Let's talk User Interface
rofldinho
Join Date: 2009-07-25 Member: 68259Members
Join Date: 2009-07-25 Member: 68259Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Any pictures/artist impressions of the end User Interface?</div>Before anyone facepalms me, I know this is UWE's interpretation of an alpha, i.e. it's an exceptionally raw version of what they hope to produce, so no doubt things will be changed alot before retail or even beta.
But yeah, the UI at the moment is horrible, I know some people like it but that's my opinion. Again, of course we know it'll be updated and developed along with the Alpha, and currently it will have to take a back seat whilst the gameplay is developed, as naturally that's far more important. But we all know that a good user interface helps, and more importantly, it's not just about aesthetics, but also about functionality.. So is there an idea of what it'll look like?
I have a few things I'd like to refer to:
1) I'd like to ask if NS2 will use Steam's server browser to search for games, or do Valve charge an extortionate amount for usage of this forcing UWE to have their own? (Some tiny games like The Ship use it, so I can't image it being much). Not saying UWE can't develop one, but certainly many games (e.g. the recent AvP) don't have good ones, which makes the game experience alot worse. Steam's server browser is pretty great, especically if the theme (the monotonous grey box) could be changed to something more suitable for NS - it lets you filter by region, passworded/populated servers, ping, VAC status, name, open spaces, so on and so forth. I also like the various tabs, including Favourites and Friends, which makes things very quick/efficient too, although in games like L4D the in-game menu showing friends playing is maybe a bit more efficient/useful.
2) Is the current menu design or theme what we'll end up with in game? I have to be honest, it kinda feels like it's a late 90's menu, or early 2000's. Sort of menu theme you'd get in those old Star Wars games. The font (e.g. on the Keyboard setup page) especially doesn't seem to fit with the environment and general feel of NS - it's a bit funky and light, almost retro, instead of maybe what we get in the banner at the top of thise page.
3) Is there any chance of a L4D style introductory video, showing a number of the key elements of gameplay found within NS? UWE did a great job with the teaser, it looked awesome, so I'm sure they would have no trouble pulling something similar off in terms of marines coming across the various types of aliens and alien abilities and using their own technology/abilities to counter. It's not a major thing at all, it's just a nice touch, and has been found in a number of quality titles (even remember Age of Empires: Mythology having something similar).
4) The background graphics on the main menu. Again, I appreciate this is just the alpha, so no need to point this out. But let's assume UWE stick with this - does anyone actually like it? IMO it's a bit bland. I personally would prefer something darker, more mysterious, rather than a harmless looking marine staring blankly at you (and a skulk + yellow H.A.L. running past on the side).
But yeah, the UI at the moment is horrible, I know some people like it but that's my opinion. Again, of course we know it'll be updated and developed along with the Alpha, and currently it will have to take a back seat whilst the gameplay is developed, as naturally that's far more important. But we all know that a good user interface helps, and more importantly, it's not just about aesthetics, but also about functionality.. So is there an idea of what it'll look like?
I have a few things I'd like to refer to:
1) I'd like to ask if NS2 will use Steam's server browser to search for games, or do Valve charge an extortionate amount for usage of this forcing UWE to have their own? (Some tiny games like The Ship use it, so I can't image it being much). Not saying UWE can't develop one, but certainly many games (e.g. the recent AvP) don't have good ones, which makes the game experience alot worse. Steam's server browser is pretty great, especically if the theme (the monotonous grey box) could be changed to something more suitable for NS - it lets you filter by region, passworded/populated servers, ping, VAC status, name, open spaces, so on and so forth. I also like the various tabs, including Favourites and Friends, which makes things very quick/efficient too, although in games like L4D the in-game menu showing friends playing is maybe a bit more efficient/useful.
2) Is the current menu design or theme what we'll end up with in game? I have to be honest, it kinda feels like it's a late 90's menu, or early 2000's. Sort of menu theme you'd get in those old Star Wars games. The font (e.g. on the Keyboard setup page) especially doesn't seem to fit with the environment and general feel of NS - it's a bit funky and light, almost retro, instead of maybe what we get in the banner at the top of thise page.
3) Is there any chance of a L4D style introductory video, showing a number of the key elements of gameplay found within NS? UWE did a great job with the teaser, it looked awesome, so I'm sure they would have no trouble pulling something similar off in terms of marines coming across the various types of aliens and alien abilities and using their own technology/abilities to counter. It's not a major thing at all, it's just a nice touch, and has been found in a number of quality titles (even remember Age of Empires: Mythology having something similar).
4) The background graphics on the main menu. Again, I appreciate this is just the alpha, so no need to point this out. But let's assume UWE stick with this - does anyone actually like it? IMO it's a bit bland. I personally would prefer something darker, more mysterious, rather than a harmless looking marine staring blankly at you (and a skulk + yellow H.A.L. running past on the side).
Comments
The fact this is less than 24 hours after an ALPHA release, people really need to back off with this entitlement stance that seems to be going around here.
Yes $40 was spent, but it was ALWAYS made clear that what we got on alpha release was NOT going to be anything but a bug filled "glimpse or insight" to what the end product is LIKELY to be (not definitely).
Sorry rofl not aimed directly at you dude so apologies if you feel the above statement was.
However i really wish people would stop acting like spoiled brats about the game, stamping their feet and ranting about how bad its.
Criticism is an effective tool, but it HAS to be done constructively
The other point id like to make is that suggestions such as yours are completely valid, but they would be MUCH better placed in the feedback site
Once again apologies if you have already done that.
While I as planning on doing a major UI post later once performance issues got fixed up, guess here's as good a place as any.
I agree that the server browser could use an overhaul. It needs more features such as:
<ul><li>Filter by server tags (didcated/listen/mods/region/map/etc.)</li><li>Actual ping numbers.</li><li>Max Players.</li><li>Favorites/LAN/Friends tabs would be nice.</li></ul>
Basically, using the olde style Server Browser seems like a good integration. Perhaps there is code in the Steamworks SDK to do this?
There are font issues especially scaling with different resolutions making some text unreadable. I hope this is fixed.
We need more hotkeys. Some include:
<ul><li>F1, F2, F3, F4 for team joining and readyroom.</li><li>The ability to turn on fastswitch.</li><li>Bindings for mwheelup and mwheeldown</li><li>The ESC key should almost always allow you to exit a menu or typing in chat.</li></ul>
We need a way to cancel changes done in the Options menu, especially for video settings.
The introductory video suggested might be nice, but I don't think it should be high on the priority list for a while. I do like the in-game notifications, they typically are useful and pop up at good times, but they will need tweaking and elaboration. They are especially helpful for describing abilities/weapons when you select them.
I can't identify where personal res is on the screen at first glance. This needs to be fixed.
We need a way to bring up an overhead map like in NS1. Both as a player and as the Commander. I couldn't find the binding for it. Similarly the commander's minimap needs more functionality like showing locations, basic buildings, players, and highlighting tech points and res nodes.
Overall we're off to a good start, and really UI should be dealt with later, but for now add this to the back of your mind.
The fact this is less than 24 hours after an ALPHA release, people really need to back off with this entitlement stance that seems to be going around here.
Yes $40 was spent, but it was ALWAYS made clear that what we got on alpha release was NOT going to be anything but a bug filled "glimpse or insight" to what the end product is LIKELY to be (not definitely).
Sorry rofl not aimed directly at you dude so apologies if you feel the above statement was.
However i really wish people would stop acting like spoiled brats about the game, stamping their feet and ranting about how bad its.
Criticism is an effective tool, but it HAS to be done constructively
The other point id like to make is that suggestions such as yours are completely valid, but they would be MUCH better placed in the feedback site
Once again apologies if you have already done that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Understand your points, hence why I went to lengths to point out this was the beginning alpha and things will naturally change alot as the game is developed.
I just thought it warrants a thread for us, the fans, to talk about what we'd like to see in the GUI. It's not telling UWE what to do, but rather us saying what we liked, especially from other games/engines, or what we don't like, both in terms of aesthetics and functionality.
The feedback site is great, but right now I wouldn't want to make any suggestions or criticisms regarding the GUI as it's simply not important at all at this stage when there are infinitely more pressing issues to resolve. Instead, I'd rather just have a discussion on it, see what others think, so on and so forth.
Since there have been a good number of exceptional quality artists impressions of aliens and alien structure, I was also wondering if anyone had done anything similar regarding their idea of what the UI/menus/theme/etc should look like.
That would make sense then. Which means it's a bit unfortunate as it maybe can't be implemented, as it's possibly the best/most versatile browser in video games right now.
Do <b>NOT</b> use the same system alien swarm or l4d uses. It is horrible.
You cant see the curplayer or maxplayers.
You cant see srv names so all are kind of clones of eachothers.
You cant have a fav list or similar.
You cant understand what that "# game(s)" each server has means.
You cant watch srv info.
You cant see the ping (I think).
You cant... alot.
And if you use openserverbrowser in console it opens a good one, but its buggy and gets removed all the time, and their console requires you to either have not entered any kind of menu (after that the -console console gets removed), or that you are ingame and got a key bounded to console (alien swarm let us do that easily, luckily)