60 replies to this topic

[FelixBlucher]

I really hope that PGI takes a look at your suggestions. The current UI is very frustrating, and time consuming to just make a few quick changes. Currently, I really miss the old UI, I hope that they make the process much less painful than it currently is. I liked how the old system had more things in one place for ease of access. It flowed, it was just a thing of beauty. This current system is kind of like modern art, it doesn't make much sense, but it has pretty colors.

[Prince V]

Very nice Valcrow, very well done. Once again, the community has done something far and above what PGI has, in much less time, with fewer people, and for free.

Now, since you're not showing as a Founder, I'm not sure how long you've been around. I've been in since closed BETA. Allow me to prepare you for what's going to happen, since I've been seeing it happen for about 18 months now.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Either your thread will be totally ignored, or it'll get enough traffic and likes for the forum |\|azis to come over and move it to the 'feedback' thread, AKA the graveyard. Meanwhile, we're supposed to believe that "all feedback is reviewed", yet I can't recall a single instance of advice like this, even to the point of the work being DONE FOR THEM, actually getting used. Ever.

I thank you very much for your attempt, and for what comfort it's worth, I like your UI MUCH better than the a**tastic one we have right now. (Which has taken what, 6+ months compared to your 2 weeks, they have 5 and 1/2 months more for design and a whole team and you best them in a couple weeks. Hilarious).

(Yes, I bypassed the word-filter to refer to that particular sociopolitical group. Go ahead and prove me right by editing my post, then you can go back to policing negative feedback and back-patting the koolaid-sucking-white-knights or whatever it is you do.)

Edited by Prince V, 11 February 2014 - 03:22 AM.

[GalaxyBluestar]

this thread is full of win!

these suggestions are the best i've seen on the forums.

those layouts and artwork absolutely kick arse!



PGI would be ******* crazy not to do it exactly like this!

[Colonel Tequila]

This concept is a good improvement.

*mutter mutter why you not have creative peoples like this guy employed....*

[JHackworth]

+1 for Valcrow's mockup.

As a UX/interaction designer my trade, I'll +1 Valcrow's criticism and suggestions--the flow is pretty awful at the moment; PGI, I beg you, please take advantage of lots of free professional design advice here. Other general observations.

• The 'grid view' may be logical from a software/data perspective but lots of repetition that doesn't convey any useful information is just noise. I don't need 36 images of the same engine and have to work extra hard to zero in on the one I want because of the cognitive visual overload.
  
• What happened to the ability to see mech xps if you don't already own them or have sold them? Now I can't figure out which mechs to buy again because I've forgotten while I leveled off
  
• Hardpoints and placements need to be on the mech profile page. No point saying i have 2 ballistics slots on a mech if i don't know/can't tell where it is.

Cheers!

[CtrlAltWheee]

Great Post. Thank you for doing this.

[Mak Sim]

Very true. The UI mock up in the OP is much nicer and easy to understand and to use than the current ui 2.0

Quote

• The 'grid view' may be logical from a software/data perspective but lots of repetition that doesn't convey any useful information is just noise. I don't need 36 images of the same engine and have to work extra hard to zero in on the one I want because of the cognitive visual overload.

As my software development teacher told us once: "99% of developers who used a tree like interface in their programs done that for a very simple reason: "Oh lookey, the tree is beautifully fits the OOP's inheritance and encapsulation paradigms! Must use it!"

[Rakassan]

I've seen a lot of complaints and even very good suggestions. I've yet to see anything from PGI saying sorry guys we really F'd this one up. And seriously no patch today to fix any of this? Not sure why i'm still playing this game. I do know I'm not spend anymore money on this game in this condition. Star Citizen here I come!!!!

[KingOfBads]

I vote for this UI.

And while they are at it, fix scaling for triple monitor set-ups. Because its awful

[Gasoline]

Valcrow, on 10 February 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

*snip*

You sir, deserve a medal! You're sure you're not a UI Designer somewhere? Love your ideas. Prolly the best one could do, only add a scaling option (especially to some buttons -> check out *wink*) to it and it's freaking perfect.

[Commander Binz]

A+ for effort.

PGI, you should be paying this man for the awesome work he has done!

At the very least, please consider his ideas. He has perfectly nailed every complaint I have about UI 2.0.

[Hador]

Valcrow, on 10 February 2014 - 03:57 AM, said:

Awesome Ideas

Really had to log in to give that one a like

[Ixios]

Hador, on 12 February 2014 - 01:44 AM, said:

Really had to log in to give that one a like

Same here!

Great job Valcrow! These are the kind of thought processes they really need to be using!

+1

[Opam]

Thanks for your work mate. Hope they will implement this soon.

[Valcrow]

Thanks for the +1s! good to know that I'm not isolated in my suggestions.

Prince V, on 11 February 2014 - 03:15 AM, said:

Either your thread will be totally ignored, or it'll get enough traffic and likes for the forum |\|azis to come over and move it to the 'feedback' thread, AKA the graveyard. Meanwhile, we're supposed to believe that "all feedback is reviewed", yet I can't recall a single instance of advice like this, even to the point of the work being DONE FOR THEM, actually getting used. Ever.

I haven't been around long enough for founders, but I don't have an expectation either way. If they use some of these ideas, then great! if they don't, that's cool too, as long as something changes. At least we'll know that we've given them the most accurate picture of the problems from our point of view.

What they do with that it is up to them, because really, we have no idea what kinds of obsticles they face. Could be suits getting in the way, publishers making demands, technical limitations, contradictory directions, all of the above. who knows. But I highly doubt developers would go to work everyday to go out of their way to ignore/annoy their userbase.

I would actually be quite surprised if there wasn't an early design for UI2.0 that looks exactly like what I'm proposing here on the cutting room floor. And they didn't go for it for whatever reason'

Gasoline, on 11 February 2014 - 11:25 PM, said:

You sir, deserve a medal! You're sure you're not a UI Designer somewhere? Love your ideas. Prolly the best one could do, only add a scaling option (especially to some buttons -> check out *wink*) to it and it's freaking perfect.

Thanks! I am a designer amongst other things. Just not specifically for UI or games. I just didn't mention it. I thought it would be obvious with the screen doodling. We need our visual aides...

And I DID scale that button up. Its moved to the top right and renamed 'confirm'. Because I thought that was easier to understand than 'checkout' on the bottom left. I was thinking you confirm your loadout. and then you checkout with Cbills in the pop up window.

[Ridersofdoom]

Valcrow's UI 2.0 = +1
PGI's UI 2.0 = -1

[NoCookiesForYou]

Excellent write up and I support it 100%.

Not that it should matter, but I'm a young Mechwarrior fan. I've played these games since Mechwarrior 3, but I'm also a gamer and I play wide variety of other games.

This new mechlab is a mess. I don't want to use it, because trying to customize a mech nowadays makes me stress out. Way too much useless information, important tech info is either hidden or it's displayed with a font so small you need to stick your head closer to the monitor. To me the new mechlab is threatening. It doesn't feel logical or user friendly at all. I like the idea that I can easily control every aspect of my loadout. Now I can't imagine doing that without using Smurfy's as a blueprint. Is that what you want? If we as a community are having a trouble getting our head around this, imagine how put off new players will be?

[GalaxyBluestar]

valcrow you should sooooooo post this in feature suggestions.

carrincrows hitbox idea got taken up and i think your UI should join his success.

oh and please change "play now" to "launch" thks!

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 12 February 2014 - 06:00 PM.

[veri745]

I would seriously like to see a developer response to this thread.

The frustration I get from using the UI2.0 interface is discouraging. It seems like so much technical work when into the design, but the user experience is still terrible.

Finding my engines is frustrating. Identifying which of my mech's are properly outfitted is frustrating. Configuring a mech I already have set up in Smurfy is frustrating. I haven't played in mechs I didn't alreayd have set up since UI2.0 was released.

Valcrows mock-up would be a huge improvement, and may encourage me to actually come back and buy some new mechs.

Edited by veri745, 12 February 2014 - 07:45 PM.

[Hellen Wheels]

Ridersofdoom, on 12 February 2014 - 05:40 AM, said:

Valcrow's UI 2.0 = +100
PGI's UI 2.0 = -100

FTFY