The Custom UI System
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:56 pm
As we have demonstrated before, Venice Unleashed features a custom UI system, which allows us to provide you with additional in-game features (like a main menu, a server browser, custom loading screens, etc.), and also allows modders to give a unique identity to their mods by customizing the in-game UI.
But how does this work you may ask?
Do you need to have advanced ActionScript/Flash skills to develop custom HUD elements for VU?
The answer is simple.
Instead of going through the trouble of using something like Scaleform (something that would possibly cause a lot of inconvenience for both us and you) we decided to render our custom UI utilizing a nice little project called Awesomium CEF, which is actually pretty awesome!
The way this works is by rendering a regular HTML page, and then sending it back to our application so we can process it and render it on the actual game view.
This provides us with a familiar and flexible environment, leveraging all the latest web technologies (like WebGL), and it also makes it very easy to debug and perform changes live, without having to re-bundle and restart your game every single time you need change something, as seen in the video below.
Note: This demonstration is incomplete and is not representative of the final product.
We have also exposed a lot of game functionality (like information about players and weapons, relative positions, server-side commands, etc.) via global JavaScript objects, that can be easily accessible from your custom UI. That, in combination with our Extension system, provides you with a very powerful and flexible solution for building entirely custom interfaces.
We have made sure to provide you with a convenient set of tools, features, and resources, so you don't have to worry about weird technicalities and you can focus on what matters the most, making something awesome!
Finally, we should note that everything is served server-side, meaning that players will not have to download mod packs or any other kind of files to be able to experience your custom UI.
Next week, we will go into more detail on how modding will work in VU, both using the Extension System 'VeniceEXT', and Rime.
We would love to hear your feedback, so feel free to discuss this on our forums by clicking on the button below!
From the Venice Unleashed Blog.
But how does this work you may ask?
Do you need to have advanced ActionScript/Flash skills to develop custom HUD elements for VU?
The answer is simple.
Instead of going through the trouble of using something like Scaleform (something that would possibly cause a lot of inconvenience for both us and you) we decided to render our custom UI utilizing a nice little project called Awesomium CEF, which is actually pretty awesome!
The way this works is by rendering a regular HTML page, and then sending it back to our application so we can process it and render it on the actual game view.
This provides us with a familiar and flexible environment, leveraging all the latest web technologies (like WebGL), and it also makes it very easy to debug and perform changes live, without having to re-bundle and restart your game every single time you need change something, as seen in the video below.
Note: This demonstration is incomplete and is not representative of the final product.
We have also exposed a lot of game functionality (like information about players and weapons, relative positions, server-side commands, etc.) via global JavaScript objects, that can be easily accessible from your custom UI. That, in combination with our Extension system, provides you with a very powerful and flexible solution for building entirely custom interfaces.
We have made sure to provide you with a convenient set of tools, features, and resources, so you don't have to worry about weird technicalities and you can focus on what matters the most, making something awesome!
Finally, we should note that everything is served server-side, meaning that players will not have to download mod packs or any other kind of files to be able to experience your custom UI.
Next week, we will go into more detail on how modding will work in VU, both using the Extension System 'VeniceEXT', and Rime.
We would love to hear your feedback, so feel free to discuss this on our forums by clicking on the button below!
From the Venice Unleashed Blog.
