Archwing Suggestion: Off-Screen Target Indicator

[Hilgrad]

I'm quite enjoying Archwing at the moment, but I do have a suggestion, namely off-screen target indicators.

At current, when you reach a certain range (about 350m? I think?), the game will automatically highlight on-screen enemies with a red 'target bracket' and listing their distance. However, there are no indicators for enemies that are off-screen, besides your radar, which is not necessarily easy to discern at a glance in a 3D environment. It can lead to disorientation when getting shot from different directions, and it's not easily apparent where the fire is coming from.

 

Example One:

A suggestion would be an Off-Screen Target indicator that tracks enemies within that set range that are off your screen, enabling players to quickly discern at a glance what ways to turn to engage threats. An example could be red triangles (or other indicator) at the edges of the screen, with distances and sizes used to show both 'distance to turn' and 'distance from target'. The example in this mockup screenshot (apologies; the numbers and text didn't come out clearly, but it gives you a general idea):



So in this example; when enemies go off-screen, they are denoted by a red triangle and a number regarding their distance in m. The Triangle size represents the distance the player has to turn in order to put that enemy back on their screen; with large triangles showing that the enemy is just barely off screen and just has to turn a little, whereas the smallest triangles representing enemies that are almost a 180 degree turn from the player.
Of course, there are alternatives; triangle size might immediately suggest 'distance from player' rather than distance to turn; an alternative could be something like Freespace's system (bottom left):

 

where the distance to turn is denoted by two triangles; when they meet, the target is on screen; the further away the target is, the further apart the triangles are.

 

Now, the issue with this specific proposal, as far as I can see, is screen clutter and fast-moving brackets. Although I have only been involved in small-ish skirmishes; if there were multiple enemies; 20 or 30 say, that's a lot of triangles/other indicators that are at the edges of the screen. The UI could become cluttered as a result. Further, given Archwing's fast moving combat, especially when in melee combat, where you'll be making rapid turns quickly when in combat, the indicators would rapidly change as directions change, with indicators sliding all over the edges of the screen on each change of direction; I concede that this may become disorienting for the player.

Example Two:
An alternative would be simply putting small arrows around the center of the hud; similar to the above screenshot in Freespace, and:

 

 

This doesn't convey a lot of information, however, such as distance to turn, or distance from enemy. Suggestions may be; hollowing out an arrow when an enemy is more than a set distance away (so just a red triangle outline) or maybe a thin line extending out from the tip of the arrow that shows distance to turn (with the line growing the further it is from the player).

 

End:

These are simply suggestions; there may be better alternatives for off-screen indicators that someone else could suggest that would be less obtrusive/more useful, or may be better implemented.
Others may not see this as useful; heck, I dunno. It was just, when I stepped into Archwing for the first few times (which I'm loving, by the way), my first thought was "Man, I wish when enemies just went off screen, there was some kind of indicator or something". Please feel free to post your own suggestions or thoughts below.

 

EDIT:

Actually, something that RoninRedFox brought up in another thread; can't believe I didn't suggest it here; you could also implement a 3D radar.
(https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/329457-my-feedback-on-archwing/)
Again, looking at the above Freespace screenshot (wow, I have been using that as a suggestion a lot, huh?), you can see the 3D radar at the bottom of the screen (although not really in use in the screenshot). Enemies are marked with red dots: enemies in the center circle are enemies that are directly in front of you/on screen, and enemies in each of the given quadrants around the radar are enemies that are above, below, left or right respectively.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Hilgrad