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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Anyone remember Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3? If yes, you may know that there was very compact and good interface, including smaller health bars. With this photoshop-concept I want to discuss with your some problems of SC2 interface, that many of you don't care about, but these problems are still in the game. Here you can see C&C3-based UI-concept (Drone with shields is just concept-example, screenshot was taken from HOTS press screenshots)
1. Very big health bars and unclear smooth indication of lost "health-blocks".
Gladly Blizzard introduced damaged-only HP-bars mode, but that did not solve the problem. Look at all RTS and MOBA games - StarCraft 1, Red Alert 1-2-3, C&C3, C&C4, Generals, Supreme Commander, Dawn of War 1 & 2, Dota, LOL, etc - every game with similar camera height has thinny health bars, that don't take half of battle-field space, cluttering everything into messy picture of health-bars parade instead of unit models.
Why Blizzard not used SC1 health-bars? They were under unit and were small and thinny.
![[image loading]](http://www.my-bestgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/starcraft-brood-war-screenshotsstarcraft--brood-war-screenshots-v0j6eyd6.jpg)
2. Widescreen advantage against square-screen players
C&C sidebar from the beginning was the solution to widescreen vs squarescreen players, because everyone had more similar amount of view, and difference was smaller.
3. No more unused space
In SC2 and in many other RTS games with standard bottom UI there are always unused places. For streamers it may be good, but for players, I think, that unused black space can be used for battlefield, or turned into transparent background for UI elements, like selected units.
4. Right-click to remove from selection. This feature is impossible to show on screenshot. If you played C&C3 and RA3, you were able to right-click on selected unit icon and remove it from selection. That was quicker and more comfortable, than Shift-click in StarCraft 1-2. If there can be an UI mod, this feature should be in it.
5. Resources closer to unit descriptions/costs. To minimize unneeded eye "jumping" through screen, C&C3/RA3 resource placement (under minimap) was very good. But if you prefer resources in the corner, then 2nd variant under screenshot is for you. In other word, put the most important thing of the game (resources) closer the the second most important thing in the game (minimap).
6. Colorful resource indication. Instead white minerals / vespene / supply counts, why not make it fit resource color? In unit descriptions, as I remember, costs were colored with blue/green color, which represented minerals and vespene.
Probably removable if resource icons can be a good idea too.
7. Toggle'able between left and right. Everyone remember WarCraft 2 interface? It was on left side, so anyoe who prefers interface on the left side, can like this feature too.
8. Unnecessary buttons removed, and you may remove more. No other RTS have unit group buttons, even StarCraft 1. All players usually keeping in mind their unit groups, and some pro-players turned off these buttons in SC2.
Also social / menu / minimap terrain / players window / transfer resources were removed too. Why not remember hotkey for each? Also some buttons you never use, such as Menu button or minimap terrain.
Keep in mind that the goal is to remake C&C3 interface and create alternative compact UI. There is no purpose to create something better or follow your preferences regarding SC interface, just different and alternative interface with some features.
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interesting ideas, i guess. i don't see any particular major advantages or disadvantages though. it's just an interesting different concept. nothing really bad or wrong about it, but if two ideas are equal you generally stick with the one people are accustomed to and comfortable with.
random thoughts:
-right click deselect would definitely cause overlap/problems with right click move (which is essential)
-i don't agree that there is less "unused space" because basically all you did was move the UI to the right instead of the bottom
-your unit selection card looks like it has a much smaller capacity than the current one and would require clicking through more tabs for mass unit selections in late game
-no one has a square screen anymore so who cares about that?
-if you can already turn off buttons, they aren't a design problem at all
i commend you for forward thinking and offering something different, but i would not personally be interested in switching to this
(i like the health bars though)
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I agree that SC2 interface isn't the best. In the best world we'd have a Supreme Commander kind of UI were you could resize, move, delete, duplicate and choose transparency of all individual elements, and even do it in-game if necessary.
Also even If blizzard do not consider customable UI or even sidebar UI for "competitiveness and fairness" at least having an option for a TOP SCREEN UI should be implemented. In order to keep the minimap in my sphere of interest, I have to keep it near the center of my field of view (thus forgetting resources...) and on some screens like laptops it's nearly impossible or can bring neck pain. And I can't think this feature should take more than a day-man of work.
My biggest chagne I'd ask is this one : 5. Resources closer to unit descriptions/costs. To minimize unneeded eye "jumping" through screen, C&C3/RA3 resource placement (under minimap) was very good. But if you prefer resources in the corner, then 2nd variant under screenshot is for you.
AKA: Put the most important thing of the game (resources) closer the the second most important thing in the game (minimap).
Seriously SCII interface comes from an era (SC1 and BW) where things had to be huge to be distinguishable because of low screen resolution at the time and had to take lot of screen space to reduce the amount of game to render because CPU+GPU were very limited in power. Nowadays those limitations do not exist anymore. Please Blizzard improve your UI like you did with some other usability features.
Thank Existor for bringing up this important, yet it seems taboo subject on the table.
EDIT : On April 05 2014 15:26 Waise wrote:
-no one has a square screen anymore so who cares about that?
That's just plain wrong, yes majority of people have 16x9, but even I have a 16x10 and I'm not alone : http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
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Well, I'm pretty sure every pro finds portraits and the command box totally useless (I know I do...) but it's sort of weird having patches of vision on a screen. In addition, Blizzard would never remove those things, as it would go against their casual appeal technique. It'd also be silly to remove the control groups though, as I'm pretty sure many <Master league players like them. Hell, I even keep them visible (not clickable).
But I wouldn't mind being able to change a setting that shrinks each unit's green selection frame, so that you can fit (see) more of them without having to go through pages...
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Honestly, I like it a lot. On HD screen (16x9) it does make a lot more sense to put all UI stuff on the side rather than bottom/top. Also, combining the resource counts with the minimap is something I wondered why wasn't done since the beginning in SC2. At the time when BW's UI was designed this way, these types of games were not competitive (not at a similar level at least). But when people spend 12+ hours playing such game professionally, you can save them the straining of the eye muscles that they get from constantly viewing top-right--bottom-left. It just doesn't make sense and keeping it just because that's how it was done before is a silly reason. I like the HP bars too.
The thing I didn't like, but it's super easy to fix, is the chat font size - looks way too big in this screenshot at least. I liked that it's also to the side though. Well done!
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I hope blizzard say that modding UI is fine and further encourage it. Current UI and whole menus are bad. Although menus have huge problem with engine, not just UI.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
right click deselect would definitely cause overlap/problems with right click move (which is essential)
Right-click on the interface can can differently. So I don't understand what the problems can be there
your unit selection card looks like it has a much smaller capacity than the current one and would require clicking through more tabs for mass unit selections in late game
It is fully same as in SC2 bottombar. Instead 3x8 here you can see 8x3. Just vertical arrangement.
you can save them the straining of the eye muscles that they get from constantly viewing top-right--bottom-left
This. Almost this.
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I don't think I would move to this, but I see you did a pretty good job with this. If blizzard allowed customizing your UI, and even let you mod it, I would take some of your ideas.
I find it harder to look at the right instad of the bottom, but I suppose you need to get used to it. I don't like the minimap at the top right, I think in the bottom left is kinda perfect. Also it would be good if the resources were at the bottom, since it's closer to the create unit buttons.
Those HP bars are really neat. I like them a lot.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Seems that here most of players never played Command & Conquer games 
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It's funny, when I used to play Age of Empires or C&C I always prefered having the UI on the side.
But now after so many hours of Starcraft, the idea of a sidebar feels so strange.
The concept of it is pretty interesting though, I'd like to see more alternatives to the current UI (even though I understand Blizzard's reluctance to allow custom interfaces for players).
The healthbars seem quite nice, I actually think they might improve the viewing experience of the game if made available for observers.
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On April 05 2014 17:32 Existor wrote:Seems that here most of players never played Command & Conquer games
I played until "hour zero". c&c 4 was pretty bad and I dont like tiberium wars (c&c 5?). the UI of tiberium wars was the best of this game.
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On April 05 2014 18:00 MilLorD wrote:
The healthbars seem quite nice, I actually think they might improve the viewing experience of the game if made available for observers.
That actually a good point, observer UI are so much better than in-game UI and I feel lo could be taken from eg. gameheart.
Lists like Total Units/Building, Production Queue, alert when upgrades near finish or cancelled and even zoom out camera. All those nifty toys that could be very good to have in-game.
And from all the challenge that playing SCII gives, I find fiddling vs lack of good UI most frustrating. Better UI doesn't make the game easier, just easier to handle, and make skill matter more in fights vs opponents that fight vs UI. And those that could argue that it "increase skill ceiling" and thus make the game better, well they still have BW with no multiple selection of buildings, 12 unit selection limit and no saturation numbers. 
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the present sc2 interface is bad , they should have options like
mini map on left or right
increasing the size of the minimap
increasing the size of the resource panel
changing the location of the resource panel
health bars of protoss should be symmetric. The present protoss health bar is asymmetrical the life bar takes more space than the shield bar. I cannot tell when there is 1 shield left because the lifebar overlaps the shield bar.
Your Idea of health bars are perfect. It just needs an option to select whether one wants such health bars above the unit or below the unit.
I wonder why a company as big as blizzard didn't put some of the basic features in game ?
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Dustin Browder doesn't even think about it when he formerly worked for C and C before.LOLOL.
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pretty cool putting the minimap next to the resources!
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Allow players to make and use universal ui skins from scratch I say!
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On April 05 2014 20:59 vaL4r wrote:
Allow players to make and use universal ui skins from scratch I say!
And movable Ui parts can be a good idea too, but that can come only with sc3 probbaly
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Honestly if I had the UI on the side like that, I would go insane. I really did not like C&C interface all that much.
Unfortunately, as soon as you start allowing customizable UIs to this extent, eventually there will be a "best" one, or one that gives a clear advantage for whatever reason. This is why competitive games should enforce a standard UI, imo as it keeps the playing field as even as possible in this facet of the game. It's bad enough I hear stuff like "Oh, he only won because he plays <race>" I don't want to start hearing "Oh, he only one because he uses this <UI element>" -_-
The whole widescreen vs squarescreen argument is frankly ridiculous in 2014.
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Changing the UI of this game is probably the last nail in the coffin.
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why is supply yellow ? I can understand blue / green for mineral / gas but this ..
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On April 07 2014 18:00 TheWisp wrote:
why is supply yellow ? I can understand blue / green for mineral / gas but this ..
Suggest other color? This is just concept, not alpha of new UI, not a screenshot from SC2 UI 2.0, nothing final or pre-final.
This is just concept. All colors can be different, other positions (i.e. UI on right side, movable, etc). Thats your imagination 
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I always disliked the UI of C&C, so not liking this goes without saying.
The resources and supply are supposed to be on the opposite corner of the screen as the minimap. This is all wrong.
Starcraft isn't better like this. Making Starcraft 2 more like C&C is a dishonour to the memory of Broodwar. The UI that we enjoy in SC2 is similar enough to SC/BW (in layout) and has improved functionality (MBS, larger group selection, etc). If that's not enough, then I don't know... Maybe, go play C&C. SC2 has been dumbed down quite enough.
+ Show Spoiler +
I don't get why people want this game to be such a mash-up of so many of the concepts from shittier games. If SC2 is going downhill it isn't because of its classic UI, it's because of flaky users who'd rather be playing other games, and there's nothing that Blizzard should do to appease them. They'll eventually move on. SC2 isn't going to have some crazy influx of players with staying power all of a sudden, just because of customizable UI; Christ, the free arcade thing barely more got people playing... As long as Blizzard delivers an expansion that isn't shit, most of us are perfectly fine.
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Having everything on the right side always seemed super fugly and pointless to me. I figured moving most of the UI to the bottom was one of the biggest achievements in RTS history and I don't think having nostalgia over any game should ruin that progress.
I'd much rather see an interface that only displayed minimap + the thing that shows you what is selected + supply etc. + gametimer. That one would increase viewable space and actually improve on the fact that SC2's UI covers up way too much space.
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Having a widescreen as opposed to a square screen is much better for the player as it allows them to see much more of what is going on. This is probably the only large disadvantage to the UI though (oh, and the fact that it won't happen).
I personally don't like it one bit but it still looks pretty good. Nice concept.
The UI would have to stay constant for ladder in order to keep the game fair so I don't see any change in UI happening ever.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On April 08 2014 04:03 dUTtrOACh wrote:I always disliked the UI of C&C, so not liking this goes without saying. The resources and supply are supposed to be on the opposite corner of the screen as the minimap. This is all wrong. Starcraft isn't better like this. Making Starcraft 2 more like C&C is a dishonour to the memory of Broodwar. The UI that we enjoy in SC2 is similar enough to SC/BW (in layout) and has improved functionality (MBS, larger group selection, etc). If that's not enough, then I don't know... Maybe, go play C&C. SC2 has been dumbed down quite enough. + Show Spoiler +
I don't get why people want this game to be such a mash-up of so many of the concepts from shittier games. If SC2 is going downhill it isn't because of its classic UI, it's because of flaky users who'd rather be playing other games, and there's nothing that Blizzard should do to appease them. They'll eventually move on. SC2 isn't going to have some crazy influx of players with staying power all of a sudden, just because of customizable UI; Christ, the free arcade thing barely more got people playing... As long as Blizzard delivers an expansion that isn't shit, most of us are perfectly fine.
Resources and minimap are not supposed nor dissaposed to be on opposite corners of screen. Both have pros and cons.
First of all - many players are more familliar with current SC2 layout since they're playing StarCraft and StarCraft 2 for such long time, so they will not be able and don't want to adopt to something different. It's like black and white chess board for them, that can't be red and green for example. I understand that.
But on other side, there are some points and reasons behind C&C interface, which was better in some cases. One of these reasons - unnecessary eye jumps between minimap, unit costs and resources (or minimap/resources only for pro-players).
This is alternate variant that tries to improve this moment. Second one is that many C&C, that are playing StarCraft 2 right now, will be glad to have some sort of customization, since not everyone thinkgs that bottombar is good and that current UI is ideal. Most of us just accepted and adopted to what we have now and had in BroodWar. But I want to remember you, that BroodWar was not developed as CyberSport game, it had weird interface, ugly controlling mechanic and some other not so ideal things. This ca turn into long debate about SC vs C&C and I think, it's not need to start discuss in this area again, since both games had some good and bad stuff. Just C&C got bad developers and not so good situation with Electronic Arts, but this thread is not about them or C&C at all.
In this thread you can see just a CONCEPT, imagination through pixels and photoshop, and nothing more. This is not a candidate to UI Contest for StarCraft 2, this is not a fake-teaser of next content patch for SC2 with overhauled UI, and this is not something real. This is just discussion about "What if it can look differently? What if SC2 looked like this instead of that? Does it solves current problems or good ideas and/or does it adds new ones?"
And please, stop defence SC2 like I'm a new senior/UI/etc designer, that came to the game and teasering you what I will do next patch. Lets discuss it in more constructive and positive tone
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Having a widescreen as opposed to a square screen is much better for the player as it allows them to see much more of what is going on. This is probably the only large disadvantage to the UI though (oh, and the fact that it won't happen).
I personally don't like it one bit but it still looks pretty good. Nice concept.
The UI would have to stay constant for ladder in order to keep the game fair so I don't see any change in UI happening ever.
Best case is a corner-UI, which was in Battle for Middle Earth. The most compact and smallest UI with buttons and unit portrait/data nearby.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ih1U8gu.jpg)
This corner-UI is just ideal for me. It solves all the problems for both - bottombad and sidebar at same time. No more unused black spaces, no square screen and no problem with positioning minimap and getting advantage from it, since it covers exactly same space on screen no matter where it is located - top right or bottom left. Also most MOBA players will be able to put minimap in "their" corner - bottom right.
So imagine that SC2 will improve even more some time in future, someone from MOBAs will retire / switch / try to RTS like SC2, and woah, there is an ability to put minimap like they had before.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Also what do you think about health-bars?
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I don't want to imagine the amount of downtime we'd get in tournaments if players were allowed to customise the UI to their liking.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On April 08 2014 04:29 maartendq wrote:
I don't want to imagine the amount of downtime we'd get in tournaments if players were allowed to customise the UI to their liking.
Ehm, you're thinking in a strange direction.
1. Tournaments can disable these custom UIs, if these UIs will be implemented to the game at all.
2. Pro players can configure and adopt to their own UIs long time before tournament happens. It's like customized hotkeys, keyboard, mouse or graphic settings.
3. There can be premade UI with different layouts, so not much customization and these UIs can be balanced between eachother in terms of vision, and other stuff.
4. Many players don't look at UI at all, except minimap and resource tikers. They don't need command card with Move / Hold / Stop buttons, they already mechanically memorized all the hotkeys for each unit, spell or command.
5. UI can be improved in some way. Instead Shift-clicking on unit icon on the UI to remove it from selection, just right-click on that unit icon without holding any aditional keys. Or allow Windows-selection, i.e. holding Ctrl and squaring units will deselect them, like you're deselecting folders and files.
6. Select army button was already implemented. Whats wrong can be with implementing buttons like "Select army on screen", "Select same unit type" instead of double or ctrl clicking on unit?
Sc2 was improved since SC1, so what's the problem to further improve SC2? MOBAs are on improvement route too: Dota, Lol, Heroes of the Storm, Infinite Crisis... remember how it began? There were no replays, no streams inside the game, no custom skins (and I believe everyone SCREAMED that custom skins will ruin the game because of unreadability of each hero that will look differently).
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On April 08 2014 04:21 Existor wrote:Show nested quote +On April 08 2014 04:03 dUTtrOACh wrote:I always disliked the UI of C&C, so not liking this goes without saying. The resources and supply are supposed to be on the opposite corner of the screen as the minimap. This is all wrong. Starcraft isn't better like this. Making Starcraft 2 more like C&C is a dishonour to the memory of Broodwar. The UI that we enjoy in SC2 is similar enough to SC/BW (in layout) and has improved functionality (MBS, larger group selection, etc). If that's not enough, then I don't know... Maybe, go play C&C. SC2 has been dumbed down quite enough. + Show Spoiler +
I don't get why people want this game to be such a mash-up of so many of the concepts from shittier games. If SC2 is going downhill it isn't because of its classic UI, it's because of flaky users who'd rather be playing other games, and there's nothing that Blizzard should do to appease them. They'll eventually move on. SC2 isn't going to have some crazy influx of players with staying power all of a sudden, just because of customizable UI; Christ, the free arcade thing barely more got people playing... As long as Blizzard delivers an expansion that isn't shit, most of us are perfectly fine.
Resources and minimap are not supposed nor dissaposed to be on opposite corners of screen. Both have pros and cons. First of all - many players are more familliar with current SC2 layout since they're playing StarCraft and StarCraft 2 for such long time, so they will not be able and don't want to adopt to something different. It's like black and white chess board for them, that can't be red and green for example. I understand that. But on other side, there are some points and reasons behind C&C interface, which was better in some cases. One of these reasons - unnecessary eye jumps between minimap, unit costs and resources (or minimap/resources only for pro-players). This is alternate variant that tries to improve this moment. Second one is that many C&C, that are playing StarCraft 2 right now, will be glad to have some sort of customization, since not everyone thinkgs that bottombar is good and that current UI is ideal. Most of us just accepted and adopted to what we have now and had in BroodWar. But I want to remember you, that BroodWar was not developed as CyberSport game, it had weird interface, ugly controlling mechanic and some other not so ideal things. This ca turn into long debate about SC vs C&C and I think, it's not need to start discuss in this area again, since both games had some good and bad stuff. Just C&C got bad developers and not so good situation with Electronic Arts, but this thread is not about them or C&C at all. In this thread you can see just a CONCEPT, imagination through pixels and photoshop, and nothing more. This is not a candidate to UI Contest for StarCraft 2, this is not a fake-teaser of next content patch for SC2 with overhauled UI, and this is not something real. This is just discussion about "What if it can look differently? What if SC2 looked like this instead of that? Does it solves current problems or good ideas and/or does it adds new ones?" And please, stop defence SC2 like I'm a new senior/UI/etc designer, that came to the game and teasering you what I will do next patch. Lets discuss it in more constructive and positive tone
Yes, I fully understand that it's a concept.
No, the resources and supply are supposed to be on opposite corners. That's the way Starcraft is. It is intentionally difficult to manage map-awareness and resource management. That one simple thing is a major factor in why the SC2 UI is so similar to SC/BW. It's proven to be more challenging to the player to not be able to get all your information from one corner of the screen. Everything that creates a higher skill ceiling in this game is good, because Blizzard has lowered the ceiling significantly in many other aspects.
It's not that EA has shit developers and Blizzard doesn't. Both companies have people with good ideas and bad ideas. If anyone is moving in a worse direction, I feel it's Blizzard. That's another discussion entirely.
I understand you're playing an imagination card. So am I. Imagine we get a bunch of superficial changes next expansion, that only make a few people happy, while the quality of the game itself suffers as a result of the time it takes to make all these pointless changes.
I'm not defending the game to you like you work for Blizzard. I'm fully aware that you're just... some... guy... I'm actually asking you to consider why Blizzard made Starcraft 2 more like Starcraft 1 than any other RTS. It's not because they're lazy; it's because Starcraft 1 is fucking awesome, and because history will always hold it in higher regard than Command & Conquer.
I really do understand the difference between a concept and an implemented or even prototype change. I also know the difference between a positive tone and a negative one. If you expect criticism to come gift-wrapped in marshmallows with sugar-kisses, then I'm sorry, but this is about as positive as my criticism gets.
a). The C&C UI is outdated, overly simplistic, and ugly. There is a certain distasteful asymmetry to it that I can't overlook. It feels like an overlay or pause menu rather than a dashboard / console.
b). This UI "concept" as you call it isn't actually your "concept". You took another UI and super-imposed the artistic style and UI elements from SC2 into it. A "concept" is more original than this. I can think of much more negative words than concept, but let's just say this idea is borrowed.
c). I don't need to defend Starcraft 2 from you. I only feel like you need to consider the repercussions of a community that wastes energy on fluff, when what this game needs is some meaty ideas that actually make it better, ideas that make it stand even further above all other RTS.
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Having the minimap on the top seems bad. Players tend to have better mouse control on downward motions, hence why players usually box top left to bottom right. Since the minimap requires decent precision it's better if players are pulling in the mouse in a downward motion rather than pushing the mouse away.
One neat thing about SC2/BW's UI is how often the mouse fluidly moves in triangular shapes. Take a common action: box selecting a bunch of units and moving them somewhere far way. With the standard boxing motion and minimap location players will make the following triangle:
middle-ish/top-left -> bottom-right to box units -> bottom-left to minimap* -> middle to select new units/issue new action/whatever.
*either moving camera or issuing movement command against minimap
The proposed UI would still have triangles for something like selecting units -> moving them, but it still has the up/down problem. Notably with the current UI the change in direction when boxing -> going to minimap is left/right change which is a far more controlled and quicker and easier change than changing from going down -> up. With the current UI you have the advantage of making motions more like down-right -> straight left-> up-right which is much more controlled than what you'd get with going from down-right -> up-right.
Anyways the point is you need to think about player motions more so than what looks pretty. Coming to a full stop and reversing direction, the differences in a player's ability to control in different directions, and what larger motions they'll be making should all be the forefront of a UI design for something as fast paced as an RTS.
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Why not just make the minimal observer interface a playable interface?
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I would not be opposed to completely customizable UI's, similar to WoW. I do believe this is allowed in WoW arenas? I could see it potentially opening the door for exploits/hacks, which might be a problem, but it would be cool to pick your own UI- I think I would like something more like Warcraft2 with the resources closer to the minimap.
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On April 08 2014 05:16 TheFish7 wrote:
I would not be opposed to completely customizable UI's, similar to WoW. I do believe this is allowed in WoW arenas? I could see it potentially opening the door for exploits/hacks, which might be a problem, but it would be cool to pick your own UI- I think I would like something more like Warcraft2 with the resources closer to the minimap.
At the same time, the default UI for WoW is clunky as hell. Anybody using it in a competitive environment (even if it's just BGs or arenas) is at a disadvantage against players. We don't really have that problem with the SC2 UI... honestly, for the way it works, SC2's default UI is pretty damn close to perfect.
I have no objection to variations of the UI in customs. Hell, if a mod like a Starbow or whatever becomes popular and has a radically different UI to SC2's SC/BW, then power to the creator(s) of the mod. As long as Blizzard is facilitating content creators, accepting the fact that we all ladder on even terms is legit.
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Canada11522 Posts
On April 08 2014 04:27 Existor wrote:
Also what do you think about health-bars?
I'm a fan of changing the healthbars to below and have been for some time:
+ Show Spoiler +On March 26 2012 08:27 Falling wrote:Yes! Someone else did the work I was going to try to do. To me it's becomes the Battle of the Health Bars and it's a Blizzard design issue. Take a look at the difference: Current ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GYcsk.jpg) Potential ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GnvyA.jpg) Now you could tweak it a bit because I think the second one is a little too hard to see with the workers' healthbars, but I think it's the right idea. Taken from here: http://sc2pod.com/trackers/blue/starcraft-2/?id=4199See the problem is any army with depth, the overlap that you see is just more healthbars where the actual unit is hidden. This is further exacerbated with unit clumping. I think it also has to do with our tendency (at least in English) to read from the top of the page to the bottom. I'm pretty sure we perceive what's on top before what's on bottom. With it on top, it just looks way too busy and it's hard to register the individual parts you are seeing as it just becomes a mass of green, yellow, and red lights, combined with attack animation.
Of all the things to change, this I think is the biggest bang for your buck. It would immediately clear the screen of noise so you could see the actual units. This would allow viewers to parse what they are seeing with some hope of comprehending what is going on. I know hardcore fans want healthbars on all the time. But it's the visual equivalent of having a stream of background numbers flashing like a bunch of christmas lights in the centre of the screen. The wrong thing dominates, whereas having the healthbars underneath, subordinates the healthbar (especially if you read top to bottom) because it is overlapping units, not overlapping healthbars that you see.
Basically healthbars on top clutters the screen and I don't think SC2 is as easy to view casually as people have assumed- one reason for it being healthbars above.
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^^^
Despite them being a little small for my liking (mostly for the buildings - perhaps thicker bars on buildings and thumbs up), that really does look a lot better with the bars underneath.
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^the smooth bars instead of segmented are really really nice too, i like that. i can't even explain it but just seeing it makes me feel "right" inside, lol. that sounds weird but i dunno how else to phrase it. it feels like it brings the interface out of 1998 and into a modern graphical style
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Canada11522 Posts
On April 08 2014 05:52 dUTtrOACh wrote:
^^^
Despite them being a little small for my liking (mostly for the buildings - perhaps thicker bars on buildings and thumbs up), that really does look a lot better with the bars underneath.
Yeah, the bars are a bit too thin. But I think the principle of it is understandable.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/UMG5mWB.jpg)
