I really like the style of the game but i wish the user interface was a bit better.
I know what you mean.
Thing is I think it is non-standard in a way that is designed to enable an experience.
For example, I was transporting a wanted person in a system where it was known they were in my ship. I was on the edge of a nebula which meant that if I could get in there and shutdown my noisier systems I would have a chance to spin up my jump drive and escape to a system where we were less known.
Well, torpedoes and EM attacks knocked out my scanners, engine and helm and reactor and my batteries. All of a sudden I am in a ship with no way of telling where I am, what is my situation and anyway no power - but the attack stopped so I must have drifted into the nebula.
Assuming that to be the case I definitely had to do something before I drifted out the other side.
Opening up my broken systems one-by-one (you do unscrew things, unplug things and swap from screen to screen to do this) I took inventory of which components were ok and which were only mostly fried. Turns out that by re-using components from my jump drive, batteries, engine and reactor I could get either my helm, engine, scanner and reactor working at one time but not at the same time.
So - the interface suddenly has me frantically switching from screen to screen swapping out parts - getting my scanner working - taking a bearing, getting the reactor working enough to charge a battery so that I could take the component I need out of the reactor, plug it into the engine and burn to the vector I need - quickly before the battery discharges. Then I am blind but hopefully drifting in the direction I need to so I swap to enabling the reactor again, then the scanner... - you get the picture.
I have not had so much adrenaline-fuelled hand-eye co-ordination tactical reasoning and prioritising sheer fun in a long time indeed. Under those conditions I didn't even notice the interface, I was in my ship.
Doing all this in any other interface would have, I think, been not nearly as much fun. Without me realising it the interface put me right inside the situation in a way that a more standard one would not have. That is not accidental I am sure it is the result of a lot of design choices.
Reminds me of when I first started gaming in the '70s and '80s. Every game had an interface that was uniquely part of the game experience and had to be learned. The good games did this well, the bad ones did it badly, but standardisation was not a thing like it is now.
I would say that the interface in this game is an example of a really well designed and effective non-standard interface that is an essential part of the game experience.
I know a lot of people are put off by it though - it is the first thing people want changed in the game forums or steam discussions.
I personally hope that if they 'improve' it as a response to this feedback they do so in a way that does not spoil the experience.
Yeah - this one's a bit of a gem. Have it on the laptop, along with Star Traders: Frontiers.
Wow!, I just looked that up. No idea Star Traders: Frontiers existed. I love the Trese Brothers games on Android. Now there is a dev team that stick to making the games they want to make and don't just pay lip service to that.
Edit: It is still a bit rough around the edges - They are having a lot of post-release bug reports but are already on 1.0.1 so hopefully soon it will be more polished.
