Out-of-Combat UI Design

[Frostorm]

So I've been putting off designing a UI for my project's map scenes (anytime you're just running around). Right now it's totally blank/empty, as in the player only sees the map and stuff on said map w/ no UI to speak of. I am not referring to the main menu or command list btw. Generally, there are a couple of must-have elements:

• player's name and/or face
• player's HP & MP (gauge + #)
• player's level & XP
• gold/currency
• map name

Those are just some obvious ones I thought of off the top of my head. What are some other elements that could be included in the UI? I'd also really appreciate if anyone has screenshots of good UI designs they've come across, thx!

 

[MushroomCake28]

That's a lot of info to display. I generally display the bare minimum as I prefer having a full view of the map. Perhaps a button to hide/show the UI on the map?

Also, if your game uses touch screen/mouse, then a button to open the menu like in MZ.

 

[Frostorm]

That's a lot of info to display. I generally display the bare minimum as I prefer having a full view of the map. Perhaps a button to hide/show the UI on the map?

Hmm, you got a point there...I'd prolly omit gold/currency & map name. I do like to keep things clean as well, but if a button is used to show/hide the UI, then wouldn't the player rather exert the same effort press a different button to pull up the main menu?

Do you use a blank UI for your project btw? (on the map I mean)

Edit: Added a poll...

 

[ShadowDragon]

most very basic info (face, lv, exp are mostly top left, other UI like
skills, gamebad, etc are mostly bottom, but this can be entirely different from
game to game, there are some games that hase face, lvl, exp on the top right or
even bottom left corner, the rest next to it or on the top.

How you create your UI and place it is up to you, suiteable for your game
and confort to you that looks best.

some does top left, where not much to see, sometimes bottom left or right because mostly
nothing special to see or just places where you cant go, so it will be a nice spot.

there are so many type of UI for player, you can look some for UI rpg games
and see how they place it, there are to many types, but hard to guess of the UI type
would fit your game at best.

 

[MushroomCake28]

Hmm, you got a point there...I'd prolly omit gold/currency & map name. I do like to keep things clean as well, but if a button is used to show/hide the UI, then wouldn't the player rather exert the same effort press a different button to pull up the main menu?

Do you use a blank UI for your project btw? (on the map I mean)

Edit: Added a poll...

Personally the only thing I'm showing on the map in my current project is the button to call the menu (mostly for mobile). I do plan on offering an option to show a minimap, but that's pretty much it. Of course, depending on the type of game you're making you might have to display more info. Like for an action RPG you have to at least display the hero health. For the map name, I like having a window that displays it on top and have the window fade away after a while.

As for where to display it, I'd say I'm pretty much of the same opinion as ShadowDragon. It really depends on what you want to show. Some would go top left and others would go bottom right imo.

 

[Frostorm]

Oh snap, I totally forgot minimaps were a thing lol. Well I probably won't need it for my project since my dungeon maps are all 20x11 (they connect together) so the entire map is always visible (no scrolling). Though maybe the minimap would be useful for larger maps (mostly towns/cities).

My project is a tactical RPG; idk if they has any influence on UI requirements, but my battles occur on the map and not the battle scene.

 

[MushroomCake28]

Ahh yeah in that case displaying the active battler's image and info (health, mp, etc.) is needed during the battle phase at least. I'd say any of the 4 corners is a suitable place. Personally I prefer bottom left, but that's a personal choice.

 

[duty]

Do you have any visual "gutters" around your map screens? If you're going with a lot of info, it may make more sense to take a cue from the Legend of Zelda and just set aside a band at the top or bottom of the screen to hold that information.

 

[Frostorm]

Do you have any visual "gutters" around your map screens? If you're going with a lot of info, it may make more sense to take a cue from the Legend of Zelda and just set aside a band at the top or bottom of the screen to hold that information.

Hmm, not really...I'm running 960x540 resolution so it does feel vertically cramped. It was the easiest resolution that I could stretch to 2x so it looks like a pseudo-pixel art game lol.

Only indoor maps like this would have black/empty spaces, but even then it's not guaranteed nor consistent. Screenshot: