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But seriously, I don't see any reason to radically change the design from CK1. The GUI was simple and self-explanatory. They'll probably need to add and/or remove a few parts and maybe update it a bit to look nicer, but other than that I think that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

...

I second this.

And for what to add, THIS:

The Andy-Man said:
Personally, I would love to see a UI based on the religeon and culture of your Dynasty. So a Greek Orthodox would have some decendant Byzantine iconographic elements, where as an Italian Catholic could have something very Dante, and so on. It might not be so easy to do though.

But certainly there should be some art from the age.

And maybe a bit darker colors.

I like the games that are done with so many details, in which department PI is very good so far.
 
This is probably a very under looked aspect concerning games and their creation, yet it's something that we look at the whole time we're playing, so it's a pretty important aspect. What type of "feeling" would you want the GUI (buttons, frames, etc) to be? Would you want it to be dark and forbidding? Classical in style? Would you want a color scheme to make you feel like your in that time period? If so, what colors would best represent that?

Agree, GUI and visually created feel is important (especially in RPGs). Because it may be considered as advertising other developer's game in Paradox's forum I won't mention any names, but I quite like the visual appearance of the game which screenshot collage is shown below... a pleasant color scheme, art style, polished details (the 'Slavic style' of decorative elements is appropriate in this context as the game covers mainly Eastern Europe). Fortunately, as much as revealed so far, it seems that "Crusader Kings II" is going to be rather similar in style.

(By the way, there's almost no doubt that the developer of a pictured game has been inspired by "Crusader Kings" and "Knights of Honor".)

reign1f.jpg


reign2.jpg
 
The only wish I would have for the interface is the following; Please, for old times' sake, don't switch the province building screen to 3D. Please. I don't know a single person here who would say that the 3D province screens of EU3 and Rome are prettier than that of the original CK, or EU2. Or, if the old 2D pic is too out of place, just give us a building list to choose from.
This.

Other than that, as long as the GUI elements and layout are easy to navigate, I don't have any preferences for the artwork as long as it's moddable.
 
I'd rather have an artistic 2D city/castle view as well. Something that matches the artistic stylings of the portraits.

+1 I think that the 3D city views in Rome in particular were stark and unattractive. I like the old CK view, but maybe with a little more variety (depending on terrain or region). The EU2 views were very nice, too, as I remember. My fantasy for a western European landlocked province would be something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Très_Riches_Heures_du_duc_de_Berry_mars.jpg#filelinks that would slowly fill out as you get advancements.
 
+1 I think that the 3D city views in Rome in particular were stark and unattractive. I like the old CK view, but maybe with a little more variety (depending on terrain or region). The EU2 views were very nice, too, as I remember. My fantasy for a western European landlocked province would be something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Très_Riches_Heures_du_duc_de_Berry_mars.jpg#filelinks that would slowly fill out as you get advancements.

I agree, something like that would be great. It's artistic, and stylish.. and blends with the rest of the graphics. They could have 2-3 versions of each type of building so it has more of a mix-match type of variety to it, so each city doesn't look like a carbon copy of each other (if they have the same buildings). They could just do it with layered and transparent pictures.
 
Agree, GUI and visually created feel is important (especially in RPGs). Because it may be considered as advertising other developer's game in Paradox's forum I won't mention any names, but I quite like the visual appearance of the game which screenshot collage is shown below... a pleasant color scheme, art style, polished details (the 'Slavic style' of decorative elements is appropriate in this context as the game covers mainly Eastern Europe). Fortunately, as much as revealed so far, it seems that "Crusader Kings II" is going to be rather similar in style.

(By the way, there's almost no doubt that the developer of a pictured game has been inspired by "Crusader Kings" and "Knights of Honor".)

reign1f.jpg


reign2.jpg

what game is this? It looks really cool