We are all here because as a game, elite dangerous is a gorgeous looking game, but we also know that it has some unpleasant features that simply wreck its beauty. While I acknowledge that Frontier has released a patch that allows you to turn it off, I also think its necessary to fix them at some point as I like the concept even though I don't like the design. I am an enthusiast graphics designer and I somewhat know what I'm talking about when making the following propositions; So this is what I would do:
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Beef up the UI render resolution. The gravity and orbit lines are about as jagged as minecraft. I have a top of the line PC with settings (inculding AA) to complete maximum and they are still very choppy. Having them rendered separately at a higher resolution would make those lines look smooth and seamless.
ORBIT LINES:
Why do they have to be so 1-dimensional? Why do they even have to be lines? It looks so low tech in high tech environment! Make a 2 dimensional strip instead or maybe a tubelike semi-transparent indicator with arrows or something similar inside them indicating orbital trajectory. This would not only give them debth, it would also give dimensionality matching the dashboard's sense of it "standing out". VOLUME would give the orbit lines a sense of where each belongs.
GRAVITY LINES:
Another good idea, but very poorly done. I really have no feel when I'm about to intersect one of those blue circles, which causes me to start breaking early in supercruise, which is Elite terms is wasting time. I know its nitpicking, but if you wanna do it, why not do it right? Instead of only circles, make a circle but with a semi-transparent hemispherical grid that becomes more visible closer towards the edge- circle, as you get closer to intersecting that gravity field, the grid would become denser and the amount of it being visible would move slowly towards the center of the screen, but disappearing before it fully reaches the entire screen when you intersect it.
COLOURS
The UI is fine but it looks a bit monochromatic. Some colour diversity would be nice.
TRADE QUANTITY MENU
When you go up the quantity of how much stuff you want to trade, warning pops up every time when you go over that limit, saying that you don't have enough cargo space or can't sell any more of that or something else. The problem is that the warning overshadows the quantity you selected. Many times I wanted to fill my hold minus an "XXX" of something else, but then the warning pops in and I have wait for it to disappear before reducing quantity. By pushing it just an inch above the quantity bar and keeping that bar when the warning pops up, then there's no need to wait.
WHERE'S THAT DAM' DOCKING PAD?
Many times a docking pad you are required to land on is behind the station in an outpust, also the ones that are in agricultural dock are barely visible. Something to indicate where that pad is would be nice and to tell us whether its behind the corner in an outpost. Why not have a flashing stream of circles heading towards the pad? Maybe assign it to a button? Or create a utility device "Pad Finder" for it?
FRAME SHIFT - WHERE TO?
- There is already an indicator tell you which way to turn after you set a course in supercruise. Why not also show the next 2 supercruise waypoints, only marked smaller and connected with lines?
- Why can we not lock on to a station directly when setting a course, I am not talking about traveling directly to stations, but removing the need to find the station and lock on again after you reach the desired solar system, you could just pick a system, pick a station and just go there with the compass leading the way!
SUPERCRUISE THROTTLE AID
Why not create a device in the utilities section that would tell you what throttle you need to have in order to reach the supercruise destination in optimal time without slouching or overshooting? The "safe decalaration" indicator really does go up to par with this. And the device's function could be easily animated with onscreen circles whose colours are representative of the amount of throttle you need to apply. We are all know that when the "slow down" warning comes, its already too late!^^
EMPTY SUPERCRUISE
This is just a side note - but solar systems aren't such empty bodies as they look like in supercruise. There are literally thousands of "stuff" flying around out there which would make solar systems a very lively place, but instead its just so... empty!
Okay, this is for now. These are not rants, I am not ranting, I am giving ideas that would fix the aesthetic issues. I was regrettably unable to support Frontier when it was raising funds for Elite, but with my contribution I can save them some brainstorming.
If you like the ideas and would care to support them, then please involve yourselves as much as possible that this will get the attention of the developers and help pull my ideas through.
Merry Xmass everyone and consider it my holiday gift!
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Beef up the UI render resolution. The gravity and orbit lines are about as jagged as minecraft. I have a top of the line PC with settings (inculding AA) to complete maximum and they are still very choppy. Having them rendered separately at a higher resolution would make those lines look smooth and seamless.
ORBIT LINES:
Why do they have to be so 1-dimensional? Why do they even have to be lines? It looks so low tech in high tech environment! Make a 2 dimensional strip instead or maybe a tubelike semi-transparent indicator with arrows or something similar inside them indicating orbital trajectory. This would not only give them debth, it would also give dimensionality matching the dashboard's sense of it "standing out". VOLUME would give the orbit lines a sense of where each belongs.
GRAVITY LINES:
Another good idea, but very poorly done. I really have no feel when I'm about to intersect one of those blue circles, which causes me to start breaking early in supercruise, which is Elite terms is wasting time. I know its nitpicking, but if you wanna do it, why not do it right? Instead of only circles, make a circle but with a semi-transparent hemispherical grid that becomes more visible closer towards the edge- circle, as you get closer to intersecting that gravity field, the grid would become denser and the amount of it being visible would move slowly towards the center of the screen, but disappearing before it fully reaches the entire screen when you intersect it.
COLOURS
The UI is fine but it looks a bit monochromatic. Some colour diversity would be nice.
TRADE QUANTITY MENU
When you go up the quantity of how much stuff you want to trade, warning pops up every time when you go over that limit, saying that you don't have enough cargo space or can't sell any more of that or something else. The problem is that the warning overshadows the quantity you selected. Many times I wanted to fill my hold minus an "XXX" of something else, but then the warning pops in and I have wait for it to disappear before reducing quantity. By pushing it just an inch above the quantity bar and keeping that bar when the warning pops up, then there's no need to wait.
WHERE'S THAT DAM' DOCKING PAD?
Many times a docking pad you are required to land on is behind the station in an outpust, also the ones that are in agricultural dock are barely visible. Something to indicate where that pad is would be nice and to tell us whether its behind the corner in an outpost. Why not have a flashing stream of circles heading towards the pad? Maybe assign it to a button? Or create a utility device "Pad Finder" for it?
FRAME SHIFT - WHERE TO?
- There is already an indicator tell you which way to turn after you set a course in supercruise. Why not also show the next 2 supercruise waypoints, only marked smaller and connected with lines?
- Why can we not lock on to a station directly when setting a course, I am not talking about traveling directly to stations, but removing the need to find the station and lock on again after you reach the desired solar system, you could just pick a system, pick a station and just go there with the compass leading the way!
SUPERCRUISE THROTTLE AID
Why not create a device in the utilities section that would tell you what throttle you need to have in order to reach the supercruise destination in optimal time without slouching or overshooting? The "safe decalaration" indicator really does go up to par with this. And the device's function could be easily animated with onscreen circles whose colours are representative of the amount of throttle you need to apply. We are all know that when the "slow down" warning comes, its already too late!^^
EMPTY SUPERCRUISE
This is just a side note - but solar systems aren't such empty bodies as they look like in supercruise. There are literally thousands of "stuff" flying around out there which would make solar systems a very lively place, but instead its just so... empty!
Okay, this is for now. These are not rants, I am not ranting, I am giving ideas that would fix the aesthetic issues. I was regrettably unable to support Frontier when it was raising funds for Elite, but with my contribution I can save them some brainstorming.
If you like the ideas and would care to support them, then please involve yourselves as much as possible that this will get the attention of the developers and help pull my ideas through.
Merry Xmass everyone and consider it my holiday gift!
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