You can actually see the inefficiencies by how rapidly HCVoicepacks took off.
The Thinking Behind UI Design / UX in Odyssey
- Thread starter Canoe
- Start date
If you don't rip my posting out of context and just quote half a sentence, then you also notice that you don't need to correct me or laugh any more... simply, before people told me on how the interface works with a controller (i don't use one), i thought that how things are done would probably be built with one in mind, as it clearly is not that great for other methods of controlling the game. It's a common thing after all, that games have a suboptimal interface for the PC, to allow it being used on a controller, too.
Now that people who use a controller also state that the thing is terribly bad there, i really wonder for which input method the interface was built for. My guess is either a light pen, a cyberpuck or DK Bongos... probably the last one.
Honestly the X52/Pro got a lot of love. The Profile used all the proper buttons and toggles labelled perfectly and presented in game. My X56 on the other hand is just , Joy13 , Joy 21etc.I got it recently so the X56 profile took some “button mashing“ to translate all the generic key numbers…
In this case, just tell me:
1. If you are in the ship, how to you navigate in the left and right side panels? Do you use the 4ways on the HOTAS? If yes, how are they bound?
2. When you use a terminal on the ground, how do you navigate the first screen, where you can not use the mouse, but have to use the panel navigation? To which buttons is that bound, so you can use it without having to switch to the HOTAS just to navigate this one menu? (Before it switches back to being navigated with the mouse. )
3. Can you actually properly navigate any more using the HOTAS? I mean, open galaxy map, find a system, switch to the system map, select a target in the system, switch back to the galaxy map to check another system?
Perhaps i am just doing things terribly wrong. During the Alpha i still was hoping that it was just a matter of me being so much used to the old interface and having to spend some time to use the new one. But when i compare both versions, it seems like some functions which are present in the old interface simply do not exist any more in the new one, or i fail to find them.
My guess is it went over budget on hours and a supervisor, who doesnt play the game, liked its mobile touchscreen look and called it done. I think the only vision or philosophy behind it was expedience.
I would like to see an explanation too, but if i had designed and ok'd the UI in its current form, i would be in hiding
1. TrackIR or dedicated hat for all panels.
2 I use keyboard and mouse, for the walking stuff using a Razer Nostromo as my “keyboard“(this is a new setup just for Odyssey)
3.Yes for the most part but I would mostly like use my mouse to select a target or use the search. I use a lot of bookmarks so that I am just using my HOTAS. I have dedicated toggle for Galaxy/System Maps
the only reason imho is theyre trying to make the game console friendly for the console kiddies at the expense of the PC grown-ups.. the Win8 UI F up worked so well for M$, you would think people would learn to stop messing with what works and improve or fix the issues with the old
imho they should have two UI options available - one for the colsoles with the their controllers which have extremely limited input options and another for PC.. even if they give people the option of which UI to choose for those who like it ( you know there will always be at least one).. but hey thatll be too much like hardwork, so we're stuck with the lowest common denominator
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On that, really, would you be so nice and share the binding?
Perhaps i am doing it wrong. One of my 4 ways is bound to UI Panel up, UI Panel down, UI Panel left and UI Panel right. The other one is bound to Next Panel Tab, Previous Panel Tab, UI Panel up and UI Panel down. This means that the up and down is used twice, so i can't bind it a third time to the keyboard. (Why i have it bound twice: just navigate the panels. E.g. you want to go through your missions. So you activate the left side panel and are at navigation. So you use panel right, UI down, UI right, UI down. With my binding, i only have to switch from one 4 way to the other once, instead of having to switch between the two 4 ways all of the time. )
But thanks to panel navigation still being in general controls, i can't bind them seperately for the ground interface. So when i use a terminal, i go there with keyboard and mouse. (The FPS wants keyboard and mouse. I press the use button. Then i have to switch over to the joystick to navigate the first in-game menu on the terminal with the UI up/down/left/right buttons. When i selected one, the game opens another menu and i can use the mouse again. )
I'd be really curious for a better way of doing things. The current implementation is just so inconvenient...
Yea. Also an issue of mine. The old interface, i did the navigation on my HOTAS. It was done so well, i did not have to switch my hands to keyboard and mouse. In the new interface, doing things by HOTAS might work as long as i'd use bookmarks, but anything else... not really good.
"console kiddies at the expense of the PC grown-ups." What entitlement we have here. Console "kiddies" have just as much of a right to play the game as PC elitists such as yourself.
Controllers are not "holding back" the UI. Elite supports Controllers, HOTAS and Keyboard Mouse. Any good designer can build a UI that works for all. If anything, having to design a good UI for a limited input device means that we all should benefit from it.
And on the "you know there will always be at least one" comment - HOTAS have hats which function exactly as a dpad on a controller. So the design patterns that work for one work for another. Or are you calling those people out too?
The problem is not controllers. The problem is lack of early user testing.
User testing earlier in the design lifecycle would have picked up on most or all the woes we're currently experiencing and it wouldn't have mattered if the user was controller, keyboard, HOTAS, HOSAS... whatever.
Same I have 2 separate hats for panels and tabs. The Nostromo cost me $20 USD still getting used to it but it’s definitely ideal for this.On that, really, would you be so nice and share the binding?
Perhaps i am doing it wrong. One of my 4 ways is bound to UI Panel up, UI Panel down, UI Panel left and UI Panel right. The other one is bound to Next Panel Tab, Previous Panel Tab, UI Panel up and UI Panel down. This means that the up and down is used twice, so i can't bind it a third time to the keyboard. (Why i have it bound twice: just navigate the panels. E.g. you want to go through your missions. So you activate the left side panel and are at navigation. So you use panel right, UI down, UI right, UI down. With my binding, i only have to switch from one 4 way to the other once, instead of having to switch between the two 4 ways all of the time. )
But thanks to panel navigation still being in general controls, i can't bind them seperately for the ground interface. So when i use a terminal, i go there with keyboard and mouse. (The FPS wants keyboard and mouse. I press the use button. Then i have to switch over to the joystick to navigate the first in-game menu on the terminal with the UI up/down/left/right buttons. When i selected one, the game opens another menu and i can use the mouse again. )
I'd be really curious for a better way of doing things. The current implementation is just so inconvenient...
Yea. Also an issue of mine. The old interface, i did the navigation on my HOTAS. It was done so well, i did not have to switch my hands to keyboard and mouse. In the new interface, doing things by HOTAS might work as long as i'd use bookmarks, but anything else... not really good.
i might be a self entitled elitist and have been since 1984 but as a KBM Hotas player that would make me a hypocrite. of course everybody has a right to play ED even care-bares like myself who object to open world involuntary PVP and refuse to play in open what i object to is a total dumbing down instead of catering for all markets
dosent realy matter how early testing starts if user feedback and criticism is only going to be ignored..
not sorry but ALPHA in the real world is still the early phase of testing. however fdev have gone from early public test to release ALA NMS or cyber punk 2077. fdev have used the ALPHA name to lure in the suckers to buy into buying the game so they can contribute to the testing and improvement.. only other worse game i can think of is star citizen which is the polar opposite and they have no intention of releasing so long as people continue to throw money at it
since the advent of the internet game devs seem to think it acceptable to release unfinished products which can be fixed at a later date (games in general not just mmo).. i challange anybody to name any other service or product sold as a final product which is not fit for purpose
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Exactly. I had hoped the same, but after going back to Horizons after alpha ended, I'd almost forgotten about the new UI until I fired up Odyssey again and after a few hours of dealing with it, it kind of made me not want to play. I had planned a big long trip into the black to go snap pics with the new planetary tech, but in the time that it took me to jump home, switch into my explorer ship, plot my route and start jumping... I think I got 7-8 jumps into my intended trip before I decided to just log off. Between the terrible UI and the colours looking terrible, I was kind of discouraged.
Maybe they read my alpha post ?I don't believe it
Even the buttons in the Fleet Carrier menu are rearranged, or do I imagine things?
Shipyard is now under crew, before it was vice versa.
Why FD? Why?
I mentioned it there that station layout and Horizon carrier's layout does not fit But most likely layout is auto-set from code somehow.
Well Bruce was using a Controller on the LS today, chat noticed and asked 'How?' Chat was funny today in lots of ways and sometimes plain rude or toxic but Dav answered a couple times with some helpful advice and no excuses. Dav's a good 'un. Baptism of fire for the other two devs, wonder if they'll come back...
you know what they say if people cant take a joke, and they threw the joke of a UI at us first
I mostly agree with your sentiment- but he's not wrong that having a console version pretty much always makes the PC UI somewhat worse unless there's a separate PC specific UI. Now - a good designer will limit most of the damage so that the game is still quite playable and usable on the PC... but it'll never be as good as a dedicated PC UI.
I have never seen a multi-platform game where the PC UI doesn't suffer to some degree to accommodate console controls. Usually it's not a huge deal though and quite frankly I get that having a console version means they have a much greater sales potential and allows other parts of the game to have more funding - so the trade off is often worth it.
New outfiting design is very terrible, too. Why can't I equip my stored modules directly on "SHIP LOADOUT" menu????
The one that is just a hot mess, is the weapon vendor, like, what the hell does that sliding bar even tell me for magazine size? why is that the ONLY thing i see for a gun? i dont get to see the power or anything of it?
What do i even get for upgrading my gun?
But it does not stop there, look at the cross hairs for your weapons, why would you make the glass of the "Scope" a lightly tinted blue, then make the cross hairs ALSO a slightly darker blue, up against everything else thats blue. You have any idea how hard it is to see your cross hairs?!
What do i even get for upgrading my gun?
But it does not stop there, look at the cross hairs for your weapons, why would you make the glass of the "Scope" a lightly tinted blue, then make the cross hairs ALSO a slightly darker blue, up against everything else thats blue. You have any idea how hard it is to see your cross hairs?!
No, it's just bad all around, on a controller what would be "mouse clicks" are extra joystick jogs or clicks on the directional pad which are just as frustrating. And please stop scapegoating consoles for the bad UI, we're all in this mess together.