UI Styling, Misc (Patreon)

I've been working mostly on UI things, lately—it's one of the important things that still need to be done, even if it's not the most exciting topic.

Small VIP Targets Update

VIP targets now come in 1- to 3-star ratings: The more stars a target has, the more valuable it is. It's random what target is picked, but based on how far away it is from the player it's going to be worth more or less—so if a VIP target shows up far away from the player, it's always going to be 3 stars.

Custom UI Graphics

I've started with UI styling, which is something I don't 100% have a plan for... So I'm figuring it out, along the way.

To style the buttons, I had the idea to have rectangles with rounded corners that would shape change, when a button is highlighted or selected: For this to work, I had to write a custom UI graphics component.
That means scripting dynamic mesh generation, which is always a lot of fun... or, at least, a bunch of math and headaches.

Lots of vector math and some guess work later, here's the result: My very own, customizable UI graphics component!

It's a rectangle with rounded corners, each of which has a separate position offset, to deform the shape. The mesh also has an option to add extra subdivisions (rows and columns).

If you are wondering why I may want to add extra subdivisions even though they don't affect the shape's silhouette at all: The additional geometry helps with the distortion, when a texture is applied:

Both shapes show the same checkered texture: The graphic on the left uses the minimum amount of geometry, while the one on the right has extra subdivisions. As you can see, the texture on the right is distorted much more uniformly!

Button Styles

And here's what all that work with custom shapes was good for: Animated, funky buttons:

I'm pretty happy with the result!

Styling all of the remaining UI will still take a bunch of time, but I hope to get it done within the next week, or so.

Thanks for your Support!

Alsooo, I may have some exciting news, soon, but it's still a bit too early for anything official—can't wait to share!