How to make customized bars

ID:1904594
 
Jul 26 2015, 6:09 am
If you want a cool hp bar or a stamina bar or w/e but hate how you have to go out of the way to do so I created a unique way to do it without loads of work.

1. make a bar interface element

2. make a label element with whatever letter or symbol you want

3. make the label transparent and line it up over the bar element.

4. wala you're done with some tweaks needed your bar should look something like these



I used X,Z,I and | for these bars but try different fonts,colors,letters,symbols,sizes,styles and you too can have some pretty cool unique bars
Jul 26 2015, 2:43 pm
you should have included a tutorial on how to make it appear
Jul 26 2015, 3:10 pm
the pattern is always there its just hidden by the black bg of the empty part of the bar and reappear when it fills up
Jul 27 2015, 11:36 am
This is an interesting solution, I have to admit, but it's still very limiting. You can't include a different coloured background because of the text color and it also doesn't address the fact that many interface elements need to be directly on the map to better support them giving the right information at needed times. When you health bar is sitting in the corner, or better yet, directly at your character, you don't really have to take your eyes away from the situation to know how much health you have.

Having the bar above or to the side of the map forces a player to completely disconnect themselves from the situation to know how much health they have left, which can in turn, loose their focus enough for them to die a horrible death.

My advice would be to plan out your UI a lot better than this and understand exactly what kind of information you'll need to keep on the screen.
Jul 27 2015, 11:37 am
I just put in a rectangle and code the rest.

And the above problem as well. Best to have a health bar right above player
Jul 27 2015, 11:56 am
It depends on the game. I've seen plenty of games where player health is displayed far from the center of the screen. It could even be displayed in both places (like DotA, I think). Card games and first-person games wouldn't even have an avatar to place the bar over.

Either way, this thread isn't about "where the bar goes" or "why you should/shouldn't use a skin bar", it's about how to make customized bars.
Jul 27 2015, 1:15 pm
In response to Kaiochao
I think it's still very important to give constructive feedback as to why these things are necessary or some alternate uses that maybe work better or are easier to manage. While it's very interesting that he discovered that he can do this with the interface bars, there still lies the question of whether or not it's necessary and whether or not it actually stands to compete in quality against more commonly used methods.
Jul 27 2015, 1:53 pm
Smart and easy to do thanks for sharing! Sure this will help many.
Jul 27 2015, 2:38 pm
Cool idea, but also limited because you wont be able to use label that display 100/100 health on it, it wont look good. But if you dont want that I guess is good enough.
Jul 27 2015, 2:57 pm
I think you guys are missing the purpose of why this was made.
Jul 27 2015, 3:16 pm
In response to Zasif
Zasif wrote:
Cool idea, but also limited because you wont be able to use label that display 100/100 health on it, it wont look good. But if you dont want that I guess is good enough.
Couldn't you just place another label over both?
Jul 27 2015, 3:30 pm
In response to Kaiochao
Kaiochao wrote:
Zasif wrote:
Cool idea, but also limited because you wont be able to use label that display 100/100 health on it, it wont look good. But if you dont want that I guess is good enough.
Couldn't you just place another label over both?

That would really only look good as long as the overlay text is allowed to have a contrasting outline. Can it? I haven't messed with the interface editor with bars and labels for a while.