Thank you all for the feedback, you are absolutely right! There is just too much on one screen - I have a tendency to over complicate my mechanics and I think I just needed to hear it again

There is an auction house but you can only trade what you carry, so if you want to sell your Stone or Metal you have to put it on a champion and walk it all the way, with the risk of getting robbed on the way by other players.

This seemed like a really cool idea back when it was implemented but I'm no longer sure such an idea is actually fun.

Plus, just making you able to sell directly from your house stores would make it far more intuitive.

I think I will just remove it.

Then I can put the champion in the center instead.

I worked a bit on the suggestions by PyroDragn today and here is a VOIP of the menu as it is now :

[attachment=11268:screen12-52-15-125201.Jpg]

The borders are not complete and the 'tabs' need to work better with the rest - I also added buttons to the character window to let the player choose sex and appearance (before you could do it by left or right clicking the portrait)

I imagine this screen would work a lot better centered and without the tradegoods bar.

I haven't had a chance to try the game, but my thoughts on your latest screenshot:

• Still a bit busy - would look better without trade goods.
  
• Do the trade goods correspond to the resources? If so the order and icons should match for consistency.
  
• I wonder if it would be a good idea to do a wizard when you first setup, which literally takes you through the same set of tabs you would see normally, just in a particular order with defaults and validation.
  
• For easy comprehension maybe a nice big icon for each tab. Note that icons only help if any idiot can tell what they mean - they did NOT help my family and I when we bought an Italian oven.
  
• I wonder whether the background image behind the UI controls just adds to the confusion. Maybe a general background image, but the editable area something plain and simple like wood grain, flat colour, or an Aero-like dark blur?
  
• If you expect people to try a demo, maybe have a quick-start mode that creates the character for them.
  

I have now given the house screens a thorough overhaul and I am very pleased with the result. Thank you all so much for you help and advice!

Champion screen
[attachment=11309:screen12-44-17-014403.Jpg]

Upgrade screen
[attachment=11310:screen12-43-17-014354.Jpg]

Resource screen
[attachment=11311:screen12-43-17-014345.Jpg]

I will be putting up a new build that includes the new screen this evening.

yeah, i'd say that looks _much_ better overall - glad you lost that background.
maybe the icons on the avatar frame might be not recognized as icons tho', i'd imagine some players might think those are merely decorative elements.

I agree that it looks a lot better overall.

Another slight change I would make on the Character screen, I would highlight the buttons on the character frame. While playing and cycling through the character images it took me a while to realise that the change gender button was actually a button and not just a part of the artwork.

Thank you, I will do just that.