3 replies to this topic

[MoonUnitBeta]

Problems:
The Bay Door indicators are extremely helpful, but incredibly hard to differentiate between which colour it is, and what colour means what. Outside of reading patch notes or asking on the forums, there's no way to make sense of the colours. You cannot look out your side window to see which direction the doors are moving either (in Cats (stalkers too?)).

Here's a couple things that could really refine how this information is delivered to the player, and it's a change visually and an addition audibly.

Suggestions:
Visually, it needs to be revamped, and moved away from the teeny LED lights. It's too fine of a detail. I feel as if it should be bolder, bulkier, and send a clearer image. This description fits pretty good with the theme of Mechwarrior too. I put together this animation to help illustrate the changes.

• OPEN light is on when Bay doors are opened. Lights could turn on when they automatically open to fire missiles, and turn off when bay doors automatically close.
  
• When a pod is destroyed, a red X is shown instead of OPEN.
  
• "Bay Doors" Painted above the indicators, for clarity reasons/what exactly is open.

Also, BBetty saying Bay Doors: Open/Closed(see below ) would tie it together. I don't think BB should say the notification when the doors are open automatically - only when they are opened/closed manually.

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 25 January 2013 - 06:44 PM.

[Rigiroth]

While I do feel the current set up isn't too good, but The OPEN light up doesn't really fit...it seems obnoxious and out of place. I agree that it can be hard for new players to not know what the bay door is, they should learn it from guides anyway.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Steemship, on 25 January 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

While I do feel the current set up isn't too good, but The OPEN light up doesn't really fit...it seems obnoxious and out of place. I agree that it can be hard for new players to not know what the bay door is, they should learn it from guides anyway.

Is it the size, the word, the brightness, where it's located, or something else that makes it obnoxious?
I admit I made it a bit louder and intrusive than even I would like, but I've been looking past it into the scenery and it seems to be at a good point where it's noticeable in the peripheral vision, allowing you to keep your eyes on the target.
As it is now, you cannot even tell the light is there in your peripheral vision, you have to hunt for it, and then stare at it to figure out what colour it is. That's probably the most annoying thing with the current iteration of the design is that it really taxes your focus just to figure out if your doors are open or not.

You have to agree on this though, the HEAT WARNING or OUT OF BOUNDS messages are massive, even more obnoxious than this OPEN light, but yet you still have people who over-heat, go out of bounds, and the biggest reason for that is they're pouring all their focus into a tiny 1"x1" square infront of them. Heck, even I've died from going out of bounds because I plain did not see the warning sign. when I died I went "how long was that warning there for?"
What stops me from overheating is not the HEAT WARNING sign that pops up, it's the hissing sound of my mech.

So, taking that kind of information back with me and into the design of this light, I really would like to see a more "in your face" indicator, because it will no doubt become a blur when you're in battle, but when you need to know, IT'S RIGHT THERE! and easy to read to boot. Also, BBetty announcing that you manually opened your doors and closed them could also be helpful, as I found the subtle hissing sounds from my overheating mech to save me more than a light, it's twice as effective at translating information to the player than a sign ever will.

So, at the very least, I think if the importance that it's noticeable in your peripherals is kept in-mind for another design pass then I could be OK with that.

Do you have a different idea in mind I would like to hear about it.

Edited by MoonUnitBeta, 25 January 2013 - 10:44 PM.

[Peter von Danzig]

I like the idea. We need a HUD symbol for the weapon doors :-)

The DEVs said that it will be possibly implemted. I really hope so.