the second yet....



Well thats about it so far i know i need backround and im pretty sure i need detail but i dont know were so a bit of help there and some constructive criticism would be nice

[eric22222]

The status bar... first off, it may be a bit complex for a quick in-game glance. Perhaps you could have the most basic information displayed on screen and keep the detailed bits on a pause screen. Secondly, you may be overestimating GameDev's inventory power. The built-in inventory display can only be rectangles, and you can't have anything drawn over it to change the shape. I have seen some projects that add some flare to the status bars, but nothing quite like this. If you're able to pull it off, great, but just keep in mind that something like this will take a ton of work.

Keep it up.

[durnurd]

I believe he's using SGDK2, so it is possible to draw something like those inventory bars, but not easy in any sense, at the moment.  You'd have to do a lot of manual coding.

[NightFang]

The status bar... first off, it may be a bit complex for a quick in-game glance. Perhaps you could have the most basic information displayed on screen and keep the detailed bits on a pause screen. Secondly, you may be overestimating GameDev's inventory power. The built-in inventory display can only be rectangles, and you can't have anything drawn over it to change the shape. I have seen some projects that add some flare to the status bars, but nothing quite like this. If you're able to pull it off, great, but just keep in mind that something like this will take a ton of work.

Keep it up.

Hmmmm.. Ive guess you do have a point about it being a bit to complex...I guess what i was thinking about was only having a new and sylish status bar however I didnt even think of playing and having a status bar like that.. It could work but it'd take some getting used to and well i dont want players to adjust to much. Then I think you're right about the rectangle thing but ive never used the first one and its a bit more "all over" and well im not to sure if in SGDK2 I can pull it of either.

[bluemonkmn]

There's good news and even better news.

The good news is that SGDK2 is quite open-ended compared to version 1.x with respect to drawing graphics on the screen because all the code that does actual drawing is customizable (exposed in the SourceCode folder) and it's all based on Managed DirectX, so if you can find any C# code that draws graphics on the screen, you can probably import it in some form into your project without having to modify SGDK2 itself.

The even better news is that I think you can already do this.  I think there is a way to draw that graphic using existing rule functions.  The DrawCounterAsTile function should have a mode where it can draw a piece of a graphic based on a counter value so you could do this:
1. Define a graphic (tile) that looks like an empty version of the status indicator
2. Define a graphic (tile) that looks like the filled content of the status indicator
3. Call DrawCounterAsTile using a full counter to draw the complete empty status indicator (outline)
4. Call DrawCounterAsTile using an actual counter value to draw a portion of the filled content of the status indicator in the same place.

I'm not sure which mode to use for DrawCounterAsTile, but one of them should be able to draw the tile clipped according to the counter value, which is exactly what you want. You could draw as many of these indicators as you like, overlapped and positioned however you like, and if it's not possible, then there's something missing in my design.  So if it's not possible to do this, I should update the code so that things like this are possible.

[NightFang]

Ok I'll check up on that for you.....Well after a BF 2142 match or two but I'll still check up on it. Well I'm already done with up to step two so it should take to long except I'm not too sure about the Way the empty one looks..............Darnit i fogot completely that one was too complex and well it is plus I think I made a better one I'll post it as soon as I import it (I draw and scan so....I think its easier)

[tprime]

The status bar looks cool. I try to do the simplest things first. Then make them complex. And if something doesn't work out for me. I try to work around it and turn it into something else.

[NightFang]

i kinda challenge myself at first then i challenge more and more as i get better