While the UI in the game has a nice (wonderful, really) general "flow" to its feel, in some places I think the function is cumbersome and less clear than it should be. The most significant problem area (to me) where I don't know of changes being planned is the Academy UI.



So, I've edited some concept illustrations of some changes I think would improve the way the Academy UI functions. I'll include them here, with full screen images clickable to view in full size on Imageshack, and briefly comment as I go along to help explain my thoughts.





First, the basic interface, nothing really active, with a change to address what is the most basic lack to me...





*Graphical effect around the "empty box" (perhaps only apparent when viewed full size) indicates the "pulsing glow" effect currently used to prompt action, which probably should be tuned down in magnitude between min and max brightness compared to the existing effect, since the area is larger.

• I can tell how many open spots for heroes I have at a glance, with clear and graphical indication.
  
  
  
  
• The shape of the Hire button has changed for visual distinction for the "purchase" action, and the cost in Dust has been sort of "iconized" for emphasis and to replace the white Dust icon that was there before.

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One significant change is that you don't swap the location of the "Unhired" and "Hired" hero listings anymore, so you just select an Unhired hero to expand its display to show the only relevant info gained from swapping to the main display (the upkeep)...this info isn't critical, but it does help consistency and helps a selected hero stand out among the Unhired:

• Standing out like this will help make it clear exactly what the Hire button will affect. Notice that the "INSPECT" button remains nowhere in sight...I don't understand why I can't just double-click to perform the INSPECT action? I notice there isn't yet any custom mouse cursor graphics...I assume such is planned, and a universally prevalent cursor graphic including a magnifying glass being shown where double-click will perform similar action seems like it would be all the explanation required for this and for elsewhere in the game, though even just highlighting it on mouseover would hint to that by itself.

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Another significant change is an expansion to mouse-over info to include the only missing piece of data I sorely miss from the Unhired hero display: the stats! I really would like to be able to quickly compare by mouse-over from one to the another, and not have to go in and out of the re-focusing Inspect interface.

• The shown info is from mouseover on the hero's portrait.
  
  
  
  
• NOTE:
  
  For the Hired hero list, a summary of bonuses might be useful to have appear from hovering over the "Assignment" part of their card...this could appear for the corresponding "Ready to Recruit" portion of a highlighted hero, but I think that is extraneous for Unhired heroes. However, I think I read that you can possibly end up with Heroes dismissed by other players down here? If so:
  
  
  • All Unhired heroes could display the expanded READY TO RECRUIT and their upkeep.
  • The currently "selected" Unhired hero could be emphasized a bit more to make up for the lack of having a unique shape compared to the rest.
  
  
  

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A major change is that only "purchase" type interactions appear underneath the Hired heroes list display, and Assignment and management buttons appear over the Hired heroes list display...







OOPS! the Hire price here should be 320 I think, and as there are no more spaces it should be dimmed and de-saturated...





...with the "Clone" purchase option appearing like this (under the Hired heroes list) for Horatio when an applicable Hired hero is selected...

• The EXPEL option is separated a bit and altered a bit in shape for functional separation and intuitive hinting for the significance of the action compared to the others.
  
  
  
  
• The other options remain a contextual list (UNASSIGN isn't pictured because the highlighted hero isn't assigned). Note that the all of the "border" type lines for the unassigned card are meant to do the "glow strobe" (gently), as opposed to just the "No Assignment" section I replaced with UNASSIGNED in italics as the game currently does, with the currently selected card "strobing" in a brighter greyscale region along with being larger as the game does currently.
  
  
  
  
• Note that the "arrowhead" has changed for the Clone-Hire action...it has the graphic icon embedded in its side and is pointed in a direction that makes sense for what will happen when you click on it. More on the idea of hinting with the arrowhead the next section.
  
  

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Finally, some more changes I think will help make this Interface work better in general and especially when it is called up via the "Change" option for a Fleet or System (pictures are from above the Hired heroes list), using a generic graphics placeholder I think would benefit from being a "mouseover-able" representation of the relevant Fleet or System name and summary info:

• How things might appear from selecting a Fleet or System with no Hero, or after removing the Hero with Unassign...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• How Unassign would appear if the currently selected Hero is currently assigned to the Fleet/System represented in the placeholder location...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• To reiterate, I actually think these should appear always when suitable for the selected Hero and their current Assignment, not just when access from the "Change" option.
  
  
  
  

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Hopefully I didn't go astray or garble any of my thoughts. What do you think?





...







ASIDE: Thoughts on drag and drop and Touch-centric compatibility...

I've felt the lack of drag-and-drop in many places in the (current) UI, though admittedly with it showing up in some selected places and scheduled to show up in more. As relevant to the above discussion, I will add that, especially with the addition of the "slots" type indications to improve other aspects of indication, I think a drag-and-drop-to-slots methodology would be an intuitive approach in many places where the game has specifically included "card" concepts that facilitate that type of paradigm, but where it is missing and isn't planned to be added (AFAIK).



Also, I came to this community-development party pretty late in the game, so I don't know if this has been explained or discussed before, but having given thought over a long period on the challenges of implementing a deeper type of game on a touch screen interface, one thing that struck me is that this game seems like it would (depending on resource limitations and compute limitations with AI) be a perfect fit in many ways for a Tablet touch interface. Not just the overall smooth flow of the UI (aside from the bumps like what prompted this thread), but design elements like the bite-sized nature of the combat system as implemented, and googling info on the (I hope I have this right) Unity engine.



I thought I would bring this up first, in case that is a possible future plan or re-scaled/portioned spinoff for this game, and second, for specific attention concerning the LEAP Motion interface and the types of initiatives Microsoft might be doing with Windows 8, in case it delivers what it seems like it could and catches on. In either case, I think a drag-and-drop re-work of the interface would offer some long-term benefit.

FuegoTigre wrote:
I would love to be able to just double left click on heroes inorder to instantly pull up their stats.



Currently, the main method is to go to the "Academy" tab, click on the hero's card, have all the cards pull up, click on the hero's card again, have the cards be pulled to the front with the options (Hire, Inspect, Expel), and then click "Inspect".



It would be nice if all I had to do was just double click on the card at the bottom and POOF! Info.



Also, when in this mode, it would be nice to be able to slide between heroes, akin to how planets and systems work. Just a tap on the right direction key and BAM! Next hero in the line up. As is now, I have to back out, select the next card, then select inspect once again.



I feel that this suggestion would streamline one more aspect of the interface.



Great Work, Everyone! Loving the game.

Addition to suggestion

This thread is the origin of discussions about improving the Academy UI.

Other threads about this have been archived:

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13671-suggestion-double-click-on-heroes-to-see-stats

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13827-suggestion-easy-hero-inspection



Feel free to post here about this topic here and inform yourself about the variations the threads listed above have already discussed, but don't open new suggestion threads for anything alike.

I HEARTILY agree with double-click to expose inspector elements for heroes (or anything really). Double click on a card of any kind (heroes, planets, etc.) should bring up the relevant inspector screen.