Tomo Isoyama

The interface we eventually decided on was largely created by following a "simplistic" aesthetic. The game's rules and environment are fairly straightforward, so we wanted to imitate the minimalism of the game's rules by forming a "clean" interface; there are no visible numbers or words, but players can navigate the game and witness a pseudo-time-limit through the length of the player's aiming-laser, which decreases over time. To give the game a little spice and mimic its dramatic narrative, we added a rocky texture over the game surface and placed cave doors at the corners of the playable game-space to act as "re-do level" and "next level" buttons. It's a casual game, so we opted for a causal interface that didn't require much thought or compete for the player's attention.

1. Gundam Damage Status- shown as a figure with the divided parts
2. Radar- units shown with dots
3. Target Lock
4. Target Information
5. Thurster bar shown in green (red when overheated)
6. remaining ammo
7. weapon icon
8. Misc. box, sometimes used for communications.

Even though we had such a limited time to spend on this assignment, I believe some of you did wonderful jobs expressing your ideas through the visual representations.

As I have said in class, the purpose of this assignment was two-fold - one was to familiarize yourself with vector-based tools in Photoshop, and the other was to achieve visual and semantic consistency within the GUI elements that were overlaid. However, I realize some of you simply did not have enough time and/or patience to adopt to a new set of tools.

As HW05, I would like you to visit all of your peers' blog posts on HW04 and Assignment 02, and think of what you would do differently if you were to redo the assignment 02. Then, please post your ideas as HW05 in the class blog. Please make sure to analyze the following in your blog post. (Please note the due date - WED - 10/15/08)

1. Comment on the feedback(s) you got at the last class meeting and critique

2. Please analyze each GUI element you designed, and explain what you would do differently on each. Please refer to the following formal qualities on GUI elements. Be specific on what you would change.
- Size (definite size on screen, and relative size compared to others) of each GUI
- Placement of Each GUI
- Overall Color/color scheme
- Iconography (what does the shape/color signify?)
- Style

3. Describe your experience on using vector tools on Photoshop - what was challenging, what worked for you, what did not work for you. Be specific to list names of specific tools you have worked with - Pen tool, Custom shape tool, layer effect, selection tool, stroke, fill, etc, and how.

4. If possible, post your new design (JPG) on blog, and submit a new PSD file on MON (10/20/08 - not tomorrow but a week after) - may replace the assignment 02 grade if designed better.

1. Radar
2. Health Bar – Will decrease in a radial fashion with the bar being removed counter-clockwise; slowly turns from green to red as the circle decreases in size.
3. Primary Fire Ammunition
4. Secondary Fire Ammunition
5. Closest Target - arrow that moves around the “Health Bar” ring and locates the closest target to the player.
6. Thrust Bar – Decreases in size (towards the bottom of the screen) as thrust is used. When the thrust is almost depleted, the screen shakes, the bar turns red, and a “Overheat” icon is displayed over the thrust bar.
7. Possible Secondary Fire Targets - can be locked onto and fired upon after entering, or coming close to, the “Targeting Reticule”
8. Targeting Reticule – the aiming reticule for the primary, and secondary, fire. Moves slightly from the center of the screen towards the player’s target.

1- Health bar
2- Heat Gauge (looks similar to a Tachometer)
3- Weapon picture and ammo counter
4- Radar indicator (Enemies are red right-side up triangles, allies are green upside-down triangles).
5- Target lock-on indicator

1: Health gauge
2. Thruster/overheat gauge
3. Weapon- drops down when changing weapons
4. Weapon info - bullets, energy
5. Enemy indicator
6. Radar

GUI Elements:

1 – Health/Energy Bar – Decreases as you take damage. Fades away in 2 seconds of inactivity when you are not taking hits. Remains static when health is below 25%. **Use battery shape, since after all, Gundam is a mech-warrior.
2 – Equipped Weapon (Large) and Secondary weapon (small) w/ Ammo – Displays current weapon and secondary weapon ammo. Ammo remaining is shown by bullet icons with a number displaying how many rounds are left (similar to Halo 3)
3 – Thruster Information – Shows the status of the thruster. Appears when using the thruster. If thruster is overheating, the bar will rise from a cool blue color to a hot red, and will begin flashing when fully overheated.
4 – Radar – Displays your position in relation to enemies and/or mission objectives. Enemies appear as red dots, you are a yellow dot.

1) Health Meter – I have incorporated Gunman as the health meter. Gunman is dark blue, as he gets hit he turns white to get the players attention. Once the player is in danger the color white pulsates like a heart beat to tell the player of their current health condition.

2) Thruster and Overheat Gauges – There are two separate gauges. One gage is for the thruster, which is color coded orange. it is in the form of a battery and it also give the player visual and a percentage of their current power. The second is your overheating gage. This gage is color coded from Blue (Cold) to Black(Hot). As you overhear the gage turn black the text will flash to indicate your overheating status.

3) Weapons and Ammunition – Your weapon is indicated by an Icon. To the left of your weapon you have an icon and a number of ammunition. This gives you a visual as well as number which indicates how many bullets you have left.

4) Radar and Enemy Indication – The radar is a traditional circular icon that displays the distance of your enemies. Your enemies appear orange in the radar. There are four health bars surrounding the radar. Those health bars are for your enemies. It indicated their damage. They turn from blue "power" to "white," which means destruction. You, “Gundam” is indicated by a triangle showing your direction of travel. As your enemies get closer the radar will flash white in the center indicating danger.

Probably, the first amazing thing I noticed about Half-Life 2 was the amazing graphics. It looked so much more realistic than any game I had ever seen before. Just walking around exploring the world a little bit was particularly breathtaking. The world seemed so interactive. The physics allowed so many things to be picked up and manipulated. The GUI and HUD are particularly simple and unobtrusive. The storyline and gameplay is engaging and energetic. The enemies span anywhere from zombies to giant tripods. The game also one of the most innovative video game weapons of all time, the gravity gun. It allowed the player to pick up all so sort of objects (and eventually people) and launch them at enemies. It is a very fun game in an imaginative dystopian world.

1: Crosshairs: These are used for aiming weapons

2: Auxiliary Power Meter: This shows how of certain things are left (oxygen, battery power, etc.).

3: Health: This shows current health status. 100 is full health. 0 is dead.

4: Suit Power: This shows how much suit power is available (which acts like armor in that it is used up before health).

5: Picked up Items: Weapons, ammo, health, and suit power recently picked up is shown here.

6: Squad Information: Squad information is shown here.

7: Ammo: Ammo available for the weapon is shown here.

8: Weapon Inventory: This pops up when switching weapons and shows available weapons divided by category.