Project Divine - GUI Design Contest! Cash Prize + More! Thread

Intro:

Project Divine is a Diablo-esque action RPG in which a player controls a single “hero” and battles through hordes of monsters, leveling up stats and skills, as well as acquiring items to become stronger.

This contest is for the design of the interface of the project. We've crowd-sourced a lot of our work currently and it has worked great, including a successful plot writing contest. What we are mainly looking for is a general artistic direction/mock-up for the UI. We don't need perfect PSD's of each component. These mock-ups will be used to fully flesh out our UI and move it into an actual development stage.

At this time, we don't have a set artistic style in mind. We have several pieces of concept art which can be found at:Media | Project Divine. I've also included some notes for our plot lines at the bottom of this post which I'd recommend you read before delving into design.

Lastly, I've packaged together several screenshots from existing games to hopefully provide more clarity on what we are looking for. Please note, not all of these are necessarily good, but they all provide a good example on what is needed for a functional UI. That package can be found here: GUI Examples - Imgur

Official contest end date is July 25th, though this may be subject to change

Requirements for a valid submission:

Image of default screen (no windows open): I.imgur.com
At least one of the following (having each would be preferred, but not required):

• Stats screen: I.imgur.com
• Inventory screen: I.imgur.com
• Skills screen: I.imgur.com

Contest Prize:

Our main prize includes a cash bonus of $300 as well as open portfolio usage and mention in our credits. In some cases, you may invited on to join the project on a paid basis to continue detailing the submission out.

Secondary prizes includes a cash bonus of $75. This is handed out to any submissions that have certain elements we'd like to incorporate into our final.

Contact Details:

Please e-mail cthomlison@gmail.com with any questions, requests for further details, or submissions. I can also be contacted on Skype at CThomlison

Default screen:

The default screen is the main HUD of the game. This displays any time a player joins a game. The HUD should encompass all main elements that a player would need during regular playing and combat. This includes things like current skills and current hp/mana.

Due to the gametype, the following things must be displayed on the HUD:
HP and Mana – Bars/Globes/Etc.
Currently selected left click and right click abilities
Currently selected “Action Bar” skills (Similar to Diablo 3 or WoW) - note, we'll only be doing 4 or 5 skills, so a full bar is a not needed
Experience Bar
Basic Menu Buttons – Things like character sheet, inventory, system settings etc. Buttons do not need to be detailed, more concerned with placement of where they go than the actual buttons themselves.
Potions
Chat panel
Buff/Debuff Bar

Optional things can be Quest objectives tracker or mini-map, though they are not required.

Stats screen:

The stats screen contains the basic attributes for a character, including things like Strength, Dexterity, Mana, Life, etc. The stats screen may also contain formulated stats like chance to hit, run speed, magic find, resistances, etc. This could all be displayed on one screen or it could be done in tabulated screens similar to how Torchlight 2 has it.

Inventory screen:

This screen holds the character's current bag contents as well as what the character has currently equipped. This should be fairly self explanatory as we aren't doing anything outside the norm here. We're still slightly undecided on what actual armor pieces we're going to include (head, chest, shoulders, etc.), so including just some basics on the character sheet would be acceptable.

Skills screen:

Project Divine works off a tree system similar to that found in Diablo II or WoW. Players can put multiple points in each skill to enhance it. We do have a few special things planned for this system such as unique passive bonuses when grouping skills and enhancements (similar to runes from D3), but none of it is required for this submission.

The tree could be vertical as most are, horizontal, or even spherical if you're feeling extra creative. To reinforce, we are not concerned about icons or tree placement, but rather the general art style of the panel itself.

Appendix: Plot

The basic plot follows a nameless character that has been "plugged-in" to a computer world in hopes of harvesting resources from this world and bringing them back to a now ravaged earth. Similar to stories like the Matrix or Avatar, the player controls a new version of themselves with greater powers than they'd normally have on earth. In this new world, the player finds they are not alone and this world is filed with mysterious alien races and godlike beings (see concept art) at war with each other.

While this is a high-tech sci-fi world, it'd best be described as Sci-Fi/Mythological/Fantasy. We'll be avoiding guns for the most part and favoring more melee weapons/bows/crossbows. I mention this primarily so we don't receive any "army" type designs for lack of a better term.

I've only included the details I think are completely necessary for this contest. If you believe knowing a full back story/plot line would aid you, please contact me and I can send the full document.

Thanks and good luck!

Edited by: CThom27