Displaying a countdown timer graphically as a pie-chart style clock
Creating a message that fades away
Displaying inventory texts for single object pickups
Displaying inventory icons for single object pickups
Managing inventories with a general purpose PickUp class
Controlling the scrollbar with the mouse wheel
Implementing custom mouse cursor icons
Introduction
One element to the entertainment and enjoyment of most games is the quality of the visual elements, and an important part of this is the Graphical User Interface (GUI). GUI elements involve ways for the user to interact with the game (such as scroll wheels and cursors), and also ways for the game to present up-to-date information to the user (such as an inventory of what they are carrying, or the location of other objects in the game via a radar screen). This chapter is filled with GUI recipes to give you a range of examples and ideas for creating game GUIs.