Interesting Question...

MyMeatStick · 2012-05-10, 03:48 PM

Posed by Higby,

What FPS game has the best user interface? Worst?

I reply'd with "One that gives us the option to move it around to our own accord"

What do you guys think?

Stardouser · 2012-05-10, 03:51 PM

Actually...now that you mention it, I wonder if they will let people modify custom interfaces like is done for Everquest; and you can download them?

Grognard · 2012-05-10, 03:56 PM

Not an FPS... but the customizability of Rift was excellent.

Senyu · 2012-05-10, 03:58 PM

Letting people customize is one of the most important and powerful features in any part of the game. It can be applied to many areas including the HUD/Interface

Nobel · 2012-05-10, 03:58 PM

Star Wars Republic Commando

MyMeatStick · 2012-05-10, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Actually...now that you mention it, I wonder if they will let people modify custom interfaces like is done for Everquest; and you can download them?

Love the idea of designing my own HUD, but it would probably lead to some sort of exploitation and PunkBuster Would go crazy

Death2All · 2012-05-10, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Senyu

Letting people customize is one of the most important and powerful features in any part of the game. It can be applied to many areas including the HUD/Interface

This.

Trying hard to develop a UI that you think is good and functional for players is completely irrelevant when you allow them customize it. They should take the latter route. Doesn't matter how good or functional you think it is, someone will always want to change it. Giving the player the power to do that is probably the utmost priority when making a UI in my opinion.

MyMeatStick · 2012-05-10, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by Death2All

This.

Trying hard to develop a UI that you think is good and functional for players is completely irrelevant when you allow them customize it. They should take the latter route. Doesn't matter how good or functional you think it is, someone will always want to change it. Giving the player the power to do that is probably the utmost priority when making a UI in my opinion.

My thoughts exactly.

sylphaen · 2012-05-10, 04:26 PM

Unfortunately, the best UIs are the ones someone would remember the least... I can't remember ever having loved a UI but I could point to things which irked me in them.

Unless PS2 is a simplistic shooter, I would assume customizable UIs for MMOs is a must have...

DayOne · 2012-05-10, 04:29 PM

EVE actually has a pretty good HuD which is good because EVE is ALL HuD.

NCLynx · 2012-05-10, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by Senyu

Letting people customize is one of the most important and powerful features in any part of the game. It can be applied to many areas including the HUD/Interface

This.

Unfortunately I'd have to say one of my favorite game interfaces ever was my WoW one. Due to addons the amount of customization I could put into it was insane.

I don't know if PS2 has any plans for addons at all, I would doubt it as I'm sure someone would come up with an addon that could just completely break gameplay lol but it still stands. If I have even remotely the amount of customization I had in WoW, i'll be happy.

Worst interface? Early LoL, that interface was so clunky/huge/bad.

ArmedZealot · 2012-05-10, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by Death2All

This.

Trying hard to develop a UI that you think is good and functional for players is completely irrelevant when you allow them customize it. They should take the latter route. Doesn't matter how good or functional you think it is, someone will always want to change it. Giving the player the power to do that is probably the utmost priority when making a UI in my opinion.

Customizing the UI also has a big impact in terms of hacking and botting. It would be wise to allow customization only to a point and limit the players freedom with that in mind.

However, rather than just coping out and answering the question with "Just allow the player to customize it", I'd put in votes for Republic Commando + Crysis.

SW:RC has a UI based around the helmet HUD design that gives a very visceral and immersive experience for the player in terms of gunplay, which is something that I have advocated before. It makes you feel like you are actually a soldier in a suit of armor rather than a camera with a gun attached to it. Not only did it help to immerse the player, but it was mostly out of the way and didn't interfere with the gameplay at all.

If we move away from the immersive experience that SW:RC offered, Crysis is a game that has a pretty clean interface. Nice small indicators all in relevant places and with a reasonable color scheme. Along with this came cool voice overs from the suit and even a well simulated augmented reality interface. The little things like this could help PS2 a great deal.

Both are good examples of how the small things help make playing the game a more enjoyable experience. An interface is more than just what you click, its how you communicate with the game world and how it communicates with you.

However I think it would be a good idea not to mix the two. Crysis 2 had both elements, a UI that was wrapped to give it depth and it shook when the player moved and reloaded. This, in my opinion, made the game look a little unprofessional because of how they were done. Not to mention the red screen and damage indicators.... Do not put these in PS2.

EDIT: And to those of you saying EVE and WoW have good interfaces, are you blind?

This has no business in the FPS genre including PS2.

Death2All · 2012-05-10, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by ArmedZealot

Words

Or they could just simply make all of the HUD elements modules that you can re-size or position like you could in first game, which worked fine.

I'm not expecting some amazing add on capabilities with PS2, I just want to customize my HUD in the most primitive way possible.

ArmedZealot · 2012-05-10, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Death2All

Or they could just simply make all of the HUD elements modules that you can re-size or position like you could in first game, which worked fine.

PS1 has a terrible interface.

Originally Posted by Death2All

I'm not expecting some amazing add on capabilities with PS2, I just want to customize my HUD in the most primitive way possible.

I'm not saying you shouldn't. I'm just saying it should stay fairly primitive to help prevent cheating and botting.

WaryWizard · 2012-05-10, 05:21 PM

I don't play a whole lot of FPS games, and those I did are mainly on xbox. I would say get a minimalist default with customization. Have mini map in a corner with health and ammo nearby. Chat should probably be on the other side of those. Most of the things I think should be kept at the bottom half(just my preference). For customization, you can make it where you can move stuff around(after activating edit mode so as to avoid accidents) and add a couple other tidbits here and there. I have no idea what will be part of the ui other than health ammo map and chat, so I can't add much more to it.Also, being able to change things length and orientation from horizontal to vertical would be nice(health is mainly what I'm thinking about). I could see some people stretch their health all the way from left to right.