Compact UI Transmissions/Drop Popups suggestion (with pictures)

[Zoh_Veldae]

In this topic I'll be detailing my suggestion for a toggleable option to have our in-game transmissions and drop popups be simplified and compacted in order to reduce screen clutter in missions and free up sight for important data.

Right now, the in-game transmissions of npc characters (The Lotus, Boss characters, etc.) appear on our screen like so:

While having a nice video transmission of the character helps with immersion into the game's story and world, it overlaps other necessary data popups and generally covers a bit of the screen where important things may be happening in real time without a way to quickly skip it. To remedy this, I suggest a toggleable option to have more minimalist transmissions, sound-only and compacted into a more practical icon. With a bit of rudimentary graphic editing, I made this to better illustrate my suggestion:

By simply changing the transmission to voice only and reducing the window to an icon referent to the npc speaking, their name, and a simple "sound-only" icon, all information will be conveyed adequately without sacrificing much needed screen space.

 

Do note that I am not a professional graphic designer. This is all amateur work just to illustrate my point.

 

 

Besides transmissions, item drop popups should also be compressed for not only the same reason as transmissions but also to allow multiple drops to be displayed without having to wait for them to, one by one, show up then move to the next.

Mod drops not only take more screen space than transmissions, they also OVERLAP them, causing further display conflicts.

Just using the in-game closed mod images, it is possible to fit 3 mod drops in the same space 1 drop now takes. With more dedicated graphics, it's possible to maybe fit 5 at a time!

And the issue also extends to the rare item drops. Do note that the common item drops being displayed on the bottom of the screen are fine as is. Enough are being displayed at a time and they are adequately conveyed with just their name and inventory icon. No need to fret over those. Its the rare items, blueprint drops and other unique drops that suffer from the exact same issues as mod drops: overlapping and wait time for the whole list to show.

By again compressing the rare drop's display in a similar manner to common drops, rare drops can also be adequately tidied up on the screen, freeing up more visual space.

 

Now, why all this minimalism to free up space? What do we want all this room for? Well, everything really. Seeing incoming threats. Admiring the environment. Not having Lotus transmissions cover up Excavation machine's status. Actually seeing what Corrupted Vor dropped for us without having to wait through his usual spiel of "being made of energy". The list can go on, but the point is simple: there's game data that we need to see, and we need to see it on a moment's notice.
Again I remind you reader: this is a suggestion for a TOGGLEABLE option on minimalist transmissions and drop popups. I'm not asking to change it completely, the current system DOES have its charm and a use in world-building for the game. This is all a request for an *option* that each player can choose if they so desire.

 

Thank you for sticking to the end of this rather long topic. Hopefully this is understandable to all. 

Have a good one!