How should the UI look?

[Hoverdog]

Baldur's Gate-style all the way.

[Sensuki]

As long as it shows off the character portraits well, I don't mind.

 

I didn't mind the IWD2 style, but the portraits were a lot smaller than BG/IWD1

[True_Spike]

A solid, good looking, but customizable UI with a mini-map toggle would be great. The UI in the original Dragon Age was fairly decent. It had its problems, but it was fine overall. And I do agree with one of the posters above - in today's age "wasted" space is not an issue with HD resolutions and big ass monitors.

Edited September 24, 2012 by True_Spike

[Playgu]

Dude you sell the poll alternatives so bad... no one wants a "thin and wiry" UI. Call it "simple and minimalistic" and I'm sure it would be closer to 50/50. The NwN1 UI doesn't look very pretty, but there is nothing wrong with the style. I wouldn't mind seeing this style implemented in a good way. I'm a web designer/developer so I think UI is really important, but this poll's options doesn't do the discussion justice.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Playgu

[curryinahurry]

I hated the look of the UI in NWN, but I don't consider IE games to be a great alternative given the advancements in graphics. Maybe we can have some throwback items like world map or item information, but I think DA:O is probably more in the direction that I would want; frameless, clean and easy to navigate. The more decorative elements could be a toggle for those who want a frame with a bit of rocaille.

[Rostere]

Its best to use less biased, negative languange when making a poll. Instead of thin and wiry vs. solid, I would have framed it functional vs. decorative. Or you could do two separate questions such as:

 

How important is the visual look of the UI to you?

How important is the functionality of the UI to you?

 

Give spectrum options at the end of both. Notice I try to keep negative comments out and I attempt to have a sort of parallelism in how I frame questions.

 

You want avoid biased sounding polls or polls that push people one way or the other through suggestion.

Well, it kind of depends on what you're asking. I was actually wondering whether the UI should have a thin, wiry and transparent feel or a solid one. It's a trend I've seen going on in many recent RPGs. It's not strictly about functionality versus visual look. Although the NWN UI is ugly, I can imagine a thin and transparent good- looking UI. Maybe "wiry" is a negatively loaded word in this context, but I don't think "thin" or "transparent" are. Also, I don't think everyone agrees that the Baldur's Gate UI has a good visual look. The only "functional" aspect I want to discuss is how much of the screen the UI should be allowed to occupy. New RPGs tend to have both fewer and smaller buttons in their UI, and more transparent panes. I feel that in the days of yore, developers didn't feel they had to hide the UI so that the gamers could enjoy more of the "zomg asum graphics" on screen, resulting in the classic, more solid UIs of Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Jagged Alliance. Arcanum also has a nice UI. The DA:O UI is way more beautiful than NWN, but it still feels like it's suffering from the same syndrome. Tiny, tiny buttons...

[TCJ]

I much prefer the style of the BG games over NWN2. That said, I can see why it would work out better in an isometric game.... in BG you were always zoomed out and had a good view of what was happening. In NWN2 (I don't have NWN) you zoom in and out, change camera angles, etc., and sometimes it's nice to be able to see more of the area. Transparent windows helped with that.

[Brockololly]

The nice thing with the UI in the BG games was that it didn't intrude on the actual view of gameplay. You had the border around the gameplay window that had all your information and no minimaps or portraits obfuscating the actual gameplay.

[Metabot]

I'd really prefer something that has the feel of a book or at least has the aesthetics of fantasy and not science fiction. Take Skyrim's UI for example. It's minimalistic, sure, but it's also very sterile and bland. I don't think you need a map, just a compass. I guess you can always customize what's viewable or invisible.

[LokiHades]

I voted BG but in agreement that DAO's UI is good. Multiple windows are not important, but a minimap is always good. Everything should be optional though, and a toggle key to hide the UI for those epic screenshot moments.

[khango]

With multiple windows visible at once, the main use I can see is that it might be nice to have two inventories open at once.

Otherwise I'm not sure it has much point.

 

But the minimap has no place in a top-down isometric-ish game with a panning camera. Press M for map and see the map. Minimap has absolutely no place. And there should absolutely not be compasses pointing out where to go for your quests and such.

 

Otherwise, I like the BG style UI, because it has thematic flavor. I don't really care if it's bulky or not that way, but please keep it thematic.

Edited September 25, 2012 by khango

[kenup]

DA:O like UI, but highly scalable/costumizable. I have no intrest in getting myself blind.

[RosesandAshes]

I think both those UIs look terrible! I'd much prefer something like DA:O. BG's interface just seems so clunky and intimidating. It's so big it almost feels like I'm playing with 1/4 screen like I used to have to do when I played Final Fantasy VIII on PC. I'd definitely like something more minimalistic, less distracting.

[danielkx]

Something in between NWN and DA:O. Probably more like DA:O with two extra boxes, one for dialog box and another for a combat log. I should be able to customize the UI though; for example being able to move dialog box and combat log to different areas of the screen etc...

[licketysplit]

I liked the balance struck by DA:O, where the elements feel like they're there, but don't obscure so much of the screen.

 

Agree with this. DA:O has an effective and stylish UI and it doesn't get in the way. I don't like ornamental sh*t clogging up the main screen, And I like the elements to be far to the edge not floating near the middle like some console ports do.

Edited September 25, 2012 by licketysplit

[Karranthain]

When it comes to the game UIs, I don't mind if some functionality is sacrificed in order to achieve a more appealing look.

And I would agree that wasted space shouldn't be a worry - almost anyone can enjoy games in extremely high resolutions by now.

[Pauzulodburzum]

Would like to have a custom ui, but not like Wow

[qstoffe]

Text should be easy to read no matter what resolution or dialog you're reading (tooltips, menus, item descriptions etc). I liked the font and colors of Fallout 1 & 2. They were very easy on the eyes. NWN is the complete opposite, very blurry text and hard on the eyes even if you play at low resolutions.

 

Also make sure that conversations are MODAL. NWN handled this very badly by allowing actions to interupt while in the middle of conversations. Also make sure time is paused during conversatsions. Don't want my buffs to run out just because I'm taking my time when talking to someone.

 

The UI of DA1 was clean and ok but lacked a lot of things like good textual feedback during combats. Don't hide to-hit rolls and such to the user. Preferably include an option like Fallout had for Combat Messages, where you could set it to verbose mode.

Edited September 25, 2012 by qstoffe

[Nakia]

I don't really have a preference, though BG-style UI certainly looks better. I wouldn't mind a bigger font on a widescreen monitor too, because my eyes ain't so good as they used to be.

 

I could use larger text too. For DA:O some one made a mod that made it possible to adjust text. Personally even with the mod I hated that UI. What ever happened to the KISS principle?

[Phyon]

I think this poll is pretty poorly worded but I of course enjoyed Baldur's Gate. But I think the UI is not that great compared now to modern games from how it functioned. I think something more along the lines of DA:O would be better as I liked it but on the other hand. I can't really judge nwn2 I never was able to beat it I don't think it had much to do with the ui as much as the camera angle in that sense though.

 

I feel the camera angle will have to follow the design of the game though. A system like Baldur's Gate would not exactly work with a UI set up like DA:O. Because there was just to many spells to cast for it to fit into a UI like DA:O. With the spells you had in Baldur's Gate you ended up searching through a lot of spells in the higher levels.

 

If you try to imagine all of the spells a spellcaster had on a toolbar system it would be a little ridiculous. To have that many spells on different bars. So I think while coming up with a UI it is important to see how the actual system is being designed. As the UI will need to fit the game being created.

[Rostere]

I don't really have a preference, though BG-style UI certainly looks better. I wouldn't mind a bigger font on a widescreen monitor too, because my eyes ain't so good as they used to be.

 

I could use larger text too. For DA:O some one made a mod that made it possible to adjust text. Personally even with the mod I hated that UI. What ever happened to the KISS principle?

I think DA:O has a nice looking UI, especially compared to NWN and NWN 2. The big text thing and the big buttons thing are two important points for me. I don't ever want to squint when I play this game...

[Seldon]

The problem with the poll is that it uses NWN2 UI as an example, while it was simply inferior to its predecessor in every possible way. BG style was all nice and pretty but when it comes to character customization, spells or skills assigning, or inventory NWN1 wins hands down....but I suppose DA:O kind of thing would be nice as well.

[Rabain]

Would like to have a custom ui, but not like Wow

 

That doesn't really make any sense, the definition of a custom UI is that it can look like anything because you customize it.

 

In WoW if you use or make your own UI addon the game can look like any UI from any other game you ever played or look like something you made up yourself.

 

So you are saying you want a custom UI that allows no customisation at all?

 

Myself I prefer the DA:O UI because it is minimalist but functional.

[ButchinMelancholy]

All my votes are minority.

 

Though, my vote for a "Neverwinter Night-like" UI wasn't meant towards its transparent nature. I also prefer a "fleshy" feel with ornamentation and I hate the "office suite" tendency but I'd rather have seperated customizable modules, and honestly, the Baldur's Gate UI now is a bit outdated to me (which doesn't mean I don't like it).

 

I don't feel like a mini-map would be necessary in that game otherwise, but there is just a spectrum in which I feel comfortable with enough but not too much and most importantly subtle indications, so as long as it is well managed, I'll let the vision guide the decision.

Edited September 25, 2012 by ButchinMelancholy

[alphyna]

While other options are aesthetical, what I need is a transparent and detailed mini-map. I'm a moron and can't walk two steps without it.