Trimming Gwent #2: Themes
Last week I discussed the ugly Gwent coin, and how to improve it. Link: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/for...nd-visual-design-ideas-trimming-gwent-1-coins This week I'll talk about something that could change the visual aspect of Gwent (including its logo): themes.
For a game that's in its beta phase, Gwent is highly irregular in its look. The main menu, card collection, rewards and kegs section all look different from one another. And it makes sense, since to keep the game balanced and interesting, new features are constantly being added and removed.
When playing the game, you must've noticed this blue fog behind the main menu tiles. It's blue for everything the player can interact with within the game. Similarly, red is for the opponent during the main gameplay. When they select a card, target to deal damage, their side of the coin, even their name, everything is in red. I've also noticed a yellow/golden fog for the progress bars, and a green fog for the new loading icon. Now, if you're observant (like me), you must've noticed that all of these are the Gwent faction colours.
Blue is for NR, red is for MS, yellow/golden is for NG, green is for ST, and purple is for SK.
Now, what irritates me the most is why I'm stuck with the NR colour as a player, when I'm not supporting that faction (I mainly play Scoia'tael). Similarly, why I'm being represented by MS colours (red), just like every other opponent. My idea is to bring in themes to Gwent.
HOW WOULD IT WORK?
In my opinion, everything in the menus should be made up of wood, metal, stones and other organic materials from the Witcher universe. At its minimum, the look of the game should be exactly the same for all players, except that the fog should be reflecting the colour of the faction that the player is supporting. Depending on the time the devs are willing to invest in this, certain elements unique to each faction may be added to change the look of the game. For example, the Scoia'tael theme would have more plants/trees/vines, wood and stone (representing dwarves) elements than the other factions. The human factions (NR, NG and SK) should've more metal and wood, and the MS faction would need to have some other organic material that I cannot think of. Over time, new themes for individual groups within a faction (for example, dwarves and the Wild Hunt) could be introduced.
HOW TO CHOOSE A FACTION (to change the fog colour)?
This is where the Change Card screen (accessed by clicking the avatar) comes into play. I'm still not sure what the purpose of this section is meant to be, since in my knowledge we cannot show-off our selected card in anyway yet. But this can be a good use for it. The faction for the theme (or more directly, the colour of the fog) will depend on the premium card you choose. This makes a lot of sense in my opinion. Moreover, CDPR could change the look of the Change Card screen to make it look like an ancient stone with a card slot (or it could even be some machine from the futuristic Cyberpunk 2077 universe). They could even build a little quest around it, to add some lore to the game. And then it could make sense how this stone (or whatever) is able to change the colour of the fog.
I would also like to add that the effect of this fog should restrict to the menus of the game. The colour of the player's card selection, targeting and marking, and name during the main gameplay should be based on the faction of the deck they're playing with. And like I said in the previous post, the coin should be a realistic, neutral, golden. Doing this will represent the true colours of the faction within the game instead of a generic blue/red, which is essentially immersion-breaking. It'll also make the game more colourful, customisable and fun. Naturally, following this, the red and blue colour from the game's logo will also have to be changed. I believe that it could be changed to represent all five colours, could be programmed to represent the colour of the active card/theme (this could be a very cool change), or simply changed to the neutral brown colour. Notice also that the winning crown logo (after a match) should represent the colour of the winning faction.
Similarly, during faction challenges, the themes should automatically change to the colour of the chosen faction (the faction the player is supporting) to get the player into the mood, for the duration of the challenge. Moreover, during certain times of the year, for example, events and celebrations from the Witcher universe (not Christmas, etc.), the themes could be automatically changed to the faction the event (Saovine: Holiday of the Dead, for example) is related to.
Now that the game is in a stable Season system, I feel it's the perfect time to implement this feature. I would appreciate the community to share their opinion as well, or show support.
And next week, I'll discuss another aspect of Gwent.
Last week I discussed the ugly Gwent coin, and how to improve it. Link: https://forums.cdprojektred.com/for...nd-visual-design-ideas-trimming-gwent-1-coins This week I'll talk about something that could change the visual aspect of Gwent (including its logo): themes.
For a game that's in its beta phase, Gwent is highly irregular in its look. The main menu, card collection, rewards and kegs section all look different from one another. And it makes sense, since to keep the game balanced and interesting, new features are constantly being added and removed.
When playing the game, you must've noticed this blue fog behind the main menu tiles. It's blue for everything the player can interact with within the game. Similarly, red is for the opponent during the main gameplay. When they select a card, target to deal damage, their side of the coin, even their name, everything is in red. I've also noticed a yellow/golden fog for the progress bars, and a green fog for the new loading icon. Now, if you're observant (like me), you must've noticed that all of these are the Gwent faction colours.
Blue is for NR, red is for MS, yellow/golden is for NG, green is for ST, and purple is for SK.
Now, what irritates me the most is why I'm stuck with the NR colour as a player, when I'm not supporting that faction (I mainly play Scoia'tael). Similarly, why I'm being represented by MS colours (red), just like every other opponent. My idea is to bring in themes to Gwent.
HOW WOULD IT WORK?
In my opinion, everything in the menus should be made up of wood, metal, stones and other organic materials from the Witcher universe. At its minimum, the look of the game should be exactly the same for all players, except that the fog should be reflecting the colour of the faction that the player is supporting. Depending on the time the devs are willing to invest in this, certain elements unique to each faction may be added to change the look of the game. For example, the Scoia'tael theme would have more plants/trees/vines, wood and stone (representing dwarves) elements than the other factions. The human factions (NR, NG and SK) should've more metal and wood, and the MS faction would need to have some other organic material that I cannot think of. Over time, new themes for individual groups within a faction (for example, dwarves and the Wild Hunt) could be introduced.
HOW TO CHOOSE A FACTION (to change the fog colour)?
This is where the Change Card screen (accessed by clicking the avatar) comes into play. I'm still not sure what the purpose of this section is meant to be, since in my knowledge we cannot show-off our selected card in anyway yet. But this can be a good use for it. The faction for the theme (or more directly, the colour of the fog) will depend on the premium card you choose. This makes a lot of sense in my opinion. Moreover, CDPR could change the look of the Change Card screen to make it look like an ancient stone with a card slot (or it could even be some machine from the futuristic Cyberpunk 2077 universe). They could even build a little quest around it, to add some lore to the game. And then it could make sense how this stone (or whatever) is able to change the colour of the fog.
I would also like to add that the effect of this fog should restrict to the menus of the game. The colour of the player's card selection, targeting and marking, and name during the main gameplay should be based on the faction of the deck they're playing with. And like I said in the previous post, the coin should be a realistic, neutral, golden. Doing this will represent the true colours of the faction within the game instead of a generic blue/red, which is essentially immersion-breaking. It'll also make the game more colourful, customisable and fun. Naturally, following this, the red and blue colour from the game's logo will also have to be changed. I believe that it could be changed to represent all five colours, could be programmed to represent the colour of the active card/theme (this could be a very cool change), or simply changed to the neutral brown colour. Notice also that the winning crown logo (after a match) should represent the colour of the winning faction.
Similarly, during faction challenges, the themes should automatically change to the colour of the chosen faction (the faction the player is supporting) to get the player into the mood, for the duration of the challenge. Moreover, during certain times of the year, for example, events and celebrations from the Witcher universe (not Christmas, etc.), the themes could be automatically changed to the faction the event (Saovine: Holiday of the Dead, for example) is related to.
Now that the game is in a stable Season system, I feel it's the perfect time to implement this feature. I would appreciate the community to share their opinion as well, or show support.
And next week, I'll discuss another aspect of Gwent.
