Michaela Morris

1 Health bar
2 Radar
3 Thruster and overheat information
4 Weapon and remaining shots information

1. The health bar is the most visible on the GUI because it is the most important piece of information for the player to know. It will be colored and it will be green when the player is not in any danger of dying, but it will begin to turn red as the player gets closer to mortality.
2. The radar is also a very prominent piece of information because it’s really valuable for the player to know where enemies and allies are in the realm of the game, so the more noticeable and helpful we can make it the better.
3. Thruster and overheat information goes on the bottom left of the screen because that way the player can see the information out of their peripheral vision.
4. Weapon and remaining shots information is by the thruster information so that the player can figure both out at the same time and it is information accessible through peripheral vision.

1.
I agree with the critiques I got in class. I think I'm definitely still learning the reins of photoshop, and that is why some of my GUI elements don't look cohesive in nature.

2.
Size: I like the sizes of the GUI elements I used. I think the health is the right size because I think it is a very important element, and I made the ammunition also very large because I wanted players to be aware of the state of their ammo. I also liked the size of my radar, I thought it was appropriately sized on the screen.
Placement of each GUI: I liked the placement of my GUI elements, but I would probably change where I put the health icon and the ammunition. I'd probably switch them with each other, putting the health bar on the bottom left and putting the ammunition on the bottom right instead. This is because I've decided that it's more important for the player to know about the state of their health than whether or not they have enough ammunition left.
Overall color/color scheme: I thought my color scheme was cohesive, but I don't think it looked as professional and properly integrated as I would have liked. I think if I use the gradient tool a bit more that would change things to look a lot more how I would like them to.
Iconography: I thought my shapes were minimalistic and I like them that way. The only one that wasn’t was the health bar because I liked presenting the character with an actual physical representation of them instead of just a health bar. Otherwise, I like how I had the elements.
Style: I don’t think I was able to really establish a style with my GUI elements because I’m still learning how to properly use photoshop. I think I’ll be able to make it more appropriately stylized as I figure out how to more adeptly use the pen tool and the gradient tool. I would make each GUI item look even more robot-esque, sort of futuristic.

3.
I am still really intimidated by the tools in photoshop. I’ve used the pen tool a lot, and I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of it. I also feel confident about the custom tool function (both of which I used in the creation of my GUI) I also used the selection tool and the fill tool. I used the selection tool whenever I wanted to move one of my objects, and the fill tool to color them. I used the pen tool to create my health icon and the custom shape tools for the radar and the thruster/heat bars and the weapon bar. Some of the tools I still can’t get to work just right for me so I stray from using them, but I am beginning to get much more comfortable with photoshop.