Welcome back to another Boss 101 weekly update!
This week we are looking at more of the UI development. Specifically the construction of one of the more fun pages – Professor Gopher’s Wiki!
So – we have a knowledge codex for the player and in keeping with the theme of the game we are making it based in the Gopher Tech. These are the guys who helped put together your command center so it’s fitting they help you retrieve new and useful information about the things you find and do in the game. The Wiki is part instruction manual and part story telling device. Information is added as you go along and discover new facts.
We started with a basic idea. A page where the player can see information in an easy to read format and have something thematically inline with the game. This, as you might imagine, could be a huge rabbit hole of thinking. Thankfully we had quite a few guidelines already in place in terms of gopher and command center tech. Mostly it was about finding pieces which worked and fitting them in.
Step 1: we took what we have already in place and laid out an overall page where the info will go. The first thing we are looking to do is get art pass in so we know the sizes of the information. Things like layout and font sizes are a big deal when you are showing the player information. In this case we wanted as much space as we could afford.
Step 2: Art first pass. At this stage we have a nice idea of how the page might look in terms of the general art. We also have the beginnings of a theme. There is a USB stick and a gopher touch pad going in so the next phase will be to push it further.
Step 3: We look at prior screens which have a similar look. In this case the movie replay room. From here a bunch of notes are made. The idea is the gophers are cannibalizing the tech from various parts of the command center and piecing things together as they see fit. Nothing should look completely whole or perfect and for the most part we want the place to have the vibe of a hand built machine.
Step 4: Ok, now it’s coming together nicely. We can see the theme really taking shape and the look is getting firmly established. Still more tweaks to do but this is the final stretch.
Step 5: Here we see the art and tech in a true first pass. The tech is hooked up so if you move up and down you see a short temp loading animation and when you stop it will show you the page you stopped on. The pages and names are temp of course but they do show the underlying tech is there and the art is in place. Now to fill up the Wiki with info!
Like that one?! We hope so and much more to come!
Screenshot time – Dinosaurs anyone?
Like Jurassic World? RoboDinosaurs? We got you covered. 
Indie Game Riot Panel this Friday - July 17th, starting at 8pm EST
Hey all this is Tim. I will be giving a 45 minute panel on How to Make Your Games and Your Dreams Come True this Friday, July 17th at 8pm-8:45pm EST. Join me and check out the other great talks. It's all being broadcast so check it out!
Indie Revolution Expo
Check back soon and remember to live your dreams!
-Tim
Great job on the UI again, btw. love that professor mashing the keyborad in the cabin above usb stick!;-)
HA! Thanks, that keyboard mash was a touch by our artist Manon. Really hilarious stuff and captures the feel of the gane.
-Tim