I asked GIL for some improvements on the UI, Please let me know if someone interested so i can make a private group.
1) X button to close window, we can choose the icon of the X and the place (default upper right corner). This will make it more natural for PC games and i think is a must.
2) Fields: We can add as many fields as we like and we can then target those fields in menu screens/HUDS. So with one windows, we'll have multiple menus.
for example: In tooltips we could have field 1 for Basic Info, field 2 for stats and field 3 for value etc. that way we can have our graphics as we like.
example 2: we can have an inventory/equipment system in one window, Field1 for equipment, Field2 for Inventory, Field3 for currency and other details.
3) Mouse Cursors. We can choose mouse cursors for different actions (normal,interact,attack etc).
4)GUI Editor like it worked in Legacy UI for the New UI so we can make arrangements in editor, to fit the New UI, easy and clean.
GIL also thinks that those are great features so he made some good prices in the contrast with the work needed to be made.
Believe me, if you are making a PC game, after some time you'll need those updates. Also don't sit tight and wait for this update, we need as many people as possible to make this happen :) even a small amount of money can help.
So please comment below if interested for a Group Buy and i will make a private chat.
I'd also include additional scaling options so that we can use Scale to Fit and still be able to "anchor" panels to the corners/edges of the screen. Otherwise, you end up having an element that you want in the corner appearing a quarter of the way across the screen when running at a different aspect ratio than the reference one set in ORK.
I don't know how good an idea it is in general to have ORK style approach to new Unity UI. There is a lot of stuff in New Unity UI you can do, especially with stuff like UI Expansions - https://bitbucket.org/ddreaper/unity-ui-extensions and many other useful mods. Advanced lay-outing options etc
I would much rather have an approach where ORK has components you can add to New Unity UI that will call ORK functions. For example you add OrkInventory script to a UI prefab, specify the child grid component and item prefab and ORK would generate items inside. Maybe I'm missing something but this approach just seems better on all fronts. Even for new users, inexperienced in programming and game development, I would imagine this would be easier to do, considering how many UI tutorials and videos, and pre-made UI systems there are.
I agree @hellwalker. This is essentially a (huge) set of data-binding components specialized for ORK.
I've considered building these myself, but it would be a lot of work, as it would pretty much be a replacement for ORK's UGUI implementation and inevitably I'd run into something that needs a change in the source code and I'd have to use a clunky and complicated workaround.
The amount of work required may put it outside the scope of a team buy.
I don't know if that's easier or harder for GIL to make, but sure it sounds like a good idea. We would need GIL's input on this, and I m not the expert to explain to GIL this approach. Just found some things that would help us with the UI in ORK and asked GIL for a quote.
If you have a better approach and can explain it to GIL please do, and lets do something about the UI which is the big draw back imo of this awesome framework.
I would likely be interested as well. Althought I don't currently even own ORK, I am planning to buy it in a few weeks.
I don't have a a clue about the current limitations of ORK and GUIs but anything that will further improve ORK and and its workflow will likely draw my interest.
Hey dlevel, great to see that you started up another group buy. Admittedly I was overwhelmed with my own development. I'll be happy to contribute what I can, I am also still waiting on GiL to implement a couple of UI things that I've been after, however I'm not sure whether or not they'll be updates at this time.
Either way, if you guys have a group discussion I'd like to join and see what the features are and what the quote from GiL was :)
I am just getting started with ORK. I took a look at your screenshot. Are you saying that out of the box you can't make an inventory view with character slots and viewer? Do you have to make a separate inventory dialogue and equipped gear dialog?
Just trying to understand what I can currently do vs. What we would pay more to have developed.
@Nickamus - you can make a menu screen with both an Inventory view and an equipped items view (and a stats view, etc) all on the same screen.
What you can't do is have both the Inventory and Equipped views in the same window/dialog that can be dragged around the screen or opened/closed independently from one another. Because ORK creates them independently (each from a GUI prefab) and there's no way to place them both in the same "container" that can be dragged as a single unit.
So if you're trying to create a character GUl like you see in Skyrim, Oblivion, Risen, Baldur's Gate I/II, Wasteland 2, etc then you should be fine.
If you're trying to create a character UI like you see in Divinity: Original Sin, World of Warcraft, Diablo III, etc then you're going to run into some limitations if you want to combine features of multiple "menu/screen parts" into a single movable view.
This frustrated me at first, but then I decided I liked the full-screen "character sheets" style much better than the multitude of repositionable windows anyway. :-)
I'd also include additional scaling options so that we can use Scale to Fit and still be able to "anchor" panels to the corners/edges of the screen. Otherwise, you end up having an element that you want in the corner appearing a quarter of the way across the screen when running at a different aspect ratio than the reference one set in ORK.
There is a lot of stuff in New Unity UI you can do, especially with stuff like UI Expansions - https://bitbucket.org/ddreaper/unity-ui-extensions and many other useful mods. Advanced lay-outing options etc
I would much rather have an approach where ORK has components you can add to New Unity UI that will call ORK functions. For example you add OrkInventory script to a UI prefab, specify the child grid component and item prefab and ORK would generate items inside. Maybe I'm missing something but this approach just seems better on all fronts. Even for new users, inexperienced in programming and game development, I would imagine this would be easier to do, considering how many UI tutorials and videos, and pre-made UI systems there are.
I've considered building these myself, but it would be a lot of work, as it would pretty much be a replacement for ORK's UGUI implementation and inevitably I'd run into something that needs a change in the source code and I'd have to use a clunky and complicated workaround.
The amount of work required may put it outside the scope of a team buy.
If you have a better approach and can explain it to GIL please do, and lets do something about the UI which is the big draw back imo of this awesome framework.
I don't have a a clue about the current limitations of ORK and GUIs but anything that will further improve ORK and and its workflow will likely draw my interest.
Thank you
Either way, if you guys have a group discussion I'd like to join and see what the features are and what the quote from GiL was :)
Just trying to understand what I can currently do vs. What we would pay more to have developed.
What you can't do is have both the Inventory and Equipped views in the same window/dialog that can be dragged around the screen or opened/closed independently from one another. Because ORK creates them independently (each from a GUI prefab) and there's no way to place them both in the same "container" that can be dragged as a single unit.
So if you're trying to create a character GUl like you see in Skyrim, Oblivion, Risen, Baldur's Gate I/II, Wasteland 2, etc then you should be fine.
If you're trying to create a character UI like you see in Divinity: Original Sin, World of Warcraft, Diablo III, etc then you're going to run into some limitations if you want to combine features of multiple "menu/screen parts" into a single movable view.
This frustrated me at first, but then I decided I liked the full-screen "character sheets" style much better than the multitude of repositionable windows anyway. :-)