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[Peiper]

No Guts No Galaxy: Bryan Eckman interview 11/6/2013 (Recorded before or on Oct 31st)

Broadcast here: https://soundcloud.c...kman-ui-2-0-and

NGNG Two Year Anniversary, Grats!

Disclaimer: These are MY notes from the interview. I'm not a professional, and don't ask me questions about what was said. Instead, listen to the interview: I've conveniently time stamped stuff for you so you can verify and clarify what was said. [Editorial notes by me are in brackets, like this statement.] Most of the questions were posted by Phil and Daeron (hosts) and all answers by Bryan. I did not transcribe any further after Bryan left.

Introductions, Christmas ads. [NGNG relies on sponsors to keep going, this transcript of the interview would not have been possible without NGNG broadcasting the interview to begin with. Consider buying a coffee mug, t-shirt or something, eh? -Peiper]

Support NGNG here: http://nogutsnogalaxy.myshopify.com/

6:20 Eckman introduction

UI 2.0 Question and answers?

7:00 Q: Alternate visual version of the mechlab (like smurfy)?
1st version: working on usability of what we've seen so far in test server, also have a mech detail view which you will be able to look at which will show more of the nuts and bolts of the mech you've created.
2nd version: Eventually, they will have a 'builders dream' version of the mechlab which will have minimal fluff, maximum ease of building.

8:16 Q: Why was current version chosen over simple/streamlined version?
Smurfy's build is not pretty, and hard for a new player to understand.
UI2.0: Each part of the mech is isolated and detailed, and pretty. Easy for new players to understand what they're changing.

Q: Confirm smurfy lookalike?
'We will be reviewing it.'

9:25 Q: Mechs have high rez textures in the new mechlab, will we see those textures/details in game?
What you see in the mechlab is the SAME as in game. [Perhaps it's because they're huge and standing still in the mechlab that you can see stuff you wouldn't otherwise notice in game? -Peiper]
Lighting can change the way a mechs work. They are super well-lit in the mechlab, but not the same lighting/shading in game. [Film grain in game too! -Peiper]
3 point DIRECT lighting in the mechlab makes a big difference versus the single point, diffused lighting in game from the suns. It makes a HUGE difference.
Matt Craig and team are working to make mechs look super-duper in game.

11:40 Q: How do you respond to critics of click counting in the mechlab (too much clicking/racing mouse back and fourth across the screen to build mechs quickly)?
We're working on it! Byproduct of 'contextual' mechlab is having more clicks than skeletal version of the current mechlab (UI 1.5)
They will look for a few click-reductions options, but they feel clicks are necessary for clarity.

12:20 Q: ETA on NEXT build preview in public test server?
Guys currently working on visuals for mechs, equipment, and the rest. Mid to third week of November. 3 weeks from today at the earliest.

13:30 Q: 3 screen monitor support for mechlab?
Not available yet, requires higher resolution that has not been enabled, something they CAN add. It's not really functional right now, and doesn't offer any technical advantage (except seeing ALL MECHS at once).

14:20 Q: Bring back double click to remove option? (as opposed to drag and drop EVERYTHING)
Yes, it will return.

14:40 Q: Can we select which weapon goes into which hardpoint? (Example, make sure the LRM 10 goes into the top slot on an atlas, and SRM 6 in side slot.) [Great question!- Peiper]
They are currently ordered by an algarythm (big to small or vice versa), order is selected when mech is saved.
They ARE going to fix how fast missles fire out of small racks. LRM 20 in a 2 rack shoots enlessly slow, they will work to change that.

16:30 Q: Will we be able to click ON THE MECH to select the part you want to modify, like we have now?
ABSOLUTELY [Thank You!!!! -Peiper]

16:55 Q: Change color pallet/color coding of mech parts/gear to make it easier to identify when moving stuff around?
YES, users really want that, they are listening, all hardpoints and gear are already color coded, we will see soon, already posted picks of what this will look like on the MWO forums. [Where? Link? -Peiper]

17:45 Phil comment: Much of UI 2.0 is designed to help the new player, also why Bryan is there to answer questions. [Will new players be directed to NGNG interviews to find their answers? /smirk -Peiper]

18:30 Q: Mech (basic stats/mech efficiencies) information is VERY SMALL, hard to read. Will this be improved?
No changes planned, but they could if they receive enough feedback to support the change.

19:20 Q: Daeron says that he could read it fine, even thoug he's old. [I cannot, and I'm not old! -Peiper]
Bryan says this stuff can be easily improved by adding line seperators and visual tricks to help make it easier to read. [PLEASE!! -Peiper]

19:55 Q: Can pop-up information when selecting gear STAY up after you move the mouse off?
We'll get a button to click soon that will show EVERYTHING your mech is equipped with including details and and graphs. In the last public test, they were showing off the pop-up technology, graphs/diagrams, and other NEW functionality that we currently don't have in UI 1.5. With UI 2.0 we'll see more of what we're familiar with as it develops.

21:00 Q: Currently, you can hover over a mech to see what modules are on it. Any chance that you'll be able to hover over a module to show what mech it/they are equipped to? [YES! lol. I lose my modules all the time! -Peiper]
That COULD happen, some suggested features are/would be new. Features will be prioritized and weighed against the release of UI 2.0. We may not get them ALL at launch, but that doesn't mean we won't get them eventually.
The UI is designed to be very flexible.

22:10 Bryan adds: They are going to add a ledger which will show all mechs, all items, and it might include SOMEDAY the ability to click on a piece of gear and find it.
There currently is a filter box like 'owned' and 'unowned.' They're going to put a BUNCH of filters in there.

23:20 Q: Mechbay tutorial?
As part of first experience, it will include a tutorial for mechlab.

24:00 Q: Opening Credits music? Can we have access to it (soundcloud)?
Waiting to release UI 2.0, they'll consider it. Currently the music is unapproved/placeholder music. Must be approved before generally released in a stand alone form.

24:46 Q: Plink sounds (mouseclicks/release sounds): placeholder?
Yes. Sean, the sound guy at PGI is working to make those sounds more unique/different, more pleasant. Probably an option to turn off sounds in Mechlab all-together too.

26:20 Field of View options/slider?
YES (will be capped to keep from cheats)

Start of community questions: 28:20

Q: Changes to battlegrid/company command orders/command wheel?
Talked with NEW GAME DESIGNER [who?] about the command wheel, he's looking at it, because commander CAN'T take time to mess with the grid. They're going to focus on an 'in cockpit, non-battlegrid way to coordinate.' 'Focus first on a com-rows/quick orders [like F1, F2 from MW4?], then make tac map more robust' - but no paint tools like drawing boobies on the map.

30:45 Q: Will there be an AC/5 and/or overall ballistics nerf in the pipeline?
Paul is always reviewing it. Yes, issues popping up on radar. Also, DPS changes with Host-State-Rewind tweaks (hit detection), and they are watching the data on which weapons are doing what. NO OFFICIAL COMMENT on it yet.

31:20 Q: Why can't we we have the Flea even without MASC functionality?
Because it's not finished yet! (as in, its MEANT to have MASC, so forget it until MASC works. This goes for clan mechs too. We won't see clan mechs until MASC is ready. Hinted that MASC currently impacts high ping players negatively.)

32:30 Q: Is the Flea really still on the docket?
Yes. The next mech is in the works now, and will not be the Flea.

The next light will be 'Humanoid, Controversial, and a 'specialty mech' [Firestarter? Unseen? -Peiper]

34:00 Q: When will we get SLI/Crossfire support?
Dx11 first. DX11 has problems because the CryEngine DX11 stuff is in Beta, and PGI is trying to push the envelope on the development. [Or something, technobabble... -Peiper]
Long story short: Dx11 is REALLY close to being ready for the PTR, works great on Bryan's machine. (No, you can't have his machine.)
PGI has to rendering engineers. They are working on Dx11, not SLI/Crossfire. When they are freed up from Dx11, they can work on SLI/Crossfire.

35:50 Q: Flooded variation of canyon map? Redwood forest/wookie map where mechs can jump jet into trees?
Underwater maps have been talked about. Physics issues and rendering/clipping issues with water now, but surmountable.
No official word on either idea.
They are working on an asymetrical mech facility (tiered, like a pyramid/mountain gardens, one team starts at top/other at bottom)
Also working on a jungle map. Think Thailand/sharp, steep rocks with trees on tops.

37:45 Q: Destructable trees/trees that block shots?
All tied in with collision package.

38:00 Q: Decals soon?
Part of rendering team workload. After Dx11, not before UI 2.0.

39:50 Q: Final comments?
Bryan thanks NGNG and the community.
Lead up to Christmas is exciting, Rest of the Phoenix mechs released Dec. 17, thinks it's cool we saw the development of UI 2.0 (he labeled it an early alpha), he thinks it would be nice if it was released before Christmas, but don't hold your breath. It must be PERFECT!

Bryan leaves 42:20

Favorite moments of the NGNG podcasts and some other stuff. I stopped listening, but would repeat my congrats on 2 years of No Guts No Galaxy!

[Sybreed]

peiper, you should get a forum award IMO, good job summarizing all that.

[Sybreed]

annnnnnnd yikes, UI 2.0 possibly in 2014? Well, I predicted it before, but I kind of was trolling back then :S

[SUBZERO8K]

Thanks for the summary. Looking forward to seeing the lighting changes in-game.

[slide]

Thanks Pieper!

[Homeless Bill]

It's so nice to be reading a TL;DR instead of writing one. I love you.

[Deathlike]

Quote

8:16 Q: Why was current version chosen over simple/streamlined version?
Smurfy's build is not pretty, and hard for a new player to understand.
UI2.0: Each part of the mech is isolated and detailed, and pretty. Easy for new players to understand what they're changing.

smurfy's is technically not for new players, but yet is great for experimenting w/o actually wasting c-bills needlessly.

The problem is that UI 2.0 is focused on being on too pretty and being less functional. Form over function... /sigh

[Sybreed]

It's pretty simple, they need a tutorial to explain the mechlab, especially if they use something like Smurfy.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

2014?

Called it

Best bit was that they hired a new game designer.

[Deathlike]

Sybreed, on 06 November 2013 - 04:21 PM, said:

annnnnnnd yikes, UI 2.0 possibly in 2014? Well, I predicted it before, but I kind of was trolling back then :S

I was convinced of that ETA since the UI 2.0 alpha test.

[Sybreed]

Deathlike, on 06 November 2013 - 07:14 PM, said:

I was convinced of that ETA since the UI 2.0 alpha test.

oh, I predicted the UI 2.0 in 2014 somewhere around may/june of this year

[Lindonius]

It beats me how people who have seen the pace of the development of this game can still even talk about "when the clans come".

Assuming that they won't be coming until community warfare is in and given the pace of development of everything to date I'd confidently predict the first clan mech will rear it's ugly head round about June 2015. By which time we'll all have gotten bored waiting and haved moved on to other games.

Of course one course of events that wouldn't surprise me in the least is that in about 6 months time they introduce "The Clans" in a new pack similar to the Founders and Phoenix packs. These mechs will be the classic chassis the clanboys are wetting their pants over and yet "clan tech" will be non-existent under the guise of "balance issues". All of this happening while feeding us this "don't worry community warfare is coming" line.

Edited by Lindonius, 06 November 2013 - 08:08 PM.

[Silent]

The Clans will come before community warfare because that's just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

($$$$$)

[MoonUnitBeta]

Peiper, on 06 November 2013 - 01:59 PM, said:

16:55 Q: Change color pallet/color coding of mech parts/gear to make it easier to identify when moving stuff around?
YES, users really want that, they are listening, all hardpoints and gear are already color coded, we will see soon, already posted picks of what this will look like on the MWO forums. [Where? Link? -Peiper]

First of all, THANK YOU, for doing this.

Second: I think this is the image they were referring to. It is in the UI2.0 command chair post with all the mock-up images, but I suppose they're still taking the info in from them and putting them into the UI.

[Peiper]

Sybreed, on 06 November 2013 - 04:11 PM, said:

peiper, you should get a forum award IMO, good job summarizing all that.

LOL. This one was easy compared to transcribing the previous Eckman interview, especially part III of it. Talk about meandering. The worst was the Bullock interview, though, because there was no NEW information in it - it was all historical stuff about the development and prehistory of MWO. This interview was easier because the questions and answers were fairly direct. It's also easier because its more interesting to get new information, knowing that people want to know this stuff.

It must be easier for them to answer all these questions in public, and without printing them, it's harder to nail them on 'well, you said this and delivered that.' After all the previous forum meltdowns, they probably need a lawyer to read everything they type before they hit the enter key. Same reason I put the disclaimer at the beginning! I don't want this stuff to [chew] me, or anyone else in the behind. How I HEAR something may not be what they MEANT. It's like playing that game 'telephone.'

Edited by Peiper, 06 November 2013 - 11:56 PM.

[Deathz Jester]

2014...........what the **** have you been working on? A playroom for the ADHD riddled employees you have?

[CrashieJ]

Deathlike, on 06 November 2013 - 05:56 PM, said:

smurfy's is technically not for new players, but yet is great for experimenting w/o actually wasting c-bills needlessly.

The problem is that UI 2.0 is focused on being on too pretty and being less functional. Form over function... /sigh

Brian Eckman is ******* lying when it comes to smurfy, it's so easy a 5 year old can understand. Hell, it's 90% just like the Mechwarrior 3 Mechlab

Pick weightclass
Pick chassis
Pick Variant
Max armor
Endosteel on
Double heatsinks on
drag and drop away

UI2.0 is the one that needs to be scrapped, and once again Brian the Cicada-man doesn't know what he is talking about.

Edited by gavilatius, 07 November 2013 - 04:14 AM.

[Huntrava]

We'll have real mechs before MWO is completed.

[Glaive-]

Peiper, on 06 November 2013 - 01:59 PM, said:

The next light will be 'Humanoid, Controversial, and a 'specialty mech' [Firestarter? Unseen? -Peiper]

/Thread

[-Natural Selection-]

When I was fairly new (a couple weeks playing) I got pointed to smurfy and it took about 5 mins to figure out. After playing the game a year it took me over 15 mins to figure out 2.0 and then it still felt awkward.