Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[861129]

Spoiler

I dislike the way the revised (placeholder?) UI obstructs the largest part of the already squeezed widescreen viewport vertically while leaving a useless and unaesthetic empty part in the corner, so I shuffled the elements around in a way that takes less vertical space (as well as allowing for portraits twice the size and for the log box to be expanded). It's very crude, but more in tune with how I'd like to see the UI laid out:

 

[Sensuki]

I dunno if you were around for the 500 post+ long UI thread over on the P:E forums but your version is basically the UI they had to begin with. Roughly 2/3 of the people over there liked the bar across the bottom of the screen or wanted an even bigger UI, but there was enough vocal minority presence (mostly from a key group of 4-5 shitposters) that Obsidian has taken the route of making the UI smaller and making the parts individually collapsible.

So we will definitely not see anything like what you have posted, I imagine their new version will be 3/4 of that size or so.

 

[AN4RCHID]

I'm sure that abomination of a UI is just a functional placeholder for gameplay testing. Fucking better be.

 

[Sensuki]

Of course it is. The positioning of the elements in the UI however might be the frame for the actual UI, just missing artwork + button coding.

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah, well anyway this week's update might be where we get to see the new version. Their routine has been 2 updates, 1 week break, 2 updates, 1 week break so we'll likely get an update this week and then there'll be a break probably.

 

[AN4RCHID]

Of course it is. The positioning of the elements in the UI however might be the frame for the actual UI, just missing artwork + button coding.

I doubt it, why would they leave that huge chunk in the right-hand corner? Why would the combat log take up so much space, but the portraits be so tiny? I'd guess that one has the button scripting, and is being used for combat/inventory testing while they design the real UI.

 

[861129]

I doubt it, why would they leave that huge chunk in the right-hand corner? Why would the combat log take up so much space, but the portraits be so tiny?

The fan UI that Sawyer said their revised version would look was shaped like this and had small portraits. Why? Dunno.

 

[Sensuki]

Kaz did the Defiance Bay concept and that UI predates the first version.

 

[861129]

hahah, well. Sawyer did also say:

http://i1.minus.com/iMaaVYAinXEqY.png

This mockup is not far from where we are going with our revisions.

which caused me to think they'd adopted the left-aligned positioning; hopefully he meant the aesthetic rather than the layout.

 

[Cursed Platypus]

hahah, well. Sawyer did also say:

http://i1.minus.com/iMaaVYAinXEqY.png

This mockup is not far from where we are going with our revisions.

which caused me to think they'd adopted the left-aligned positioning; hopefully he meant the aesthetic rather than the layout.

That hole in the center is useless. Just make an UI that occupy the whole bottom.

 

[Sensuki]

I agree wholeheartedly, the UI should be centered or cover the whole bottom of the screen. But heh, because of a vocal minority on the Obsidian forums it looks like their intended direction is different. We'll see soon enough.

 

[Sensuki]

Maybe ... Maybe Not ... Top location could be where this egg is.

 

[DalekFlay]

I certainly am in the minimal UI camp. No reason to have it all on screen now when a simple pop-up or hover-over will do.

I wish every game could be like Dead Space and have no UI at all.

 

[Rake]

 

[Sensuki]

You will be able to toggle the UI off btw.

 

[J_C]

Maybe ... Maybe Not ... Top location could be where this egg is.

I still think this UI looks good, and I'd be happy with it in the final game. Of course I also liked the UI of IWD2, so whatever...

 

[Sensuki]

UI discussion has been and gone, Obsidian are making a more minimal iteration on that design due to qq'ing from some people (but not that many). I am a bit concerned about where they intend to go with the UI but I will reserve judgement until I see v2.

 

[Diablo169]

Is a fully customizable UI still not a possibility? If they can do it on Wasteland 2 I don't see why Obsidian cant do the same with Eternity.

 

[Arkeus]

Is a fully customizable UI still not a possibility? If they can do it on Wasteland 2 I don't see why Obsidian cant do the same with Eternity.

Pretty sure it will be customizable, it's just that the 'default' UI needs to be worked on, as that's the one the immense majority of players will use.

 

[codexian reject]

I like this mockup.

It is essential to be able to stop and analyse combat/conversation log to get precise info occasionally, but I don't need it most of the time and having it toggle able and on the side is ok.
Maybe an option to make it an extension of the main bar in the centre would be nice too, though.

Combat log runs too fast in RtwP game, when you hit multiple enemies with AoE it flush, or when you are interested mostly if you were succesful at damaging a boss, it is hard to spot his line when it scrolls constantly.
Tiny numbers and icons floating over the heads in addition to log, give less precise but much more direct and sufficient most of the time feedback, it also better visualises which exactly enemies get affected, by AoE for example, etc.

I guess that inventory/character/spellbook windows would pop up over the bar, leaving most of the gameplay area visible all the time, you could play combat with spellbook open for example.
Portraits are big, hate the tiny ones, it looks aesthetically pleasing overall and doesn't waste space. I would only change buttons for map/journal etc, for a bit larger ones with icons.

 

[Tigranes]

Is the Codex still talking about that 'UI' in the Avellone presentation? Like people don't see that and immediately understand that will have zero correspondence to the actual UI? o_O

As the games incline, the Codex declines...

 

[codexian reject]

This mockup was mentioned on the previous page as direction Obsidian is heading currently according to Sawyers post and criticised.
I like it though, so I wanted to share why. It has nothing to do with MCA presentation.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Is the Codex still talking about that 'UI' in the Avellone presentation? Like people don't see that and immediately understand that will have zero correspondence to the actual UI? o_O

I dunno if you can blame people for that, really. It is the latest presentation on/of the game, after all, so it's only natural for people to see it as indicative of what the game looks like at the moment.

 

[Sensuki]

The size of the elements isn't to bad but I'd prefer if they were combined in the center of the screen rather than having this gap in the middle.

Having the combat log way over there to the right is a pain in the ass too, as someone who looks at it quite often during combat it's in the part of the screen you look at the least

 

[Tigranes]

Is the Codex still talking about that 'UI' in the Avellone presentation? Like people don't see that and immediately understand that will have zero correspondence to the actual UI? o_O

I dunno if you can blame people for that, really. It is the latest presentation on/of the game, after all, so it's only natural for people to see it as indicative of what the game looks like at the moment.

No, because one look at that 'UI' would tell anyone that it's a placeholder with no thought given to actual UI design. Then you consider the UI mockups they did have and it's even clearer. It's just lacking in common sense to think this would represent Obsidian's latest, concrete direction on PE UI.