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Basic UI Design Issues that need to be fixed.
ruinsfate
Member Posts: 58 Arc User
Having recently joined this game, I am greatly enjoying it, except for some very major issues in the UI. These are very basic things that greatly frustrate me, and impede my enjoyment of the game. They are also very basic usability and UI design issues. Here are the most major offenders:
The Repair Screen (Injury UI): Why does this clunky, over-designed piece of junk even exist? Double clicking the relevant regen/component should just remove one injury debuff from you, done. Having to open a menu, select the injury, the number of injuries, click okay, repeat, then close the menu is several steps too many. Simplicity!
The Mail Screen: Mostly simple, standard and functional except for one thing: The dropdown suggesting characters when I have input a @handle needs to time out, or disappear on clicking something else. Currently, it blocks the subject field except for a small area of pixels at the bottom left. It can be gotten around by entering subject first, but it's still a very basic piece of UI design that should be implemented.
Non stacking conversation windows: Some windows are considered 'conversations' when they really don't need to be. This is most noticable in the duty officer interface, department head recommendations. Opening the Replicator to get commodities closes the department. Why? It doesn't need to, and for someone like me who tends to forget whether they needed 2 Self Sealing Stem Bolts or 3, it just means more circular clicking.
Mudd Trader! Related to the above, it is EXTREMELY annoying to have this guy pop up in Sirius Sector when I'm trying to buy commodities from another trader or fill out doff missions. I wasn't talking to him, I don't want his wares, quite honestly, I want to blow his ship into tiny little bits of space debris for bothering me. His 'closing up shop' trigger should ONLY be given to those who were actually conversing with him.
Inconsistency of Menu Availability: Beam down to Starfleet Academy from anywhere, but I have to get close to dock with Earthspace Dock. Ditto for Qo'nos. I can beam out from SFA / KA to anywhere, but everywhere else uses the normal Beam Out button by the minimap, except the Fleet Starbase where I can only beam out on the transporter pad. Pick one design and stick to it, please.
Inconsistency of NPC interaction range: If I walk up to the personal officer in Starfleet Academy, it's because I want to talk to her, not Lt Fera behind her. Many times I've run up and hit F and gotten the wrong NPC. Same for the datachip dispensing library computer. I'm sure there are other examples out there. Please adjust the interaction range for these NPCs to be consistent.
UI Options that should be On by default, aren't: Keep Moving During Contact Dialogues is one of them - I got killed many times by being unable to move thanks to a conversation popping up until another player told me I could change it. Spaceship weapon autofire should also be on by default. This isn't Diablo, I don't need to spam click to fire.
More documentation of options: Related to the above: I didn't know about gun autofire until about 4 days after I started playing, when I found it by accidentally right clicking. I didn't know about the contact dialogue thing at all til another player told me. Some of these things really could stand to have better help text referencing them.
More major issue: Red on orange on yellow on red: Yeap, the KDF UI in general. It's horrible, to be honest. It gives me eye strain, and I can't play KDF for more than a couple of hours. Anecdotal, but I hear a lot of players in game with similar complaints. Many games offer the ability to customise UI colours, or go for neutral tones like grays, browns and soft golds. I accept that Red is lore based, and proper for a KDF ship, but for the sake of playability the option should be there to change it. A simple "Use Federation Colour Scheme" in the options menu would be all it takes.
These are mostly little things, but they are very basic elements of usability and user-friendliness. They add up to a very frustrating experience with the game some times. I really enjoy it, since it's one of the better space combat MMo - space combat games in general really - out at the moment. But it could be so much better if these little things were fixed.
The Repair Screen (Injury UI): Why does this clunky, over-designed piece of junk even exist? Double clicking the relevant regen/component should just remove one injury debuff from you, done. Having to open a menu, select the injury, the number of injuries, click okay, repeat, then close the menu is several steps too many. Simplicity!
The Mail Screen: Mostly simple, standard and functional except for one thing: The dropdown suggesting characters when I have input a @handle needs to time out, or disappear on clicking something else. Currently, it blocks the subject field except for a small area of pixels at the bottom left. It can be gotten around by entering subject first, but it's still a very basic piece of UI design that should be implemented.
Non stacking conversation windows: Some windows are considered 'conversations' when they really don't need to be. This is most noticable in the duty officer interface, department head recommendations. Opening the Replicator to get commodities closes the department. Why? It doesn't need to, and for someone like me who tends to forget whether they needed 2 Self Sealing Stem Bolts or 3, it just means more circular clicking.
Mudd Trader! Related to the above, it is EXTREMELY annoying to have this guy pop up in Sirius Sector when I'm trying to buy commodities from another trader or fill out doff missions. I wasn't talking to him, I don't want his wares, quite honestly, I want to blow his ship into tiny little bits of space debris for bothering me. His 'closing up shop' trigger should ONLY be given to those who were actually conversing with him.
Inconsistency of Menu Availability: Beam down to Starfleet Academy from anywhere, but I have to get close to dock with Earthspace Dock. Ditto for Qo'nos. I can beam out from SFA / KA to anywhere, but everywhere else uses the normal Beam Out button by the minimap, except the Fleet Starbase where I can only beam out on the transporter pad. Pick one design and stick to it, please.
Inconsistency of NPC interaction range: If I walk up to the personal officer in Starfleet Academy, it's because I want to talk to her, not Lt Fera behind her. Many times I've run up and hit F and gotten the wrong NPC. Same for the datachip dispensing library computer. I'm sure there are other examples out there. Please adjust the interaction range for these NPCs to be consistent.
UI Options that should be On by default, aren't: Keep Moving During Contact Dialogues is one of them - I got killed many times by being unable to move thanks to a conversation popping up until another player told me I could change it. Spaceship weapon autofire should also be on by default. This isn't Diablo, I don't need to spam click to fire.
More documentation of options: Related to the above: I didn't know about gun autofire until about 4 days after I started playing, when I found it by accidentally right clicking. I didn't know about the contact dialogue thing at all til another player told me. Some of these things really could stand to have better help text referencing them.
More major issue: Red on orange on yellow on red: Yeap, the KDF UI in general. It's horrible, to be honest. It gives me eye strain, and I can't play KDF for more than a couple of hours. Anecdotal, but I hear a lot of players in game with similar complaints. Many games offer the ability to customise UI colours, or go for neutral tones like grays, browns and soft golds. I accept that Red is lore based, and proper for a KDF ship, but for the sake of playability the option should be there to change it. A simple "Use Federation Colour Scheme" in the options menu would be all it takes.
These are mostly little things, but they are very basic elements of usability and user-friendliness. They add up to a very frustrating experience with the game some times. I really enjoy it, since it's one of the better space combat MMo - space combat games in general really - out at the moment. But it could be so much better if these little things were fixed.
Post edited by ruinsfate on
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Comments
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I'd like to see the next Ask Cryptic to have a question asking for comprehensive quality-of-life improvements.
Expanded upon your "map travel" suggestion, as well as provided a few examples of how it currently is ingame, and how it could behave in the future. I'll attempt to update my topic later today (hopefully after some additional comments have been made).
Especially the Klingon color ui
For pets sake give us color options
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
For all the good it will do, players have been complaining about the Klingon UI and sometimes the Federation one for a long time and so far other than vague comments in devblogs about how they are investigating it, nothing.
A comprehensive players guide for game configuration is sadly needed, it's possible to search the forums or ask questions there, some good people can and do offer help, but it still involves looking through a maze of random comments, outright insults and useless trivia to find useful information. There is the Star Trek wiki but no one yet has taken the time to compile a user guide for game configuration there.
The game incorporates no UI modification ability, otherwise there are many enterprising users that would have by now designed UIs far superior to any of Cryptic's offerings.
UI mod support is something Cryptic should seriously consider, it would allow users to create UIs to their own tastes whilst relieving Cryptic of the time and effort of designing UIs that may or may not suit everyone's desires. The added benefits of allowing users to make a direct useful contribution to the game should be self evident.
Makes the game hard to control when I am looking to mouse something (even though I am primarily a keyboard kid) and the panel is aligned wrong, and is separate to boot.
Eve
Devs, please review the above. Currently this UI is taking the player AWAY from playing the game, at least more than it really should. Here we are at Season 7 and I believe that most of these issues still exist and now MORE!
As stated above as the "Repair Screen", Season 7 has thankfully introduced the new ship/shuttle default selections ability, but now the repair UI has gotten even more clunky. Now EVERY TIME you need to repair your ship, you must select between the shuttle and the ship to select which one to do the repair on!
Really... the Captain does not have to stand over the Doctors/Engineers shoulders telling them to repair each and every item... Just fix it.
This has got to go, Devs. There is no reason for this. The player is obviously sitting in one ship (at least when you are in space) and does not care about the OTHER one when he/she is in battle that he/she is NOT FLYING!
SUGGESTIONS for the REPAIR UI:
1. The character/ship repair UI is an extra window that should not exist. Fixing characters/BOffs and ships should be done directly under that characters status window. There should be enough room in the existing UI for a group of Fix-It buttons:
2. List each item that needs to be fixed as a "Fix-It' button with a quantity up/down control next to it defaulted to the TOTAL failed items of this type that needs to fixed.
3. To fix a single item, single click on that "Fix-It" button to repair it.
4. Besides the individual items to repair, include a "REPAIR ALL" Fix-It button that fixes all types of failed items WITHOUT any further prompts or windows.
5. This can all be streamlined further and have a "REPAIR EVERYONE" button on the left side of the character status window that fixes all the ships and characters with one click!
BAM! Done! Captain says, "Engineering, GET ON IT!"
This streamlines the UI, gets rid of the 2 or 3 extra windows and reduces the numbers of clicks from about 5 to 20 down to... ONLY 1 click.
PLEASE look toward streamlining the UI in Season 7.
Thanks!
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
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The opinions expressed in my posts are my own views and do not reflect on any other entity(s) or person(s) I may or may not represent at the time.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
I thought in general, game developers/runners don't allow any third party software to be made and used in conjunction with their games, but there are ones where mods/programs have been made despite this.
I can understand not wanting cheaters, but say for simple things like the OP said.
Doing this and then double clicking on "Federation Minefield" will sign you up for the "Azure Nebula Rescue"
World of ******** (LOL, I can't believe it's a banned word) has extensive modding capabilities built in that allow users to change how the game window appears, map aids, inventory management, macro control, etc. They don't change how the game works but because they do make it easier for users to use and understand existing game functions, users with mods benefit. It's not cheating since the mods and the knowledge on how to make and implement them are available to all.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
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I can't remember the last time I was that angry that quickly.
Without the opt-out, this queue just doesn't work like any of the others, and frankly, the in-sector space 'F'-spam buttons are redundant as hell. Got that same problem now with the Arucanis Arm and Hromi Cluster nebula systems, which aside from having inconsistent interaction ranges (getting into Hromi requires you to limber up first) are way too close to the sector space borders. This means the hurried traveler who's not paying close attention, or just has bad timing, might go where he means to. So fine, you go back, try again, and exiting Hromi you get close enough (though not quite) to where you were, but exiting Tau Dewa, you're at the Regulus-Alpha Centauri border all of a sudden.
This place is a mess, really. IP to AC, you come out pointing north, right where you came from, which is just awesome when you're looking to get some use out of that 60 second transwarp on your Odyssey. Some of the borders in sector space still display the name of a sector other than the one they're bordering on. And it doesn't matter which way you're leaving Sirius in as a KDF marauder, according to the popup, all roads lead back to Sirius.
They had the time and resources to make the UI worse than it was with the introduction of S7, seemingly without much delay, now we have to wait for an undetermined time in the furture to get it fixed? Dan needs to invest in some dedicated change control people who respect the users/code and love StarTrek. As it is, the game seems to be sliding backwards in terms of bugs. How can that be in this day and age, with a game based on a major IP?