Great shots Zylos, but I agree that the fourth one is a little bland.
The first one is a bridge. I don't think it needs any more than what it is. The only thing I could think to add would be a few broken tiles.
@Love - it's a pretty nice map. The hallway bureau seems a little out of place and kind of seems like it was put there just to take up space. Generally people don't put large objects in their narrow hallways, especially when they have a wide open space nearby. Also, I think the entrance to the kitchen should have the wall ends on it
Anyway, my turn
These are just some design screens I'd like some feedback on; it's for my semi-theoretical game, which has an ABS. Ignore the map as it's just for testing and no effort was put into it.
The first is an HUD:
Basically, health going right in the top left; states going down in the top left
The top right are skills. Skill system is pretty simple; no mana is used, but there is a cooldown. Further, cooldown applies to all skills, so if you use a skill and it has a cooldown of 20s, then you wouldn't be able to use any skills for 20s; I figure that will prevent spamming of powerful skills with high cooldowns. Anyway, you scroll through skills with Q and use the skill with S. The skill that is fully opaque is currently equipped.
Item system is similar and in bottom right. You have a specified number of quick items, and you can equip them. Same rotary system as skills, but no cooldowns.
The second is the CMS for the same game:
The map still updates when the menu is open, which is why the menu is so transparent. Windowskin is still a WIP, though parts are thanks to Aindra and the idea for the main part of the window is taken from rafidelis' Equipments on Screen HUD.
Anyway, I am still experimenting with colors for everything, all the guages, normal color and system color. If you guys have any suggestions for colors please tell me
Anyway, windows are pretty self-explanatory. Bottom is the inventory. Right is the actor stats (it's a 1-actor game)
Equipment is top left and the top right is the help window for currently selected item in the inventory.
I should probably explain the weapon system too so you aren't confused by the guages. It's kind of a mix between Diablo II item system and Dark Cloud's Weapon System. In this game, the actor doesn't level, but equipment can, and you can also attach stuff to the equipment. So, stats increase when the weapon or armor levels up, or when an attachment is added. Attachments are unremovable, but upon level up the attahments are absorbed into the items, thus freeing up the sockets. But anyway, there is a gauge because each item has maximums for its stats that it cannot exceed even with attachments and levelups. The empty space under level is left open for item properties, which are represented by icons. I'm debating whether to put the sockets there instead, but I'm thinking of instead showing sockets on the item picture in the inventory itself, so it might be redundant. There's a lot more to the system, but that should explain the current layout for that window.
A lot of this is still a WIP, but I am wondering what everyone thinks of the design. Is it too confusing, too ugly, etc... Any suggestions for improvements before I get into the hard stuff?