Several people have suggested a guild, community, or someone run site that connects all the shards. Things might have to be changed, but here is my proposal for the interface from the knowledge we have now (cross posted from the GoW forums).

http://forum.guildofwriters.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2591 This topic inspired me to come up with an interface design for an open sourced Uru. I did not play MOUL, and know absolutely nothing about the design it had. For that reason, I might be missing essential functions. I might also have functions in the wrong places. This is not set in stone.

The initial login/register page. There would be a page before this with links to help sections, multimedia, about sections, etc. The scripty looking font represents the Uru script writing, and would be replaced with that. All the white areas would also be made more clean looking, like this image I stole from the aforementioned topic
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Yali/Myst-Uru/words_logo5.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture12.jpg

So I decide to register. This is the page I see.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture1-1.jpg
1. This message welcomes the new explorer to Uru and gives some basic introductory information. It disappears after you watch the video or go to a shard.
2. That will log you out and take you back to the login page
3. This will be in the same font as the "WORDS" pic I stole, and the same pop-out brightness to it. Behind it will be a D'ni mandala or writing. The one I have is just the one I found on Mystlore. The real one would say something, like "uru" or "open" or something. I forgot to put the mandala in all the pictures, so just imagine it is there in some of the later pics. There might be fireflies moving around. The circle around "URU" should also be thinner.

I go to watch the introductory video
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture2.jpg
1. nice little close video function up there... I don't know why I put this number...
2. The video would basically tell the explorer this
-welcome to open sourced uru live
-a brief bit of instructions for navigating the menus, especially the "help" menu
-explaining shards and seals (more on seals later)
-explanation that most beginner shards (more on that later as well) will put the beginner in the cleft alone so they won't wonder where everyone is
-follow Zandi and Yeesha, get Relto book
-how to get the KI
-have a good time

okay, had a nice time with the video... I come back and then open the help section (I need lots of help)
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture8.jpg
1. note that the video has moved into the help section if you need to reference it later
2. this can turn the instructional scribblings back on, to help the person navigate the menus
3. takes you to an "about" page
4. the GoG and/or other helpful people keep up this chat. It integrates straight into the KI (IC, it is a KI hooked up to a computer, which in term answers queries of people who don't have KI's), and everybody signed up can see when a person signals they need help. Then they can chat through their KI to the person and help them.

I finish my nice chat with a helpful person and decide to visit a shard
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture7.jpg
1. I'm calling them "shards" because I don't know any other better term. Feel free to correct me. This interface is meant to connect up to almost any shard. The only requirements are these:
No copyrighted materials
No overly adult content - mostly pictures, explicit themes, etc.
No tricks - the shards are relatively safe from crashing (test shards that are more dangerous are clearly marked), harming computers, or linking to malicious sites
2. You write in this box. The closest match will be position right next to the box and nearby shards (alphabetically) will be positioned in front or behind. There should also be a search function for seals, but I haven't thought of where to put it yet.

I click on "Guild of Maintainers Test Shard" because I want to go there
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture6.jpg
1. those circles represent seals. Seals designate the shard as being something. For example, some possibilites:
Guild of Maintainers Seal - exceptionally bug-free
Guild of Archivists Seal - adheres to canon and/or MORE guidelines (or newer version, if we get one)
Guild of Greeters Seal - is intuitive and easy for beginners. This does not mean that it is bad for experienced players. It stays under the general Uru story arc.
Golden Seal - has the Guild of Maintainers Seal, the Guild of Archivists Seal, and the Guild of Greeters Seal. Recommended for beginners.
Hardhat Seal - testing area, more prone to crashing
No Yeesha Seal - eliminates Yeesha entirely from the story

I click on one of the seals to get a closer look at it
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture3.jpg
1. yeah, you'll get a better picture than this one I found in clip art
2. explains what the seal means. Seals are filtered somehow to make sure that these blurbs are accurate representations of what they indicate.
3. to close the window

I decide to go to the GoMa Test Shard (nevermind why)
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture5.jpg
1. a book appears with a picture (chosen by the shard owners) and the name
2. all my registered accounts on this shard (I have a lot). You can delete them by clicking on the negation symbol (there is a window that asks "are you sure?", don't worry)
3. my KI number (for Gehn, lord of ages, who you can see has been clicked on. It would be in D'ni numerals. If I hadn't yet gotten a KI, it would be grey, and just say "no KI"
4. don't expect me to use that name

When you click on the book or the "URU", it shines really bright and then deposits you to where you start on that shard (for most, Relto). If it is a new explorer, it takes you to the beginning wardrobe, and then drops you unceremoniously in the single player cleft (for most). Neither of the intro videos really fits, and I don't think we can just waltz in and order another one. Some shards will put you somewhere else. For instance, theater shards may put you straight into the nexus, so you can quickly join the shooting of "Indiana Jones and the Deep City"

If you want to give a donation
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture9.jpg
1. I'm not sure on the legal issues. Some shards may have it so you can donate straight out, others may need you to go to their site and donate, some may not accept donations.
2. Cyan Worlds is also there.
3. explanation of how it is open source, where the donations go to (each shard will specifically say where there money goes to in their blurb)

I decide to change some things
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture10.jpg
-visual options
-audio options
-music options
-themes

Let's change the music (that plays on the menu screen).
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture11.jpg
1. a volume control. Clicking on "mute" or moving the slider there will mute the music. Similar bars are used in the other options to adjust overall volume, sound quality, etc. There are several music themes available.

If you don't like the design, you can always pick a different theme. Themes are like skins.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/Picture4.jpg
This is a Yeesha based theme. You could alternatively have one that replaces the "URU" with a KI design, says "MOOSE" and has antlers, is David's Journey themed ( blatant advertisement -> http://forum.guildofwriters.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2572), has the Guild of Writer's logo, even one that mimics the design of these forums. Themes are also filtered similarly to how shards are filtered.


Well? Ideas? Critiques? Fixes? Problems? Encouragement?

Last edited by Gehn, lord of ages on Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

Are we talking in game GUI, akin to the MOUL Login/Avatar select screen here, your post doesn’t make it 100% clear?

If we are talking about in game UI, then I strongly like the stuff you have come up with here, and going out on a limb here would suggest you see about getting your URU Logo/screen designs into official channels when it all kicks off.

My initial impressions were that it was cool, a simple and effective design, but could overwhelm a user with information, based on too many options.

Can I give you a few pointers?

The logo’s circle has great symbolism for Uru, in terms of community, continuity, the never ending and so on.

The text in the logo could do with a bit of colour; perhaps take a look at texturing it in a similar skin to what is already in use on current logos.

There are already in-game controls for setting screen, audio and alike options, so perhaps something similar to how you have the exit button to bring up the options interface; this just saves programmers from having to redesign things

I particularly like the style of the menus for selecting shards and alike, but would like to see this moved to the left edge, with the Uru logo half shown possibly water marked behind the semi transparent grey in style, The main options such as Login, Register, Shards and Help been placed in this more pronounced space.

This hopefully will give you added abilities, initially to show artwork in the centre of the screen, and use it as a working place to show dialogues without cutting the user off from been able to back track if needed.

But in-game, I would like to see an esc style menu in use in Uru, as it’s the first thing people usually do in games to get an interface, if the menus are to the left edge, you can see the game playing field though area used for art work giving a much cooler looking menu system.

I’m a strong believer in the KISS principal (Keep it simple stupid!), so look for things that are not directly connected to login/registration, and first time use.

Do we really need a Notes, About Uru, or a Help chat section after having seen a getting started video which hopefully will be covering, how to get registered, what Uru is as a game, what a shard is, where to get help, where to make donations etc.

I am well impressed with some of the ideas you have here for the Login/register screens. I look forward to seeing some more refined ideas based on the input you receive from here.

I'm not knowledgable enough to give you a critique but I will offer you my encouragement. I for one truely hope there will be only one log-in and download/update portal that I would have to go to in order to access all the various shards. I don't have the hard drive space to download the complete game from each and every shard - which would force me to choose only one shard to play on. So - thank you for thinking of such a thing and I hope the GoW is taking you seriously. Keep up the good work.

_________________
All things come to those who wait.

I am encouraged by both of your responces.

DarK wrote:

Are we talking in game GUI, akin to the MOUL Login/Avatar select screen here, your post doesn’t make it 100% clear?

Not sure. I didn't play MOUL, so I don't know what the Login/Avatar select screen was like . To clarify, this is a sort of "directory" of the Uru shards. When you choose an avatar and all, you get sent into the game itself, and you probably exit out to get back to the directory.

Quote:

The logo’s circle has great symbolism for Uru, in terms of community, continuity, the never ending and so on.

The text in the logo could do with a bit of colour; perhaps take a look at texturing it in a similar skin to what is already in use on current logos.

I'm not sure if the current logo texture would mesh well with the more Spartan look of my design. However, I do see your point about color. How about one of these? (note also that I added " < Live >" to the symbol and mentally add those in to the older pictures).
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/2.jpg

Quote:

There are already in-game controls for setting screen, audio and alike options, so perhaps something similar to how you have the exit button to bring up the options interface; this just saves programmers from having to redesign things

Good good. So do I need an "Options" menu at all? Should I just keep Themes?

Quote:

I particularly like the style of the menus for selecting shards and alike, but would like to see this moved to the left edge, with the Uru logo half shown possibly water marked behind the semi transparent grey in style, The main options such as Login, Register, Shards and Help been placed in this more pronounced space.

This hopefully will give you added abilities, initially to show artwork in the centre of the screen, and use it as a working place to show dialogues without cutting the user off from been able to back track if needed.

Something like this? Or with even the original "Help" "Options" etc in the left menu?
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/3.jpg
I can see advantages to this. I did like the feel of the giant "URU" though, it was quite Mystlike.

Maybe this then?
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/6.jpg

I don't know. Which is the best interface?

Quote:

But in-game, I would like to see an esc style menu in use in Uru, as it’s the first thing people usually do in games to get an interface, if the menus are to the left edge, you can see the game playing field though area used for art work giving a much cooler looking menu system.

I think that would probably be up to the shards.

Quote:

Do we really need a Notes, About Uru, or a Help chat section after having seen a getting started video which hopefully will be covering, how to get registered, what Uru is as a game, what a shard is, where to get help, where to make donations etc.

Maxim of design: people are stupid.

Also, I want the getting started video to cover mainly the basics, so people don't get bored and leave (or get told it is tedious and decide not to watch it). I;m placing the About Uru somewhere else now, so don't worry about it. The Notes are mainly for the menu interface, they might not be needed but could be useful. The Help chat is especially for people who can't get past the cleft or something, or can't find the KI.

A few more pictures

Here's the login. Registering would be similar, but with a bigger box with more stuff to fill in.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/4.jpg

And here's the main main page
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/1.jpg
The "Game" button (maybe "Play Uru" or "Play" or something) would take you to the login/register page.

The other buttons would open things like this. The thing to the right is a scroll bar.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/5.jpg
"About Uru" gives a short synopsis of what Uru is.
"Legal" discusses the legal position of Uru and especially the directory.
"Forums" gives links to several Uru centered forums. To reduce redundancy and keep a level playing field, I don't think there should be one forum for the directory.
"Contact Us" lets you send messages to the main authorities in control of the directory.
and I'm not sure what else to put, a wiki discussing various shards and ages? A link to Cyan? A link to the place to start your own shard?

Last edited by Gehn, lord of ages on Wed Dec 31, 2008 6:00 pm; edited 2 times in total

Russell pretends to be a mod... Gehn, I think you need to link to these pics on something like photobucket, rather than post them to the thread.

Rusty_Russell wrote:

Russell pretends to be a mod... Gehn, I think you need to link to these pics on something like photobucket, rather than post them to the thread.

Okay. Will do.

Also, I think the "Donations" button should be moved from the game page to the main page. What do you people think?

_________________
ô¿ô......All URU need is love!......ô¿ô

Gehn

It looks good and I think it's a really good idea. Something like this will help Uru users old and new to get to grips with the complexity of the open source version, which could be a lot more daunting to use than the old versions.

Keep up the good work.

As willing as I am to point, nudge, and poke on ideas I consider obvious the front end GUI is safe from me till I see what Cyan is offering. Your designs are rather snazzy however.

As I see it there are two camps each with their own specific desires the GUI would reflect.

Camp A (UU Shards) - multiple shards, multiple installs, and a bewildering number of groups trying to recreate what they used to have.

Camp B (MOUL/Dmala Shard) - They don't care about Shards they just want to play. One "Shard" with one login made by any number of groups who choose to host servers.


Which ever way the base install from Cyan goes will show where the GUI goes.

_________________
Waymet

Posted my concept for a GUI change for the login section here if anyone is interested: Concept - Login GUI

_________________
Beneath - Journey of an explorer in D'ni
UruBlogs - Blogs from Uru Explorers
Tweek@Guild of Writers - Age development Blog.

Great ideas tweek...

Okay, this is the manu I would like to see...

The login manu is outside of the game, like the rest of the games. There is a banner on top of the login out-of-gome manu, with the game logo and a picture from the game. Below, there's the username and password spaces, and below it, a message from cyan worlds. Once you did that, things are the same as MOUL, and than...

All the menus have sort of a grey fog in the background, with "ghost" colorless images from areas of the game inside the fog. There's the uru logo, and below it 3 options: choose/create character, options and exit.

PS: ALL text in ALL menus of the game (avatar creation, options, exit, whatever) is in this handwriting (like the one in UCC site). Oh, and all the "pop out" menus (like exit and options) have the interface of an old page. Just for the mood. Oh, and when you put the crusor on one of the options in the main menu, it glows a little, and there are about 4 fireflies around it (as you can see in the UCC site, again). From some reason, uru and fireflies always went well together .

In exit, you...well...exit the game.

In options, you get the regular options screen.

In choose/create character, you get a menu like the one in MOUL, but again, with this fog background.

And the music in all the menus is... well, if you ever played "dreamfall", it's something like the music in dreamfall menu. Always liked it.

Once you pick an unused avatar space (in the choose or create character menu), you get a pop-up menu, when let's you choose name, gender, left or right handed.

After that, you arrive at the avatar creation. Its the same as in MOUL- however, in the background, there are glimps of "the fog" from the main menu. But the main background is the regular one.

The intro and after it is also different, but I rather not get into it now.

_________________
Previously known as "The stranger"

@MustardJeep - this design is aimed at Camp A, but can be easily changed to fit Camp B as well (simply remove mentions of shards and a few extraneous menus).

Edit: @Tweek (who posted while I was working on this post) - that is an awesome design. It is definitely superior in several ways to mine. A few critiques:
I prefer the Uru-in-a-circle logo (of course made better than my Publisher mock-up, with a thinner more Uru-like circle and the Uru font). It would look somewhat like this http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg2/King_Canute/Uru/A1.jpg (this would be for the main page before logging in; keep in mind that the scriptish writing would be Uru writing script)
Is the full avatar screen really necessary? It just seems like an attempt to look like every other MMO, no offense intended. While it is neat to see the explorer (by the way, nice avatar names ), I don't think it is that necessary.

Testing out smaller pictures. These better?


A: You start out at the main menu for the Directory.
B: When you click on them, they pop up little blurbs talking about the subject at hand.
"About Uru" gives a short synopsis of what Uru is.
"Legal" discusses the legal position of Uru and especially the directory.
"Forums" gives links to several Uru centered forums. To reduce redundancy and keep a level playing field, I don't think there should be one forum for the directory.
"Contact Us" lets you send messages to the main authorities in control of the directory.
"Donations" leads to a page to link you to where to give donations depending on legal status
D: I accidently forgot to put this as "C", so I had to add it on the end. This is where it sends you when you click "Game"
C: Once you register, you get to this page.
1. This writing only appears the until you watch the video or start an avatar. It is a welcoming, handwriten looking, statement.
2. The arrow drawing skills would also be better than mine.
3. Behind the "URU LIVE" (which would be in a similar font to what it was for MOUL, but a bright white color) would be D'ni writing or a mandala. The one I have there now is just a placeholder (somebody's name, I found it in Mystlore).
Other options are shown below. Maybe a green one as well...

A: watching the video
1. Close Video closes the video
2. The video would basically tell the explorer this
-welcome to open sourced uru live
-a brief bit of instructions for navigating the menus, especially the "help" menu
-explaining shards and seals (more on seals later)
-explanation that most beginner shards (more on that later as well) will put the beginner in the cleft alone so they won't wonder where everyone is
-follow Zandi and Yeesha, get Relto book
-how to get the KI
-have a good time
B: notice that the "Getting Started Video" moved out (it is in "Help" now). I replaced "Shards" with the less ambiguous "Play", and "Options" with the more specific "Menu Options".
C: When you click on "Help"
The notes are the pieces of writing telling you how to get around the interface. The chat is kept up by the GoG and/or other helpful people. It integrates straight into the KI (IC, it is a KI hooked up to a computer, which in term answers queries of people who don't have KI's), and everybody signed up can see when a person signals they need help. Then they can chat through their KI to the person and help them. An extension of this would be made for in-game (but largely OOC) help before people get KIs and Relto books.
D: "Menu Options" meanwhile, takes you here.

A: when you click "Themes" under "Menu Options". Themes are like skins, you can pick any one you want. This one is a MOOSE/DRC theme (why? I don't know) Themes are filtered for Adult Content, Copyrighted Infringement, and Tricks (basically, making it impossible to escape, linking people to sites against their will, deceiving people about links, etc), then added to the themes list.
B: Music. This is for the music playing for the menu alone.
C: an alternative way to do both music and themes is this (note that the volume bar was supposed to be in the previous picture for the music, but somehow was missed). I prefer this mode, as it does away with the need to go back to the main menu.
D: when you click "play" it goes to this screen. You type in the name of the shard to visit or you can scroll through the alphabetical list.

A: When you select a shard, an info box pops up. This gives a short description of the shard and shows any badges/seals it has. Seals designate the shard as being something. For example, some possibilites:
Guild of Maintainers Seal - exceptionally bug-free
Guild of Archivists Seal - adheres to canon and/or MORE guidelines (or newer version, if we get one)
Guild of Greeters Seal - is intuitive and easy for beginners. This does not mean that it is bad for experienced players. It stays under the general Uru story arc.
Golden Seal - has the Guild of Maintainers Seal, the Guild of Archivists Seal, and the Guild of Greeters Seal. Recommended for beginners.
Hardhat Seal - testing area, more prone to crashing
No Yeesha Seal - eliminates Yeesha entirely from the story

B: If you click on a seal, it pops up a box explaining what the seal means.
C: when you pick a shard, it shows you a list of your explorers for that shard.
1. Clicking on the book will take you to the shard with whatever explorer is selected.
2. the negation symbol deletes the explorer
3. the KI number of the selected explorer (In D'ni numerals, of course). If they don't have a KI, it simply says "no KI"

If I may provide some constructive criticism, there are a few issues with your mockups that I would like to go over.

First, and most obvious, is that everything is too large; the buttons, the text, the boarders. Just because you have a lot of empty space doesn't mean you have to make everything large to fill it, try thinking of things that space could be used for (without making the interface too cluttered, obviously).

The interface could also do with some consolidation; for example, the gargantuan transparent boarders with rounded corners don't fit with the clean lines and overall square look of the rest of the GUI at all. I would suggest losing the transparency, squaring off the boarders, and making them a lot smaller.

Last but not least, the font. You're using a highly stylized font that's hard to read, you need to change that to something cleaner if you ever want to see this GUI adopted.

While I'm here, I might as well add a mockup I made myself into the fray. I decided to go for total consistency, basing the login screen upon an overhauled KI interface I'm also working on so that the game doesn't have competing GUI designs (as is what happened with Myst Online's old user selection page). I also liked how in pre-gametap URU Live you could get quick news updates from the game launcher, so I decided to add a scrolling news feed near the bottom to make up for it not being there anymore.

Link to full size version: http://arch.kimag.es/share/41357068.png

_________________
StarLion
The Meeting Place Hood

Last edited by StarLion on Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:36 pm; edited 2 times in total

Nah, I don't like the KI style interface.

_________________
Previously known as "The stranger"

The stranger wrote:

Nah, I don't like the KI style interface.

You prefer buttons in a black void with no stylistic connection to the game whatsoever? Any constructive suggestions?

_________________
StarLion
The Meeting Place Hood