6 replies to this topic

[Victor Morson]

As you may or may not know, most everyone serious about MW:O frequents this site all of the time:

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/

It's the best 'mech builder, combined with detailed information about Ghost Heat, weapons range falloff, the works. There's a ton of info here that seems missing from UI2.0.

My point being that it's a shame we have to go to an external website/program to check mech builds, weapon stats, etc.

Thus this suggestion. Either hire the guy who runs Smurfy to run an official version of it on this website - or even a version within 2.0 - or replicate what it does yourselves.

It's a shame so much of this information is transparent to the player for one, and for two, having a way to build 'mechs before you purchase them would be a hugely useful tool for newbie and veteran alike.

[Roadbeer]

I think it was said that there would be a desktop/smart phone API soon^TM

[Boyka]

Hi, I made this discussion to show how should be incorporated Smurfy and more other usefull stuff in new UI 2.0.
Please take a look and comment, suggest or simply like it, we need more community involement, PGI can't ignore us.

http://mwomercs.com/...w-it-should-be/

[Mcchuggernaut]

I hugely agree. Especially with having a way to build and test a mech in testing grounds before you buy it and it's parts. When I was new at this, I spent probably my first 50 million c-bills making stupid mistakes before I found Smurfy's mech lab. Now I can at least see if an idea of mine is possible, but sometimes the in-game practicality can't really be seen until you have taken a mech to the testing grounds, which right now costs too much to do any real experimenting that way.

[Will9761]

You know it's funny how the Beta Version of UI 2.0 actually resembled smurfy's mechlab.

How the Mechlab went from this:


To this is pretty mind-boggling:


You could even use the Beta version(first picture shown above) of the Mechlab for the loadout system and add a weapons list to it. I would like to see smurfy's mechlab, but they did say that this was just a preview before releasing the real thing. So I'm going to wait and see how the final version looks onces it's in.

Edited by Will9761, 03 December 2013 - 04:00 PM.

[Bhael Fire]

Will9761, on 03 December 2013 - 03:59 PM, said:

You know it's funny how the Beta Version of UI 2.0 actually resembled smurfy's mechlab.

How the Mechlab went from this:


To this is pretty mind-boggling:


You could even use the Beta version(first picture shown above) of the Mechlab for the loadout system and add a weapons list to it. I would like to see smurfy's mechlab, but they did say that this was just a preview before releasing the real thing. So I'm going to wait and see how the final version looks onces it's in.

The first image is a mockup of UI 2.0 (i.e., a static image created in photoshop) meant only as a proof of concept for designing the new UI.

Also, if you look closely you'll see it's the Mech Details tab that is selected in that first image. The second image is part of the loadout screen (not the mech details screen).

Therein lies the problem with their design approach; the mech loadout and mech details should NOT be on separate screens. They need to be one screen like pretty much every mechlab interface used in other Mechwarrior titles. It is the usability that most players have come to expect.

tl:dr
Smurfy's got it right. It's the perfect example of an intuitive and easy to use interface that can be used by novice and expert alike. If they applied the sleek look of UI 2.0 to the Smurfy layout, they'd have a winner.

[aniviron]

Bhael Fire, on 03 December 2013 - 05:28 PM, said:

The first image is a mockup of UI 2.0 (i.e., a static image created in photoshop) meant only as a proof of concept for designing the new UI.

Also, if you look closely you'll see it's the Mech Details tab that is selected in that first image. The second image is part of the loadout screen (not the mech details screen).

Therein lies the problem with their design approach; the mech loadout and mech details should NOT be on separate screens. They need to be one screen like pretty much every mechlab interface used in other Mechwarrior titles. It is the usability that most players have come to expect.

tl:dr
Smurfy's got it right. It's the perfect example of an intuitive and easy to use interface that can be used by novice and expert alike. If they applied the sleek look of UI 2.0 to the Smurfy layout, they'd have a winner.

Even going from that concept to the reality of what we have is just hard to fathom though. I mean, it shows that someone clearly understands what a good mech building UI looks like and what it needs; you can tell, because when they were told to put together a useful, attractive, intuitive interface, that is the image they came up with.

And then after that had all been done, someone decided, "nah, better to have a display of the mech and every single engine listed with a graphic of what an engine is than that stupid concept."

I just don't know how that happened.