UI Style Preference

[Keyrock]

Update 54 brought with it a work in progress mock up UI and rekindled the age old stylized vs. minimalist UI debate.  Simply vote for your preference and feel free to elaborate.

 

Personally I'm firmly in the minimalist camp, I prefer the UI to stay out of my way as much as possible.  I want to see as much of the environment as I can on the screen.

[Zed]

It should be like the IE games since that's what we pledged for.

If it's not like in IE... then it's not like in IE. Not much of a spiritual follow-up then is it?

[IndiraLightfoot]

Thanks for making a poll, Keyrock!

 

And although my firm opinion is that there's room for both of the first points in the poll in PE, I went ahead and voted for the NWN2 alternative, obviously updated for 2014.

 

Zed: The spirituality of those wonderful games isn't exactly residing in those clunky UIs. It's just your nostalgia getting the better of you.

[Malekith]

Thanks for making a poll, Keyrock!

 

And although my firm opinion is that there's room for both of the first points in the poll in PE, I went ahead and voted for the NWN2 alternative, obviously updated for 2014.

 

Zed: The spirituality of those wonderful games isn't exactly residing in those clunky UIs. It's just your nostalgia getting the better of you.

Not true. For me in modern RPGs like DA:O and NWN2 the UI is part of why i didn't enjoyed the games so much.

[Leferd]

Much like how I prefer the heavy, solid, and tactile feedback of a Model M keyboard, I prefer the IE style UI.

[Zed]

Zed: The spirituality of those wonderful games isn't exactly residing in those clunky UIs. It's just your nostalgia getting the better of you.

 

It's not. Finished BG1 last week and been playing BG2 since.

The interface is perfect. It adds a certain depth and feeling to the game which is not reproducible in a minimalist UI.

 

Also Sawyer has stated their intentions to go with a chunkier UI so there's no debate about what will happen with P:E, even though I like the discussion.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Zed

[Keyrock]

For me the old solid interfaces just felt clunky, even back in the day.  For a while that kind of UI was all there was for these types of games so I didn't think about it much, but when minimalist transparent UIs came along they were like a breath of fresh air.  I agree that the chunky solid UIs were a part of the Infinity Engine games experience, not a part I'm eager to revisit.

[Sensuki]

Placing the thread in this forum you're probably not going to get many votes or views. Not necessarily a bad thing though.

 

I am fine with the current IWD2 style with the pane across the bottom, although I wouldn't mind if they at least tried a BG2 style UI to see if they liked it. Even if just so the Portraits are bigger

[Odd Hermit]

I want stylized but not too large, and with as much customization as possible. I like the more earthy wood/stone textures in the mock up but the way the screen space is used isn't efficient. I primarily play casters which usually means I want a long bar of spells available with one click.

 

I made an image of which parts I think should be customizable -

 

http://i.imgur.com/jYuYx9E.jpg

 

Forgot to add vertical as another customization option but that too.

 

I'm assuming it wouldn't be too resource intensive to give us such options while keeping some spare space for scale-able designs, and maybe they could even have multiple texture options and transparency for those who want a more modern/minimalist UI. I personally want my UI to blend in with the game setting though, anything too sleek and modern would just look wrong for project eternity IMO.

 

 

[Sarex]

Thanks for making a poll, Keyrock!

 

And although my firm opinion is that there's room for both of the first points in the poll in PE, I went ahead and voted for the NWN2 alternative, obviously updated for 2014.

 

Zed: The spirituality of those wonderful games isn't exactly residing in those clunky UIs. It's just your nostalgia getting the better of you.

 

I think you are really underestemating the role the UI had in the infinity games. That was something that folowed you through out the whole game. I also though that this game represents the resurection of our nostalgia.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Zed, Malekith: I stand corrected then! I had no idea that an interface could muster such a level of atmosphere to a game. I agree entirely with Keyrock, if anything, those interfaces were clunky back then, and they are downright disturbing nowadays. I've been playing through IWD2 and Planescape recently, as well as BG1, and it all just feels off. Then, as soon as I try NWN2, I feel free to experience the game first-hand. Perhaps it has something to do with my playstyle. I rarely use the pause-function, so NWN2's system fits me better perhaps.

Edited May 29, 2013 by IndiraLightfoot

[curryinahurry]

Ok, I'm going to try to upload a mock-up I did a while back in an earlier UI thread.  Basically, I would like a BG2 style interface, but with option to re-rearrange or float palettes and a transparency slider for the frame.

 

 

 

And:

 

Edited May 29, 2013 by curryinahurry

[IndiraLightfoot]

Curryinahurry: Thanks for the link! I love your mock up, especially where you can get the transparency. I wouldn't want that BG2 texture, but it certainly shows what's possible. A tip, also post the link over at Update 54 where it will be seen by many more.

[curryinahurry]

Cheers

 

Curryinahurry: Thanks for the link! I love your mock up, especially where you can get the transparency. I wouldn't want that BG2 texture, but it certainly shows what's possible. A tip, also post the link over at Update 54 where it will be seen by many more.

[Zed]

character sheets and inventory screens should be full-screen. in fact, with wide-screen and higher resolution, it allows for both on the same screen.

[Sensuki]

I'd say that's a given as the Inventory screen will likely be equipment plus Shared Pack and you'll probably just be able to flick through party members with left and right buttons or something near the portrait.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Sensuki

[Malekith]

I hope maps are like the IE games and not that minimap crap at the top of the screen.

[curryinahurry]

Actually, there probably won't be any need for a minimap in an isometric game...Not sure at this point why I left it in.

Edited May 29, 2013 by curryinahurry

[Amentep]

Weirdly enough, I can't think of a game I've ever changed from the default settings for the UI* on. So I guess I don't care.

But I like the old IE UI, so I voted for something like that.

*I did customize buttons on IWD2

[Freddy32]

Until a month ago I thought the IE user interfaces were great. Then I started to play Torment on PC and BG1 on iPad again. I enjoyed the dialogues and especially the depth of the games: the riddles, the different choices to play, the open world with a ton of quests, the high difficulty level and especially the nice story telling with all those small little details. The graphics were dated and low-res but I could live with that. What really stood out in a negative way was the clunky game interface. I had the impression that big parts of the interface were useless for me and the other half was accessible through a flood of sub-menus and that it was not intuitive.

I was shocked and thought: "How could my memory play those kind of tricks on me?"  I played the inifinity engine games 100's of hours and this aspect never caught my attention until last month. The UI really reminded me of my first car which had no electric power steering, drum Brakes instead of discs, a choke switch and other stupid defects/restrictions. The only reason that I still like this car today is because I have nostalgic memories for it. The difference between the car and a Video game is I don't think I want to play a game because of nostalgic memories.

Of course, after a couple of hours I got used to the Interface again but that part was definately the least fun for me.

 

[Rostere]

Ok, I'm going to try to upload a mock-up I did a while back in an earlier UI thread.  Basically, I would like a BG2 style interface, but with option to re-rearrange or float palettes and a transparency slider for the frame.

 

 

 

And:

 

 

Great, but everything is WAY TOO SMALL.

[curryinahurry]

Rostere, it looks pretty good on my 24" screen at a 1440 resolution, but, yes I think its a bit small

[Elerond]

In my opinion gui objects are in that too far away from each other, which would add unnecessary movement for cursor. UI concept which they showed in the update is much better on this aspect.

[Rostere]

Rostere, it looks pretty good on my 24" screen at a 1440 resolution, but, yes I think its a bit small

 

I'm viewing the picture in 1920x1200 and the UI is definitely too small.

[Nonek]

Recently finished a runthrough of Icewind Dale 2, and something felt very off about the UI, I was always pointing my cursor at the wrong place. Then again that was only when I was too lazy to use the shortcuts. Personally I liked Torments UI the most, out of all the Infinity Engine games, though I wish it was collapsible.