Hi Guy’s!
working hard, on trying to get this to run smoothly on Android, so all shader model 2.
So the mission is: Have the two wing-men, draw off the Enemy Bomber’s ,escort group, You, hang back, then swoop in , take out the enemy bomber .
Eliminate a couple more enemies, then, rendezvous with the Fuel Tanker, and connect ‘In Air’…simple.
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Not a fan at all of all the UI stuff going on. Game looks good otherwise just some tweaking needed for the cockpit view. (Arms look bright and don’t match the environment and the throttle on the left with the red button needs more vertices, looks pretty low poly right now)
Making a good flight sim on mobile is an anathema. UI design is very hard. Flight sims require tons of buttons and on mobile you have none.
I think the controls look great, and there’s something satisfying about having that many options - however I think they would interfere with the gameplay. You might consider tying them together functionally or making them disappear when not needed.
Overall what I like most is the atmosphere, I think you’ve done a great job with the comms, the engine sounds and the flight model to make something that feels pretty compelling. On a tablet I think this would be loads of fun.
I partically agree with Billy about the atmosphere - you’ve done a great job making the game feel alive and authentic.
I agree with the all other comments regarding the UI and buttons. Just too many for a mobile game - but if you excluded ALL phones this could possibly be fun to play on tablets with a reduced button count.
Looks good underneath…but unfortunately it’s covered in a massive heap of UI stuff. What a cluttered mess. I don’t mean that in an insulting way or anything, it’s just a very busy UI covering almost the entire screen, just really distracting from what really should be the game’s focus. I would resolve that issue first and foremost and then consider launching the game.
Firstly, the fact that you have a flight sim this detailed running on mobile is amazing. Well done!
I do agree with everyone else that the UI is a bit much… but I don’t want any of the options to go away! I’d encourage you to try to think creatively about how you can create some sort of control drawer to tuck things into and fold out as needed.
Keep up the great work! And if you ever release an iOS version, I’m a definite purchase!
Your right…button overload!!…I am going to create something cleaner., I am starting the main UI from scratch, I have a couple mock-ups…needs to be something original, that has the same functionality, but takes up 80% less screen space. Hiding and/or minimizing makes a lot of sense.
The pilot…he is low poly with just a mobile/spec shader, and he looks it. - I plan on opening up ShaderForge, to see if I can improve the quality…
Thanks for the feedback, really, I need authentic opinions - they are priceless… :-).
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use drop down menus. You drop down a menu and have several controls people don’t usually use, such as landing gear (do you really need this in the middle of the screen?)
Good ui design follows this rule: the more frequently you need something, the more screen space /importance it is given.
However the nerd and geek inside me says he likes all the buttons a lot. It’s fun, and let’s face it, aircraft cockpits ARE ui overload!!
Give us some examples if you have 2-3 that you are undecided on.
@ There’s two types of screen content I see: Information and Input. I’ve tried ordering it from most critical to least.
Information
Input - Mandatory
Input - Not Sure
Input - Hide Until Needed
Afterburner? Chaff? Flares? - The ones with the arrows coming out of the back. Probably important functions, but may be a way to hide them until needed. Countermeasures, for example, but be invisible until an enemy has a missile lock on you. And afterburner might appear only when you’re at max throttle.
Landing Gear / Engine Power? / Fuel Hook - These are functions you perform outside of combat so they don’t need to be quickly accessed. Consider a Functions dropdown or pullout that has these options inside it.
Radio - Didn’t catch how the one worked, like whether it’s for issuing orders to squadmates or what. Could be either high importance or tucked away, depending.
Input - Definitely Hide
Now that I’m analyzing it further, I officially request you port this to iOS. I kinda need it.
Might sound like a silly suggestion, but is there any possibility of overlaying some of the UI elements over top of the 3D geometry of the cockpit? That way it would free up screen area outside of the cockpit view.
I thought about that, too. The biggest issue I see is that the game has multiple camera modes, so those controls may look out of place if you’re not in cockpit view. The alternative is then moving those controls for different views, but that’s crazy business… moving buttons around depending on your camera, yikes.
That said, the only proper way to play a flight sim is through cockpit view, so everyone should be doing that. And if it were me, I wouldn’t give them another option, especially with how great that cockpit looks!
Thanks for all that…I will publish to IOS!, it seems to run faster…I don’t know why.
So after reading everyone’s great advice, I started over…I am still not 100% happy, just a rough draft. this version hides controls : on and off (each side hides independently.)
UI Off (see double arrows)
UI On (version 1)
UI On (version 2)
I still want to display the text description of each button, it only display when the info button is pressed.
I just wanted to show, that I am listening, alas this is not as easy as I thought.
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You have a discerning eye, all true…and I did a poor job extruding that red fire button, I was hoping no one would notice!! - I will go back, and add some polys, and the the thumb press animation when players fire. I now know, what to concentrate on, and to quit cutting corners! thanks! p-
please see above post, 2 spoilers, I trashed all previous version’s after reading all the critiques…I’m kinda lost…
Don’t stress yourself out over it. Focus on something else for a bit and come back to it. Toss a few ideas around, mock some things up, and try out the most promising ones.
If you’re really feeling ambitious, though, you can go nuts and decide that the player could decide the best layout. Create a Layout Edit screen where the player can reposition the buttons and displays (including tucking them away in drawers) and save their positions for use in the game. Then you just have to have a decent “default” setting that is playable, and people will customize it how they see fit.
First of all, I don’t think the first one you showed in the video was bad for a tablet. Up to you, but I’d consider filling a bit of a niche there for people who want something more than the usual arcadey experience.
I don’t think either of the UI you showed in the spoilers are an improvement. The buttons are too small and crowded, and it’s not clear what they are supposed to do.
Looking at your video again, I think the main problem is the controls that encroach on the gameplay area from the sides toward the center. To improve this HUD, my suggestion the following:
The mid-bottom left should ONLY be engine/throttle related;
The mid-bottom right should ONLY be weapon related;
Any button that is not an integral part of the core gameplay (such as the camera button which I assume is to change views, as well as the information, settings and restart buttons) should be as far as possible from the other controls (e.g. up the top right) even though it is a low-accessibility area. This is because these buttons will not be pressed often at all, and when they are pressed they will not need to be pressed in any kind of hurry.
The center-bottom area (medium accessibility) might contain the less-used buttons such as the refueling and landing gear controls, which are also not going to be pressed in a huge hurry so accessibility is not anywhere near as important.
Here’s a pic:
If you want to optimise further, I would consider a Combat/NonCombat mode which hides the refueling and gear buttons when in combat, as well as making a single ‘pause menu’ button which contains options for instructions, settings and restart.
Anyway, those are just my own suggestions, but as Schneider said, don’t stress! I think you have a cracking game going on here which as a flying game fan, feels more authentic than most other mobile flight combat games I’ve seen.
PS I definitely suggest keeping the big round buttons (maybe scaled down a touch), as they look attractive and informative and at a glance I know what they do. Don’t forget you can scale the image down but have a large touchable area…
Hey Force - you have a pretty awesome solid core! I’ve rarely played flight games since Ace Combat kinda started to take a down turn, but I’ve always liked them - and I think your core looks entertaining. Keep up the good work!
Sorry for the terrible mock up
Have you considered something like this?
This maximizes game play (visuals) area in the center of the screen where the pilot will be tracking most of the movement enemies.
@theANMATOR2b That’s pretty much exactly what I was picturing!
