UI

[HardDeck]

How is it possible that in 90's with such low resolutions there were such good UI's and HUD's and you still had the main game screen without obtructing gameplay and today with such high resolutions they don't make them anymore?

 

[potatojohn]

The jews bought everything and brought in cheap clueless college graduates and fired everyone that knew how to make good games.

 

[Telengard]

Under the theory that a a UI is a barrier between the player and his character. Thus, having one lacks immersion. Supposedly, a person feels more connection with a character if there's nothing in between you and staring at his butt.

Likewise, people supposedly identify more with and thus become more immersed when the game screen focuses on a single character, rather than the group. Additional points if you to get to dress up the character doll.

 

[Gragt]

There's also brilliant little pieces of UI that do a lot with very little, like the visibility gem of Thief. It's not even a meter, just a gem at the bottom of your screen, but a glance at it will tell you instantly how well hidden you are.

 

[rpgcodexusername]

the good games in the OP seem to have massive ugly UI's

 

[sea]

I think it's a few things:

1. Priority of looks over gameplay and interface needs. Many modern UIs make things easier, but some of them sack intuitiveness in order to fit some sort of concept gimmick. See Skyrim and Borderlands/2 for excellent examples of this.
2. Larger fonts for less eye-strain.
3. General modern obsession with minimalism. The idea that a UI has to be sleek and small in this day and age is something that comes out of Apple and smartphones in general, and I think many modern developers look to what's popular elsewhere.
4. Hardware improvements. I hate to say it, but some games had large UIs because it was more difficult to overlay graphics, and more demanding to have a large game window. Creating a largely static UI that sat in a fixed portion of the screen was a clever way to get around that problem while also largely defining the look and feel of the game.

It's worth noting that modern UIs are generally much better in certain respects than older ones. Baldur's Gate splitting buttons across the left, right and bottom is not especially intuitive and means the eye has to wander a lot more than if it were all in one place. Large menu buttons and other context-sensitive pieces of information don't need to be available at all times as well. It's also easier to notice something new has happened if it pops up where normally there is empty space.

 

[roll-a-die]

God damn sea, I think you are the closest person to speaking what I believe it's like I go into a thread and see what you've posted, and go, damn everything I had to say is already there, better lurk more.

 

[potatojohn]

Some more UIs to rage about

Rainbow Six had a gorgeous UI

turned into this

SS2 is one of my favorites

Turned into this

Deuce Ex was already showing some decline (transparency)

But no one expected this

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS I AGREE THAT SEA IS ONE OF THE BEST POSTERS

UI ALSO SHOULD FIT THE GAME FOR EXAMPLE TERRA NOVA HAD LARGE INTRUSIVE SHIT BUT I THINK IT MADE BATTLE SUIT THING FIT

METROID PRIME SERIES I THOUGHT DID SHIT AWESOME TOO

 

[titus]

What is this? DA2? Dat blur!!!

 

[Father Walker]

Rainbow Six had a gorgeous UI

True, but I must admit that Vegas is a damn good popamole shooter.

 

[zeitgeist]

Need I say more?

 

[Tigranes]

I sure love checking out what Sanjay said about watching movies while waiting for my Cricket practice and listening to Extreme paragliding.

 

[Excidium]

Need I say more?

Both are terrible, but that Windows 8 UI...who the hell approved that shit?

 

[felipepepe]

I was impressed on how HORRIBLE they managed to make Resident Evil 6 UI:

Clearly a new low on interface design... funny how they managed to do it on a franchise that originaly did not have any UI during gameplay...