Ds29 Projected Menu Feedback

[KriLL3]

I'm aware the new UI is all WIP but I still felt like providing some feedback.

 

I'm not that happy with the new UI, the style is nice but the information density has gone way down, it looks like a console game meant to be legible from the other side of a living room.

 

Solar map:

 

All the planets are the same size, they're unlabeled and the back of them are identical or close to it, it's mystery meat navigation at it's finest(?) needs labels, needs better distinction between them, doesn't look nice for them all to be strung up in a perfect circle in that fashion

 

Compare with the current solar map:

 

 

Planets are spaced out more and differ in size and radius from the sun, it's much easier to find the one you want at a glance because you can use shape recognition, which you can't with a string of evenly spaced evenly sized beads on a necklace, they're also labeled.

 

Planet view:

 

 

Looks super early with no hover-over information but I'm not a fan, "nodes" on the far-side of the planet are hidden, they're unlabeled unless hovered thus even more mystery meat navigation than the main solar map, pretty unclear how the nodes unlock each other etc.

 

Old:

 

 

The "flow" of unlocking nodes is a lot more obvious, has a lot more glace:able information

 

Old hovered:

 

Has a lot of useful information the new style lacks, not sure if that's because it hasn't been done yet or because it's not wanted.

 

Market:

 

 

Old:

 

New market UI has simply terrible density, current market UI fits a lot more items per page

 

Foundry:

 

Old:

 

 

The foundry is weirdly enough the only UI to be more dense than the current version, but only because the current version shows large icons for components needed, current look using those smaller component thumbnails could be a lot more dense than that style.

 

Summary/TL;DR: The information density has gone way down and everything to very large, it feels like a console UI, which yes WF has a PS4 version, but unless I'm mistaken the majority of WF players are on PC making a "console first" UI is a disservice to the majority of your playerbase, I know it's more work but making a console scaled and PC scaled version of the UI would be a better solution.

 

One big issue with the new UI as well is that I can't picture a chat window on top of any of those new full-screen sized UIs not getting in the way, that was always the main reason I felt the main UI in WF not being fullscreen but in the center made sense, you could fit chat next to the main UI.

 

I also see no scrollbars, important feature to navigate a longer list, helps you know where in the list you are and which direction(s) you can go to see more of it, we all got scroll-wheels these days but the bars are still there as a visual aid.

 

I know this might be very subjective but I also don't like the feel of being very "zoomed in" parts of the UI vanish off-screen, it feels like I'm standing way too close to a monitor or similar, I feel like I want to take a couple steps back to get the menu framed by non-menu aka background, it feels like someone is pushing my face into it, and especially the foundry UI is too bright for my tastes with a lot of bloom, it looks like someone is holding my head against a flood-light. Actual information in the UI is out of view and behind your warframe, that's a big no-no.

Edited May 24, 2014 by KriLL3

[KIll3RX15]

Yea the new solar map is kinda fugly to me it seems like it will be cluttered, as for everything else i kinda like it

Edited May 24, 2014 by KIll3RX15

[--Sokol]

Everything but the solar map is visually stunning and has enough info on it imo. I assume, since it's WIP, that the solar map will be changed so that the planets actually differentiate in size.

[KriLL3]

The menu also clips out of view to the right and is partially behind your frame on the left, that's really wonky.

[SilentCynic]

I find this particular situation very similar to the storm that hit Eve Online a few years back with the introduction of captain's quarters in that game. While a large part of the annoyance isn't relevant to Warframe (Monthly subscription fee spent on features that weren't directly relevant to internet spaceships), one argument that should be kept in mind is that of ease and efficiency of use.

 

By adding this new system and replacing the old UI, you risk making overall interaction slower, more of a chore. CCP managed this problem by simply allowing both UI systems to coexist: players who preferred the speedier, more streamlined UI were free to use it, and those who wanted to move around and access menus in virtual person could do the same. In fact, you can even combine the two, if you feel it works better.

 

While I doubt DE would develop the concept to that extent, it's worth keeping in mind.

Edited May 24, 2014 by SilentCynic

[-CM-Trives]

+1 for Fuggly Solar Map.