Information on the 2D Assets needed for
The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians
Summary
Quality & Style & Mood
Quality should be at least same than World of Warcraft (WoW), or above if possible :
Style should be heroic-fantasy of-course, metal based (or maybe stone), but not too flashy (ie: no shining gold, or just a very little bit).
WoW style is close of what I have in mind, but I'd like something less cartoon and a bit more metallic.
Mood should be fighting, a bit dirty, possibly a bit bloody.
Style should of course match the 3D environments as seen in the screenshots in the later sections.
This interface is good enough, except it's a bit too joyful, I'd like something a bit more mature, dark themed.
Assets for Interface
I need about 15 icons, 8 backgrounds/frames with some details, a complete GUI for menu, and a bit of global design for 5 screens. I may also need 13 icons for the automap system, although I'm not sure it's possible to do better or not than the existing icons.
Complete list with description for each needed element is in the following section.
A "detail" is something that goes on the border, the corner, or the top of a GUI element (example: a little dragon on the top middle of a frame).
The global design means you can rearrange a bit the stuff around. Moving anything on bottom part of the screen is nearly impossible without impairing the gameplay, though.
Style, especially the icons' style, should match existing icons' style (you can see some on the various following screenshots).
Backgrounds & Frames
Some backgrounds & Frames need to be 9-cell based ; ie: I need to scale them, and only the border will stay pixel perfect and the center will be stretched, so usually the center part is only 1 color so the stretching isn't noticeable. 9-cell technique is explained here : http://docs.unity3d.com/es/current/Manual/class-GuiTexture.html ("Detail" paragraph)
Not-scaled background should have about the same number of pixels than when displaying in a 1920x1080 screen ; ie: if a background is 600x300 when displayed in 1920x1080 screen, then it should uses a texture of 512x256.
Each needed background or frame is listed below.
Icons
Icons should have 3 states : normal, active ( = mouse button pressed), hover ( = cursor on it but mouse isn't pressed).
Icon file size should be 128x128, but normal screen size shouldn't be more than 64x64.
Ability icons are the 4 icons on left, and the 4 icons on right. They don't need to be redone, but the frame around them needs to be enhanced.
You can change the object of the icon if you find something that represents better the action it does (example: replace the 2 swords of the attack icon by a knife).
Complete list of needed icons (icons marked with (*) don't need to be redone if you can't do a better version ; between () is the current representation of that icon):
- (*) Attack (2 swords)
- (*) Stop to Attack (Broken Shield)
- (*) Select 4 party members (4 red dots)
- (*) Re-select lastly selected party member(s) (4 red dots but in different direction)
- (*) Close (red cross) - it's used to close inventory, etc.
- (*) Ability frame ; abilities are the 4 icons on left, and 4 icons on right ; hover & active are displayed above the ability icon
- 6 arrow pad : the arrow pad can be hidden ; each arrow has a separate normal/active/hover texture
Base Interface backgrounds, frames & details :
- Each ability bar ( = all abilities on the same row, so there are 2 bars on left & 2 bars on right) should have some kind of unified frame and some details on the external corner or edge (example: a little dragon on far left & far right of the screen) ; the number of abilities on each bar is variable ; ie: at end of game, the top left bar has 10 icons, the bottom left has 8, the top right 9 and the bottom right 8 ; so the frame probably needs to be 9-cell to be scalable
- If possible, the arrow pad should have some kind of detail or frame to unify it as well
- (*) selector indicator for each party member (golden corner)
- Alpha Frame for party member portraits (the Alpha is used to blend the portraits) ; this frame needs to be 256x256, so it can be used in the menus during party creation
Combat
Needed elements:
- Mob frame with :
- 3 bars
- Name
- Health Points
- Mana
- Circle for the Mob's portrait
- Very small circle for the Mob's level
- 2 different details : 1 for Boss, 1 for Elite Mob (currently, it's a Yellow Sun & a Purple Sun surrounding the portrait circle)
- 3 bars
- Casting bar with highlight (like on the screenshot above, currenctly casting "Swing")
- Locked casting : indicate that this ability cannot be interrupted (currently the casting bar is replaced by a stone bar)
- Detail for cast bar : indicate the Mob cannot move when he casts the current ability (currently, I use shackles)
- Clock hand on party member portrait + hit identicator (little sun) to show their swing timing ; it turns around in their portrait (screenshot above should give you an idea what's going on)
Menu
I need help to design my menus.
Here what I tried :
It feels a bit a bit too busy, so I tried that :
And this one feels a bit empty.
That's why I need a professional GUI designer ! ;-)
It's not required, but if you know how to create a GUI skin for Unity's Legacy GUI, it's a plus.
Here all the elements needed :
- normal button (as seen on the screenshots above)
- wide button (same, but it's not much high and it's very wide)
- simple button (to use for settings, so it can have a lot on the screen without feeling too heavy)
- up/down & left/right little arrow buttons & scroll bars
- info box (same than 1st screenshot above, except it should look good )
- vertical & horizonal bar with a slider
- check button on/off
- radio button on/off
- loading slider
Inventory & Character Sheet
Elements needed :
- frame & details for the character sheets (on left)
- frame & details for the inventory (on the right) including slots (it can be a repeatable texture for the slots)
Dialog Log
Elements needed :
- frame for the dialog : it should be a book like on the screenshot
- possibly a frame to separate each entry on the left (maybe just a simple stylized line would do the trick)
Talent Tree
Elements needed :
- frame for each tree ; ie: on the screenshot above, the frame would be displayed 2 times ; it'd be better if the frame is 9-cell because the size of the tree can be different (ie: it could have 1 more icon on each row)
- frame for the player details (on top, containing the dice)
- "confirm changes" icon
- "cancel changes" icon
Map
If you cannot do better than that, I'll keep the current map icons, but I need a new scroll background.
Elements needed:
- (*) floor : normal, bridge, unvisited cell (grey on the screenshot above), pit, switchable pit, plate, stairs
- (*) wall : normal, door, level up, level down
- (*) column
- (*) party (green arrow)
- Background : old dirty scroll like on the screenshot above
Portraits
Portrait style should be semi-realistic, a bit like the following portraits :
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Size should be 256x256, but actual game size is at best around 64x64, and during the party creation menu it's about 200x200, so the level of detail target should more 128x128 even if the actual produced images are 256x256.
I need at least 10 portraits, for 5 races, each with 1 male & 1 female.
Races are :
- Human
- Dwarf
- Elf
- Dark Elf
- Halfling
If I can afford it, I'll ask for 30 portraits, ie: 3 males & 3 females per race.
If possible, I'd like each portrait to be layered so I could change the colors of skin, hair & eyes. If the price for the layered versions would be much higher, then please quote both for the layer & unlayer versions.
Boxshot
I'd need a boxshot of 1920x1080 that can be cut to support different aspect ratio, as shown on the following screenshot :
The boxshot will usually not be seen above 1024x576, so no need for HD details.
For the style, I'm not sure, I'd need something that fits the theme of the game : dark, a bit violent, somewhat epic & melancholic at same time ; visual should be semi-realistic (ie: saturation & contrast a bit higher than usual).
Lord of the Rings style should probably be a good fit.
Maybe the boxshot could be built with several monsters from the game (I'd provide screenshots of the monsters, or maybe the 3D models, dependings of what is required).
Game Logo
It should be better than current one, here :
Same than for the UI, the style should be heroic-fantasy, metal based, but unlike the UI, it could be somewhat flashly (ie: reflecting light, gold, etc...)
Resolution should be around 600-800 pixels wide, depending of the design.
Something like this would be very nice (except the top part that is not very readable) :
