feedback Willow's casting icons

[-Variant]

Willow's new casting mechanic is pretty much copied over from Maxwell's casting wheel.
I'm personally hoping this alone doesn't become a reoccurring trend for characters going forward, it loses its uniqueness if so.

With that said, I wanted to talk about the icons themselves. I'm not that fond of them, Maxwell I feel can get away with low detail-low colored icons since his gimmick is Shadow stuff but I don't think it works here at all. Especially for fire, which itself has a wide spectrum of colors.

I'm not entirely sure where exactly to critique, I feel they're very bland in comparison. They could use more colors, the bright red border feels off, too. 

[Auth]

The colors of the whole thing are really off to me.

I actually thought it was placeholder art for a second. It feels like a really amateur rush job a modder would do, just take it in photoshop and slide the color balance around.

If it stuck to the color palette as Max's (except for the lunar fire ig) I don't think it'd look any worse for it with how it's currently set up.

[WhackE]

Yeah, Not sure how to put it but they feel like placeholders in some way.

[skile]

I think at least having shades of yellow and orange in the mix would help. 

[Swiyss]

They definitely need some white or black strong lines, it would fit better the whole dont starve thing.

[Bombobbit]

Yeah I also don't like them and the one at the top looks like a Wortox ability.

[Cattestrophic]

Yeah, it does feel weird to look at, and the first time I opened it and saw the whole thing was stark red I thought it was telling me I specifically couldn't cast it. A more personal touch based on her character aesthetics would probably be a good place to start.

[comonavi]

maybe part of it is the lack of contrast? it's really hard to read her symbols at a glance, especially not good since they're all so similar looking

 

 

[-Variant]

25 minutes ago, Bombobbit said:

Yeah I also don't like them and the one at the top looks like a Wortox ability.

YES! Okay, this is what I couldn't put my tongue on.

They feel too bright red souls-y.
It does look like a Wortox icon, now that I think of it.

[WONTow]

Maybe add a unique border, to visualize the difference. Something like this. Same for Maxwell, or any other casters if they'll make more.

[-Variant]

4 hours ago, WONTow said:

Maybe add a unique border, to visualize the difference.

Absolutely a step in the right direction. Still needs some differing colors, but I like the unique shapes! Helps personalize them.

[BezKa]

...I thought those are very clearly placeholders?

[-Variant]

4 minutes ago, BezKa said:

...I thought those are very clearly placeholders?

They are until they aren't.

My mentality is to always make certain to give feedback regardless if they 'clearly' are or aren't.
Old Big Bernie's art was literally said to be placeholder in the stream it was added in back in 1920 and... it didn't get changed till this beta. 

Aside, topics like this clearly give artists feedback on what they should do for the real deal! Let's others contribute to what they'd want to see in finalized ones.

[BezKa]

Just now, -Variant said:

My mentality is to always make certain to give feedback regardless if they 'clearly' are or aren't.

You're right, that makes sense. Got "placeholder" directly wired to "please ignore" in my brain from work.

[O_Atoba_Azul]

One thing I think Klei might be missing an oportunity of doing is custom shapes for the icons.
For example, you can do more unique things, like this:

[goblinball]

4 minutes ago, O_Atoba_Azul said:

For example, you can do more unique things, like this:

These icons look cool! Do you mind telling me what mod they’re from?

[skile]

1 hour ago, -Variant said:

it was added in back in 1920

I severely underestimated what it takes to be a dst veteran. 

[O_Atoba_Azul]

13 minutes ago, goblinball said:

These icons look cool! Do you mind telling me what mod they’re from?

Uncompromising Mode, art made by @Gearless!

[Yuuko]

Eh, radial menus for selection is pretty common in games and easy for controllers.  It will not be something unique to Maxwell.  I just hope they offer a better key-binds solution b/c radial menus aren't as great for kb/m lol

[ButterStuffed]

Myself and other people I’ve seen on Twitch have accidentally assumed the special coloring of the Shadow fire meant it couldn’t be cast.

Just thought I would put that out there lol.

[maxwell_winters]

I find the colors too bright. The game color scheme is more subdued. The icons stick out like a sore thumb.

[ShadowDuelist]

They could look like little animated fire orbs, like an in game item on fire to go more in theme with her, and not just static.

[Tortoise Guy]

Along with all the stuff mentioned in this thread, I think some way of telling if you have enough embers to cast a spell could be good too, turning the transparency down a bit would probably be enough.

[Wardin25]

I agree with all that's been said, and I'd like to add that in Celestial Champion's third phase's attack where it shoots gestalts, the geysers (?) that mark the limit of the attack also look very placeholdery, just plain bright blue, not looking like the moons palette

[YouKnowWho]

Perhaps the buttons could be stylized after that little flower on her lighter?