Some U14 Ui Suggestions With Screens

[Toztman]

As the forums clearly display, there is a large presence of negativity towards the UI revamp in u14.

Some of the big issues are the form over function Solar System, nested ESC menu that adds too many steps, and the foundry/mods which don't use their space well. 

 

I am in sync with a lot of the community on big issues save one.  I do not want the old UI back.

What I want is this new UI to become as useful as the old one and this will come with iteration over time.

 

I spent a little time making a couple mocks to help give a visual to what some of us may agree would help.

 

This first one is the ESC menu.

I have the current look followed by my quick redesign mock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next is the Solar system orbit interface.

I didn't spend much time on this but one big request is adding labels to each planet/area.  I set up a way that the planets title would resize and shift so that it would always be visible.

 

This is a bandaid in my opinion.  This menu needs so serious rethink, but in the mean time this sort of change would go a long way.

 

EDIT: I didn't have the game in front of me so the labels are incorrect but it was just to get the idea across.

 

 

Here is my quick mock of what could be a way to merge the old u13 star chart with the planet grouping of u14.

Up at the top right where the planet label resides I added buttons to move to the next planet without backing out to the main selection.

 

 

So what do you all think?

 

I really believe in the foundation of this UI in many ways and since they won't be redacting it, we need to get the juices flowing to help improve it.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Toztman

[APBladeX]

All of my yes.
EDIT: also should reorganize the planets so that the moons of their respective planets orbit around the planet, with the Sun in the middle of the chart. And please for the love of Lotus resize the darn things and make them similar to the real-life structures. No one wants everything Earth-sized.

Edited July 20, 2014 by APBladeX

[Toztman]

Yes APBladeX i didn't have the game in front of me to see which was which so I made it up.  I just wanted to get the thread started.  I edited the OP for clarity.

 

Oh I misunderstood you haha.  I did mislabel though for speeds sake.

I am not sure how I would tackle the Solar system myself because their is the debate of accuracy versus ease of use.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Toztman

[Mbgunsling]

my first big issue is how unfriendly the UI is.

 

all the buttons are miles away from one another, that combined with the extreme FPS lag on S#&$ty-home-ship makes everything take two minutes to do when it should take five seconds. the buttons should be close enough or at least oriented on one side of the screen so I don't have to keep rolling my mouse as far as I can just to hit that exit button when adjusting my warframe's appearance.

 

next: the obvious Dead space Floating holo menus don't work when your waframe can potentially block the entire menu from view. you need to have it move the camera and menu at an angle so that players can see it without any obstruction.

 

Like OP said, all the planets look the same. not to mention the new layout of the sectors gives me no possible way of comprehending how the level progression goes, what happened to all the old star systems?

 

pictograms for the sub menus in the esc menu are nice, but make the whole thing smaller, again, I don't want my mouse to have to travel three miles to reach a single icon.

 

the whole UI is broken for controllers, apparently tapping left is the same as hitting the esc key. great when trying to scroll.

[vaugahn]

I like the ring, but each planet should be a distinct size within its little halo. It would also be nice to see drops when you mouse over each planet.

 

For the menus, they should be locked to the camera. The problem isn't their tilt, but how they wiggle around when you move your mouse over them.

[Toztman]

I like the ring, but each planet should be a distinct size within its little halo. It would also be nice to see drops when you mouse over each planet.

 

For the menus, they should be locked to the camera. The problem isn't their tilt, but how they wiggle around when you move your mouse over them.

 

I agree about showing the faction and drops on planets.

 

I believe the wiggling and sliding of the menu was designed so that they could keep the war frame in the shot which is why we have to "move" the menus around to see everything.  Cool to look at, not so much to use.

[vaugahn]

I agree about showing the faction and drops on planets.

 

I believe the wiggling and sliding of the menu was designed so that they could keep the war frame in the shot which is why we have to "move" the menus around to see everything.  Cool to look at, not so much to use.

 

I think to keep everything clean we should have small names always on each planet, with extra info when you select/mouse over them. I'd also like faction icons back on individual levels.

 

The wiggling screens are my least favorite part of this update, there needs to be a toggle for that. I've heard some people say they like that, but it's not for me.

[Toztman]

Bump for discussion.  I haven't seen any actual mockups yet so I want to get this ball rolling.

Ill be making a planet node revamp sometime this week.

[vaugahn]

I saw this in another thread and I don't know if it would be possible for you to do, but what if the camera angle was changed? Then you could see all the planets more clearly, and there would be more room for labeling.

[Toztman]

Im going to merge the old star chart point-to-point with the "globe" staying in the middle.  Imformation about the node will hover over the globe.

 

The planet selection I am going to stay away from for now.  Ill tackle that later if I feel like it haha.

[-SLX-J3tAc3]

All of my yes.

EDIT: also should reorganize the planets so that the moons of their respective planets orbit around the planet, with the Sun in the middle of the chart. And please for the love of Lotus resize the darn things and make them similar to the real-life structures. No one wants everything Earth-sized.

Would help to identify planets as well, make them more visually distinctive. Great idea!

[Saberune]

I support this thread.  Digging down multiple levels inside the main menu for critical functions is an absolute no-no when it comes to good UI.  I know a lot of people are fond of the new look.  Whatever.  There's no good reason why a fully functional UI that looks similar to this can't exist.

[vaugahn]

The problem I've noticed with the new UI is that it seems to appeal to a more casual crowd, and the (more vocal) power gamer crowd is not pleased with trading straight utility for visual flair. I think a redone ESC menu would be a good place to start in catering to the power gamer crowd.

[APBladeX]

Bump for attention from DE.

[Toztman]

Thanks for the bump APBladeX.  You beat me to it by twenty minutes :)

 

I just updated all of my screens and added a new screen so this is strictly to let everyone know about that.

[vaugahn]

Ooh the new star chart is fantastic! How did that not make it into the game?

[BurntKitten]

Really great work, this would definitely be a step in the right direction.  After all the massive discussions taking place, I'm glad someone came along with the skills to make a decent mock up :)

 

Edit - the planets are still just grey orbs, but at least they're identifiable grey orbs!

Edited July 21, 2014 by BurntKitten

[Tokila]

OP, you sir deserve a cookie. All of your designs would make the new UI much more bearable.

[_OptimizePrime_]

This looks great. I do hope DE takes note!

[Varzy]

Really like the redone ESC menu, the icons acting as visual anchors are an excellent touch. +1

 

I'm not so fond of the zoomed-planet mockup, though. One thing I noticed with the new layout is that missions are actually connected/function differently from the old maps - completing a node unlocks all adjacent nodes. This function, imo, is far better than the old progression through the star map because it can allow newer players to bypass missions they don't like/can't complete (remember the Earth interception woes?) as it can unlock 2-3 nodes at a time, instead of just 1 or 2.

[StrahlTiger]

So what do you all think?

 

I really believe in the foundation of this UI in many ways and since they won't be redacting it, we need to get the juices flowing to help improve it.

 

Soooo many +1's. I love this. It's not that I hate the UI, it's that I hate the clunkiness and the lack of information. The escape menu, the planetary labels, the level overlook, I love it! I can see EVERYTHING I need to at a glance and make a quick decision while still having the fancy 3D immersion. If they incorporated this, then added a toggle for the menu sway that causes my headaches, I would be back to playing a lot of warframe again.

 

And don't think I missed the upper right option to switch planets without zooming out! Another feature the devs used to be so proud of that got removed.

Edited July 21, 2014 by StrahlTiger

[Toztman]

Really like the redone ESC menu, the icons acting as visual anchors are an excellent touch. +1

 

I'm not so fond of the zoomed-planet mockup, though. One thing I noticed with the new layout is that missions are actually connected/function differently from the old maps - completing a node unlocks all adjacent nodes. This function, imo, is far better than the old progression through the star map because it can allow newer players to bypass missions they don't like/can't complete (remember the Earth interception woes?) as it can unlock 2-3 nodes at a time, instead of just 1 or 2.

 That is news to me.  My star map was already fully unlocked before u14.  I have heard reports of confusion on the way the map unlocks but you description makes it sound rather simple.  Still I am messing around with finding ways to make both crowds happyish.

[Varzy]

 That is news to me.  My star map was already fully unlocked before u14.  I have heard reports of confusion on the way the map unlocks but you description makes it sound rather simple.  Still I am messing around with finding ways to make both crowds happyish.

I'm a bit of a fan of the new layout once I got used to it, but I haven't really heard the arguments against.

 

One thing is that it's very easy to get lost in the nodes, which might be solved with strategic placement of visual markers, ie, a "start/end" point that lets you know when the planet has rotated 360 degrees. Boss nodes could serve this purpose if their nodes were made more prominent, perhaps.

[Max7238]

Dear God, that OP. Excellent.
Reminds me of another thread we've all seen. ( https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/263785-new-ui-feedback-from-uiux-designer-visually-nicer-slower-to-use-more-clicks-to-do-the-same-task/?p=3070913 )

[Liacu]

I definitely love all your mockups except for the last one about missions. Although it may be space efficient, the old UI doesn't show any information about the missions until you hover over them which can be a real bother when you're looking for specific mission types and tilesets. I don't really have any suggestions aside from just modifying the current UI's blocky mission select. It'd probably be somewhat hard to read but the information would be incredibly useful.