Here is a picture of what I've messed with so far.
So far I've made a few changes:
- No more hearts for health! Enemy health is shown as a bar behind their name. Friendlies and Neutrals would have Blue/Grey healthbars, but none were in the picture to show. Added a little dithering for a clean looking bar texture.
- Your Health/Energy is shown as a bar and a number, instead of either-or. This especially has always bothered me. Bars in video games allow a quick glance to show you how you're doing. Numbers allow exact amounts to be used for precise spell casts. It's imperative to have both, in my opinion. I made it look a bit nicer by adding a drop shadow to the bars (since they're bars instead of boxes now).
- Removed the "chain-like" background behind the macro bar. In my opinion, that made everything look a bit too cluttered. It's a personal preference, but I think it looks nice. I also cleaned up the upper side of it, and removed a pixel of height from the button showing which bar you have active.
- Various small pixel-art changes. Right now these just include adding a black border around the bag/belt/etc buttons, and "finishing" the top of the graphic above the character portrait (around the top jewel).
I have more changes I'd like to add to the picture for fun. Little things like:
- Instead of a 31st bag slot for gold, make gold have it's own section at the bottom of the bag with a "remove stack" amount to make stacks of gold (for dropping, etc). I think it would look nice to have gold a bit bigger and separate than the rest of the items. You would still be able to drop stacks of gold.
- Changing the background textures. This is another personal preference thing. The "spraypaint-like" background definitely looks older and fits the origins of the game, but I'd love to be able to change the background to your liking. Both the grey background around the game and the Tan scroll-like background behind the extra windows. An option to change these between various graphics would be a change everyone would be happy with.
- Change the "small icons" of items. Currently it seems to me that every item has a Large icon and a Small icon. The large icon is seen when holding it in your hand or in your bag/belt/pouch. The Small icon is seen in the Target-box when someone else is holding an item. The Small icons have a gradient background and don't fill up the boxes that they're shown above. An unnoticable detail to most, but hey, I'm bored enough to make newer, cleaner icons without too much blurriness or gradients.
- Fix the bottom of the scroll. That may just be my computer messing up, though.
Anyway, if anyone has any comments or suggestions, speak up! More discussion is always great. Also, if any Sysop thinks they could use some random pixel art for the game, let me know. I have plenty of free time and love pixel art.