Yeah sounds plausible.
UI designer's view of Outffiting UI
- Thread starter Kaitsalt
- Start date
As a former developer turned QA managers/tester (for 15years) for web and mobile development, I take pride in picking apart UI and UX so as the honest trailers people say.
Prepare!
For!
Nitpicking!
So I agree and have been complaining since the alpha about a lot of what you said, but (of course) with modification.
The UI is not in its final developed form.
as you said.
We have 3 options
Check out the store
Check out your ship
Check out your storemodule.
Both module storage and shop deposits you sideways in the ship-loadout option.
And with the lack of “context” of the showing the navigation. This is mesmerizingly confusing with regards to the old logic.
But I think this is an intended design, and the main issue isn’t that the UI is poorly designed, it’s just not finished yet.
there are a lot of fixes here to old old issues,
However, outfitting was fairly well conceived until module storage was added in horizons, it split up the navigation and forced drilling down and going back up again.
So “I believe” this sidestep depositing the play back onto the equipped ship module
Is working as “intended” but it’s suffering from
this a “feature not finished” and some fundamental bugs in logic and naming conventions.
I think FDev meant to be able to equip a module from either the station shop front or station storage from the same list,
So players don’t need to back out and drill down again, instead you are deposited at the intersect, your ship.
as we saw this behaviour in there alpha, stored modules appeared in the stations storefront window.
So It’s just a question of filtering and catergorisation, which is the main problem.
It’s not finished and I think there are some naming issues between the UI designer the graphic artist and the developer implementing it all.
issue like meetings over chat programs around discussions of “okaydid you mean the stations module store, or the stations store for modules”.
So getting back nitpicking.
Undo
I’ve lost 2 engineer e modules and 0% paint job because habituated muscle memory.
“Undo” is a major requirement.
which is odd, because it was present In horizons.
It’s absence is explained by Unfinished UI and buggy filtering, faultily filtering away the “ purchase back sold module”
Current module
Showing off the current module you are replacing was actually a part of horizons, but it kept that module in focus at the top with a boundary Seperating it from the other modules in the shop.
The new list confusingly shows all the equipped modules as purchasable items.
The horizons list was single column which could be painful to scroll so the solution in the new UIa double column , which then evolves into the spot the difference problems, confounded by equipped modules can be in numbers if 1,2,3,4 and 5 (thanks beluga)
The double column list does not conform to, this new module, is to go into this slot here which you got sorted out.
“are you sure” dialogue
“buy and equip”
Is straightforward when filling a empty slot.
But the complexity branches when the module slot on the ship is already equipped.
Are you selling the previously equipped module, or storing it.
Which could get even confusing , if you could equip a module from storage and replace the ships-module as the confirm purchase now follows the branching dialogue of store/sell existing module.
so I think stuffs broken.
I think it’s valid to point out confusion between legibility of
What is equipped.
What is in the shop
And what is in storage (locally/somewhere else/and what is in transit - not keep the same design in ship ui and module UI, as they are different)
And What fits in the ship slots and what doesn’t.
Prepare!
For!
Nitpicking!
So I agree and have been complaining since the alpha about a lot of what you said, but (of course) with modification.
The UI is not in its final developed form.
as you said.
We have 3 options
Check out the store
Check out your ship
Check out your storemodule.
Both module storage and shop deposits you sideways in the ship-loadout option.
And with the lack of “context” of the showing the navigation. This is mesmerizingly confusing with regards to the old logic.
But I think this is an intended design, and the main issue isn’t that the UI is poorly designed, it’s just not finished yet.
there are a lot of fixes here to old old issues,
However, outfitting was fairly well conceived until module storage was added in horizons, it split up the navigation and forced drilling down and going back up again.
So “I believe” this sidestep depositing the play back onto the equipped ship module
Is working as “intended” but it’s suffering from
this a “feature not finished” and some fundamental bugs in logic and naming conventions.
I think FDev meant to be able to equip a module from either the station shop front or station storage from the same list,
So players don’t need to back out and drill down again, instead you are deposited at the intersect, your ship.
as we saw this behaviour in there alpha, stored modules appeared in the stations storefront window.
So It’s just a question of filtering and catergorisation, which is the main problem.
It’s not finished and I think there are some naming issues between the UI designer the graphic artist and the developer implementing it all.
issue like meetings over chat programs around discussions of “okaydid you mean the stations module store, or the stations store for modules”.
So getting back nitpicking.
Undo
I’ve lost 2 engineer e modules and 0% paint job because habituated muscle memory.
“Undo” is a major requirement.
which is odd, because it was present In horizons.
It’s absence is explained by Unfinished UI and buggy filtering, faultily filtering away the “ purchase back sold module”
Current module
Showing off the current module you are replacing was actually a part of horizons, but it kept that module in focus at the top with a boundary Seperating it from the other modules in the shop.
The new list confusingly shows all the equipped modules as purchasable items.
The horizons list was single column which could be painful to scroll so the solution in the new UIa double column , which then evolves into the spot the difference problems, confounded by equipped modules can be in numbers if 1,2,3,4 and 5 (thanks beluga)
The double column list does not conform to, this new module, is to go into this slot here which you got sorted out.
“are you sure” dialogue
“buy and equip”
Is straightforward when filling a empty slot.
But the complexity branches when the module slot on the ship is already equipped.
Are you selling the previously equipped module, or storing it.
Which could get even confusing , if you could equip a module from storage and replace the ships-module as the confirm purchase now follows the branching dialogue of store/sell existing module.
so I think stuffs broken.
I think it’s valid to point out confusion between legibility of
What is equipped.
What is in the shop
And what is in storage (locally/somewhere else/and what is in transit - not keep the same design in ship ui and module UI, as they are different)
And What fits in the ship slots and what doesn’t.
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It's just evidence they don't spend significant time playing their own game, is this fun? User friendly? Consice? Informative? Useful?
Or is it confusing, slow, unnecessarily tedious, cumbersome and drab.
It's like they assumed a refresh was needed to make it appear like a new fresh game.
Or is it confusing, slow, unnecessarily tedious, cumbersome and drab.
It's like they assumed a refresh was needed to make it appear like a new fresh game.
Oh they played it, and it is well thought out (in theory) :
The core idea is centring and streamlining the UI around the basic process of equipping your ships slots with modules from the pool of modules at the station,
from local module storage or from the local store.
but like a lot of things with this “soft launch” / “live beta testing” of odyssey, is that it’s not really close to its final state.
It’s filtering and catetgorisiation isn’t working (either Not implemented or broken by bugs)
And it’s a hot mess of confusion with trying to forces legacy horizons concepts but with a new Interface. Of course comparison to horizons interface means it will fall flat.
But horizons outfitting was faulty as they had “duct-taped” module storage onto the ED outfitting, which the new approach will fix…..once they get it to work properly.
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Exactly
I scrapped two large G5 frag cannons this week-end because of this UI.
From now on, it's outfitting in Horizon only !
And you call yourself Elite? What is this, noob dangerous?
Just kidding, but I wonder if they dont have an undo because of the name of the game...funny stuff!
But horizons outfitting was faulty as they had “duct-taped” module storage onto the ED outfitting, which the new approach will fix…..once they get it to work properly.
Maybe Horizon UI is "faulty", but it is functional (from a user standpoint)... which is a lot better that the current Odyssey outfitting "UI"
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As Kaitsalt says,
Accidentally executing an action only for the brain to catch up seconds later is normal.
I have sold engineered modules beforehand.
And hit launch from station instead of let’s make sure I bought limpets.
mistakes are made, the lack of “undo” is the issue.
it was there in horizons; and if I recall correctly, it was in the menu’s during the first phase of the alpha.
Your stored modules were visible on the stations shop due to filtering issues.
When the fixed that, then we lost the buy-back functionality.
work - in - progress.
there is still a tonne of stuff I don’t like.
Tabs, for the engineering stats, so I don’t know if the engineered module I am looking at is the monster power plant, or the low-emission power plant, until I click on it, and then click on the tab.
The overall speed/jump range / cargo capacity is stretched over 4 screens at the bottom.
speaking of irritating ui with “pages” of information;
Let’s talk about the FSS.
Why doesn’t it show it to the planet is landable or not with the icons in the other HUD elements (bottom right hand corner).
Why is the mineral content hidden behind 3 flipping pages, when we have a pretty useless Temperature gauge on the left hand side of the FSS.
Why doesn’t the cockpit “contacts” panel (the one on the left) have an info screen tell me more about the planets mineral content, but tells me about rings……
Why doesn’t the cockpit “info”screen tell me if a station has outfitting/repair/shipyard?
And not just faction details and lengthy Loren ipsum fuller text about there being more information in the codex.
whyyy do I have to boot up the system map every time to get important information I need to survive, and risk being blind to an interdiction attempt?
Accidentally executing an action only for the brain to catch up seconds later is normal.
I have sold engineered modules beforehand.
And hit launch from station instead of let’s make sure I bought limpets.
mistakes are made, the lack of “undo” is the issue.
it was there in horizons; and if I recall correctly, it was in the menu’s during the first phase of the alpha.
Your stored modules were visible on the stations shop due to filtering issues.
When the fixed that, then we lost the buy-back functionality.
work - in - progress.
there is still a tonne of stuff I don’t like.
Tabs, for the engineering stats, so I don’t know if the engineered module I am looking at is the monster power plant, or the low-emission power plant, until I click on it, and then click on the tab.
The overall speed/jump range / cargo capacity is stretched over 4 screens at the bottom.
speaking of irritating ui with “pages” of information;
Let’s talk about the FSS.
Why doesn’t it show it to the planet is landable or not with the icons in the other HUD elements (bottom right hand corner).
Why is the mineral content hidden behind 3 flipping pages, when we have a pretty useless Temperature gauge on the left hand side of the FSS.
Why doesn’t the cockpit “contacts” panel (the one on the left) have an info screen tell me more about the planets mineral content, but tells me about rings……
Why doesn’t the cockpit “info”screen tell me if a station has outfitting/repair/shipyard?
And not just faction details and lengthy Loren ipsum fuller text about there being more information in the codex.
whyyy do I have to boot up the system map every time to get important information I need to survive, and risk being blind to an interdiction attempt?
I play on a HOTAS, and yeah it feels a whole lot clickier. And it is, a little, but not as much as it feels like. IN general there's more 'select' action (trigger for me) where the old UI had almost as much action required but there was more 'select' (panel tabbing or option selection). The actual difference, turning in cargo missions is only IIRC two actions.
Until you have to back out. And that feels like way more, but i haven't done a detailed count.
One of the issues we're all having is that we've gotten used to doing one kind of action (thumb flick on the top hat for me) and because now we're switching for a different one (trigger click) it feels like more even if the overall number of actions is roughly the same.
Selecting a bookmarked station to route to is more though, partly because it's the bottom option.
Another fix the new ui does poorly.
Choose a module you want to equip to your ship from the either the
stations module shop storefront or
from the stations module storage
We select module but for ambiguous slot selection.
(Horizons) So now we horizons must pick a slot and the current ship load out is displayed but only for the eligible slots.
The chosen module is missing from the selection.
(odyssey) the about to be chosen module is now visible and moveable in the current ship loadout.
This I now the new swapping visualisation.
Which solves the swapping issues of clicking on a slot and have have a second selection screen (horizons).
It keeps it compact, but we lose the information, of what module was their previously, as the module has already been swapped into place (visually)
Krait salts side-by-side module selection fixes this.
Choose a module you want to equip to your ship from the either the
stations module shop storefront or
from the stations module storage
We select module but for ambiguous slot selection.
(Horizons) So now we horizons must pick a slot and the current ship load out is displayed but only for the eligible slots.
The chosen module is missing from the selection.
(odyssey) the about to be chosen module is now visible and moveable in the current ship loadout.
This I now the new swapping visualisation.
Which solves the swapping issues of clicking on a slot and have have a second selection screen (horizons).
It keeps it compact, but we lose the information, of what module was their previously, as the module has already been swapped into place (visually)
Krait salts side-by-side module selection fixes this.
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I like the video suggestions absolutely. I also think this suggestion is spot on. In addition, the default button for when you swap in a new module to the slot from storage is to "sell" the module, which is 99% of the time not what I want to do (I have engineered modules in storage, which is often why I am storing them). Since there is no way to directly store them, I have to do this complex work around to store them all first, and then go through and replace each one from storage in the newly available slots.
I'm not too optimistic either, for the same reason.
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That I have to go back into Horizons to outfit my ship is just making me not play Elite atm.
That someone took a look at this new outfitting UI and said 'This is good' is more disturbing than any bug in the game.
That someone took a look at this new outfitting UI and said 'This is good' is more disturbing than any bug in the game.
Great video, well thought out and I totally agree.
If only FDev actually employed someone with UI/UX experience, then got them to play the game for a while and sit with people that play the game and understand why people use the UIs and what then need them to do - then we wouldn't have go the mess we have today.
"sadistic game of spot the difference" - great line and perfectly matches my experience with that UI!
If only FDev actually employed someone with UI/UX experience, then got them to play the game for a while and sit with people that play the game and understand why people use the UIs and what then need them to do - then we wouldn't have go the mess we have today.
"sadistic game of spot the difference" - great line and perfectly matches my experience with that UI!
I think a grand example of the "are you sure?" mess is the on foot interface when you've cancelled an Apex taxi. There's a bug in there, that once you've cancelled a taxi, every attempt to order a taxi goes into the cancel function immediately (because some menu system is supposed to helpfully remember where you were). Fdev "fixed" this issue... by adding a confirmation to the cancel screen. So now it's Order taxi -> Cancel cancellation -> Choose destination (with extra steps to annoy you).
IIRC, the two taxi booking menus, after you've booked a taxi, have cancel/ok swapped relative to each other too. So one of them still has cancel as the default action following a booking, and that was an upgrade from not hinting that you could escape instead of cancelling at the confirmation screen.
IIRC, the two taxi booking menus, after you've booked a taxi, have cancel/ok swapped relative to each other too. So one of them still has cancel as the default action following a booking, and that was an upgrade from not hinting that you could escape instead of cancelling at the confirmation screen.
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I aim normally for "hope for the best, expect the worst".
I'm totally surprised, that even these expectation were still "subsided"...
Congrats, Nostradamus Freyraum
The three grades of reality perception:
Optimism - Everything will work out
Pessimism - Nothing will work out
Realism - And you thought pessimism was bad?
I think the design goal was to make the UI only useable on tablets...