News Meet the Team #14 - Jon Bottone (Assistant Art Director)

[Slawkenbergius]

If questions are still being taken:

How much UI is there for Elite compared to the other games you've worked on?

If you had design the radar from scratch, do you think you could come up with a better design than the original?

What's your favourite bit of UI design?

What's your favourite colour?

(In case the answer to the above isn't 'orange'...)
What is the reason behind the orange HUD?

Can you tease any upcoming widgets we'll get to play with?

What parts of the UI are considered finished?

Do you ever watch TotalBiscuit's critiques of game menus?

 

[Hydrino]

I really like this idea that Slawkenbergius posted a long time ago.

Having displays within the cockpit helps keep immersion. I find going to the galaxy map a bit jarring because it takes over the screen 100% and removes the "world".

Is there any chance of updating the galaxy map to comport with immersion and our Pilot's first person perspective?

 

[Slawkenbergius]

I really like this idea that Slawkenbergius posted a long time ago.

Crikey that's old...

 

[StefanOS]

Questions about UI:

Modern UI in cars are using HUD's to get info in the view field of the driver. The UI of ED forces you to turn the had left or right, away from the flight path (which can cause accidents). Is there a plan to have the possibility to get this side screens appear in the in the front view?

Could we buy as ship upgrade additional info screens f.e. showing us more detail info on the enemy ship (f.e weapons/armor class)?

Control of ship module damage is very important. Will we get a info screen in the cockpit showing us the most harmed ship modules?

In supercruise the radar is not used/helpful right now, is there any plans of using it f.e. to show the actual position of the ship in the system while supercruising?

Any thoughts of having a in-cockpit holographic galaxy map?

 

[Hydrino]

Crikey that's old...

Yeah, but it is still just as good as the day you posted it.

Of all the UI displays in the cockpit only one completely takes over the screen and throws you out of the pilot's chair. It is a great map and all, but maybe there should be more than one way to view it because of the jarring difference to other UI elements in the cockpit.

 

[Hydrino]

Currently the Galactic Map is the only screen that yanks players out of the cockpit and completely fills the screen.

The view is beautiful but I think we need another option to view the map in the cockpit to help us keep that "I'm piloting a spaceship" feeling.

The sensor / radar view is perfectly suited for this and a good place to put it, possibly zoomed in bigger when UI Focus Center is selected in map mode, just as focusing on the panels does today.

The stars would be displayed as ships are on the radar, with the current location being the dot in the very center, as the ship is today. Stars would have stalks and "arrow tops" showing up/down direction. The medium setting on range would be default and show all stars within jump range. The max setting would zoom out somewhat and the minimum setting would zoom in.

The map could be spun around with standard flight controls (or keybindings selectable as today), to allow pilots to refine the view.

Jump routes would also be displayed, possibly trade info with of course toggles to turn these views on or off.

Examples:
Jump Plotting from the cockpit showing destination detail:

Spoiler

In System Nav detail:

Spoiler

Hyperspace jump in progress:

Spoiler

Another jump plot mock-up, slightly different look:

Spoiler

 

[Hydrino]

Currently when I assign keybindings, due to the large size of the boxes and fonts I have to memorize or write down what keys I have assigned to avoid re-mapping them further down the amazingly detailed control list.

Can we get a UI update to include a static view at the bottom or side of the screen showing which keys are assigned?

This could be a simple list with assigned keys highlighted and unassigned keys in grey, or a virtual keyboard and/or virtual gamepad/joystick with same highlighting.

 

[Hydrino]

Put examples above. Deleting duplicate post.

 

[Tinman]

Ohhh...I have a question for Jon Pace!!!!

When will we get to read your Meet the Team interview!?!?



Closing in on two months since this interview was published...just sayin...