New Ylands GUI

[Miguel Preguisa 443]

I finally found the time to properly test this new UI (school was hell last few weeks) and even though I think it could work, there are some things that definitely need to be improved.

1) It's very bright and yet bland. Bright colors usually go together with more contrast. But the ylands UI mostly looks like somebody used too much water when painting it with watercolors.

 

2) White text on an almost white background. The main content on this screen looks like it's there just "by the way". You would automatically overlook something like this if it wasn't in the center. No outstanding colors. I can't say it's greyscaled but it has the feel of it. This "bluescaled" menu makes it hard to read the text. I had to set higher brightness that I'm used to on my monitor just to be able to navigate through it. On other occasions (the inventory), there is a blue text on a blue background.

  

 

3) The emptiness of space.  I will just list this one, I know that you already said that you are working on elements using the unused space. The mouse has to travel long distances to do mundane tasks.

 

4) The inventory navigation. I'm not sure if it's not just because I'm not used to it, but the inventory and crafting now seems harder to navigate through. The categories stayed mostly the same but it feels very different. For example the main screen shows:

• A tab for ALL ITEMS.
• A tab for GROUPS & THEMES
• A tab for NEW & NOTEWORTHY
• Tabs for some more groups of items? Don't get me wrong, I know how these groups work in the Ylands. But new players  (and honestly I had a little memory blackout too) don't. The could ask why some groups are shown on the main screen and some are in a subcategory.

+ I think that these very big images of items for categories don't work nearly as good as simple pictograms. Pictograms exist for a fast and non-language identification. And I think that these should be the main priorities when creating an inventory screen.

5) The item "inspect" window. I don't see any reason for separating information about an action and the button making the action. It's like having to look at a printed out keyboard keys layout hanged on the wall when working with an unmarked keyboard. Why making it harder than it needs to be? I made a quick edit to show how I mean this.

+ There isn't any indication that this Pick is broken.

EDIT: I forgot to add the DROP button. I imagine it would share the middle with the EQUIP button.

 

6) Ylands Codex displays too small.  It almost seems like you tried to use as little space as possible. I don't get why. There is usually a lot of text in the Codex categories. There are really nice backgrounds for them too, often very informative. It's a key attribute for them to be big and easily spotted. Again, I really don't get why it has to be stuffed in a small window.

7) The whole background gradient. I just don't like it. Gradient has to be subtle or between two not so different colors. The gradient of two totally opposite colors across the whole screen is unpleasant to look at, at least for me.

 

Woah, I think that's all.  It may not seem like it, but I think this can be a good UI if all the problems with it are fixed. And I guess I will have to get used to some of them. Changes are hard,

Edited June 22, 2018 by Miguel Preguisa

[TheSparkPlug 128]

I agree with most/all of these well made points.

The only thing I would add is that I don't get why, in the invenotry screen,  the decorations and blueprints tabs come before the two fundamental tabs of inventory and crafting.

[Miguel Preguisa 443]

@TheSparkPlug I believe the upper line with buttons goes from right to left for some reason. 

[TheSparkPlug 128]

I know... my question was "why" 

[V-Alfred 367]

5 minutes ago, TheSparkPlug said:

I know... my question was "why" 

Hahaha, I believe it's because the GUI design is semi-focused for mobile devices, and most actions is on the right thumb. The most used menus better on the right side. 

[TheSparkPlug 128]

I doubt that mobile devices featured in any part of it's design. Premium content however... 

@Miguel Preguisa makes a good point in #3. This applies to the top menu too - the most used features (inventory and crafting) should be nearer the centre to avoid excessive mouse travel.

[V-Alfred 367]

Then the most used button which is back or exit button should be near center..

Edited June 22, 2018 by V-Alfred

[TheSparkPlug 128]

I never use that... I just press 'Esc'.

[V-Alfred 367]

40 minutes ago, TheSparkPlug said:

I never use that... I just press 'Esc'.

Good, then tips from me, change your keyboard controls for Inventory and crafting.. tab and caps lock are pretty good buttons for it..

Edited June 22, 2018 by V-Alfred

[TheSparkPlug 128]

I am okay with the default ones.

[Miguel Preguisa 443]

4 hours ago, V-Alfred said:

Hahaha, I believe it's because the GUI design is semi-focused for mobile devices, and most actions is on the right thumb. The most used menus better on the right side. 

It's true it looks like a mobile game UI. I just hope they won't make the UI elements worse on both mobiles and PCs in the end. For example the Minecraft Win10+smartphone edition made the UI something in between PC and mobile and it's horrible. The game I have the most hours played in total and I had to quit and learn with another (to me unknown) version of the game. I'm glad Ylands is nowhere near that point yet 

[handofthesly 211]

After playing the new update for a bit I thought I’d throw my 10 cents in. 

I agree with most people about the transparency. It would be nice to be able to see, even vaguely, what’s going on around us when accessing inventories & crafting. The old style was nice because it was similar to having a periphery vision which is more realistic I guess?

The same goes for trading and the dialogue between NPCs. I find it really ruins the immersion for me when transitioning between the normal speech bubbles to the dialogue “choose an answer/option” or to trading which take up the whole screen.