PS2 User Interface Issues & Recommendations

[Ailos]

I approve of all of the above. I particularly like the mockup you had in OP.

I would also like to stress my support of the idea that infantry, ground and air vehicle UIs should not be treated in the same way, and there is nothing wrong with the three being completely different, primarily because of the points you described - each type of soldier will be interested in different kinds of information which will be coming from different directions.

I further approve of the translucency built into the UI and the idea that it should take up as little real estate on the screen as possible. Lines and letters are all that's needed for any single piece, there need not be any filled-in color bars or too many icons (maybe with the exception of the mini-map).

Dunno about giving the people the ability to make a completely customizable UI though. In an FPS, that could be problematic. Generally, I think they should just give the option for players to toggle as much or as little information on the screen as they desire, but no 3rd party addons, IFF map mods or anything like that.

[Shanesan]

Please don't put the map in the bottom center. It's too bulky to take up the bottom center of the screen.

Perhaps it could be on the bottom right of top right and "enlargeable" to take up the entire screen in a transparent way a-la Mechwarrior 2? Wish I could find a screenshot. Essentially it's a vector map with very basic terrain information as well as objectives, friendlies and detected enemies filling the screen, completely transparent. Effective for quick analysis and put-awayable while also not getting in your way if something needs to suddenly die.

Could make killspam a ticker (like a stock ticker) in the menus rather than give it any action-oritented real-estate.

[Malorn]

The minimap is important information. If it's off in a corner you will not look at or use it nearly as much and trying to use it will result in more eye movement and eyestrain. It is unfortunate that games in the past put the minimap off in a corner where it was out-of-the-way, but also not nearly as usable.

I've seen plenty of HUDs in games that move the minimap to better locations. A very popular UI makeover for WoW is nUI. nUI puts minimap dead-center among other good things. It also follows the principles of putting a lot of stuff on the bottom where it doesn't interfere, as well as putting critical info like player health/mana front-and-center, not off in a corner.

Here's a detailed breakdown of nUI's arrangement.
http://s.cdn.wowinterface.com/preview/pvw24241.jpg

Point is that minimap being off in a corner is a horrible carry-over from existing shooters that didn't stop and think about the value that thing provides nor the eyestrain created when it is in a corner vs a more convenient and easier location.

There are ways you can make it non-intrusive and bottom-center. The current map for PS2 doesn't take up much space at all. Keeping it minimal is also important. Removing chrome, removing buttons and getting it slimmed down to exactly what it needs to be will make it quite manageable.

Also, making the minimap a circle instead of a square will help. I never liked square minimaps. You can make it a little bigger on average but the circular shape over the square shape just makes it look smaller.

regarding chat, that's something you could put in the lower right, opposite corner from Killspam. Or you could put chat in lower left and killspam lower right. I really think these things should be personal taste and configurable.

One solution to people having different tastes, however inefficient they are, is to have anchor points for one of each of the main entities:

Anchor points:
- Top Left
- Top Right
- Bottom Left
- Bottom Right
- Bottom Center

Objects that can be at each anchor point:
- Chat
- Killspam
- Objectives
- Minimap
- Achievements/information

Then let players simply define which of those objects they want at each anchor point. I'll make up a mock-up when I get home. I'm envisioning a simple set of menu boxes and each one has a dropdown on what you want to display there (with "hidden" as an option too).

The health/shield/ammo information really needs to be just below center or flanking the reticle, or something like that. Having 4-5 differnet configurations to choose from should make just about anyone happy.

So configurable UI anchor points & different display options for health/ammo/shield and I think we can all have UI to our taste whlie still keeping it clean overall.

[Shanesan]

I have never had an issue with a map on the top right corner of my screen, and I play medic on almost every game I play. It's absolutely functional there, and if anything, the top right corner of the screen, according to the diagram, is MORE important than the bottom, so the map should be up there and not obstructing a snipers or light infantries down-view since they will be on the roofs or in trees.

Edit: For my personal enjoyment, those who think the map is good in the bottom center, I want you to duct-tape the bottom 1/4 of your vision off and try jumping from something to something else, preferably 20 feet high if you could. (I'm not responsible for the outcome).

Stuff on the top or bottom center needs to be mostly transparent because that is where the action is depending on your combat situation.

[Malorn]

Originally Posted by Shanesan

I have never had an issue with a map on the top right corner of my screen, and I play medic on almost every game I play. It's absolutely functional there, and if anything, the top right corner of the screen, according to the diagram, is MORE important than the bottom, so the map should be up there and not obstructing a snipers or light infantries down-view since they will be on the roofs or in trees.

Edit: For my personal enjoyment, those who think the map is good in the bottom center, I want you to duct-tape the bottom 1/4 of your vision off and try jumping from something to something else, preferably 20 feet high if you could. (I'm not responsible for the outcome).

Stuff on the top or bottom center needs to be mostly transparent because that is where the action is depending on your combat situation.

The top right portion of the screen is more valuable than the lower portions, meaning it should have less clutter and fewer things if possible.

Also I didnt' say the map wasn't functional in the corners. Of course its functional. We're talking about usability and interface design which does not have absolutes.

The corners are the traditional place for the minimap. Stop and think about it a bit though instead of going with what is familiar.

Here's what I think of putting things in locations for the sake of tradition.

[Shanesan]

Spent way too long on this and to hell if I'm not posting it.

Most of the problems with the UI are fixed by adding more information to the center:
- AMMO with a yellow transparent ring.
- HEALTH with a green transparent bar.
- ARMOR with a blue transparent bar.
- Dot sight.

Click for larger.

[Eyeklops]

Originally Posted by Shanesan

Spent way too long on this and to hell if I'm not posting it.

Most of the problems with the UI are fixed by adding more information to the center:
- AMMO with a yellow transparent ring.
- HEALTH with a green transparent bar.
- ARMOR with a blue transparent bar.
- Dot sight.

Click for larger.

I like the ammo ring, but really don't want a health and shield ring blocking my view. In fact, I would only really want the ammo ring there for guns with large clips. But I can see how these ideas could be useful for other players/playstyles.

Having HUD elements like the rings shown above that can be toggled by armor and weapon type would be awesome. So if you are sniping with a bolt action single shot, no need for ammo ring, but if you are using a gun with 100 rounds, it's nice to see when your clip is getting low. Infiltrators may die so fast they may not care about viewing health and shield, but Heavy Assault's longer TTK's might make it worth watching.

Edit: LOL....I just noticed my name is in that pic...haha..TY for the mention

[FastAndFree]

Another point, we are talking about fixed positions or optional anchor points, why can't we have everything draggable like in Planetside 1?

[Bruttal]

wow I really have to agree, FPS games need a way different HUD style then RPG's we know we can't pack EVERY thing to the middle of the screen, but Ive always been a fan of custom UI support, size-able moveable windows for sure but to even go a step further let us design our own. like in everquest or wow but something that would work for our own preferences .

[Graywolves]

Doesn't matter where anything is to me personally. You should be looking at the entire screen at all times anyways.


But I expect a customizable UI to put things where I'm comfortable and the ability to toggle off "lol you killed a guy and got points, let me throw it in your face" feature.

[Malorn]

Originally Posted by FastAndFree

Another point, we are talking about fixed positions or optional anchor points, why can't we have everything draggable like in Planetside 1?

Clearly rich customization is better, but I mentioned anchor points as a quick&dirty solution if full-on customization was not feasible before PS2 release. Seems to me in my own software engineering experience that it would be cheaper to design, implement and test a simple limited customization interface than a rich UI customization feature. It also seemed like it would likely satisfy players until a more robust UI customization feature was added.

[TheRagingGerbil]

I certainly hope we can customize it like the current PS. Text size, color, window opacity, location, size, etc. These should all be able to be adjusted to fit your liking.

[Mackenz]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Clearly rich customization is better, but I mentioned anchor points as a quick&dirty solution if full-on customization was not feasible before PS2 release. Seems to me in my own software engineering experience that it would be cheaper to design, implement and test a simple limited customization interface than a rich UI customization feature. It also seemed like it would likely satisfy players until a more robust UI customization feature was added.

To some extent. It depends on whether the UI is native code or is in itself simply developer signed script addons. WoW's UI for example is the latter, which lends itself to being fully customisable by other addons (by players) from the beginning, including laying out existing/new UI elements.

If the UI is native code, quick and dirty anchor points are probably the best we can hope for initially.

[Malorn]

Also if you look carefully at the UI you can see that it's not flat - there's a little curviture to the elements that gives it a feel that you're looking through a helmet-projected HUD.

If the UI asset is really flat and it is a graphical effect that gives it that curved appearance it could be fairly easy to move those elements around. However if the UI asset itself is actually curved then it was custom-created for that position and it would be a lot harder to move anything around, custom or no.

I'm hoping it's a transform on top of a flat raw asset, but that's a little more computing power required to render so they might have gone with the custom asset for performance reasons.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Also if you look carefully at the UI you can see that it's not flat - there's a little curviture to the elements that gives it a feel that you're looking through a helmet-projected HUD.

Another annoyance. Why would the designers not project it curved so that it appeared straight? :/

Just one of those 'So real!' additions, I guess.. Can't just have a hud, have to explain it as well.



PS: Whats with everyone putting chat in the upper left?

You people are sick!