EVE General Discussion

It is crazy cheap
8GB is like $40

I think this is the greatest challenge you have, if at all possible.

Mostly in scalability. Inevitably you would need to change data formats at some point in the "Scale" equation.

You'd need to go from spreadsheet to graph chart, with a graph chart showing a numerical value of pilots doing a certain thing on that spreadsheet (lets say radial velocity). So from left to right it would show a fluctuating line indicating 20 pilots are approaching you at -200m/s, 2 pilots at 201m/s, .... 50 pilots are going 50m/s away from you, etc.

Then, do that for the various information that we would want, and then perhaps drop it into 3d mode.

And then we can call it GRAAAAAAAAAAAPHS IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE.


Seriously though. I don't envy this UI challenge of yours. Inevitably, I think the only reasonable way you could manage this info is by clustering ships doing enough of the same things in unity that the UI treats them as one object in space (not for locking specific targets). And anything standing out from the blob would have to look different.

So, let's say there's a sniping fleet moving 800m/s at a radial of 0m/s (in orbit), they would be highlight green on the screen as a whole, and then you'd have an Interceptor burning towards you (let's say), and that interceptor would be highlighted Red because it's radial is -5000m/. It would look like a heat signature (this idea is purely for demonstration purposes). And, you could filter your "heat" signature based on what info you wanted.

It would get pretty "ugly" for EVE but, that technique is the most plausible way I could see to cluster information for 400 man engagements in a way that would be consumable without a spreadsheet (aka overview).

And the blob, would literally look like a "blob" at that point.

It would make a cool effect for teams though, if I was an FC I could view one heat signature for one set of info and I could assign others to watch for other information patterns. i.e. I could be watching what distance is while my anti-tackle could watch what radial is, and so on. So as FC I can keep our range to engagement in the right place, while my Destroyers could watch that nothing is flying into us because any inty's would stand out immediately as RED against the GREEN blob that is managing range, etc.

I think the other reason the overview is crucial is that not all information is going to be "in front of you" on your screen if it's taken off the overview. I know that you want to do the PIP overview with your selected target, which would be sweet (would love to see that this expansion, not expecting it) - so that may alleviate some of the pressure, but many times while manual piloting I can't turn my screen to face my opponent because I have to fly in another direction to where I want to go to avoid other ships, etc. And do that with a lot of other ships coming on to the field, and it gets tricky fast. I need that info!!!

Was going to comment on this, seems that I missed this part

Yes, I can imagine, especially if it's an extreme change and if it's done incorrectly. But that's the challenge isn't it, no one's saying we should dump the overview, but the problem with all of those redundant windows cluttering and filling up our screen is still a problem, regardless. Perhaps people can say, hey, at least it works; but ofc it works, no one's saying that it doesn't. You have stated previously that CCP is aware that this is actually an issue that needs to be addressed, so I'll leave it at that; but for the sake of clarity, I'll give an example.

I'm playing in a bit smaller screen resolution (1366x768). Fortunately for me, by W3C statistics, this is the most common screen resolution used in 2012. During most of my activities, while undocked in Eve these are the things shown on my screen:

• damn fixed-unresizeable HUD with fixed-unmodifiable-module display as long as a marsupilami's tail
• overview (obviously) which consumes a huge portion of the screen if I want to grab the info I need
• drone window on drone boats
• selected object window (which apparently there for obvious but somewhat weird reasons)
• those little but not so little targeted object panels (yes, it's big enough to call it panels)
• first/primary chat window (with multiple tabs)
• local chat window
• intel chat window
• neocom
• that top-left system information
• the unmovable/fixed-position and unresizeable combat notification

during fleet fights, big, small or pvp in general, several additional stuff is active

• watchlist (understandable and it's necessary)
• fleet window
• fleet chat (most times merged with the primary chat window)

All in all, in the end, most of my screen is filled with something that's not spaceship (which is a bit sad). Again, since we're so used to this, the clutter and all, it's not a big issue to some people. Heck, it's not even a big issue for me. But if I think about it, why is everything so passive (the UI), why do I need to display all of those things and separate them to different positions to get the information I need. Why is my screen filled up with lists, windows, UI items, when some of those things could (maybe) be merged into smaller groups of stuff. Why is it that for every new (or not new) feature, CCP always present us with a new window and clutter the screen even more. Is it really impossible to design an ergonomic, intuitive, efficient and flexible UI for this game? To take it to the extreme, what good is it, all those pretty ships and amazing graphics for spaceships and nebulas CCP have put countless hours into the development if we can't even enjoy them during many cases when we need the UI operational?

While I do believe that CCP may come up with something, and it might not be acceptable at first (just like the inventory UI). I still have my doubts that this is, maybe, just maybe a game, the one MMO in which a "good" UI is just not possible and the only reasonable solution is to "buy a bigger screen". Both technically and whether or not changes are acceptable because people have gotten too much used to the old ways and we just have to accept those facts.

Just my 2 isk.

Make some sketches. No, I'm not asking you to design an entire new UI, just see if you can come up with some concepts.