UI Stuff that you'd like to see

[cealicu_ca]

Hi there,

 

I would like to say that a good/bad UI is quite important in a game. Much of the player frustration comes, at least in my case, in having to go through hell and back in order to find some piece of information, in order to find out where that bonus comes from or in order to decide which piece of equipment is actually better.

 

So here are some of my thoughts:

 

- when hovering the cursor over a stat please let us see a breakdown of the stat in some popup or something. For example: 85 Strength (70 Base, +1 Well Rested, + 14 Sword).

 

- some diablo-style (just to save up words on the description) on equipment comparison.

 

- being able to move entire stacks of potions for example, being able to sell one stack at a time or a portion of the stack (through a pop-up with arrows that accelerate on increment).

 

- being able to quickly see which piece of equipment needs repairs or is broken

 

- quick and easy access to resources (it's great to see health bars, but i'm really the kind of guy that would like to see the numbers also, something like 821/900 HP)

 

- clearly described effects (instead of "Improved chance of stun" -> "+3% chance to stun", instead of "Throws a fireball and burns your enemy for a while after" -> "Throws a fireball that does 100 base damage + 50% damage per level, 15 base damage + 10% damage per level for 3 seconds, Range: 10 meters, AoE: 2.1 meters") or something like that

 

...will add more probably, i've got a bad case of cold (and it's my birthday to day goddamn!) and need to get some sleep now

 

P.S. (DISCLAIMER) please treat those as opinions. Of course some people would not like to see that, other would love them and others would like something else entirely. But since we can have a game that's tailored towards our wishes then by all means those boards should be all about suggestions, polls and such.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I can't say I disagree, the OP is pretty much all common sense, but unfortunately plenty of RPG UIs have been lacking recently. Aside from the lack of transparency in the descriptions and the so-so inventory, the original Dragon Age would be a good starting point, in terms of looking at how they laid out stuff, etc.

[Suen]

More or less I agree with the OP, even if I like my numbers not in plain sight.

 

I can't say I disagree, the OP is pretty much all common sense, but unfortunately plenty of RPG UIs have been lacking recently.

This, a thousand times.

 

So please...

 

-no auto-scrolling descriptions because the box is 1/300 the screen (and all around the screen is empty)

 

-icons! not yellow pages lists

 

-mouse point and click, not scrolling (oh, the horror)

 

-readable, re-sizable fonts where possible

 

-traditional keyboard shortcuts. Don't ask me to press Tab to open the main menu.

 

-a minor change in video options shouldn't require leaving/restarting the game

[BaronVonChateau]

-All team selected, one or two distant mob, one pressed key, one click. Archers and Crossbowmen pepper the mongrel while melee fighters stay in one place, waiting until the creatures come in close range. OH THE JOY I'M WEEPING.

 

-One key, two of my casters cast a separate spell in coordination on the target : the "Lower Fire Resistance" spell takes 2 seconds of casting, while the "Fire Dart" takes 1,5. The "Lower Fire Resistance" mage begins chanting immediately while The "Fire Dart" caster automatically wait 0,6 second before beginning his own incantation. :ThisIsBeautifulCat.Gif:

 

Or something like that.

Edited September 19, 2012 by BaronVonChateau

[Syraxis]

Stat comparison for equipment ala WoW (e.g. comparing a piece of usable armor that dropped to the same piece that the PC/companion currently has equipped).

[Entropious]

Temple of Elemental Evil had the most beautifully made and perfectly optimised UI. Something akin to that would be more than enough.

 

On the other hand, since the title will be PC-exclusive, placing a strong emphasis on key-shortcuts can go a long way towards a visually "clean", nearly non-existing UI.

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

A key that illuminates all loot on the ground and visible items that can be interacted with. In isometric games it can sometimes be difficult to see where things like doors are because of the fixed angle. Hidden things you would still need to poke around for and secret doors wouldn't show up either.

[daz23]

The most important thing for me is being able to turn on screen objects off/on, and lots of keyboard shortcuts especially for weapons/spells.

 

In other words, having the ability to turn off all on screen menus and being able to play with just keyboard shortcuts and mouse.

 

Lots of options please

[Entropious]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

[Shadenuat]

Good dialogue screen.

 

At first I thought that concidering them playing "oldschool" card that would be a given, but games like F:NV which had to be fixed by mods or second type of NWN2 dialogue window which barely could hold four-five replies made me think otherwise. I don't want to imply Obsidian's UI designer's incompetence but then why does that feature always seem to suffer even if there is no console>PC resolution issue (NWN2)?

 

With cutscenes and cinematics everywhere, the art of dialogue screens suffered a lot. Not dead maybe, but sure needs some reanimating done. We've seen very bad things happen to it: dialogue wheel which can't hold enough replies without additional clicking, short lines which make you feel like your characters says someting you did't actually meant, emoticons to make it "clearer" which downgraded choice into clicking the same one other and other, small and incomprehensible windows, colored replies for good and evil options, and so on. It was a long time something like Fallout's vault-boy was done.

 

So, I would like dialogue screen make a turn and go back from "I want to be a dragon" to you all know what. I want large enough screen for many lines and actions. I want to use number keys to pick lines. I want readable font. And I don't want replies colored for good/bad options or emoticons.

 

And for f-sake, no dialogue wheel.

[Infinitron]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

 

Sounds like you can't resist the temptation to use one when it exists.

[Badprenup]

Multiple monitor support. Game is played in one window, and the inventory and stat pages are always available on the other.

[cealicu_ca]

Multiple monitor support. Game is played in one window, and the inventory and stat pages are always available on the other.

 

well, 10M projected (?!?! seriously?) for this project on kickstarter, so i think they'll add multiple monitor support.

[Longknife]

Skyrim had a ridiculously large one that was obviously a buggy console port and was incredibly impractical and required lots of scrolling and clicking to do the most basic of tasks, and Skyrim got game of the year.

 

So obviously we need inane impractical UIs or the game will suck.

 

Multiple monitor support. Game is played in one window, and the inventory and stat pages are always available on the other.

 

Really? What's the appeal of this? Multi-monitors always felt like a useless gimmick when I got a DS. If it can be done on one screen, why do it on three?

[evdk]

 

 

Really? What's the appeal of this? Multi-monitors always felt like a useless gimmick when I got a DS. If it can be done on one screen, why do it on three?

Depends on what game you were playing. I really enjoyed having the map / stat screen always visible without having to switch in Strange Journey.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

If the inventory system is per character I want things that i pick up with my leader character to go to the next available slot even if it's on another character. I also want an inventory sorter that sorts things into type. I want an option for the UI to be small and I don't want it to be really invasive, ornate heavy and distracting. I want to see the game not my ui

Edited September 20, 2012 by Moonlight Butterfly

[HangedMan]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

Then for you, and everyone that agrees with this point, you can just toggle off the option. If you're worried about being tempted into it, then al;l I have to say is, the next time you level up, put a few more points into your willpower.

[cyberarmy]

Customizable UI is enough for me. We could change its scale if we want.

And we could able to make our own spell/skill/item shortcuts, like IWD2.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

Then for you, and everyone that agrees with this point, you can just toggle off the option. If you're worried about being tempted into it, then al;l I have to say is, the next time you level up, put a few more points into your willpower.

 

I personally don't see the difference between waving your cursor over every screen and having a highlight button. It's like when they added healing after combat in Final Fantasy because everyone was just topping themselves up anyway, it's busy work. It also helps colour-blind people a lot. As red green colour-blind person I often couldn't see floor loot in IE games.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Moonlight Butterfly

[HangedMan]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

Then for you, and everyone that agrees with this point, you can just toggle off the option. If you're worried about being tempted into it, then al;l I have to say is, the next time you level up, put a few more points into your willpower.

 

I personally don't see the difference between waving your cursor over every screen and having a highlight button. It's like when they added healing after combat in Final Fantasy because everyone was just topping themselves up anyway, it's busy work. It also helps colour-blind people a lot. As red green colour-blind person I often couldn't see floor loot in IE games.

I prefer to not have additional busy work. It detracts from my enjoytment of the game. I have difficult distinguishing shades of color, too, so I'm worried about missing stuff, even if I did play Minesweeper on every screen.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

Then for you, and everyone that agrees with this point, you can just toggle off the option. If you're worried about being tempted into it, then al;l I have to say is, the next time you level up, put a few more points into your willpower.

 

I personally don't see the difference between waving your cursor over every screen and having a highlight button. It's like when they added healing after combat in Final Fantasy because everyone was just topping themselves up anyway, it's busy work. It also helps colour-blind people a lot. As red green colour-blind person I often couldn't see floor loot in IE games.

I prefer to not have additional busy work. It detracts from my enjoytment of the game. I have difficult distinguishing shades of color, too, so I'm worried about missing stuff, even if I did play Minesweeper on every screen.

 

Oh I was agreeing with you btw

[HangedMan]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

Then for you, and everyone that agrees with this point, you can just toggle off the option. If you're worried about being tempted into it, then al;l I have to say is, the next time you level up, put a few more points into your willpower.

 

I personally don't see the difference between waving your cursor over every screen and having a highlight button. It's like when they added healing after combat in Final Fantasy because everyone was just topping themselves up anyway, it's busy work. It also helps colour-blind people a lot. As red green colour-blind person I often couldn't see floor loot in IE games.

I prefer to not have additional busy work. It detracts from my enjoytment of the game. I have difficult distinguishing shades of color, too, so I'm worried about missing stuff, even if I did play Minesweeper on every screen.

 

Oh I was agreeing with you btw

 

Edit: I thought so. I did feel like bringing out the fact I've got some variation of color blindness, too. I wonder how many gamers are?

Edited September 20, 2012 by HangedMan

[Mabster]

No, no, no. No "magical keys" which highlight everything which is interactive. A big part of old-school RPG's was EXPLORATION, even within the scope of a single room. I do not want nor need the developers to treat me like a retard. If one wants to "speed-run" an entire game, let him. On the other hand, inquisitiveness should be rewarded.

I didn't feel like a retard playing BG2 and IWD2 though. If anything I would have loved to have the functionalty in the earlier titles as well. Having accessibility and ease of use doesn't mean the game can't also be hard and unforgiving, it's just good design.

[Lysen]

UI stuff that I don't want to see - radial menus like in PST or ToEE. Can't stand them.

[septembervirgin]

I'd like to see a text window where we can scroll back over important messages about the characters and their situation in the gaming world. There should be tabs for NPC chatter and dialogue, battle information, treasure information, quest information.