Hotbar and Selection Overhaul (Updated July 25/16)

I'm tempted to try to work up an actual sprite for this bar like I did with mine, because I like the concept.
I especially like the "switch the 1-6 and 7-= via hotkey" idea. That would satisfy those who like only using the 1-6 keys by keeping the switching-hotbar format (with the added bonus of it all being visible at once), while still allowing those who want to use all 12 slots at once to do so. Simple but effective!

 

Please do, my existing pencilwork is downright embarrassing, and getting it right without a ready set of templates is going to be a pain. >_>

 

Speaking of your pencilwork, can you please tell me what items you have in each hand of each slot? I'm finding it a bit hard to tell.
Also I hope you don't mind but I'm taking a few liberties with the shape to make it look more like the current hotbar and previous one.

 

It really doesn't matter much what exact items are there, I didn't quite think that hotbar sketch's item contents through. As long as there's examples of both single left-handed, single right-handed, two-handed, and dual single-handed items in slots, it's well enough. Showing a highlighted "default" slot is optional.

And sure, do whatever you need to make it look right.

edit: if you really need a list of what's there, here's what I think I drew them to be:
1: flashlight, L slot
2: one-handed sword of some description, L slot
3: bandages, L slot
4: one handed sword, and shield, dual set
5: platforms, 2H slot
6: torches, 2H slot
7: grapple gun and shurikens, dual set, selected
8: capture pod, L slot
9: handgun of some description, R slot
0: wand of some description, R slot
-: handgun and sword (different from previously seen), dual set, set as default
=: dirt blocks, 2H slot

You may potentially leave one of the slots empty (maybe the 8), just to show what an empty slot looks like.

 

Stopped procrastinating and finally finished it. Went through a great many different designs trying to stay true to your general layout but making it fit more with Starbound's UI...
Eventually gave up on that and settled with this:

Original concept art for comparison:


Left button swaps hands. Middle button swaps 1-6 and 7-=. Right button locks the bar, of course.
White highlight is the designated default slot. Blue highlight is selected slot.

Edit: Comparison with my Hotbar suggestion and it's variants, the new hotbar, and the old hotbar:
OLD HOTBAR (outdated):

NEW HOTBAR (slightly outdated) {doubled for 12 slots}:

SEAN'S HOTBAR (my attempt):

SEAN'S HOTBAR (his version):

MY HOTBAR (outdated):

MY HOTBAR [collapsed variant] (outdated):

MY HOTBAR [long variant] (outdated):

 

Pretty good, but I immediately see some problems that can and will undoubtedly get pointed out by anyone who thinks it's a finished design.

Firstly, no slot numbers for some reason.
Second, now that I really look at it, you could save about 20% of the width by placing the 'left' slot of every set at the left edge of the set. There's a bit of space that's always wasted on the left of every slot. Make every set as wide as the widest possible element, the dual-wield set.
Third, the block with MM modes needs to be just a teensy bit lower. It would be visually best to have it like 2 pixels apart from the bottommost hotbar element.

Also it looks a bit... too different. ...I think I might just take a whack at this thing myself if you don't mind. I may not be a pixel artist, but I'm an artist damnit.

 

First pass, empty bar:



Might actually need more width. Will try once I get some item icons in.

edit: Same bar, all slots extended. Need feedback: does this look like enough of the secondary slot visible?



edit2: Widened the bars, now at fullest extension 3/4ths of the secondary slot icon is visible:



It's currently 30 pixels wider than the new hotbar, and substantially taller but mostly thanks to the node with MM modes.

 

I have to admit this looks far better and is much more compact than what I came up with.
My only gripe is that the MM stuff is so far down that it looks kind of out of place (hence why I changed that standout detail in my attempt)
Asides from a few inconsistencies such as the triangular designs next to each slot asides from the middle button missing a pixel and the outline of the middle button's image having a different outline color than the other buttons' images, it's great!
And the reason I left out slot numbers on my version was because the new hotbar doesn't have them. I tried putting them in but couldn't get them to look right. Completely forgot to do the ones in the slots.

Edit: And that's definitely enough of the slots visible. The majority of items should be recognizable with that much space.

 

Might I recommend making the secondary item icon smaller and showing all of it? You should not expect the focus of the item to be in the mid to lower right quadrant.
Pickaxes come to mind, though I don't recall if the pick is at the top left or top right. It wouldn't be so great an issue, with your bar, however I feel it would benefit from showing the entire icon even if slightly smaller than the primary icon.

 

Wouldn't work, since the item icons are full-size and would go over top of the slot, thereby making it look full size anyway.

 

Filled my mockup with items to see how it looks:


It occurs to me that the left-side arrows button could be used to swap the hotbar sides, like the button placed in the same spot does on the new hotbar. Removing the center button would save even more width of the bar, which is important for some people. And an onscreen GUI button for hand-swap is probably excessive anyway.

 

I'd like that one a lot more, no stupid swapping needed
That is if they finally remove the slot deselection from pressing it again because with that is any hotbar bad, which will unlikely happen : (

 

Silly variant: "since we're doing animated elements anyway..."





Significantly narrower because no middle button, and the MM selection node retracts with a GUI hotkey. When was the last time you actually used the onscreen buttons to switch MM modes? And unlike switching the hotbar, using a toggle to hide this part of the UI makes sense - it's never going to be utilized in combat, and the hotkeys for it don't go away either.

 

Were this in the game, I imagine pressing one of the MM keys would automatically put the bar down, and it would retract again if you deselect them if you had the bar retracted in the first place? That might be a bit distracting but it'd make sense.
It's a very nice looking bar by the way! Very sleek at this point.