Krazy Kate! Adventures of Light & Darkness

[Kinsie]

I have no clue what half the stuff in the HUD means. Seeing as the HUD is supposed to provide crucial information at a glance, that's probably not a good thing.

Could that be because you don't know the game's mechanics yet? Apparently not!

If you need to go through a tutorial in order to understand the HUD, it's either not a well-designed mod or you inadvertently made a video editor by accident.

To be fair, I've seen videos of this in motion and know most of the gameplay mechanics, yet I still don't understand all of it. v:Vv

So let me get this straight: this project is engine-stretchingly unique in some way, but the creator doesn't want to say how and nobody else understands. That's pretty promising.

[BouncyTEM]

The HUD's not really that confusing.

the bar on the far left is ammo.
The center area <for Kate> is selectable cubs which'll follow the player around and give some kind of bonus. One gives health regen, one gives a support attacker, one gives added defense, one boosts weapon damage, and the arrow allows you to recall cubs to get a different selection.

The crystal bar in the middle-right is an ammo pool for special abilities, such as calling massive room-ending black holes for one character.

the little face area at the right shows keys.

at the furthest right is health; the ! is a health bar and the numerical value's below it.

and then the three hearts for Kate's HUD are specifically for showing what cubs are out.

It's all quite clear in actual gameplay for the mod without a tutorial. Just some of it hasn't been demonstrated.

[XutaWoo]

the little face area at the right shows keys.

...This is completely and utterly unintuitive even when explained. Why put the key display in the mugshot? o_O

[BouncyTEM]

because it's not actually a mugshot. It's a small square that happens to have a slightly visible character face that displays keys.

Come on, its purpose is blatantly visible in the second to last screenshot.

[XutaWoo]

It's semantics, really, but that means it's a slightly visible mugshot that has the key display in it.

Honestly, though, I'm not entirely sure why the face is there and it's not just something more obvious for keys. Don't some hud elements change color/pattern depending on your selected class? (edit: oh hey yeah) I don't really think you need to remind the player what character they chose, but even if you do I'm not entirely sure why you need something that straight-out says 'HEY GUY THIS IS THE GUY YOU'RE USING YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS BECAUSE THEY'RE DIFFERENT SEE SEE WHAT THEY'RE HOLDING THEIR STUFF WITH IS DIFFERENT' when you have a perfectly serviceable subtle thingy.

[Phobus]

I'd probably need to actually experiment with playing this in order to make sense of that HUD, even after the explanations here. It's just a load of random pictures without the game play to put it in context. Thing is, I seriously doubt I'll be experimenting with this, because it just looks... unattractive. I don't just mean "ugly" either (the "Rainbow Road" styled screenshot looks quite nice, otherwise "ugly" would sum it up for me) but I don't see a lot to interest me either. It's overly cutesy and I've seen no evidence of fun game play - just adventitious "wacky" ideas being stirred into a colourful pot.

Still, good luck with the TC aspect, I suppose.

[Kate]

... ... ...

What do I even say to that. Because there's literally nothing I can do to change or help an opinion like that. I mean I can get a gameplay video up later so one can make a more accurate assessment of what it's like, but that's still unlikely to change anything if you feel that strongly against the mod, in which case I'm not sure what you're posting here for. Uhm, thanks I guess? Never mind.

I'm not entirely sure why you need something that straight-out says 'CAPS-LOCK' when you have a perfectly serviceable subtle thingy.

Except that that's not the point, the primary purpose is that it's a keybox. I should probably add a small "Keys" label to indicate such. The hud face was just a design decision I made afterward. Sort of a "I have some extra space to spare, so why not?" sort of thing.

[Csonicgo]

*stares blankly, eyes glazed over*
I will fix the texture dissonance when I get to it.

With that kind of Deviantart-y attitude to honest, non-hostile critique, I'll believe it when I see it.

Why are you such a douchenozzle, dude? I really want an answer to this. We've got all day since you want to derail threads here.

Since I probably won't get a reply, and you've already pissed off people with your lack of civility, let me state that there's a wonderful Foe/Ignore feature here. If you don't want to see people's honest work, Kinsie, you can just ignore them entirely. Or, you can just leave.

[wildweasel]

I would personally rather not see an argument in here.

[Csonicgo]

I would personally rather not see an argument in here.

Why? and let the shitkicking continue? You're a mod, delete his posts.

[wildweasel]

Why? and let the shitkicking continue? You're a mod, delete his posts.

I'm gonna say what I tell everybody else: if you've got a problem with someone's posts, use the Report button and tell us why. Otherwise, this just looks like you're being just as much an asshole as he allegedly is. Ergo, if you're not going to talk about the mod, I suggest you vacate the thread.

That goes for everyone else here too.

[NeuralStunner]

My only complaint about the HUD is that it's in a 320 screen space. I'd suggest "floating" the two segments to the sides (with FullScreenOffsets) so the FOV stays clear.

I've been looking forward to this kind of "breakaway" from DooM. Kind of a niche appeal I guess.

Also for some reason I'm imagining secret doors hidden in the dark (requiring a light-it-up power to see). Original idea, of course.

[XutaWoo]

I'm not entirely sure why you need something that straight-out says 'CAPS-LOCK' when you have a perfectly serviceable subtle thingy.

Except that that's not the point, the primary purpose is that it's a keybox. I should probably add a small "Keys" label to indicate such. The hud face was just a design decision I made afterward. Sort of a "I have some extra space to spare, so why not?" sort of thing.

Ah, yeah, that would help a lot. Although I'm partially curious why it's transparent when nothing else is, as well. Although perhaps just making everything transparent would work best. Granted, I can't be fully certain at the moment, because the internet where I'm at at the moment is being crap and I can't load the screenshots again, but then again most changes for ZDoom stuff are just tweaks that turned into full tangents, so yeah.

Also,

With that kind of Deviantart-y attitude to honest, non-hostile critique, I'll believe it when I see it.

stuff

Your point kind of falls flat here when this is a place to present your projects, complete or not, to get comments and criticism. Especially when you're arguing against somone who just said

that kind of Deviantart-y attitude to honest, non-hostile critique

Have you never been on Deviantart? Like, just waded through the crap, the crap's comments, and the ~drama~ that happens when the crap gets criticized? And the ~drama~ that happens after the ~drama~ that happens when the crap gets criticized?

[Springy]

I quite like the hand drawn graphics, you're very good with your drawing skills. Looks good, HUD looks a little confusing judging by the screenshots, but I'm sure I'll be able to make sense of it when I play it. Good stuff so far.

[Kate]

Yeah it's the shots. It was intended to demonstrate the drawn visual style of both the levels and the UI.

To explain:

• The ! and number is your energy (health). This one's the most obvious.
• The stone box as discussed before is the key box. When you pick up keys, they go here.
• The rainbow meter on the bottom is your Rainbow Power.
  Throughout the game, enemies drop pieces of glowing crystal that charge up your Rainbow Meter. Each character has a unique personal power that drains from their Rainbow Power, for example, Kate has a Time Stop ability.
  
  When it's at 100%, the crystal on the hud will glow. Switching to your melee weapon and alt-firing in this case will use up your full Rainbow Meter and perform an extremely powerful room-clearing attack.
  
  If you keep your Rainbow Meter fully charged and get into a dire situation, your Rainbow Meter will empty into your health, instantly saving you from an otherwise knockout-delivering attack. This is a Saving Throw.
• The hearts on the right side, and the figures on the bottom are your cubs, which are specific to Kate. These little ones trust you and will follow you to the ends of the earth. When you use them, either they will actively help you in some way, or their presence will grant you an ability, which will be displayed at the right side of the screen. The hearts will change color depending on the cubs currently in your active party. The down arrow recalls the last cub that was sent out, and allows you to hot-switch them for other ones if needed.
• The bottom bar will also serve as your inventory for other characters.
• The left corner of the screen is your ammunition. Its' graphic will change to display different icons depending on your selected weapon, to show you how many uses your weapon has left.