UI-customization
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The Repopulation adds adversarial camps, preps for Alpha 3
Above & Beyond has released its latest monthly status report on The Repopulation. In February, the design team added the adversarial camps stretch goal to its sci-fi sandbox, which will allow devs to "generate much of the game's content on the fly and help ensure that players do not have a static experience." Additional work was done on the title's customizable XML-based UI, the harvesting mechanics, and a fitting system for robotic pets. February's "largest changes" came in the form of additional world content, as the dev team is looking forward to adding more testers for Alpha 3 "in a few weeks."
BioWare shows off SWTOR's customizable UI in new video
Custom user interfaces are an oft-requested feature in the MMOs that lack them at launch, and Star Wars: The Old Republic is adding the functionality in its 1.2 update. BioWare lead interface artist Michael Voigt walks us through the particulars of TOR's HUD in a new video just posted to the game's official website. Players will be pleased to note that both the placement and size of each UI element can be adjusted, while accessing the layout mode is as easy as clicking the plus button on the top left of your hotbar. BioWare has also included three pre-made layouts: the default mode, an extended quickbar setup, and a retro look that moves the target and map circle to the top of the screen (and the chat window to the bottom). Head past the break to watch the clip.
Star Wars: The Old Republic looks to the future [Updated]
You may think that now that Star Wars: The Old Republic's early start underway and moving nicely, the developers over at BioWare are sitting back and enjoying a celebratory glass of champagne (or bottle of whiskey). You would be wrong, however, because a new post on the official site shows that BioWare is already looking toward the future. But what can players expect from the future of The Old Republic? Guild functionality is high on the priority list, and players can expect everything from guild banks to guild capital ships in the future. UI customization is also "a very big priority" to BioWare. The studio also has "an entire team dedicated to adding content and features to [PvP]." The space system, the legacy system, and the galaxy as a whole are also on board for future updates. For the full details, just head on over to the official SWTOR site. [Update: The team has also just posted an address to those who are not yet part of the early access pre-launch. We've included the contents of the message behind the break. Thanks to Onyx for the tip!] Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally here, and the Force is with Massively! We've prepared a Hutt-sized feast of class introductions, gameplay guides, lore roundups, and hands-on previews to help you navigate the launch period and beyond. And don't forget our weekly SWTOR column, the Hyperspace Beacon!
Galaxy Tab 10.1 demo video shows TouchWiz on Honeycomb, Mini Apps
Surely by now you're mighty familiar with Samsung's Android-conquering Galaxy Tab 10.1, but we're still here waiting on that slate's promised TouchWiz update. Now it's on display, courtesy of an official video posted by the company. Whilst listening to some incredibly jazzy music that will make racing fans think they've accidentally booted into Gran Turismo 5, watch a disembodied hand show off some of the Honeycomb customizations that, for the most part, look fairly unobtrusive, including a bigger, friendlier settings screen. More interesting, though, is a look at the Mini Apps that are accessed by what looks to be a gesture from off the bottom of the display. Six proggies will be available at launch: a calendar, task manager, clock, note pad, calculator, and music player. We're still not sure just when the OTA update will filter out to enable these suckers, but more importantly we're not sure what to call them when it does. Mini Apps isn't doing it for us, and sadly Java already has "applets" locked up tight. [Thanks, Marc]
Addon Spotlight: Skinner
For today's Addon Spotlight, we'll be spending some quality time with an addon that serves one function; to make your UI look very, very pretty. I only recently began using Skinner, as I hadn't ever bothered to change the default skins of my UI. Skinner will apply different backgrounds to the different windows of your UI, from your character sheet to the Auction House interface. It will also handle skinning many of your addons, tying your UI into a neat, attractive package. You have the option to skin just about any part of your UI, as well as creating background panels on the top or bottom of your screen. When I don't auto-hide Fubar, I like to have it sitting on a gradient-background courtesy of Skinner.There is also an option to create a viewport, which changes the size of the rendered world, allowing you to put UI elements outside of it. There are a number of options and ways to configure this one, so check back after the break.%Gallery-24105%
