MrChocodemon
Handsome Moderator
I will now try to constructively criticize the menu. I have no art degree or years of experience in design. What I have to offer is about 21 years of gaming experience and the perspective of a user. And I also know that some parts of the UI are newer and others are way older, which leads naturally to inconsistency
The critique therefor doesn't apply to all sections of the UI.
I'll start from the outside and go inwards from there. From raw to fine.
There are 4 general zones to the ui while the player is in the menu even though I distinguish between three major sections:
- the top navigation, which houses small icons representing each of the menus
- the info box on the left, which is home to the menu name, a character icon and some additional context sensitive information
- and, of course the main menu, the part where the player will spend most of the time looking at.
Starting with the left part you can easily see that the golden ornaments overlap with the character information in the top left corner. That is the case in the controller and keyboard design. Also the ornaments around the menu title are not in the same style as the ornaments in the info box at the bottom, which is shiny gold, rather than matt gold.
Next we have the top section. Here we have a good example of the perfect cursor. The player instantly knows where they are, because they have a bordered, highlighted and pulsating border as an indicator for their position.
When going into a menu two things happen:
1. Menu section I just was in darkens
2. The Menu I am going into get's highlighted
So that leads into the first section
THE INVENTORY
I've talked about the <Inventory> navigation in more detail in this nice blog post:
http://secretsofgrindea.com/forum/i...estion-ui-better-contrasted-ui-elements.6750/
And in addition to that we'll take a look at the left menu.
So what do we see? (especially in comparison with the other menus?)
In comparison to the two on the right it has no titles, which makes it look like a badly formatted list.
The pointer is barely visible with the golden border from beneath and the golden ornament from the side.
While the <Skill> menu has a separate area for the pointer.
So from left to right we can not only see how the menu evolved in the years of development, but we also see:
1. Design inconsistency
2. That the the Pixel Ferrets know how to make a good menu
(ps: the rightmost menu also has a pulsating animated border = top class)
Next is
THE JOURNAL
which has it's own little problems.
(going back a to the <Inventory> menu, the player can move from the shown menu with a -> into the menu... you know what I mean?? Like you can press right and move into the actual inventory)
You cannot do that on the <Journal> .
So this is the <Journal> menu.
If the player goes into this menu, then they instantly know that they can move their cursor up and down as this is designed like a list. But the player can also move their cursor right and left.
Please take a look at the next image.
Here we have the <Crafting> screen, which makes it way clearer that the player can move sideways, as the left side icon has the same style as the <Inventory> cursor.
While we are in the <Crafting> menu, take a look a the button prompts right here ^
Y on XBOX Controller and TAB on keyboard, do absolutely nothing in this menu...
The indicator problem is at it's second highest in the <Character> menu.
1. This menu is the only menu which is lit up when you,'re not in the menu and things get deactivated when you go into the menu. (no consistency here)
2.When the player goes into the menu, the only real indicator that this menu can be navigated is the pet menu
3. The spacing is weird between the stats for some reason.
And now for the <Equipment> menu
The only menu where, if go into it, everything lights up, except like those bottom 10%
That has the effect that eye gets drawn to bottom area, even though this is not where cursor is. Here the design is consistent in terms of style, but the user experience with this menu is f***ed (sorry)
This menu, if I might be so bold, should just be a single menu, and not 2 sub-menus. (or divide it, like the skills section)
Onto the <Options>
Well...
They just got an update not too long ago...
It's a little better
But why does just the "Enemies-Allies-Self" has these awesome arrows, which not only shows where the player is with the cursor, but also indicates that this menu here has to be navigated with left/right to change options.
And every other point in this menu has "no real" indicator where the cursor is, or how to change the setting.
I'll leave it at that, for now.
If I haven't explained something in enough detail, just ask and i'll go on and on.
EDIT: I added a link to another post where I already talked about menu and design related stuff.
The critique therefor doesn't apply to all sections of the UI.
I'll start from the outside and go inwards from there. From raw to fine.
There are 4 general zones to the ui while the player is in the menu even though I distinguish between three major sections:
- the top navigation, which houses small icons representing each of the menus
- the info box on the left, which is home to the menu name, a character icon and some additional context sensitive information
- and, of course the main menu, the part where the player will spend most of the time looking at.
Starting with the left part you can easily see that the golden ornaments overlap with the character information in the top left corner. That is the case in the controller and keyboard design. Also the ornaments around the menu title are not in the same style as the ornaments in the info box at the bottom, which is shiny gold, rather than matt gold.
Next we have the top section. Here we have a good example of the perfect cursor. The player instantly knows where they are, because they have a bordered, highlighted and pulsating border as an indicator for their position.
When going into a menu two things happen:
1. Menu section I just was in darkens
2. The Menu I am going into get's highlighted
So that leads into the first section
THE INVENTORY
I've talked about the <Inventory> navigation in more detail in this nice blog post:
http://secretsofgrindea.com/forum/i...estion-ui-better-contrasted-ui-elements.6750/
And in addition to that we'll take a look at the left menu.
So what do we see? (especially in comparison with the other menus?)
In comparison to the two on the right it has no titles, which makes it look like a badly formatted list.
The pointer is barely visible with the golden border from beneath and the golden ornament from the side.
While the <Skill> menu has a separate area for the pointer.
So from left to right we can not only see how the menu evolved in the years of development, but we also see:
1. Design inconsistency
2. That the the Pixel Ferrets know how to make a good menu
(ps: the rightmost menu also has a pulsating animated border = top class)
Next is
THE JOURNAL
which has it's own little problems.
(going back a to the <Inventory> menu, the player can move from the shown menu with a -> into the menu... you know what I mean?? Like you can press right and move into the actual inventory)
You cannot do that on the <Journal> .
So this is the <Journal> menu.
If the player goes into this menu, then they instantly know that they can move their cursor up and down as this is designed like a list. But the player can also move their cursor right and left.
Please take a look at the next image.
Here we have the <Crafting> screen, which makes it way clearer that the player can move sideways, as the left side icon has the same style as the <Inventory> cursor.
While we are in the <Crafting> menu, take a look a the button prompts right here ^
Y on XBOX Controller and TAB on keyboard, do absolutely nothing in this menu...
The indicator problem is at it's second highest in the <Character> menu.
1. This menu is the only menu which is lit up when you,'re not in the menu and things get deactivated when you go into the menu. (no consistency here)
2.When the player goes into the menu, the only real indicator that this menu can be navigated is the pet menu
3. The spacing is weird between the stats for some reason.
And now for the <Equipment> menu
The only menu where, if go into it, everything lights up, except like those bottom 10%
That has the effect that eye gets drawn to bottom area, even though this is not where cursor is. Here the design is consistent in terms of style, but the user experience with this menu is f***ed (sorry)
This menu, if I might be so bold, should just be a single menu, and not 2 sub-menus. (or divide it, like the skills section)
Onto the <Options>
Well...
They just got an update not too long ago...
It's a little better
But why does just the "Enemies-Allies-Self" has these awesome arrows, which not only shows where the player is with the cursor, but also indicates that this menu here has to be navigated with left/right to change options.
And every other point in this menu has "no real" indicator where the cursor is, or how to change the setting.
I'll leave it at that, for now.
If I haven't explained something in enough detail, just ask and i'll go on and on.
EDIT: I added a link to another post where I already talked about menu and design related stuff.
Last edited: