Artist (or "artist") wanted - GC panel modifications for 'select next soldier'

I am implementing 'select next soldier' buttons like in the OG and it turns out the hardest part for me is modifying the graphics for the GC panel, so I thought maybe there'd be somebody better at this.

Basically, I want something like this:

I think the buttons should be above the end turn button rather than below, because they'd be used more often and it'd be less likely to hit the end turn button by mistake. So, I'd need following modification for assets/gui/GroundCombat/ and assets/gui/GroundCombat/small/ :

- background.png and endturn_pressed.png modified so that the button leaves enough space above it for the new buttons. Preferably several versions of the pictures with different end turn button height, because I'd like to try having either just one new button or two and they'd need different space because of the cut corner. The end turn button has non-uniform background, so I can't just copy&paste parts of it to make it smaller. This is what I'd need the most, since I don't know how to make the button smaller without making it look broken.

- new two pictures for the new buttons. In the mockup linked above I simply used something from assets/units/xenonaut/armour.basic/none/ (idle_E.png I think) and assets/gui/GroundCombat/cameraleveltopbutton_active.png as the basis.

Would there be somebody willing to help with this? Thanks.

Ok, let's sweeten the deal a bit. I offer a code bugfix or feature (of reasonably comparable effort) in exchange for this.

I hope you won't mind some feedback. Unless you intend to assign a hotkey, the position of the button is awkward regardless of whether it's below or above the end turn button. Would it be possible to find a different place for it?

the position of the button is awkward regardless of whether it's below or above the end turn button. Would it be possible to find a different place for it?

Good question. Do you know the answer?

First attempt. I made the top of the button level with the bottom of the corner, though I'm not sure if that leaves enough room for the pictures. Can move it down further if so.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/or1qu9be4s4j4r9/Select%20Next%20Soldier%20UI.rar

(Good incentive)

I'll do one with a shorter button tomorrow

I think the end turn button should be smaller than this. This way, the new buttons would be too small to hit, and it'd be also rather likely to accidentally click the end turn button (there probably should be some space between them).

Could you try finding out a suitable layout for that? I.e. make also the two buttons, even if just mockups, and see how it'd look? That cut panel corner looks fancy, but makes this difficult :-/ , and I don't know where else the buttons could suitably go. Having the buttons below the end turn button like in my mockup above would solve the corner, but I don't know if it wouldn't be odd to have to go over the end turn button whenever one would want to click either of the buttons.

Since you are working on this, do you plan do keyboard shortcuts as well? There are plenty of keys not used in Ground Combat. Q & E keys could be good for that, since WASD is used for map scrolling.

If it turns out that there is no better place to put the next soldier button besides right next to the end turn button, another option may be to require more than a simple click to trigger the end turn. If you're worried about accidental clicking maybe you could make it necessary to hold it for a second or so before it actually triggers?

EDIT: Heck, it might be a reasonable feature regardless of whether the button placement ends up being awkward or not.

Right click on end turn to actually end turn?

Ok, made the end turn button smaller and first attempt at the buttons.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/or1qu9be4s4j4r9/Select%20Next%20Soldier%20UI.rar

I'll do the small versions and the buttons as separate images if we decide on a final solution

or how about like this?

Or like this?

Personally, I like the top one of those two. Though I'm wondering what you need to do to make it fit (have you generally increased the size of the UI, or did you shrink stuff down to make space?). Mostly wondering in case there's issues with particular resolutions or something (not that I know anything about this stuff, so it might not be an issue at all.)

I just made it wider... the rest is llunak's problem.

Khall: Hmm, I didn't think of putting the two buttons on top of each other. I think I like it that way. I'd still make the end turn button smaller so that there's some space between the new buttons and the end turn button (i.e. trying to avoid misclicks, ideas like double-click or right-click for the end turn may be fine, but I don't want to force them). One thing I'm still not sure about is whether the buttons will be usable in practice, they're quite small and can't be reasonably made smaller in this setup, but I guess that can be figured out in practice. So, what's the pay for this ?

Skitso: The same thoughts like kabill. The first one would be good, but I don't know about the increased width. Would the smaller panel fit within 1024 width (I think that's the least for the game)? The buttons can be larger this way though, so maybe it'd have better usability than Khall's version. Hmm ... I think I'll take it too. So what's the pay for you?

So what's the pay for you?

*Epic facepalm for spending the night with SubmapEditor instead*

PM sent.

Adjusted it slightly so the buttons bigger and the end turn smaller, and a bit more of a gap between them

https://www.dropbox.com/s/or1qu9be4s4j4r9/Select%20Next%20Soldier%20UI.rar

I'll send a PM with my request.