Skyrayfox's Gwent UI - Suggestions, Constructive Criticism and Your Opinions.
I am copying a post from Reddit as i find it to be well thought of and it's something i have been thinking too. It is mostly a QoL update but it needs to be done eventually. As of now i consider balancing a more immediate issue to be addressed (today out of my 20 matches 99% of them were vs Dagon swarm decks
).
The post is by Skyrayfox, direct link to Reddit here :
What do you guys think of Gwent’s UI design compared to other card games? We are not talking about card art itself, just everything else in the game like:
1. THE GAME BOARD
Here's a comparison of different card games and their game boards: Comparison
Imagine we show these images to a stranger that has never played any of these games before and ask them, which setting looks fun and interesting? Gwent’s gameplay board is flat, boring and without ANY flavour. If someone showed you that screenshot before Gwent was released would you ever guess it was related to a Witcher universe? This is the screen most players will spend most of their time looking at yet it looks completely empty and static. Aside from the coin flipping at the start of the round there is nothing else going on.
When we are looking at Gwent’s board, what are we seeing exactly? Are we playing in a tavern with a friend or on a wooden floorboard in a warehouse? Now, let's compare it to another minigame from CD Projekt, dice poker from Witcher 1. Notice the different atmosphere and feel of that game:
Witcher 1 Dice Poker in a Tavern
The dice poker itself is a physical box made of wood and metal with beautiful artwork decorating it. It’s set up on the tavern table and once the camera slightly shifts its position around the table we can see the lit candles, beer tankard, bread, utensils, some Orens and other items laying next to the poker box. We can hear the conversations and cheering in the background on top of the beautiful soundtrack. It feels like we are in a real tavern playing with a friend.
Here’s another segment from Witcher 1. When the game begins we can clearly see what is happening. We are a witcher! We just took off our equipment, laid down our silver and steel swords and took a moment to play a round of dice poker with a friend near a tree before we embark on another exciting adventure:
Witcher 1 Dice Poker Outside
Why can’t we have a similar setting in Gwent? Imagine playing the tutorial and actually seeing Ciri in front of you instead of a voice coming out of nowhere. It’s fun, exciting to look at AND fits the witcher universe.
2. THE CARDS FEEL FLAT (because they are)
Obviously I don’t mean the artwork itself, the premiums are full of life and look better than anything else on the market but they feel like a master painting that’s presented on a cheap piece of paper. Hearthstone allows you to pick cards up and drag them around making them feel like they have real depth and weight. Gwent card frames have no depth or weight to them at all.
Noxious went over this in more detail recently so I’ll just leave a few clips of it here:
https://clips.twitch.tv/ExuberantHorribleAlligatorTinyFace https://clips.twitch.tv/InterestingScrumptiousChickpeaFloofhttps://clips.twitch.tv/DeadEndearingSeahorseVoHiYo
3. WATCHING CARDS BEING PLAYED IS NOT EXCITING
Let’s compare playing some of the most epic looking legendary cards in Hearthstone and Gwent. For this example we will use Villentretenmerth and Deathwing. They are both supposed to be legendary creatures of immense power. You as the player should feel their power as these unique cards are dropped on the board. In HS we get this:
Playing Deathwing
When you zoom in at the premium version of Borkh you can imagine his power. This massive golden dragon flying above scorched ground is bound to destroy everything in his path, yet, when we play him we get this:
Playing Borkh
The same sound cue as any other gold card and nothing else. No camera shake, no dragon roar, no special animations. This problem applies to almost every gold and silver card in the game. Playing Philippa Eilhart is no different than watching someone play a couple of Alzur’s Thunders in a row. Playing Geralt Igni is the same as watching someone play Scorch. From a perspective of a new player there is nothing exciting going on when it comes to actually seeing these cards being played for the first time.
In fact, I would argue that the only cards with unique flavour in the game right now are weather cards. They come with distinctive sounds, animations and board altering visual effects. Even a new player will instantly recognize, when Frost, Skellige Storm or Ragh nar Roog is played. Ask a new player what the last gold card that was played does and they will have no idea.
There are many other problems too that were mentioned many times on this subreddit, such as too many loading screens, mulligan screen, the time it takes to switch between card collection and deck builder, inability to craft cards from deck builder etc. but I think these 3 UI changes are the crux of the problem when it comes to attracting new players to Gwent and making it as exciting to watch as it is to play.
I am copying a post from Reddit as i find it to be well thought of and it's something i have been thinking too. It is mostly a QoL update but it needs to be done eventually. As of now i consider balancing a more immediate issue to be addressed (today out of my 20 matches 99% of them were vs Dagon swarm decks
).The post is by Skyrayfox, direct link to Reddit here :
What do you guys think of Gwent’s UI design compared to other card games? We are not talking about card art itself, just everything else in the game like:
1. THE GAME BOARD
Here's a comparison of different card games and their game boards: Comparison
Imagine we show these images to a stranger that has never played any of these games before and ask them, which setting looks fun and interesting? Gwent’s gameplay board is flat, boring and without ANY flavour. If someone showed you that screenshot before Gwent was released would you ever guess it was related to a Witcher universe? This is the screen most players will spend most of their time looking at yet it looks completely empty and static. Aside from the coin flipping at the start of the round there is nothing else going on.
When we are looking at Gwent’s board, what are we seeing exactly? Are we playing in a tavern with a friend or on a wooden floorboard in a warehouse? Now, let's compare it to another minigame from CD Projekt, dice poker from Witcher 1. Notice the different atmosphere and feel of that game:
Witcher 1 Dice Poker in a Tavern
The dice poker itself is a physical box made of wood and metal with beautiful artwork decorating it. It’s set up on the tavern table and once the camera slightly shifts its position around the table we can see the lit candles, beer tankard, bread, utensils, some Orens and other items laying next to the poker box. We can hear the conversations and cheering in the background on top of the beautiful soundtrack. It feels like we are in a real tavern playing with a friend.
Here’s another segment from Witcher 1. When the game begins we can clearly see what is happening. We are a witcher! We just took off our equipment, laid down our silver and steel swords and took a moment to play a round of dice poker with a friend near a tree before we embark on another exciting adventure:
Witcher 1 Dice Poker Outside
Why can’t we have a similar setting in Gwent? Imagine playing the tutorial and actually seeing Ciri in front of you instead of a voice coming out of nowhere. It’s fun, exciting to look at AND fits the witcher universe.
2. THE CARDS FEEL FLAT (because they are)
Obviously I don’t mean the artwork itself, the premiums are full of life and look better than anything else on the market but they feel like a master painting that’s presented on a cheap piece of paper. Hearthstone allows you to pick cards up and drag them around making them feel like they have real depth and weight. Gwent card frames have no depth or weight to them at all.
Noxious went over this in more detail recently so I’ll just leave a few clips of it here:
https://clips.twitch.tv/ExuberantHorribleAlligatorTinyFace https://clips.twitch.tv/InterestingScrumptiousChickpeaFloofhttps://clips.twitch.tv/DeadEndearingSeahorseVoHiYo
3. WATCHING CARDS BEING PLAYED IS NOT EXCITING
Let’s compare playing some of the most epic looking legendary cards in Hearthstone and Gwent. For this example we will use Villentretenmerth and Deathwing. They are both supposed to be legendary creatures of immense power. You as the player should feel their power as these unique cards are dropped on the board. In HS we get this:
Playing Deathwing
When you zoom in at the premium version of Borkh you can imagine his power. This massive golden dragon flying above scorched ground is bound to destroy everything in his path, yet, when we play him we get this:
Playing Borkh
The same sound cue as any other gold card and nothing else. No camera shake, no dragon roar, no special animations. This problem applies to almost every gold and silver card in the game. Playing Philippa Eilhart is no different than watching someone play a couple of Alzur’s Thunders in a row. Playing Geralt Igni is the same as watching someone play Scorch. From a perspective of a new player there is nothing exciting going on when it comes to actually seeing these cards being played for the first time.
In fact, I would argue that the only cards with unique flavour in the game right now are weather cards. They come with distinctive sounds, animations and board altering visual effects. Even a new player will instantly recognize, when Frost, Skellige Storm or Ragh nar Roog is played. Ask a new player what the last gold card that was played does and they will have no idea.
There are many other problems too that were mentioned many times on this subreddit, such as too many loading screens, mulligan screen, the time it takes to switch between card collection and deck builder, inability to craft cards from deck builder etc. but I think these 3 UI changes are the crux of the problem when it comes to attracting new players to Gwent and making it as exciting to watch as it is to play.
