New GUI preview: Textbox elements! (Patreon)

Today I'd like to share a early look at our finalized gui coming to the game later this year! ^^

This only covers the textbox elements for now, but we'll have other previews in the near future for other ui elements/screens. So let's jump right into what we're looking at and try to explain it!

(image 1): This gives us our overview look at the textbox ui, the new features and how buttons look, along with the portrait window area showcasing Miki as if she's in the middle of talking during the scene. Naturally within config settings you'll be able to change how transparent the textbox layers are in case you find it's too solid by default. We also included on the very right top corner a X button which will hide the whole textbox ui until you tap/click on the button again to pull it on screen again with ease! When pressing buttons, they'll become blue colored to reflect if say "auto" is turned on.

(image 2): Taking the same as the first image, this is just showcasing how the ui would look by default during a cg scene moment. We're unsure how the portraits would play into all of this yet, but this gives a rough idea on the overall visual look of the gui and how well it blends along with the sprite, cg, bg art visuals as a whole!

(image 3): Same as the 2nd image, but now we can see how things would look without the portrait being used. We're unsure yet how to handle the portrait fully, so feedback on visuals is always welcomed! ^^

(image 4): This preview gives us a taste of how the hide textbox feature would look in action! Once you've tapped/clicked the X button, it'd turn into a check mark and this is the only little bit of ui element displayed left during cg scene moments or whenever you feel the need to hide the textbox in fitting moments of the game.

(image 5): Here we have another scene, featuring Nova and Allie for difference. Ignore the "Miki" name seen as it'd reflect who is talking or monologue instead. We can see what things would look like with Nova in the portrait while possibly talking.

(image 6): Similar to image 5, but this is what we envision things would look like if we were to display Brandon's portrait mainly through the game, displaying his reactions to the moments during the game and while talking.


Our main concern right now is just how we'd want to handle the portrait section of the ui. We did a poll and some discussion months back on this very topic, which I believe many of you thought it would be better to display Brandon's reactions if anything. There's some natural visual concerns we have about doing stuff with the portrait in any fashion. <.<

One concern is that if we make use of the portrait to show only Brandon's reactions is that it might look odd visually when we have Miki, Erika or others talking and showing their name next to his portrait. It might become too distracting?

The other concern is similar, but if we were to show Miki in the portrait window while she's talking, then it flips to Erika right after, followed by Brandon and back to Miki, etc. While they're talking during a scene, it might become a bit too visually distracting in it's own right as well.. >.>

What we could probably do, is have a config setting to hide the portrait in general from being used for those who don't want to play with it displayed. The only problem to solve from there would be for those who do like the portrait, what kind of setup we should go with from above that'd feel visually good.

(Of course a little video demo of a conversation in action would greatly help decide, but just imagine Miki's portrait changing to Erika, then Brandon, then Miki and Erika again within about 30-40 seconds time depending on reading speed.)

We'd love to hear everyone's feedback on how the new gui elements are looking, as we can still make adjustments or additions! Feel free to mention your thoughts on discord or in the comments here, we really want to make sure we nail this ui as being very professionally clean, polished and well made! ^^

Artist Credits: ds-sans