How I redesigned my indie game's UI - DEVLOG 29

I’ve recently overhauled my game's UI - from top to bottom - and I’d love to know your thoughts.

Other games shown:

- Voodoo Detective

- Lucy Dreaming

#devlog #indiegames #pointandclick

[pcd]

You can now wishlist my game on Steam! steampowered.com/app/2967630

[octopus]

I do quite like that UI! The new inventory looks very cool, and the single-click interactions make more sense to me

[qikanoi]

This channel is high value. Developement feels less stressful here. Just what I need.

[WeenieWalkerGames]

Love the new inventory style! That inspect thing is an awesome trick and I have a feeling some folks might steal it (ahem...) for their games.

[hunkerdown]

Your videos keep getting better at every level.

[crafty_tams]

Oh my goodness it looks amazing! I think you definitely need to have wins along the way to keep interested in the project so your timing is spot on.

[ParticleEddie]

I always look forward to these videos, and think you are hands down the best devlog series there is. The new UI change was definitely worth it, as it’s looking great. Continue making these amazing videos!

[MrSpanielson]

New inventory style looks really slick, and one click system makes complete sense for mobile releases - I've been playing classic adventures on ScummVM on my phone and anything that requires a left click is such a faff. Although in terms of favourite P&C interface, I'm "Lucasarts verb list" 'til I die.

Really like how the environments are looking, especially the rain, it's really coming together.

[MaxFury_Official]

Have to try that game Voodoo Detective, love it's art style. I really resonnated with the last video of yours regarding weither to worry about not getting stuff done. I work whenever i feel like it. Yes, effectively working my game could have been done long ago, most likely. But i'm alone and you have nobody that pushes you to finish the game, so it's really hard to motivate yourself at times. Now i should program a 12 floor hotell walking up and down the stairs for example, and he turns around corners, walkbehinds, manual camera movement, etc. Funny? Not one bit. Neccessary? Maybe not. But I want it that way, then later in the game the elevator will be available, sort of like a reward.

My irl friend always compares me to you jokingly, but if it's okay i'd like to defend myself. I actually program the stuff! I've forced myself to become decent at coding with no experience at all before, and the forums have been of great help. Usually somebody else have asked the questions you have. I'm using AGS, just recently they've implemented porting to Android aswell, (button click) so that's really nice, IOS soon too, i'll hope!

[Ian_Jeffery]

Good to see progress. I was always worried when your first quit your job and went on this adventure it will fall off into the abyss. I must jump back in discord now I have time and see what everyone has been working on.

[claudiomariotti]

I like the changes. The inspect area inside the inventory is also a great idea 👍

[anthonyunwin]

Awesome video, it was really worthwhile doing the UI, it is now 'yours' and fits the game perfectly

[andrewcollins]

Oh god. You really had me with that researching the optimal UI stuff. I was panicking that I'm not doing enough before making design choices in my game, haha

[yorkipudd]

Another cracking Devlog. Agree completely with getting the UI looking nice early on in development to be honest. Next on the list for me would be 'Double Click to Exit' and all those other pesky things players expect nowadays!

[AndresCiambotti]

A lot of great tips in this one, also loving the new UI. Another step in the right direction, congrats!

[curtisdeboer]

Unavowed had a one click mechanic as well that worked great. Hover for info, and then click only worked on items you could interact with. And they used colours to distinguish between. I thought it was very effective, but I’m not sure how the “hover for info” part would work with a touch interface like ipad.

[mattczak]

Another great video, and I love the combine/inspect idea!

[hendazzler]

The most interesting part of the devlog was how you managed to chain together shots from three different locations with the same script? Did you read the same script three time in three different locations and then stitch them together?

[jimcogan]

Nice work, the GUI is looking great, and I'm really impressed with the visuals - it's incredible see to how the hard work and time you've put into this game are slowly bringing it all together. Quick query, you mentioned it briefly in the video as a future part of the development, but voice acting - I'd be really keen to submit some examples from my VO demo reels - would love to be a small part of this project. Appreciate you might probably not be quite at that stage yet, but am actively watching the project :) Jim

[Selrisitai]

I feel like you're doing a lot of interesting things you're not talking about. When you moved the mouse around, was that actually slightly moving the camera toward your mouse as well? That's a fantastic piece of polish that will elevate the feel of the game for sure.

One other thing that I think would be nice to see is when you hover over interactable items, those items should either glow or have some kind of effect on them, or the mouse itself should change color. I know there's pop-up text, but I feel like either the item glowing or the mouse glowing or changing color is an absolute necessity. It's one of those things that, once you play a game with it, games without it feel clunky and ancient.

Oh! One other thing: I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on these point and click games you're playing, your experiences with them, things you've learned, just anything. Could be some great fodder if you don't have anything to say about your main project. I'd watch in a heart-beat.