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News: Preview of Upcoming Interface Changes

NevadaJake said:
The biggest losses with this new UI change will be the lack of control and customization we have enjoyed for so many years. I love the drag and drop interface for keyboard shortcuts and adding buttons anywhere I want on screen.

What was wrong with this? It's compact, looks sci-fi:
oQeWl6P.png



Why do this? :unsure:
wE3kQiH.png
Click to expand...

100% agree with the OP. I like to have as much of my screen clear as possible, especially the bottom centre of my screen clear for fruit/stones. I hope there is an option to remove weapon health bar along with other personal customisations.

Those of us with visual processing issues (e.g. Irlen Syndrome and visual dyslexia) will need to be able to customise the colours of text and background, even if we can't change the font you are proposing on using which appears to be a blurry squish, to minimise the visual distress.
 
Something to restore the vibes would be quite in order. I've not recovered from the latest blow from behind that was #cyrenegate. The fix is not in software development though, I'm afraid. The devs do a fine job when you let them.

I like the screenshots so far. What others have said, scalability for all UI widgets would be most important to have, if not already included.

About being unobtrusive: It is crucial to have information clearly readable when you want/need it. Transparent widgets should become opaque when the mouse is over them, and have an option to lock opacity from the right-click menu (no need to populate the general options dialog with these). Also have a tri-state action assignable to keyboard (toggle between invisible/transparent/opaque). This should apply to all widgets without exception (do not decide on behalf of players to leave out any).

Fix existing problems with keyboards that have built-in displays. Make the information that would go there also available through other means, most importantly remaining ammo/shots. With increasing popularity of streaming, being able to play with no UI widgets at all is a cool choice to have, and show off your in-world designs. Currently this is possible with melee weapons or other tools that don't use consumables, since repair status warnings can be picked up from the chat logfile (as suggested earlier, would be even better if you could distinguish between first and last warning). Expand this ability to all tools.

Though as necessary as this overhaul is, tradition has a stronghold in Entropia. It will be received positively if a reference (reverence?) to nostalgia is kept. E.g. it would be a nice touch to keep the loot window in its original design (or make the skeleton frame a choice), but improve it with a keyboard action to close (this is currently the only reason I have it off), optional automatic stacking and keyboard-assignable action to consolidate stacks, and optional display of tt value (last loot event and cumulative).

One more thing: Make it optional to display the amount on your PED card or not, please (also with regards to streaming).

That's about as much as I can think of at this stage. Details will emerge after release for sure, hope there is contingency for a few iterations rather than just a mini patch.

Cheers!
 
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San said:
it would be a nice touch to keep the loot window in its original design (or make the skeleton frame a choice), but improve it with a keyboard action to close (this is currently the only reason I have it off), optional automatic stacking and keyboard-assignable action to consolidate stacks, and optional display of tt value (last loot event and cumulative).
Click to expand...
Hey great, My likes your post! I also especially like this suggestion about the loot window that I never use right now. But I would if it was a way of tracking things a bit better than currently.
 
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Reactions: San
Hmm,

A few issues, I was really hoping that the notes facility would be searchable like the action library is. I would like to see all armour pieces and weapons a standard size. I am concerned that hot keys will be removed, I maybe wrong about this.

In the last couple of years MA has spent a lot of effort on the interface, cameras and UI but little development seems to have gone into fixing the various bugs in the game. Also at some point they will need to address the Cryengine issue.

I will with hold any further comments until I see it in action
 
Seeing the fact that many people prefer various colors and transparencies, it would be pretty awesome to have in the options an appearance section where you could customize a bit more the theme, for example a sldier bar with the amount of opacity, the color scheme for buttons text & titles in the UI, maybe the ability to choose the action bar position (bottom, right, top, left), font size etc.
 
Bertha Bot said:
Disclaimer: This is a work-in progress and not the final version.
Click to expand...

Looks ok I guess, not much more to say.

There is no mention of customizability, so i would assume that what you see is what you get. I would suggest working towards providing means of customizing the UI. Several studies show the importance of the UI in games. Several studies show that end users have vastly different prioritization for what to display, where to display it and how. Providing means for modifying the interface would to some degree outsource MAs (seemingly) very limited development time to the user base.


While a polished looking UI is always important (Primarily for new players), you get quite a bit of leeway if you can say "If you don't like it, you are free to alter it".

Game Studies - A Study of User Interface Modifications in World of Warcraft

gamestudies.org

While somewhat dated study still holds value. Even though a game like WoW has a very niced, polished base UI, an overwhelming majority
(>90%) prefer a slightly modified or heavily modified interface.

Oh well.
 
Geo said:
The image in Inventory for the Weapons tab is not a bullet, it is clearly an Atom Bomb/Nuke.
There is a bullet in the dashboard though for equiped item on the bottom.
You must be confusted ;)

A Centurion Helmet over an Atom Bomb for inventory tabs is so inconsistent. Both should be changed imo
Click to expand...
You're right! :D
 
My|MindArk said:
False but also true. As stated in the BUZZ post:

" Feedback can be shared in this on PlanetCalypsoForum.com, or by contacting Community Relations Manager MyAnt on the Entropia Universe Discord"
Either here on this thread or on Discord is fine, I'm reading both. :)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the response! The main questions for me are below as they impact gameplay:
  • Can you clarify whether we will be able to have custom icons on the screen?
  • I have several armor change icons mapped to my screen. Can I still have these?
  • Will we be able to drag any tool or weapon to any key on our keyboard? Or are those limited to the new hot-bar?
 
NevadaJake said:
I am not saying the UI doesn't need updating. But the upcoming changes also affect gameplay. It is not just a cosmetic change.

The biggest losses with this new UI change will be the lack of control and customization we have enjoyed for so many years. I love the drag and drop interface for keyboard shortcuts and adding buttons anywhere I want on screen.

The bottom line to me is that Entropia Universe is a deep and complex game. It needs a flexible and customizable UI. We all have our own unique setups and playstyles. One size does not fit all here.


I really liked this feature, I know many will miss it:
NEDEQCG.png



I will miss the ability to do this:
VNORWrC.png



What was wrong with this? It's compact, looks sci-fi:
oQeWl6P.png



Why do this? :unsure:
wE3kQiH.png
Click to expand...

I agree, I very much prefer the way the dashboard looks now over this new HP bar, reload, radar, cluster of things etc.
I do not want to see all that along the bottom or the tool bar
 
The classic Dashboard and Key Mapping is Entropia. Do not change this so drastically please.
Too many things going along the bottom of the screen. It does not look as good as the current Dashboard.
Unless there are ways to move, resize and hide things along the bottom of screen, for me it looks like a mess.
 
It doesn't look bad, but I am not sure on the functionality.

One function which I always yearned for is PLEASE IMPLEMENT CUSTOMIZABLE TRANSPARENCY.

I dislike alot transparent UI through which I can see all leaves, bugs, mobs and whatsnots of this universe. By my own taste, I would love the possibility to play with an opaque radar, for example.

Then would be the fonts, more exactly the shadowing. May I suggest your designer colleagues to try an option with 0 blur or at the very least decrease the radius of blurring, the tracked missions themselves are unreadeable. Also a bit of meat on the fonts wouldn't hurt, like there has to exist other options than thin, ultrathin and use-a-magnifying-glass-thin. Dare I say, try "medium"? :O

Finally, the tool/weapon/whatever bar. This 100% graystyle is usually the mark of something inactive/empty slot and is, imo, confusing. I think that the thumbnails for weapons or faps or whatnot should be tinted in a consistent colour or maybe a tinted background per respective slot.

If it were one thing I would pick to insist on.

PLEASE
CUSTOMIZABLE
TRANSPARENCY
PLEASE

Other than that, thank you for sharing with us.

P.S.: be sure to test the looks on various displays. I am playing on a 15'' laptop for example.
 
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DavinFelth said:
Please change the weapon icon from a bomb to something else, a gun, sword, or fist? Really there are not many bombs in this game and I just don't like the image. That's my feedback.
Rest looks great - sci-fi looking, fresh, and not too drastic of a change.
Nice!
Click to expand...

I thought the exact same. A bomb is not the right icon.
 
Aloisius said:
Should be 100% configurable. And more!! And it has to be consistent throughout the game. It has to be persistent for changes in the resolution. I got a bad feeling about this. 100% configurable.
Click to expand...
Me too....
But I am sure that it is already way way too late.
We never get asked about what should be developed, if EU should really look like just another MMO that can be easily ported to a Wii.
MA does their things, really thinks it is a great idea, brings it out, a few hundreds quit , they roll back a bit and only thing we see is a handfull of new players , from which maybe one or two can even afford to play.

Same waste in devolopment like the new graphics two years ago, half-baked and I still miss zooming out like I was able before.
Where are the promised quests ? Should have come when codex came out.
 
WoenK said:
Me too....
But I am sure that it is already way way too late.
We never get asked about what should be developed, if EU should really look like just another MMO that can be easily ported to a Wii.
MA does their things, really thinks it is a great idea, brings it out, a few hundreds quit , they roll back a bit and only thing we see is a handfull of new players , from which maybe one or two can even afford to play.

Same waste in devolopment like the new graphics two years ago, half-baked and I still miss zooming out like I was able before.
Where are the promised quests ? Should have come when codex came out.
Click to expand...

MindArk is a small team.
Design is a lengthy process, especially in a video game which requires 3d design on top of 2d.
It benefits everyone involved, including the players like you if the game becomes more appealing to the general public. Your assets will grow as demand will rise and supply falls.
It would be amazing if I could load up Entropia on my Wii. That means it's passed Nintendo's Quality Assurance and a lot of bugs would be fixed ;)
On the same point as last. I want to play EU on other devices. Having a UI that was unable to customized is a big hinderance to a multi-device environment. Remember when mobile came out and everyone was trying to make their websites responsive? Same concept.

Here's a recent example of a 3 year design process to change a logo...

If you want to help MindArk finish projects, try supporting mine which gives you the power to bring your project ideas right to MindArk, to be assessed as a potential development path where you'd be able to follow along:

Suggestion: - Allow Participants to Submit Project Proposals as Deeds on the Entropia Exchange

Hi! I have a lot of ideas and I just can't figure out where or how to properly communicate them. Perhaps this is me learning. Not long ago, I had a number of ideas about how to improve Entropia Universe and reached out wanting to touch base with someone at MindArk to float a few of them as they...
www.planetcalypsoforum.com www.planetcalypsoforum.com

Cheers,
The Great Adventurer
 
Been waiting all day to post my input/feedback on this (had..technical issues), and finally now I get to add my 2 (or 3) cents, so Here goes:

I like Evey's ideas for improvement, such as bettering READABILITY with a text-/font- SIZE Option (either for each window, or applied globally throughout UI). Many of us are old folks, ya'know! :p And maybe adding an option to change color style or theme, too, like 2 or 3 color options (I know you guys made visibility well for both day and night, but some players may have discriminating tastes or preferences toward color/theme, and some could use BIGGER fonts). #Accessibility

Also, Adding a Search/Filter feature to Options, Profs/Skills, Mission Log, Inventory(!), and/or even Contacts and Hall-of-Fame, would be a HUGE convenience. But I do understand that this would mean adding/modifying more serious code (which would require a bit of thorough/scrupulous and possibly arduous/time-consuming testing), when this is really meant to be more of just mainly a simple cosmetic UI makeover, Right?

The Bright-white Inventory sections icons could be a bit better, indeed - i.e., more intuitive/explanatory, and better looking with a better(softer?) color...?? I concur with Davin: Change that BOMB ICON! :p I really don't like ANY of the new Icons in Inventory at all, actually. They are not intuitive, and are quite CONFUSING, tbh. Perhaps stick with the old simple ones?? (PED card, shirt, shield, gun, tool wrench ... mats, blueprints, misc, mindforce). John Teacher Capital said it best about these icons, and also about the possible text-windows opacity issues.

The touch of modernity is not bad.. not bad at all indeed.

Good job, MA! Keep up the great work.
 
RE: Search FUNCTION, and Default FOCUS onto Search fields in Searchable windows

Adding searchability to Inventory/Storage, and other things like Contacts, Mission Log, Hall of Fame, would be really cool. Something for MA to consider for future additions to functionality.

But also, an annoying thing that has always been in the UI since day one, is the fact that when you open up a window that has a Search field or a Text chat box, the *CURSOR* DOES NOT *AUTO-FOCUS* UPON THE *EMPTY SEARCH FIELD* by *DEFAULT*; i.e., you have to MANUALLY CLICK THE FIELD FIRST before typing!! :p ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The Action Library, however, actually does this, but that's the ONLY window that does. And this inconvenience can be a real problem or nuisance whenever you open up a window and start typing, expecting to be writing letters, but instead, A WHOLE BUNCH OF WINDOWS POPUP! :D or you switch weapons or gear, or start firing on accident. :p (I.e., what happens instead of typing the expected text into the search/chat field, you instead start hitting a bunch of HOTKEYS!!). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, fixing that would be, yeeeaaahhh, mmmmmmm, great. :)

Thanks!
-Case
 
QUESTION:

WILL WE STILL HAVE MULTIPLE FULL-KEYBOARD MAP LAYOUTS ?? INCLUDING A (*)GLOBAL ONE??? I really really really really REALLY HOPE SO !!! I am so used to and LIKE the Full keyboard-map, and being able to just drag-and-drop items/pets/vehicles/weapons from inventory onto a KEYBOARD MAP (and NOT the screen or 'desktop'). PLUS, I have worked very VERY HARD to fill up my ENTIRE keyboard with hotkeys. I am a keyboard/action player; I do not put clickable buttons on the screen like some other players do. I mainly use ASDW for movement (of course), QERFGZXC for weapons, use/auto, unequip, run/walk/auto, and TAB for target - as well as virtually every other key on the keyboard for things like summoning pets/vehicles, heals, changing armors/clothes, creating sets, emotes, and ALL game menus of course (Inventory, Map, Skills/Profs, Messages, Missions, Options, etc). I do not use or click onscreen buttons, and I do not use the common number keys 12345 very much except for a few things and emotes (so I hope you aren't expecting to cram everything into banks of number-key 'hotbars' like in Wow or LotRo!!). Oh, and the Fn keys for switching keyboard banks too. So, whatever you do, please please please please PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS OPTION OR CHANGE ANY OF THIS TYPE OF PLAY MODE !!! Thank you. :)

Please do take your time on the final version of the UI, listening to all of our feedbacks, and getting it right - because I do think most players really like the FULL KEYBOARD MAP, and don't just use 12345 nor clickable icons on the screen. Thanks again!!

-Case
 
K_rupT said:
I would like the option to keep the current UI. Thanks
Click to expand...
Would be nice, but supporting & managing two significantly different UI's may not be something they wish to take on, unfortunately... :/
Especially if those differences (changes) involve technical updates & things beyond just the aesthetics/cosmetic changes...
I'm not sure this is just a simple face-lift update only - cause it may very well include some technical/functionality updates/changes also... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
So, after 24+ hrs and posts by many players we can see some very basic points and loads of smaller ones mentioned.
  1. Fontsize, sorry fontsize options.
  2. Choose a clear, sharp font type.
  3. Allow opaque backgrounds.
  4. Positioning and window size options, such as map and radar (also zoom states).
These are so, so basic. Why are we having to even mention them?!

THEN, there is keyboard mapping+icons. We are afraid you are taking this away. Are you? Are you really considering this?!
Genuinely, some of the things you get up to appear to us to be so so so stoopid that almost anything is possible.

IF it is a graphics thing and you don't want mapped stuff on screen, then will we be able to map keys but have to create our own 'reminders' of what key does what?

Finally, at least tell us if stage two, the video, is on hold until you make changes to what you have so far to be more in line with our suggestions?
 
Please don't remove options because you wanna "modernize it" and force players to play the game your way, like you did with the camera & control system. The best part of about entropia UI is that its quite customizable. Players who wanna make their game feel perfect for themselves can do that.

Look how I play the game. You guys moved the buffs icons to the top right of screen, I can't see myself liking that. For competing in mayhem for example you'll want to have fast view on your buffs so you know when its time to replinish them. I also have most of my tools that I use on my dashboard for quick changing. For tools I don't use hotkeys and I don't want to, just weapons and healing tools. I also switch sometimes instead of using the keyboard all the time. This way I can play with just the mouse or just with keyboard whenever I feel like it. I have positioned my healthbar at the place that I have best view for when I'm hunting so I can quickly fap when my hp gets low. The new dashboard is worse than current one.

Here's pic of my desktop on entropia.
index.php


Keyword to take from this... FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
 
Power said:
MindArk is a small team.
Design is a lengthy process, especially in a video game which requires 3d design on top of 2d.
It benefits everyone involved, including the players like you if the game becomes more appealing to the general public. Your assets will grow as demand will rise and supply falls.
Click to expand...

You work in marketing ?
I mean how could a really bloody expensive game with RCE become appealing to the general public?
Allways was and allways will be in a small corner of the MMOs.
For something to grow you first need retention on the current playerbase and have it grow.
CE was the biggest cut, before that you would actually meet dozens of people in the mayor hubs.Most of them leaving did not have computers that could run Crysis.
And since then really almost everything that was done to make it "more appealing to the general public" reduced the playerbase.
People leaving have given EU a rather bad reputation, that is nothing that will be forgotten with a new UI.
And projects within a small team with limited ressources need to be planned precisely, there are not many margins for error.
Never change a running system....and if you do, do it carefully in small steps.
Forcing some complete overhauls down peoples throats and simply say "accept it or leave", has not worked out that good in EU so far.
In 2008 there were over a million subscribed participents, I highly doubt we went over 1,2 since then and if you look on EL you can guestimate that the active playerbase is probaly around 15k .

Really would not mind keeping some economy related updates a secret, like Loot2.0, but comsetice that quite a few will feel to be gamebreaking for them.
Still a lack of communication, even though MA promises evers 1-2 years it will improve, does it for a few weeks and then goes silent again (ok, maybe not as silent as the Arkadia team but still).
There have been so many things cut out the past 13 years that made up the uniqueness that was EU.
 
My only critique is that the outlined font for tracked missions and MOB name are really horrible and hard to read. That being said i really really hope and pray that you don't remove the ability to make keymapping shortcuts on screen. It is the only feature that makes the game playable with a touchscreen and for people with wrist problems who cannot use a keyboard 100% of the time. My screen has lots of shortcuts and I'm able to play with many different setups even keyboard free. I'm no spring chicken anymore and sometimes my wrists hurt to bad to sit on a computer like I'm playing hard core CS:GO competitive matches. This is one of the main reason i got into MMO's in the first place and started playing Entropia.

I don't like the bomb icon for weapons either, i really think that should be a sword or rifle, icons should be very intuitive. Just because they are new also doesnt mean they have to be totally different, you could use a new wrench icon for the tools, instead of something way different.... just my opinion.
index.php
 
Overall, I like the look of the new UI and windows.

However, I do not like the change to the Dashboard style and the additional clutter at the bottom of the screen.
There is nothing wrong with the current Dashboard style. Not only is it perfectly functional, looks great but is also Entropia.

The Inventory images need some consideration. $ for Ped Tab? Really? A Roman Centurion Helm for Armor? What? and a Nuke for Weapons tab? Come on..
Please put more generic imagery most closely related to Entropia. There are so many possibilities. It looks like you bought alot of these from another game developer.

And it sounds like this will do away with the Key Mapping feature of the game?!
FFS please do not remove that feature. That is one of the best things that make Entropia such an amazing game.
It allows people to have full customizability, to play remotely, on tablets, surface pros, smart phones, not to mention it is game breaking for many people to not have the customizations they have used for 2 decades.
 
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