I still hand code my GUI stuff. TBH, although I know people talk about using GUI libraries, I can’t see how it can save them that much time. I have a library of stuff like button, and window classes. This isn’t the issue. The issue is coding all the stuff that says “this window has a button here, and when you click it, that scrolls through this list there”
GUI stuff takes ages. it’s also really boring to code, and there is a huge long list of features which are automatically assumed by gamers which you must have. All buttons need mouseover states and tooltips, and you need the idea of modal windows, draggable windows, windows that go to to the top when clicked, etc.
Add to all that, the nightmare of making a GUI that runs nicely in different resolutions. I know that stardock have some clever system for doing this, but they employ dozens of people and run their own GUI software business, so they can spend a lot more time on it than me.
This is why I’m not blogging about exciting enw stuff in ‘the game that has no name yet but will have a code-name soon’. I’m doing GUI stuff for one of the three big ‘management’ parts of the game, and it’s nothing exciting to talk about. Not compared to the lasers and explosions anyway.