Change Azure glyph colour scheme

[emeraldfool]

I know there's only one Azure glyph currently available; Air, but it has an almost identical colour scheme to that of the Crystal glyphs (white with blue glow surrounding it). The only difference is a slightly more bluer tint to the whole thing.


   (Azure is the 'tornado'-looking one, Crystal is the 'lightning bolt' and 'arrow' looking ones)

(Note: The glyphs are even less distinctively coloured in-game for some reason, at least on my video settings)

But since the actual Way isn't in the glyph description (i.e. when you're buying it), the colour is the only thing we really have to go on, and it seems it could be rather confusing for newbies (I was pretty confused myself)

Now, I noticed that the actual colour of the aura that appears when you cast the spell is purple, which led me to believe that either 'Air' was intended to be of the Crystal Way (which I doubt), or the artist got confuzzled.

Anyway, it makes sense that Azure glyphs should be purple, not white & blue

since
a) Like I said, it's confusing
b) Every other Way has a very distinct colour scheme, except Azure. There's already a blue w/white glow (Blue way) and already white w/ blue glow (Crystal). Bluish white w/blue glow is getting a bit dull
c) The Air glyph, unlike all the other glyphs, does not reflect the casting-aura's colour at all. (There's not a bit of purple in it)




P.S. Before someone points this out, I do know what the colour azure actually looks like. It's a very deep, slightly purple blue close to indigo. Personally I don't understand why they would pick both blue and azure, but whatever works.
I know it looks nothing like 'purple'. Which is why, I think, it should be Purple Way (Also, because brown is like, the opposite to purple, at least on the EM spectrum, so it makes more sense that White/Black Blue/Red and Purple/Brown are all opposites. (Blue/red isn't an official opposite, but it's usually used more than green)

[Farren Kutter]

Azure is blue

[emeraldfool]

Azure is blue

Hehe, believe it or not, but I actually stuck my 'PS' in like 3 seconds before you posted that


(Or, apparently, a minute after, but I still psychicly anticipated your post )

[Nikodemus]

yeah, azure is blue.
So, why do we have also blue way?
and then also crystal way, which probably also is blue, referring to the great crystal ;P

In effect we have 3 ways of the same color? ;P
the glyphs are very similiar, and crystal-azure especially.

only blue way spell effect is blue
crystal way offect is almost white
and azure is purple (it should be azure (kind of blue) but there is problem ;P Everybody thinking azure, should know which color is it, but unfortunately it isn't well known, so everybody say blue, even if it isn't any blue.

The solutions for spell effects is to  make diferent shapes of them.
The solution for glyph colors... I don't see one.

side note: The reason why half of magic ways are blue is probably the fact the Azure Sun is so great source of magic.

EDIT: emeraldfool, edit the picture ;P the legend is still wrong ;P

[emeraldfool]

yeah, azure is blue.
So, why do we have also blue way?
and then also crystal way, which probably also is blue, referring to the great crystal ;P

In effect we have 3 ways of the same color? ;P
the glyphs are very similiar, and crystal-azure especially.

only blue way spell effect is blue
crystal way offect is almost white
and azure is purple (it should be azure (kind of blue) but there is problem ;P Everybody thinking azure, should know which color is it, but unfortunately it isn't well known, so everybody say blue, even if it isn't any blue.

The solutions for spell effects is to  make diferent shapes of them.
The solution for glyph colors... I don't see one.

side note: The reason why half of magic ways are blue is probably the fact the Azure Sun is so great source of magic.

EDIT: emeraldfool, edit the picture ;P the legend is still wrong ;P

(Sorry, this computer is whacked, so i can't actually see what the picture actually looks like (for me it's all beige and stuff))


I guess it's because I like things to fit neatly together, but I really can't see how Azure and Blue can be two different ways. There's nothing azure about air and mental energy anway While we're at it, why don't we just change 'Crystal' to 'Aquamarine Way', 'Dark' to 'Navy Way', Red to 'Indigo Way' and Brown to 'Sapphire Way'?

[witchking]

Here is what it looked like in the original PlaneShift 2D MUD (slightly resized up):

[emeraldfool]

That looks somewhat better colour-wise (though a lot uglier overall). The Blue Way somes to have been darkened to almost navy and the crystal to greyish-white, making it substantially different-looking.
But there the Dark Way looks more red than black, and the Red Way looks almost completely orange.


On another note, I'm interested as to what that 'Door' glyoh does...

[ThomPhoenix]

Open doors, maybe.

[Nikodemus]

i assume the PS 2D gui you see above was resized down .jpg, then scaled up by witchking. In the meanwhile both quality and collors suffered a bit.
The Azure way glyphs are done somewhat better than what we have now.
They are less beveled and have texture effect of some crystal like surface with reflections and such. This is a good way to distinguis them from crystal way.

[Seytra]

Admittedly, I have always assumed that "azure" doesn't actually have a strict definition, and that in PS it referred to a less luminous and more translucent version of "cyan". This would tie in pretty well, given the magic ways. I think that there is something distinctly azure about air. After all, air filters blue light least, so air will appear to be coloured "blue", given sufficient air to look through. Since it's so slightly blue, it can be seen as liminous blue, fitting the cyan "azure". As for mental energy, I don't think a color can be attributed to it at all. Again, the radiant supernaturally bright cyan fits it well, even though it might just as well be any neon-type colour. Regardless, mental energy and air are a good match IMO, but maybe it's merely that my thoughts are cyan.

Therefore, the magic-way colurs could be "blue" as some sort of dark blue, then "azure" (cyan), then "crystal" as completely white ("crystal clrear" implies colourless IMO, even though "the crystal" that the "crystal way" refers to is, of course, azure.). Also, one could swap crystal and azure, making "crystal" way (coloured azure / cyan), and "white way" (former azure way), though that'd then confuse healing's common association with white. Making azure "cyan" would make them easily distinguishable. I agree that ATM the glyphs are hard to attribute to the appropriate way. For the time being,  the appropriate way could simply be included in the glyph description (if it isn't yet).
Similarly, "red" as red, "dark" as black and "brown" as brown. I didn't expect the spell effects to be coloured the same as the way, but it would be nice, aye.

The "door" glyph will not open doors. In PS, doors can't be opened, and are generally more solid than walls. Because of that, it likely summons a door. You ever wished there was a door between you (too exhausted to move) and the Ulbernaut (calmly walking towards you)? Cast "door" and there is, at least for some time. Works best in tunnels, obviously.

[witchking]

Just to add something - yes, I did resize it from a smaller resolution, trying to approximate the size of the current GUI and glyphs. I'd imagine it looked much sharper in the actual game at the same resolution.

As for the glyph colors, I like the original look with a better distinction as well. However, I'm starting to think that they could further be enhanced with some kind of a background to the actual image of a glyph. Even a gradient of some sort could add to a more unique look. If not for the glyphs, then at least for the actual spells that one gets from either one or a combination of glyphs.

The spells do not have to look like the glyphs themselves. In fact, I always thought that adding a custom background to various spells, makes them look much more detailed and interesting. Not to mention that they'd look good with any GUI, being independent from a GUI's background itself. For example, all the spells from the Dark Way do not need to look black in color with a reddish glow like the glyphs themselves. I'll post an example of various spells cast by evil or dark oriented casters from a different game. This should be purely treated as a random example, so if you recognize the game, try to avoid referring to it, since this isn't a game comparison. It doesn't have to be as detailed either but rather just an idea.

The following can be all contributed to what we know as a "Dark Way"  in PlaneShift:



Fire related spells could be made to look more interesting with their own background as well:



Imagine that a meteor could have either a dark space-like background with stars or since PS is inside a cave, just a dark gradient with sparks surrounding a trail of a meteor. Some much better glow effects are possible too, if an icon has its own background.

Considering that many spells are in fact, a combination of different glyphs, it makes even more sense to make them look less like a glyph of one particular way.

Of course, if it has to come down to a choice between an artist spending more time customizing the spell icons and working on the actual in-game spell effects, their stats and balance, I'd rather they did the latter. And I certainly can't blame PS team for re-using pretty much the original PS2D icons, if it saves time. But if it doesn't have to come down to the choice I mentioned, then I'd like something quite custom and different at least for the spells.

Thanks.

[emeraldfool]

Seytra... so, basically what you're saying is... you like things the way they are?


Hah, and witch; If we're not even allowed to say 'damn', I doubt we could have spell icons that graphic, but I get your point. Sounds like a decent idea, but not all that important at this point in time. All I want is a better colour for azure glyphs to tell em apart better.


P.S. if there's no openable doors in PS, why do we have the lockpicking skill? Will there be treasure chests or something then?

[Araye]

P.S. if there's no openable doors in PS, why do we have the lockpicking skill? Will there be treasure chests or something then?

That's a whole other thread and the answer is, "yes".