33 replies to this topic

[Prezimonto]

This would be a great way to implement the basic mech building features.

Can you add a section for modules with their own tab right to that page?

-So you can go somewhere else to manage purchasing skills for unlocks, but EVERYTHING you need to outfit your mech should be all in one place... the "paperdoll" of your mech.

Also, please add a Center Torso tab for each upgrade... so armor tab, structure tab, engine tab, heat sink tab, artemis tab.

I agree completely, I should be able to go to one place/screen and see my whole mech, and easily select and purchase components and upgrades for each section. The little blow out tabs make it much more manageable, becuase you can still see the file structure for each previous section and go back and forth quickly... rather than drilling down through menus in the current set up.

Edited by Prezimonto, 05 February 2014 - 08:14 AM.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Prezimonto, on 05 February 2014 - 08:08 AM, said:

This would be a great way to implement the basic mech building features.

Can you add a section for modules with their own tab right to that page?

-So you can go somewhere else to manage purchasing skills for unlocks, but EVERYTHING you need to outfit your mech should be all in one place... the "paperdoll" of your mech.

Also, please add a Center Torso tab for each upgrade... so armor tab, structure tab, engine tab, heat sink tab, artemis tab.

I agree completely, I should be able to go to one place/screen and see my whole mech, and easily select and purchase components and upgrades for each section. The little blow out tabs make it much more manageable, becuase you can still see the file structure for each previous section and go back and forth quickly... rather than drilling down through menus in the current set up.

Good suggestions!
I'm at work atm, but I'm doodling some things down for layout without it getting too cluttered. I think we can fit everything on one screen..... but there will need to be some exceptions.

Modules:
I'm thinking just square module boxes in the left hand corner that reads "Click to load" in the center of each. Sinces max is 4 modules, that should be easy to give some real estate for.
Clicking one of the boxes will bring up an over-lay that loads over top of the the overview portion, and you have a list of modules and consumables, but i'm not sure yet how that will look.. Since there's now A WHOLE BUNCH of modules for weapons and all of the other ones... there needs to be some wicked sorting capabilities in play so you can quickly and easily find what you need without getting overwhelmed with a million icons and small text.

Upgrades can be also on to the side, showing what's currently equipped, with an "upgrade” button to the side of it that when you click, it slides out an option for what you can switch to, with cost and crit slot consumption. When you hover over the upgrade, it’ll also show in the overview how many slots it’s going to take up and all the other info and description. It'd kinda of look like smurfy's, but refined to give more information and a funtional look and feel.
(I don't like the word “Upgrade” word, because some things aren't an upgrade in some ways (like ferro… or artemis) and can mislead new players into thinking they NEED certain upgrades. Like Ferro... it's not really an upgrade unless you have a bunch of left over space, and Endo steel is usually the better of the two anyways, but that's my own opinion. Not sure what else I'd call it.)

I'll also toy with the idea about putting upgrades tab to the Center Torso. Just a question, why specifically the Center Torso? Heat sinks will be in a MISC tab or maybe a tab on all their own, and Artemis won't be an upgrade, instead they'll be their own equipable item in the near future.

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 05 February 2014 - 09:03 AM.

[MeiSooHaityu]

I like it sir...I like it alot. I approve.

[MoonUnitBeta]

MeiSooHaityu, on 05 February 2014 - 09:00 AM, said:

I like it sir...I like it alot. I approve.

Thanks!

[Prezimonto]

MoonUnitBeta, on 05 February 2014 - 09:00 AM, said:

Good suggestions!
I'm at work atm, but I'm doodling some things down for layout without it getting too cluttered. I think we can fit everything on one screen..... but there will need to be some exceptions.

Modules:
I'm thinking just square module boxes in the left hand corner that reads "Click to load" in the center of each. Sinces max is 4 modules, that should be easy to give some real estate for.
Clicking one of the boxes will bring up an over-lay that loads over top of the the overview portion, and you have a list of modules and consumables, but i'm not sure yet how that will look.. Since there's now A WHOLE BUNCH of modules for weapons and all of the other ones... there needs to be some wicked sorting capabilities in play so you can quickly and easily find what you need without getting overwhelmed with a million icons and small text.

Upgrades can be also on to the side, showing what's currently equipped, with an "upgrade” button to the side of it that when you click, it slides out an option for what you can switch to, with cost and crit slot consumption. When you hover over the upgrade, it’ll also show in the overview how many slots it’s going to take up and all the other info and description. It'd kinda of look like smurfy's, but refined to give more information and a funtional look and feel.
(I don't like the word “Upgrade” word, because some things aren't an upgrade in some ways (like ferro… or artemis) and can mislead new players into thinking they NEED certain upgrades. Like Ferro... it's not really an upgrade unless you have a bunch of left over space, and Endo steel is usually the better of the two anyways, but that's my own opinion. Not sure what else I'd call it.)

I'll also toy with the idea about putting upgrades tab to the Center Torso. Just a question, why specifically the Center Torso? Heat sinks will be in a MISC tab or maybe a tab on all their own, and Artemis won't be an upgrade, instead they'll be their own equipable item in the near future.

I was thinking exactly that for the modules... there's space to the upper left for a 5 or 6 slot "box" that could be labeled modules.
So use a little pop out file structure for the modules, so you click a slot and get a set of tabs that list each type of module (sensors/consumables/ect) mouse down to a selection on that menu and each pops up with another list, mouse over to whichever section has the weapons upgrades and you get another list ("other" for all non-weapons modules, and then a list for each weapon, mouse over to the weapon and another sub menu pops up.

The key is the pop-up menus, so a person don't have to make a million clicks to find things. Have the ESC key or spacebar tab you backwards or just click on the tab you want to go back to in the file structure.

I'm not against giving upgrades their own box or area, but I think a tab system off the CT would be more minimalistic (though might not emphasize the importance of certain upgrades.

I suggest the center torso for upgrades, because it's the center of your mech, in plain view, and engines are really one form of upgrade already. Maybe put the "upgrades" tabs along the left side and the equipment/engine tabs on the right side to differentiate them? So for instance heat sinks: the misc tab will have heat sinks to equip(probably first item) but the upgrade tab would dictate what type of heat sink is available in the misc tab. I also believe they're purely upgrades (just some are better than others) with the exception of Artemis. I'd love if the basic non-upgrade components would give some bonus to internal structure, or something so each of these choices would be much more a trade-off(that's for a different thread).

One thing that I think is important, is that the pop-out menus should be quick and easy to clear, so just click once outside the pop-out menu to return to the base total mech view.

Another note on inventory: when you find something in the lists, I'd like to be told how many I own, how many I have available to equip, and I'd like to be able to click right on the item to bring up a tab or box that tells me where all my items of that type are equipped.

Another thing I thought of looking at your engine pop-out. I'd love an indicator, right there, that will tell me how fast my mech can go pre- and post-speed tweak. This should be true for all equipment, you should have a summary or bit of the popout that will demonstrate/change to indicate how this item will affect the performance of your Big Stompy Robot.

For instance their heat scale is awful without a lot of experience in the mech bay to understand what's a good number. They should actually tell you in plain numbers, how much threshold you have right now, how much heat/second do you dissipate right now, and how much will those change by adding this heat sink. These numbers should be tied directly to the heat generated by weapons.

Edited by Prezimonto, 05 February 2014 - 10:27 AM.

[C E Dwyer]

I just get the feeling with UI2 that someone has told them PC format is dead.

What you need to be focusing on is a console format, and touch screen capable ( its the only reason I can think of for those over sized pictures, where we had a list and the weapon picture popped up IF we clicked it)

You need to target the console people, you need it to be browser friendly.

There are some good parts to the new UI which are being completely smothered by a dire Mech lab.

But that noise as the pointer travels over each picture must be the first casualty

Edited by Cathy, 05 February 2014 - 10:30 AM.

[Lygris Targerian]

Good work, I like this very much. I think for easy customization it's very important to have all zones and crit slot on screen all the time. You need to see on first look whats where an where you have space left.
The new loadout screen is in my oppinion the only major flaw in the new UI.
I hope PGI realizes, that the current loadout is far inferior to this suggestion and that they will assign high priority resurces to adapt the UI to something simmilar to this!

[Roland]

I really like the idea you show in the example, of clicking on the engine, and seeing two lists of the possible XL and STD engines.

Being able to click on the engine and just "turn it into" another engine is itself a good streamlining of the interface, since it saves you the extra steps of dragging the existing engine out, then finding the new engine and dragging it into place.

[Kaeb Odellas]

One thing I'd like to add is that I'd still like the Mech's model to be visible while doing the customization so the user can see the physical changes being made to the mech as that each weapon might bring.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Kaeb Odellas, on 05 February 2014 - 03:28 PM, said:

One thing I'd like to add is that I'd still like the Mech's model to be visible while doing the customization so the user can see the physical changes being made to the mech as that each weapon might bring.

Yea, this is one downfall to the smurfy layout, it covers up the 3D model. It would be difficult to incorporate the visual effects into the customization progress.

WAIT.
JUST AS I"M TYPING THIS....
I had an excellent idea.
One that doesn't sacrifice functionality of the smurfy layout, and one that shows visual changes to the mech. It's not real time,.. you'll know what I mean. Here it is:
After customizing and swapping out weapons (ac5 to Ac10, SRM to LRM20, laser to PPC, etc) and pressing the big ol' SAVE button, the smurfy layout fades away, and as the menu transitions to your mech hanger and your mech slides over to the left side, the ac5, srm, and laser get removed from their places, and the new weapons come up and get "installed" onto the mech. With some k-chunk sounds and sparks....

I'm kind of thinking like an Iron Man type of style, with parts flying into the areas and locking into place...


....
But on second thought it seems gimmicky, arcady, and .. just kinda... well blah. doesn't quite fit the whole thing.

Well... If you have an idea how to potentially include it, let me know. I got it all layed out in photoshop so I can do which ever and visualize it. I want to make a mock-up animation of the tabs being functional. I think that would be very cool. Maybe then the visual change could be demostrated in that. But right now I'm thinking that unless the change is shown in a different instance, it might just be something that gets boot with this idea...

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 05 February 2014 - 04:38 PM.

[Prezimonto]

I would like to add that the engine select drop down that you have should at least color code for "owned" vs. "owned but equipped elsewhere" vs. "purchasable" vs. "Available but you can't afford it". Once you select an engine the pop-out could have the price for purchase and a list of mechs where the item is equipped, and maybe even the option to strip it from those mechs with a button push(not as necessary).

[MoonUnitBeta]

Prezimonto, on 05 February 2014 - 05:35 PM, said:

I would like to add that the engine select drop down that you have should at least color code for "owned" vs. "owned but equipped elsewhere" vs. "purchasable" vs. "Available but you can't afford it". Once you select an engine the pop-out could have the price for purchase and a list of mechs where the item is equipped, and maybe even the option to strip it from those mechs with a button push(not as necessary).

Yeah i think it wouldn't be too hard to show in the tool tip to show
"Equipped on: Atlas-DDC, CARROTCAKE, Misery
2 in inventory"
And the colour overlay for the engine would be a teal or something. Keep the same colour regardless where the engine is, and let the tool tip give you more details if you need.

Then a red colour for engines that you do not have enough credits or tonnage for, and again, the tooltip will let you know.

What do you think?

[Mordynak]

I approve. I also fail to see why they couldn't do something like the smurfy layout in the first place.

At the lowest resolution its a bit of a push to fit it in. But I haven't edited it at all. It's completely possible to make something like this work.
1024x768
1280x1024
1920x1200

I know they said they are working to put something like this in the game anyway, but I don't know why they didn't just wait until they had.

Maybe if half the community didn't piss and moan so much and actually gave constructive ideas instead of just acting like little impatient Ritalin addicted kids. Maybe the devs would have held back until it was done.

Edited by Mordynak, 06 February 2014 - 05:12 AM.

[Prezimonto]

MoonUnitBeta, on 06 February 2014 - 12:19 AM, said:

Yeah i think it wouldn't be too hard to show in the tool tip to show
"Equipped on: Atlas-DDC, CARROTCAKE, Misery
2 in inventory"
And the colour overlay for the engine would be a teal or something. Keep the same colour regardless where the engine is, and let the tool tip give you more details if you need.

Then a red colour for engines that you do not have enough credits or tonnage for, and again, the tooltip will let you know.

What do you think?

Sounds good to me.