My Large suggestion thread.

[UMayBleed]

First off, The UI to just get into the game is confusing for new players, I have brought multiple people to the game, and they get really confused when the first start the game. the current "Start Game" that starts a new window just to configure your client settings, then finally launch a actual client to play, is really annoying.

My suggestions for the launcher:
- Remove Options & Repair
- Rename Start Game to "Play" and put it at the bottom right corner.
- Rename "Start Dedicated Server" to "Start Server", and move it to the left of the Play button.
- Rename "Update and install latest version" to "Installation" and move it above the Play button.
- Add a new window that configures the game's installion, and has the option to repair, check for latest version, and manage installation directory, etc.
- Move progress bar of downloading and installing into that new window, as well as Refresh.
- Add settings for client on the launcher, only graphics settings and performance.

Second, the UI in game is annoying, and confusing. Everyone who I have talked to who plays the game has got confused by it, even me.

My Suggestions:
- Make a menu that the user is brought to after clicking "Play". The menu has Singleplayer, Multiplayer, Options, and Quit. Have all the buttons aligned on the bottom of the screen, and side by side. On the background have video of scenes from the game. Then on each option, add what it needs in a menu.
- Remove all faction tabs.
- Make a single Faction tab called "My Faction" and have all the options and controls inside that tab.
- Make a tab called "All Factions" which is the same as Faction Hub, just renamed.
- Inside My Faction, have the name of the faction at the top of the tab, below the tab buttons.
- Add a Applications area for factions, if the faction is not open to anyone, add an option to turn applications on/off, and players can apply with a text of what they want to say.
- Add a X button to delete the news post, it will only appear if the user has permission to modify news in that faction.
- Add another permission in the ranks to be able to modify/create/edit news posts.
- Add small Edit button to modify news, if it was posted by a user.
- If the news post gets to big, add a Read more option that will open it by itself.
- Add faction stats on the main faction page, these stats will show how many ships/planets/sectors/stations are owned.
- Add an option to view the members, and have a screen for it.
- Add a settings area for faction, which contains ranks, options for factions, and all other admin options.
- Make the entire UI scalable, and make it 60-75% width of the screen.

Here is some edits I made to show sort of what I mean

Main faction menu

Third, in game sometimes is really annoying. First off the game likes to reset your camera position a ton, and it's annoying.
- Add key binds to rotate your character on the side rotation.
- Add option to disable automatic camera relativity positioning.

 

[TwoNiner]

Me likey that menu, this should be in the game!

 

[UMayBleed]

Me likey that menu, this should be in the game!

Thanks for the support ^_^

 

[TwoNiner]

Really mean it, do you have any idea how shitty the current UI is?

 

[UMayBleed]

Really mean it, do you have any idea how shitty the current UI is?

Yeah, it's confusing, and needs reworked. Maybe the developer(s) have plan to revamp it eventually.

 

[Vengeance42]

I just want to add a tiny note, as a faction owner, I have yet to get to the right invite screen when inviting a player into the faction on
the first try. I have always first wound up on the invite screen for me to accept an invitation into a faction, before backing out and getting into the correct one. So far it has confused me 100% of the time.

 

[Zeno9141]

Yeah, it's confusing, and needs reworked. Maybe the developer(s) have plan to revamp it eventually.

Ironically, I believe it is already being revamped.

I agree on most of your points, though. The current UI is really ancient.

 

[Comr4de]

My suggestions for the launcher:
- Remove Options & Repair
- Rename Start Game to "Play" and put it at the bottom right corner.
- Rename "Start Dedicated Server" to "Start Server", and move it to the left of the Play button.
- Rename "Update and install latest version" to "Installation" and move it above the Play button.
- Add a new window that configures the game's installion, and has the option to repair, check for latest version, and manage installation directory, etc.
- Move progress bar of downloading and installing into that new window, as well as Refresh.
- Add settings for client on the launcher, only graphics settings and performance.

but why, though?

UI sucks though and i totally agree on that point

 

[UMayBleed]

but why, though?

UI sucks though and i totally agree on that point

Because it's annoying going through screens, and this simplifies the launcher as well.

 

[Comr4de]

Because it's annoying going through screens, and this simplifies the launcher as well.

You go through just as many screens with your generic MMO (STO, LOTRO, WT) but I digress. I really appreciate the way the launcher is laid out especially because at this stage of the game, sometimes you need to be able to change settings before you launch the game. Say you crash everytime you launch. You look on forums to see if anyone else has same issue, and find out that its a shader bug. However you can't disable shaders until you launch the game. At this point in the game, being able to configure the parameters of the program before even launching it is a godsend.

 

[kupu]

In game UI is receiving an overhaul (in fact this very minute i am going over new designs).

All of your points relating to the in game UI are actually being worked on, redesigned or moved. While i appreciate the samples, the theme and structure is completely changing to accommodate the clarity changes (and incidentally your concerns).

Hope that helps!

Edit; As for the Launcher options; I agree with @Comr4de . When your audience is playing on 3 platforms on a myriad of hardware, from super low spec to enthusiast computing hardware those advanced / fallback options are invaluable. Loads of reports in the "Game Support" sub forum have been fixed purely by further exploring the launcher options.

 

[DaveC9000]

When I try to see the game as if I were the developer I quickly realize that that second launcher is probably there for ease of development. Think about it...if they had to code all of that stuff into the game then each time they added a new variable that they wanted to be configurable they'd have tweak the UI and game to add that control. This way they can just add it to the config app and later when the game is done they can just do them in the game UI all at once.

 

[UMayBleed]

In game UI is receiving an overhaul (in fact this very minute i am going over new designs).

All of your points relating to the in game UI are actually being worked on, redesigned or moved. While i appreciate the samples, the theme and structure is completely changing to accommodate the clarity changes (and incidentally your concerns).

Hope that helps!

Edit; As for the Launcher options; I agree with @Comr4de . When your audience is playing on 3 platforms on a myriad of hardware, from super low spec to enthusiast computing hardware those advanced / fallback options are invaluable. Loads of reports in the "Game Support" sub forum have been fixed purely by further exploring the launcher options.

I am glad to hear that it is being worked on, can't wait for the final part of it!

 

[NeonSturm]

I really like what you did to the scroll-bar and I also like to have real buttons for non-inline stuff.

But if anything, the shop/inventory/faction like every menu needs to be bigger.
The interface occupies only 1/4 of my screen space jet can't show the whole ship name without over/under-writing the ship's speed display or the blueprint's edit button.

I like the back button and it being accessible over the own faction tab.
But I don't like the rank/kick buttons being more noticeable than the every-time important information (username, rank, ...)

 

[srs008]

You go through just as many screens with your generic MMO (STO, LOTRO, WT) but I digress. I really appreciate the way the launcher is laid out especially because at this stage of the game, sometimes you need to be able to change settings before you launch the game. Say you crash everytime you launch. You look on forums to see if anyone else has same issue, and find out that its a shader bug. However you can't disable shaders until you launch the game. At this point in the game, being able to configure the parameters of the program before even launching it is a godsend.

he's not saying changing the way the game starts, he's talking about adding a menu off the intial download and play menu. from there you'd open the options tab by a button, still before the game.
that said, I think we can have a best of both worlds, if the options menu (BEFORE game starts) was set to expand each area as a sub-topic. like multiplayer, or graphics options.
this would simplify the appearance (which i do agree is a little imposing on new players)
without actually really changing anything, basically i'm merely suggesting the program use a setup akin to the "spoiler" buttons throughout these (and most other) forums.

 

[SapioiT]

In game UI is receiving an overhaul (in fact this very minute i am going over new designs).

All of your points relating to the in game UI are actually being worked on, redesigned or moved. While i appreciate the samples, the theme and structure is completely changing to accommodate the clarity changes (and incidentally your concerns).

Hope that helps!

Edit; As for the Launcher options; I agree with @Comr4de . When your audience is playing on 3 platforms on a myriad of hardware, from super low spec to enthusiast computing hardware those advanced / fallback options are invaluable. Loads of reports in the "Game Support" sub forum have been fixed purely by further exploring the launcher options.

PLEASE, tell me there will be a search option for the shop! Sometimes it's a pain in the donkey (a.k.a. ass) to find that one thing you were looking for... (like finding the scanner, after the 0.18 update, I had to search a lot. Really expected to see the stuff needed for a ship in the ship section, not under a tab called "Effects" (and even more places) under other tabs...

Oh, and I almost forgot, please add the option to place a ship core onto an existing structure... for example, I'd like to just add the core to an asteroid, add thrusters and that's it... using a building block I don't think you can use the flight mode... so a moving space station should have that, too... and the option to remove the core without having to remove everything else... just remove the core and leave the rest of it as an asteroid entity...