Fairytale Distillery have pulled back the curtain on a new UI design for The Exiled, the MOBA-meets-MMORPG that we had formerly all known as Das Tal:

A lot of other team members are working on game visuals and content. We’ve added a ton of new mobs to the game with custom assets and improved behaviours. We’re updating the environment and equipment art. All of that will get its own blog post though.

Today I want to show you what Martin (UI design) and Marcus (client development) have spent a lot of time on recently: The new HUD (heads-up display). That is the piece of user interface that is right in front of you every time you are playing the game.

…

So what has changed?

1. The mini map moved to the bottom right and it got a lot more space. It also now mirrors the screen ratio which makes it easier to show your relevant surroundings.
2. The menu bar finally has more room. When we put it on the left side of the screen years ago it only had a couple of buttons. Now that is has grown considerably it needed more space.
3. The XP bar is finally decoupled from the skill bar. It closes the screen off very nicely and we even managed to fit in a clock, FPS and ping display that is always visible.
4. There are a lot of small tweaks that make text and buttons more easily readable.
5. And of course we have massively re-structured the on-player UI (name, health bars etc.). Those will not always be as massive as in the picture above. We are going to configure it in a way where it disables it’s child elements when not used. So no cast icon or debuffs when you are not in combat. No health or energy bars when you are full anyways.

If you’d like to get in on further testing of The Exiled, you can do so by buying one of their Development Supported Packs, via their new (?) online storefront. Access to the forthcoming beta version of the game starts at €45, while access to the alpha test — which is taking place right now — starts at €60.