TKings original design is no longer the current UI scheme. As the design evolved, and requirements changed, so too did the UI elements/graphics and the way they functioned. It wasn't realistic to change some things and still leave his older stuff also. They just didn't match up.

However, I'm certain he'll have no problem skinning the new UI, should he have the desire to do so.

When I took over, the interface was reshaped from top to bottom. TKings previous work will not work within the new system. However, he - like everyone - is more than welcome to tear it up once it ships, and make any mods they like!

I understand that the look I did will not suit everyone's tastes and that many of you are EQ fans, so it's all good.

The icons are being done by two people right now. Ben Thompson, who is known among the Magic Card fans as an accomplished artist, and myself. Initially, Ben was going to do all the icons in the game. He has a very painterly style, and the majority of his work you'll see as the abilities. However, as the design grew, and requests for more and more unique items came in, it became obvious that all the required icons would be too much for one person. That's where I came in. I took on the item icons, trying to bridge Ben's very artsy style to my more realistic style. We felt that if the items had a slightly more realistic tone than the abilities that would be acceptable, since they represent two very different things. I had to be mindful though, not to get too ultra-photo relaistic with my icons, as they would be sitting in bars right next to his abilities and we didn't want them looking like they were from two different games. Generally speaking, I start off very realistic, and then "art them up" a bit, to better match Ben's beautiful work.

oops!
Thanks for the correct link Sicca!

TKing contributions to the UI ended a little over a year ago when I was brought on board to create the interface. If you'd like a quick style comparison, I think it's be safe to say TKing preferred the style of EQ, where my style preference would be that of WoW.

The majority of screenshots have the UI turned off, however the recent videos released show the UI in action.

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/4887

"Zombella, you say you want people to play the game, not the UI. That is exactly the sort of statement that scares me, because "playing the UI" has always been part of a good RPG to me."

Creating a game that appeals universally, to everyone, is near-imposssible. A subset of that fact is that the same goes for the interface. Perhaps this may even be a bit of a surprise to many of you, but were you to walk the floors at Sigil itself you'd be hard pressed to find any two people who set up their interface exactly alike. When you allow the players to modify the arrangment of the interface any way they like, it becomes very challenging to keep all the pieces "playing nice" with each other so that no matter what you have where on screen, it all looks natural.

We have set out to make the interface work as well as possible for everybody, and so that everyone can shuffle around components, turn features on and off, etc., etc. and it still works. It looks appealing. The adventure journal book graphic became cumbersome and it really became a beast it was never meant to be, and so the decision was made to revamp the menu system to create a more cohesive design. I liked the look of it, sure, but when it became the interface equivalent of an 800 lb gorilla on screen it became a distraction.

In the end, everyone will have varying opinions about the look of the interface, and that's to be expected. Human nature being what it is and what have you... but my (and the Sigil team's) goal is to work with design to make a system that -above all - works well at conveying information in a clean, attractive manner that fits in with the game's overall aesthetic.

I want you guys to have fun in the game! The interface is an interactive frame to a great piece of art. Don't let it distract you from the beauty within.

LOL - exactly.
I'm sure that, at times, decisions made may seem like we're purposefully out to ruin the game for you guys, but trust me when I tell you that no decision is made lightly and we consider the pros and cons before making changes like this one.

Really the simple fact of the matter is that that particular interface element became way too big. We want everyone to play the game, not the interface. And when ui pieces become that large it just dominates the screen and becomes practically unusable in a practical sense. Did it look nice? Sure...but it cannot be at the cost of gameplay.

I wish I had some grand plan I could layout for you, like I followed the perfect path, but my own experience was so terribly convoluted it's ridiculous.

I can tell you what we look for in a concept artist though, and it's been universal at every place that I've worked, and that's strong illustrative skills with an attention to detail. Consistancy and being well rounded helps. We tend to have concept artists who specialize (environments, items, characters, etc) but they should still be good enoguh to pick up any task.
As an example, would my humans look as good as Ben Thompsons? Probably not, because he excels at that both at Sigil and in his freelance work, but if he's busy and they need one, I can do a decent job of it.

I recommend you just practice, practice, practice! Life drawing classes and still-life skills are a great way to start because that will teach you the fundamentals for everything.


As far as education? A big school, a small school, it really doesn't matter. Sure you can score some brownie points if you have similar interests as the art staff - but in the end it's all about your skill.

In the meantime, I would recommend looking at a game you like and draw things from it!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yeah, the book is going away. I liked it too, but the implementation got out of hand. It was originally intended to be a small journal with just a few tabs - but then as design progressed, it became clear that far too much information was being packed in. Pretty soon, with all the tabs, it was looking like a medieval yellowpages! Ugh! So we have gone with a more menu driven system now, because ultimately the ui should convey as much information as possible, as fast and clearly as possible...as small as possible.

Yes I did, but only early on, during the concept phase.

As for it being "bad", the best way I can describe working in the video game industry was from a quote I read somewhat recently. I forget who said it, but they pointed out that "...it takes just as much work to produce a bad game as it does a good one." And that really is true. No one sets out to make a crappy game, but oftentimes - for any number of reasons - a game simply doesn't come together in the end, and despite the efforts put into it, it results in a poor final product.