So, the condo select menu was updated in 0.8.2.0, and (in my opinion at least) it looks pretty small, plain and boring:
There’s a lot of empty space and not a lot of colors here, and the menu itself is really small compared to the old condo select screen.
So, here’s this design I came up with:
It looks kinda ugly, but I think it gets the point of what I’m suggesting across well enough. The menu’s a lot bigger, the condos on the side have their thumbnails instead of just a small rectangle with their name in it, and you can even select which condo save you load into.
I’m horrible at ending posts so I’m just going to put this sentence here instead of abruptly stopping like I usually do.
I strongly oppose the idea that video games should adhere to modern web design aesthetics. That said, there are alternatives. I’d just like any sort of pictoral representation, and if not, at least have them in alphabetical order.
Here’s another idea mockup. it has a bit more character, but I like it less:
That would look nice, perhaps, but people don’t actually store the lengths of words in their minds for immediate access, and depending on the word, making that computation could take many times as long as just grabbing the first letter or two. Now, this is not a huge deal given the small number of items we’re talking about sorting here. But the extra fetch time would drive me mad; not sure about anyone else lol. I already have an annoying time trying to find items in my inventory.
I’m personally in favor of the gradient/image design listed above. It looks great!
(For the record: I like the image with fade idea more, I was just a bit lazy)
“Open save” would only show if a condo save is selected, otherwise only the “new condo” button would show.
As much as I may love the idea of putting saves in the space below the main picture it seems like it will be a huge hassle to navigate once you get more than 3 saves in there. Perhaps you could have a separate window to the side dedicated to your saves and display related information beneath the picture?
Sinera’s concept looks like a great fit of all the ideas from above. Maybe the black icons for each condo type would be better on the left, though? That’s the order most things use in UX designy stuff. Really like the saves list and stats ideas though.
Yeah, I definitely like that saves list placement better. Feels much less cramped, but I think the overall size of the menu should be increased if there is to be a spot for stats. Still feels a bit small for all of the information it gives.
