A Question On UI

[croxis]

I have reached the point in Open Outpost where I am going to start expanding the UI past a right click menu.   I can go about this in one of two way:

The traditional game UI where all the little widgets are contained in the master window.

or

Have game windows be actual windows on the desktop. The biggest advantage to this is it can take advantage of any dual monitor real estate with what ever graphs or information panels you want to keep open.  The other advantage is it allows you to do other things (chat online, do homework, whatever) without running a traditional ui in "window mode."

If I have an infinite number of monkeys in front of keyboards I'd do both, and maybe will at some point.  Right now I'd like to see what the community preference is so I know which to tackle first.

[Sirbomber]

I say "traditional" because anything else just looks unprofessional (really, what decent game exists in 14 different windows?).

[croxis]

And if a game needs 14 different widgets open at the same time then it is bad UI period, regardless of if it is traditional or free floating.

[Sirbomber]

It's called "exaggeration" croxis...
Regardless, my point is that having lots of separate windows just makes it confusing.  Besides, you don't need every possible command display open if you include some sort of alert/update system (like how OP2 warns you of imminent disasters or completed research; something OP1 lacks).

[ducktape]

I vote for the second one, simply for being able to have more window flexibility and not having to alt-tab out. I don't see why that won't be similar to what OP1 had already, expect with being able to move windows outside the main window. I just hope they look the same and don't have the general windows 'border' with the buttons and title bar, just the OP1 look if possible. Plus I'd like to see a little more room cleared up so we can see more play area at once.

[Leviathan]

Part of the reason for remaking the game should be to improve it. And floating GUI is an improvement  

[Hidiot]

Some improvements need to be thought out.

Adding things just because they're cool is a no no.  

[croxis]

I'm keeping it traditional for a technical reason actually. All the gui libraries I can find require using their own running loop.  For applications like 3d modeling this is fine, but for games this is not ideal as the game logic loop should be the primary loop.