9 replies to this topic

[Skribs]

I quit playing a while ago, and I've started back up. I have mixed feelings about some ideas, like some, and think others are terrible. The new UI? Yeah, it's terrible. Here's what needs to be done to fix it:

1) Let me work on my whole mech at once. Look at the Smurfy page. Make it slightly prettier and put it in game, and that would be awesome. What we don't need is an unfilterable list of icons with tiny text in several dozen menus to build a mech.

2) Let me have a list of favorite mechs (of size determined by the player) so I can swap quickly back and forth between a few.

I think there is more, but those are the 2 big ones for now. Make the icons smaller and put more attention to the words, enable filtering (i.e. search for weapon, only include ammo already included in mech) and let the entire mech be visible WHILE EDITING and it will be a lot better.

[Blackcat67]

I have to agree. the UI for the mech listing and editing is frankly, amateurish. (and yes, I have extensive experience in making such things)

The inaugral video had clips of the UI, zooming in on sections of the mech being working on. The parts appearing as you selected them.

That was pretty awesome.

Even if low end computers can't handle such things (and they would have to be reallly low end), higher end computers can handle it.

After all, you did make it for the video, for all to see.

[WDBDBloodyTriggerZ]

I completely agree with you skribs. I really dont like the new UI and everytime i see videos of the old one it makes me want to cry. I want it back so badly. :'(

[Skribs]

1) If your computer can't handle video of a mech being built, how can it handle the game?

2) The problem isn't the video or lack thereof. It's not cosmetic. It's a functional problem.

There is no reason you shouldn't be able to see your full loadout in the main pane, including armor, equipments, upgrades, and modules. In the right pane (easier to make builds from the right pane than the left, IMO) you have a few tabs for equipment types, with filter options by keyword, weight, etc. Possible tabs are:
Equipment (Engines, DHS, TAG, BAP, ECM, etc)
Weapons
Ammo
Modules

Upgrades are constantly displayed and editable, as is armor. If you want to narrow down by weapon type, there are buttons to filter that.

It would not be hard to design a functional UI that is much better than this. The implementation would be beyond my skills, but I can't imagine building a UI that is easy to use would be that hard.

[Seth Kalasa]

same topic was a day ago. with same questions and ideas... result? I hope developers will hear us.

[Skribs]

I hope so, Seth.

The UI is pretty much the only thing keeping me from buying stuff in this game again.

[Skribs]

This is my rough idea for how I would do the mechlab. A few things to note:

1) You could click the arrows OR type in the number for armor (much easier to allocate armor on an assault mech)

2) There would be options to filter out weapons and other equipment as necessary. For example, on engines you could filter only XL or Standard, or go above or below a certain weight/speed.
Or on weapons you could only include weapons you have slots for.
Ammo only include ammo for weapons equipped.
Modules you could filter locked/unlocked in addition to filtering by type.

3) There would be several important bits to the inventory:
*Color - the color of the frame of the item would indicate its type (i.e. color by energy/ballistic/missile)
*Color - the color of the icon would help narrow down (i.e. small lasers would have a red icon, medium lasers green, etc to make it easier to find what you're looking for). The black-and-white is difficult.
*Basic Stats - including the name, the quantity you have in your inventory, the slots and the tonnage. Mousing over would give you a tooltip with detailed stats such as damage, heat, and cooldown, in addition to those in the frame.

4) Your GXP and current mech XP, as well as MC and C-Bills would be displayed in every page of the UI.

5) It would be easy to transition back and forth between mech skills.

---

In addition to all of the above, the ability to have more control over filtering your mech lab and to select any number of "favorites" for a quick launch bar is a must.

Like I said in my previous post, I cannot justify buying in-game merchandise for a game that looks so horribly amateurish in the UI, especially considering previous iterations of the UI were better. So I would recommend this as a good thing to work on.

[Nightmare1]

I miss the old UI.

[Skribs]

Also, the ability to save a config and then strip the mech would be awesome, as well as the ability to save multiple configs per chassis (with it telling you what the cost will be to re-equip with an itemized list if necessary).

[Skribs]

Problem still exists this patch although I realize Devs haven't had time to implement yet

Edited by Skribs, 07 November 2014 - 12:29 PM.