- When you pitch up, thrust UI partially moves out of my field of vision. This might not be a problem for people with Oculus, but it's really annoying during combat when playing on a normal monitor. Suggestion: make it vertical and put it on top of the panel so it's always visible.
Why is everything clumped together at the bottom of the screen anyway? HUD stands for Heads Up Display. The whole point is to be able to see the essential information without looking down. Yet that panel takes 1/3d of the monitor, wasting already constrained vertical space. To add insult to injury the most efficient way of changing direction in the game is pitching up and down AND your POV angle moves during that maneuver. Which means:
Basic UX principles would suggest moving as much UI to the sides as possible and pointing "camera" slightly up so cockpit does not obstruct so much.
- There are a lot of unnecessary elements in the main cockpit UI. Why do we need to see an empty "checkbox" labeled "cargo scoop" all the time? What it is, Windows 95? We can't extend it by clicking on the checkbox with a mouse. Just don't show anything when it's not extended. When it is extended, just say "cargo scoop out" or have a dedicated glyph appear on the screen.
The game does this a lot. Mixed visual metaphors. Text, icons and Windows-like elements. Numbers, straight bars round bars, circular bars, pips. Using monochrome UI, but then color-coding arbitrary things. Using realistic pictures and totally abstract shapes for similar things. Using "tilted 2d", real 2d and 3d elements arbitrarily. Another basic UI principle: keep it simple and as consistent as possible without people mistaking one thing for another.
- There is ridiculous amount of back-and-forth required for fetch and economic missions. For example, I always want to check where the quest destination is on the Galactic map. So what do I have to do?
I could go on, and on, and on. The best thing to do would be to bring a professional UX person, allow them to do their thing and adhere to recommendations. It would do wonders for pretty much every aspect of UI in the game, make it easier to use for everyone and make it more accessible for new players.
Why is everything clumped together at the bottom of the screen anyway? HUD stands for Heads Up Display. The whole point is to be able to see the essential information without looking down. Yet that panel takes 1/3d of the monitor, wasting already constrained vertical space. To add insult to injury the most efficient way of changing direction in the game is pitching up and down AND your POV angle moves during that maneuver. Which means:
- UI either partially moves out of view (when pitching up) or takes even more precious screen space (when pitching down).
- Not only vertical space is contained by the geometry of our widescreen monitors, it is also the most important space during combat, since objects usually move in an out of your field of view vertically.
Basic UX principles would suggest moving as much UI to the sides as possible and pointing "camera" slightly up so cockpit does not obstruct so much.
- There are a lot of unnecessary elements in the main cockpit UI. Why do we need to see an empty "checkbox" labeled "cargo scoop" all the time? What it is, Windows 95? We can't extend it by clicking on the checkbox with a mouse. Just don't show anything when it's not extended. When it is extended, just say "cargo scoop out" or have a dedicated glyph appear on the screen.
The game does this a lot. Mixed visual metaphors. Text, icons and Windows-like elements. Numbers, straight bars round bars, circular bars, pips. Using monochrome UI, but then color-coding arbitrary things. Using realistic pictures and totally abstract shapes for similar things. Using "tilted 2d", real 2d and 3d elements arbitrarily. Another basic UI principle: keep it simple and as consistent as possible without people mistaking one thing for another.
- There is ridiculous amount of back-and-forth required for fetch and economic missions. For example, I always want to check where the quest destination is on the Galactic map. So what do I have to do?
- Switch to another view.
- Select galactic map.
- Select another tab.
- Click on the search field.
- Type in the name and press enter.
I could go on, and on, and on. The best thing to do would be to bring a professional UX person, allow them to do their thing and adhere to recommendations. It would do wonders for pretty much every aspect of UI in the game, make it easier to use for everyone and make it more accessible for new players.
