CTF Icons

I've made an alternative group of ctf icons, which I personally think scale better than the current xonotic git icons. However, let's put it to a poll.

Screenshots of the icons:

Sev's:


Mine (showing only changed icons):


In addition, my iconset is more complete, as I also have included icons for "Flag Captured" and "Flag Returned" (with different colors for both teams, of course).

Sev's icons can be found in the frutiex/panelhud branch and mine can be found in the plasmasheep/simpleicons branch (the icons I've replaced are the flag_*.tga icons plus the notify_teamkill.tga icon).

Sev's response:

As a short response to this:
Roanoke's icons don't fit the theme of my skin. All icons (health, weapons, ammo) are shown the way they are in-game, with a white border (highlight colour). While in case of the flag this is not possible due to the complexity of the real flag model, I tried to create a "realistic" 3D representation of a flag to fit the overall theme.

If you use "icon like icons" for the flag, you consequently should make "icon like icons" for all the images to end up with a coherent skin.

the problem with your icons is the outline anti-aliasing, it just looks bad.

however, I think your icons are more intuitive than sev's design

the problem with your icons is the outline anti-aliasing, it just looks bad.

This is likely due to the glow, but some aliasing is inevitable.

to clarify, the white outline looks really bad at that size. either a) drop it or b) make it darker

As a short responce to this:
Roanoke's icons don't fit the theme of my skin. All icons (health, weapons, ammo) are shown the way they are in-game, with a white border (highlight colour). While in case of the flag this is not possible due to the complexity of the real flag model, I tried to create a "realistic" 3D representation of a flag to fit the overall theme.

If you use "icon like icons" for the flag, you consequently should make "icon like icons" for all the images to end up with a coherent skin.

I've updated the first post with icons with no glow and sev's response.

looks better without the outline roanoke but perhaps it needs a white drop-shadow now?

As a short responce to this:
Roanoke's icons don't fit the theme of my skin. All icons (health, weapons, ammo) are shown the way they are in-game, with a white border (highlight colour). While in case of the flag this is not possible due to the complexity of the real flag model, I tried to create a "realistic" 3D representation of a flag to fit the overall theme.

If you use "icon like icons" for the flag, you consequently should make "icon like icons" for all the images to end up with a coherent skin.

The problem is that your "realistic" icons really need to be remade, as there is actually no way to guess their meaning (at least I have no idea at all).

They MUST get fixed - but yes, they ALSO must fit the HUD design. I'd outright reject BOTH icon sets, and ask you to find a better way. And yes, I know it isn't easy at all.

The problem is that your "realistic" icons really need to be remade, as there is actually no way to guess their meaning (at least I have no idea at all).

While I don't object your critique of the design, I reject the arbitrary requirement to read/guess the meaning of the icons without any context (i.e. outside of the game).

The icons are meant to help you grasp the situation in-game, that's why my flag version are stripped of any unnecessary elements and are easily identifiable due to high contrast and distinct shapes.

I don't believe that you don't understand them after playing an actual CTF match with these icons.

If ultimate readability is your demand, then circumvent the icon business altogether and simply write it down:
FLAG
TAKEN

FLAG
DROPPED

While I don't object your critique of the design, I reject the arbitrary requirement to read/guess the meaning of the icons without any context (i.e. outside of the game).

The icons are meant to help you grasp the situation in-game, that's why my flag version are stripped of any unnecessary elements and are easily identifiable due to high contrast and distinct shapes.

I don't believe that you don't understand them after playing an actual CTF match with these icons.

+1, it should be quite obvious after a CTF match what they mean.

The only way I could imagine a somehow clearer *picture* of flag taken is the flag's stick being held by a hand: hand only, 1st person would be "you have taken the flag", a little figure (of the right team color) holding the flag: a teammate of adversary has taken it.

The problem is that you can't provide this level of detail in a tiny icon (and that was my idea of a clear representation) - the more details you ask for, the more you lose in simplicity and clarity, they're kinda of mutually exclusive.

What about explaining the icons in the tutorial? They're going to be recognizable after a game anyway...