TW3 UI Aesthetics

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

As Letho said at the end of The Witcher 2, "I suppose there's no accounting for taste."

I'm personally very fond of the new UI in The Witcher 3.

And that is to be respected, good Sir.

However, I think the thread should strive to rise above mere professions of fondness or distaste, natural and welcome as they are. A number of aesthetic problems were pointed out and I wish yea-sayers would respond with something along the lines of "That is not a problem because of X" , "No, since Y counterbalances that" or "This fits in/is congruent with/ serves purpose Z".

Otherwise this just turns into something not that much helpful.

 

[6ad5026b]

And that is to be respected, good Sir.

However, I think the thread should strive to rise above mere professions of fondness or distaste, natural and welcome as they are. A number of aesthetic problems were pointed out and I wish yea-sayers would respond with something along the lines of "That is not a problem because of X" , "No, since Y counterbalances that" or "This fits in/is congruent with/ serves purpose Z".

Otherwise this just turns into something not that much helpful.

Well, isn't it obvious? Both the color scheme and background choice boil down to personal preference. It doesn't matter which one they pick because there are always going to be people who dislike it, based on their own tastes. I like the color brown, for example, therefore the fact that the UI has a brown color scheme is obviously not a problem for me.

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

Well, isn't it obvious? Both the color scheme and background choice boil down to personal preference. It doesn't matter which one they pick because there are always going to be people who dislike it, based on their own tastes. I like the color brown, for example, therefore the fact that the UI has a brown color scheme is obviously not a problem for me.

Sure. But designers usually don't go about picking the colour scheme based off on their personal preferences alone. Most designers will also tell you no colour is "bad" or wrong per se. As for the background choice, do you or do you not see a problem with overlaying text on the werewolf and griffon images?

Does that increase or decrease legibility? Does that highlight or detract from the image itself?

 

[6ad5026b]

Sure. But designers usually don't go about picking the colour scheme based off on their personal preferences alone. Most designers will also tell you no colour is
"bad" or wrong per se. As for the background choice, do you or do you not see a problem with overlaying text on the werewolf and griffon images?

Does that increase or decrease legibility? Does that highlight or detract from the image itself?

I do see a problem with that, although I think it's one that can easily be solved by keeping the text and image separate, the way they did it in The Witcher and The Witcher 2.

Honestly, I don't know why they decided to part with the bestiary style of the second game to begin with; I thought it was perfect.

 

[GHOSTMD]

Let's be realistic, it won't happen. The UI we've seen in the demos is probably pretty close to what we'll get in the final version.

Yes... i presume that to @Mohasz

But still around 6 month to go for CDPR, also i don t think a complete new UI is needed.
I just miss the biological touch from the TW1 UI, CDPR art desingers should be able to get
something similar done until release don t you think?

Specially i think the 3D elements look far better in TW1 than they do in TW2 or (as far as we ve seen)
in TW3. Talking about the meditation timer here and the wold medallion in the upper left corner.

So if CDPR art designers can give the UI a bit of that "bio" touch from TW1 it would look really nice i think
For example for Geralts skill tree

 

[MkTama]

I think that every menu and font leans toward essentiality, a modern and clean approach, so I woldn't be thinking about a TW1-like style.
Yes the work showed is probably 90% definitive but they could use minor changes like a different colour or a variable one (depending on background or world place).

Anyway let's not forget that thinking an inventory screen to be used with mouse+key is way simpler. It has to be usable also with controllers, so the result will always be a try to match kind of opposed needs.

 

[Rudlee]

Looks plain and simple, but not in a good way, in a word, lame.

 

[B_l_a_d_y]

Yeah UI is the weakest element in last gameplay

cdpr have great visual artists don't know why, maybe it is only placeholder

 

[Jupiter_on_Mars]

Speaking of immersive UI, really like this one - Kingdom Come: Deliverance Alchemy mini-game
Begins around the 6:00 mark.

What I like about it is that it's been turned into an in-game asset and thus should and indeed follows in-game aesthetics. Not arguing for the same approach in TW3, but it does look appealing in this instance.

 

[MrG721]

I want to see some screenshots of WIP PC UI (it can't hurt CDRED) rather than discuss about WIP console UI.

Otherwise I will consider this UI as an final or very close to final UI.

 

[misho8723]

Well, we now know how is going to look the PC UI for the new Dragen Age - http://i.imgur.com/0uZ0mK3.png

 

[MrG721]

^ Exactly.
We should know how is going to look W3 PC UI or this thread is pretty much pointless.

 

[Garrison72]

Well, we now know how is going to look the PC UI for the new Dragen Age - http://i.imgur.com/0uZ0mK3.png

This is why I find it impossible not to worry. It seems modern devs can rarely find platform parity when it comes to mutliplatform games. Not condemning CDPR, just relating my experience in this. I've had to wade through more shitty UIs than I care to remember. Deus Ex: HR was one of the few exceptions. They hired a separate team to design the PC version. Most of the time, you see compromises.

 

[Scholdarr]

^ Exactly.
We should know how is going to look W3 PC UI or this thread is pretty much pointless.

In case you've missed it: there will be NO special PC UI for Witcher 3. CDPR said at Gamescom that every platform will have the exactly same UI for "the sake of platform parity", no matter which input method you use.

There were early interviews where they talked about a PC centric UI. Is that still planned?
I wouldn’t say so, now we’re doing the game for all platforms, so PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and we needed to adjust it accordingly so you can play it equally well on the pad and on the keyboard as well.]

This is why I find it impossible not to worry. It seems modern devs can rarely find platform parity when it comes to mutliplatform games. Not condemning CDPR, just relating my experience in this. I've had to wade through more shitty UIs than I care to remember. Deus Ex: HR was one of the few exceptions. They hired a separate team to design the PC version. Most of the time, you see compromises.

It was the same with Diablo III but the other way round. The console UI was designed from the scratch and the differences to the PC UI were huge.

I'm not sure if platform parity is even something someone should want to achieve. Instead devs should try to use the strengths and possibilities of each platform to deliver the best experience on the respective platform. Other way, the more platforms you have, the more you probably have to "downgrade" (not only visually) your game in order to make it exactly the same on each platform. Actually, if you really want full platform parity as it is understood here CDPR would have to cut M/K controls of the PC version as well and also every additional technical options. 1080p/30FPS with controller input on every platform would be "full" platform parity. I don't think that this is any desirable goal...

So yes, I'm worried as well. We can't do anything else than hoping that at least the stuff is relatively well controllable with M/K...

 

[mico11]

Well, we now know how is going to look the PC UI for the new Dragen Age - http://i.imgur.com/0uZ0mK3.png

I don't get it is this good or bad?

There are only 8 spell slots which is far less than DA:O, and there doesn't seem to be an option of adding more. The mini-map and character portraits are still huge,but I guess that's easily adjustable.

And I don't believe that you can play the game with the tactical camera like DA:O. They showed the console gameplay, you need to pause the game, assign orders, and then watch it play out in which time you can't assign other orders. If you want to assign orders again you need to pause again, it's not real time.

 

[Scholdarr]

I don't get it is this good or bad?

There are only 8 spell slots which is far less than DA:O, and there doesn't seem to be an option of adding more. The mini-map and character portraits are still huge,but I guess that's easily adjustable.

And I don't believe that you can play the game with the tactical camera like DA:O. They showed the console gameplay, you need to pause the game, assign orders, and then watch it play out in which time you can't assign other orders. If you want to assign orders again you need to pause again, it's not real time.

PC Gamer said something similar in their hands-on. They said that DAI "feels" like a console game and that they fear the game won't really cater to the PC fans who liked DA:O or even BG. The game seems to motivate players to use the third person camera perspective. Top down tactical gameplay is - according to my information - also only possible in combat and not during exploration. It's imo also not the best sign that the PC UI apparently isn't ready two or three months before release. That clearly indicates that it is a port of the controller input which is already perfectly playable for months now. So no parallel development for M/K-PC or controller, but controller first and then porting and adapting. I fear the same will happen to Witcher 3 and it would be really great if CDPR could clarify on that or just show us some gameplay performed with M/K instead of with a controller...

 

[Garrison72]

@LordCrash: To me, platform parity is optimizing the experience for each platform, not designing it for the Funbox and porting that to other platforms. We'll see what CDPR comes up with, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Bioware seems to have designed their UI for gamepads and mulitplayer.

 

[mico11]

I see your concerns, but it really doesn't need to be drastically different from consoles to work well on PC.

I'm happy with the Inventory look we saw, as a base for which to make little tweaks. If the mouse controls are smooth, drag and drop works well, I think it won't be intrusive. I don't get what you would change in it? Grid based inventory is pretty good,and more of a staple for PC RPG's than console ones.

 

[Scholdarr]

I see your concerns, but it really doesn't need to be drastically different from consoles to work well on PC.

I'm happy with the Inventory look we saw, as a base for which to make little tweaks. If the mouse controls are smooth, drag and drop works well, I think it won't be intrusive. I don't get what you would change in it? Grid based inventory is pretty good,and more of a staple for PC RPG's than console ones.

The inventory looks good/ok. Grid based inventory is definitely a plus. I'm not no sure about other parts of the UI though...

We'll have to wait and see. But based on the controller-optimized (imo) UI of Witcher 2 I don't really expect anything groundbreaking for us M/K players here. Grid-based inventory is probably "all we get". But you guys are right, we have to see the final product or at least a late version before we can make solid statements on that.

 

[EliHarel]

What in the current UI doesn't look to be PC oriented, or looks console oriented? I'm not familiar with the differences.

Edit: Please explain why, too. I've seen, for instance, the grid based inventory mentioned as pro-PC, but never understood why that's so, or why a list is less comfortable.

Not being snarky. I actually don't understand this issue.