Suggestions for the UI

[SugeBearX]

First off, let me say that any suggestions I make are offered in the spirit of making the game as fun and accessible for players as possible. Hopefully this results in an awesome game that makes loads of cash for the company and development team. I believed in this game enough to purchase it with no guarantee it will ever even be published and I am committed to contributing to the project as much or as little as the dev team requires. Just let me know if you want me to throttle it up or down. Hopefully, my suggestions will be constructive and beneficial.

The user interface is my white whale. I actually squeal in delight when a complex game gives me an easy and intuitive means of interaction…I know, I should get a life right? In 4x games the UI, with a few notable exceptions, generally ranges from catastrophically bad to functionally acceptable. This has always baffled me, as it can be argued that ease of use in the interactions between players and the game is the single most important feature for a game to get right. In my humble opinion Horizon is currently in the functionally acceptable range…here are some suggestions that I believe will take the UI to the “notable exception” tier.

Galaxy Map
• Should be able to have fleet and colony tabs open simultaneously…UI should remember where each tab was last opened and open them in the same position until moved by the player
• Last tab opened should be on top of all others by default
• Could implement arrows on the sector layout tab to facilitate fast cycling through colonized sectors
• Could implement arrows in the galaxy map view to facilitate fast cycling through fleets currently without orders. This could alternatively be accomplished through the implementation of a units without orders popup icon. (I like this solution…personally Warlock: Master of the Arcane handled all important events in this fashion and with the exception of the turn lock in that game, I found it to be the most user friendly 4x game in history)
• Legend tab could be slightly slimmer to accommodate more convenient placement in 1024 x 768 resolution (Unfortunately some of us have visual disabilities and must play in lower resolutions so we can read the text in the UI…The UI should be designed to fit as unobtrusively as possible at lower resolutions…or options for increasing text sizes at higher resolutions could be implemented)
• Could implement a toggle switch next to each individual planet on the sector tab to open a quick view of ships currently in orbit (This would be a great tool for sector defense organization)
• Could implement a method of making silly people who don't read the entire manual before playing that you can order a survey of whole systems by selecting the star. It would be excellent if the option to queue the order in which planets were surveyed when utilizing this...but that may also be an insane OCD idea too.

Planet Screen
• Could implement a viewing area for orbiting ships (A must for uncolonized worlds at the very least…see below) Could implement a switch to toggle ships in orbit view or troops view if the current UI would be to cluttered with both
• Could implement arrows on the system tab to facilitate fast cycling through colonized systems (Eliminates the extra step of having to go to the galaxy map to do so)

Last Turn Event Screen
• Could change layout and/or reduce redundant information

Ex: Current Format:

>> Knowledge of Changling suits (Bug: No graphic asset for Changling Suits…Nitpick: suits should be capitalized here) has been discovered from the Wonder Machines on Gurz VII. (Click takes us to planet view)
>> Our scientists have discovered Changling Suits. (Note: Suits is capitalized here) (Click takes us to research details)

Ex: Suggested Format

>> Knowledge of Changling Suits has been discovered from the Wonder Machines on Gurz VII. (Click takes us to planet view with a button to open the research details for the benefit we received from the planetary discovery…this view should also contain the orbiting ships view to facilitate the ability to quickly select the unit who completed the task to provide new orders)
• Our scientists have discovered Changling suits. (Click still takes us to research details)

By displaying the discovery of Changling Suits as a subtopic of the Wonder Machines discovery we have made the presentation cleaner and given an easy visual representation of the association between the two events. Additionally, we have presented the player with maximally efficient player actions.

Ex 2: Current Format:

>> 4l Runner(T125) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)
>> 4l Runner(T133) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)
>> 4l Runner(T125) has finished surveying Tanian I. (Click takes us to planet view)
>> 4l Runner(T133) has finished surveying Tashir IV. (Click takes us to planet view)

Ex 2: Suggested Format:

>> 4l Runner(T125) has finished surveying Tanian I. (Click takes us to planet view with added buttons for orbiting ships and research details if applicable)
• 4l Runner(T125) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)
>> 4l Runner(T133) has finished surveying Tashir IV. (Click takes us to planet view with added buttons for orbiting ships and research details if applicable)
• 4l Runner(T133) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)

By reorganizing the display and providing new planet screen options we have cleaned up the presentation and afforded the player with the opportunity to maximize the efficiency of his/her activities. That is all I have for the UI at the moment. Thoughts?

Edited to add survey suggestion under Galaxy Map section.

[Fairin]

wait the legend button does something?

[Madbiologist]

Ex 2: Current Format:

>> 4l Runner(T125) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)
>> 4l Runner(T133) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)
>> 4l Runner(T125) has finished surveying Tanian I. (Click takes us to planet view)
>> 4l Runner(T133) has finished surveying Tashir IV. (Click takes us to planet view)

Ex 2: Suggested Format:

>> 4l Runner(T125) has finished surveying Tanian I. (Click takes us to planet view with added buttons for orbiting ships and research details if applicable)
• 4l Runner(T125) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)
>> 4l Runner(T133) has finished surveying Tashir IV. (Click takes us to planet view with added buttons for orbiting ships and research details if applicable)
• 4l Runner(T133) awaits new orders. (Click takes us to unit)

By reorganizing the display and providing new planet screen options we have cleaned up the presentation and afforded the player with the opportunity to maximize the efficiency of his/her activities. That is all I have for the UI at the moment. Thoughts?

Edited to add survey suggestion under Galaxy Map section.

I would have to strongly disagree with this last one. Mostly because you can survey more than one planet at a time (hope you know that, click on survey and then star, you will do the whole system, doing 2-3 planets per turn). In your new format the menu will show a bunch of surveyed worlds and then the ship waiting for new orders, then again for the next ship, and then have ships who are still on survey system with no awaiting order prompt. This will force you to scroll down a long list to get each ship actions before you can boss the ship around. Even if you make those that have an await an order take priority, the 2-3 entries each of surveyed worlds will make the list still longer to access for the next part I will discuss.

The current priority system assigns waiting for orders and newly built ships on the top. Which I do strongly prefer, I can click on the ship and make sure all my ships are doing something. As I complete a survey and click on the ship, I get the sector view which does show in the sidebar if there are any ruins or stuff to dig, so I can at a glance issue dig orders to those worlds. Never needing to look at the planet screen itself unless I want to (which I can access from the sector view when ordering the ship).

I find the current way makes it easier to command your now idle ships, and makes it faster at a glance to know where to dig (since you can see if more than 1 planet has a dig site from the sector view). Also, since you do go to the sector view when you select the ship you can always manually check the planets from there (since objects of note are also listed on the sector view).

You other suggestions are interesting, this one just tripped a 'gah... no! that will make it worst!' reaction out of me. Sorry.

I still don't understand why ship in orbit is important, fleets are commanded from the sector as a whole. In combat the whole sector is the playground, and from sector view you get all the TFs in the sector and a view of the planets in there as well. Not sure what jumping to ships in orbit would add. Unless you mean you can jump straight to the sector view from those screens without being taking back to the end turn screen, in which case I fully agree, a button like that would be awesome.

I do agree the UI and the ways to manage things could be significantly improved, those were just the two things I wanted to touch on about from your suggestions.

[SugeBearX]

I still don't understand why ship in orbit is important, fleets are commanded from the sector as a whole. In combat the whole sector is the playground, and from sector view you get all the TFs in the sector and a view of the planets in there as well. Not sure what jumping to ships in orbit would add. Unless you mean you can jump straight to the sector view from those screens without being taking back to the end turn screen, in which case I fully agree, a button like that would be awesome.

It's about tactical setup. I admit I have very little experience with combat thus far, so please correct me if I am wrong, but when going into sector tactical combat your ships starting positions are determined by where they are orbiting in the sector, correct? If this is the case, a more convenient method of viewing what ships are in orbit where would be handy for sector defense tactical preparation.

[SugeBearX]

I would have to strongly disagree with this last one. Mostly because you can survey more than one planet at a time (hope you know that, click on survey and then star, you will do the whole system, doing 2-3 planets per turn). In your new format the menu will show a bunch of surveyed worlds and then the ship waiting for new orders, then again for the next ship, and then have ships who are still on survey system with no awaiting order prompt. This will force you to scroll down a long list to get each ship actions before you can boss the ship around. Even if you make those that have an await an order take priority, the 2-3 entries each of surveyed worlds will make the list still longer to access for the next part I will discuss.

The current priority system assigns waiting for orders and newly built ships on the top. Which I do strongly prefer, I can click on the ship and make sure all my ships are doing something. As I complete a survey and click on the ship, I get the sector view which does show in the sidebar if there are any ruins or stuff to dig, so I can at a glance issue dig orders to those worlds. Never needing to look at the planet screen itself unless I want to (which I can access from the sector view when ordering the ship).

I find the current way makes it easier to command your now idle ships, and makes it faster at a glance to know where to dig (since you can see if more than 1 planet has a dig site from the sector view). Also, since you do go to the sector view when you select the ship you can always manually check the planets from there (since objects of note are also listed on the sector view).

Clearly we have different ideas about how we would like our information disseminated and organized...which is a good thing. (The world would be really boring if we all thought the same way ) Perhaps the devs could work out a system where we could customize how this info is presented? As it stands now, I find the way the information is presented jarringly disassociated.

[Madbiologist]

Ah I see, as in for information. Now I think the best you have is seeing around which worlds your TFs are positioned by a hovering empire icon in the sector view. So unless you give them the order to orbit, they will be spread around or clumped somewhere in the corner of the tactical sector (and as far as I know, I don't know if you can see where an individual ship is in a TF, unless it is on its own). So having a way to see what ship is where, without needing to jump into the tactical view mode or mousing over ships individually; that can be useful.

I was looking at the scenario from the command and control angle. Where I tend to group my TF into roles. So if I want a certain TF to guard Earth, I would group the ships together and then give the Orbit -> Earth command, so they are neatly there the next turn (which will be shown by the floaty icon floating over Earth alone).

I really like the Sector view feature, though I admit some better controls and information feedback would be nice. Perhaps they should have a tutorial video explaining how to utilise the sector view to its full advantage. I know they have a few gameplay ones for the galaxy map. Also, explaining it better in the manual. I personally like it, but it is not what a lot of people are used to in a 4X game (and even then, as I said, still room for improvements).

Clearly we have different ideas about how we would like our information disseminated and organized...which is a good thing. (The world would be really boring if we all thought the same way ) Perhaps the devs could work out a system where we could customize how this info is presented? As it stands now, I find the way the information is presented jarringly disassociated.

I think one of us prefers the top down approach, while the other is the down up approach (or in this case, unit centric versus task centric). Both equally valid, naturally a game will favour one style over the other (developer bias and also you don't want half your game to just be code for the UI ), but it doesn't mean the person who prefers the other approach should be left out in the dark. Finding ways to accommodate the other approach is always good.

[SugeBearX]

Shameless bump to try and catch a Dev's eye for a response.