The video only uses materials made publicly available by Relic/THQ themselves.
Link to video - In this I go over various stills and give my impression and analysis of the UI as it stands in Alpha. Hopefully it opens up a bit of discussion.
CoH2 - my review of the alpha level UI
8 Jan 2013, 16:23 PM
#1
1 
Posts: 2439 | Subs: 6
Master League - CoH's tournament player ranking system.
GCS2.ORG - All info on the fan funded mega tourney I organised.
YouTube.com/AECoH - casts, analysis, and tournament gameplay.
GCS2.ORG - All info on the fan funded mega tourney I organised.
YouTube.com/AECoH - casts, analysis, and tournament gameplay.
8 Jan 2013, 17:19 PM
#2
Posts: 881
Nice one, I totally agree with you, except I like the unit icons in the top right, you can quickly see the status of all your units; in combat, suppressed, idle, etc., and I don't think it'll take up too much space, you don't usually have 12 infantry units like in that screenshot.
Regarding the green color; yes, it should be blue or at least more saturated, I find it difficult to see the territory borders on the minimap. And it's a green map, I somehow subconsciously expect the minimap to be green already before I've capped it..
Regarding the green color; yes, it should be blue or at least more saturated, I find it difficult to see the territory borders on the minimap. And it's a green map, I somehow subconsciously expect the minimap to be green already before I've capped it..
8 Jan 2013, 17:35 PM
#3
Posts: 332 | Subs: 1
Nice one, have to watch it when I got more time again. Looks cool tho!
8 Jan 2013, 17:58 PM
#4
Posts: 838
nice review ! job well done mate 
9 Jan 2013, 22:45 PM
#5
Posts: 82
I think there should be a setting to make the unit display in the corner hover or permanently open/close. Maybe make it so if the bar is closed, hovering over the arrow will make it expand like it was in vCoH? I think the icons are also too big and should take up less of the screen, but I do like how you are displayed a little more information about each unit now. I also agree that the color pallet needs to be changed.
One thing I have a question on is how will control groups work? Obviously click on units then hit ctrl+1 and it makes control group 1, but how will that be shown on the right side? From the pictures shown, there is no space left for a control group to go without it pushing more into the center of the screen because of the new boxes there for the abilities.
The whole dynamic interface thing about the picture to the unit is really dumb also. Kill count and things like that is more important to me than what seems to be a little animated portrait of the unit I'm selected. I'd rather see information at a glance than have to scroll over it. (This is where I ran out of time to stop watching the video, but very good job reviewing it.)
One thing I have a question on is how will control groups work? Obviously click on units then hit ctrl+1 and it makes control group 1, but how will that be shown on the right side? From the pictures shown, there is no space left for a control group to go without it pushing more into the center of the screen because of the new boxes there for the abilities.
The whole dynamic interface thing about the picture to the unit is really dumb also. Kill count and things like that is more important to me than what seems to be a little animated portrait of the unit I'm selected. I'd rather see information at a glance than have to scroll over it. (This is where I ran out of time to stop watching the video, but very good job reviewing it.)
9 Jan 2013, 23:33 PM
#6
Posts: 862
The green is horrible, especially since I'm a bit colourblind, I can barely see my units and my territory.. 
"Wise to resolve, and patient to perform" ~Homer
10 Jan 2013, 06:05 AM
#7
Posts: 11
Good review! Brought up a lot of good points. While red vs blue feels a bit cliche IMO, issues with colorblindness would be worse, maybe a setting to adjust saturation and color would help. Also hoping the resources gets tweaked more compact horizontally somehow, but we may just need to get used to it.
10 Jan 2013, 06:56 AM
#8
Posts: 28
The green is horrible, especially since I'm a bit colourblind, I can barely see my units and my territory..
Indeed, should be Blue and Red.
Green isn't even something that you'd associate with the Ostheer or the Wehrmacht.
10 Jan 2013, 18:57 PM
#9
Posts: 217
The old UI is so much more pleasent to look at. Theres to much 'going on' in the new one. I also dont like the colours. It will take some time to get used to it.
Also, where is the the tactical map?
Also, where is the the tactical map?
10 Jan 2013, 19:04 PM
#10
Posts: 217
Oh and i agree about the resources overlay, the horizontal overlay is much more difficult to read.
I can imagine you would have to double take to get all the resource information you need during a game.
I can imagine you would have to double take to get all the resource information you need during a game.
10 Jan 2013, 22:27 PM
#11
Posts: 1210 | Subs: 1
Cool stuff dude.
11 Jan 2013, 23:12 PM
#12
Posts: 14
Thanks for the analysis. While I agree with your points I'm not sure about Relic changing the alpha UI for the better:
BTW: am I the only one whom the new UI reminds of the Total War series UI?
- CoH's UI is not very intuitive and sometimes awkward to use. For example you have to go to the game starting screen to watch a replay. For basic matches, both "Main menu" and "Leave game" buttons lead to the same screen. No information design whatsoever.
- Relic generally favors a short-lived wow-moment - or what they dream up to be one - over long time usability. That's their reasoning behind ToV units. And the convoluted level names still make me cringe.
BTW: am I the only one whom the new UI reminds of the Total War series UI?
Download Eastern Front Mod here
14 Jan 2013, 15:08 PM
#13
Posts: 1
Great review! Pretty much agree on all points.
Biggest areas for improvement are:
• Change map color from green to red.
• Change resource display from horizontal to vertical.
Both changes seem pretty easy and would make a big difference.
Biggest areas for improvement are:
• Change map color from green to red.
• Change resource display from horizontal to vertical.
Both changes seem pretty easy and would make a big difference.
14 Jan 2013, 16:41 PM
#14
Posts: 27
Good review
The green colour needs to be changed
The green colour needs to be changed
14 Jan 2013, 17:05 PM
#15
Posts: 65
yea the green is horrible
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
14 Jan 2013, 17:23 PM
#16
Posts: 255
an excellent review - devs really should take a look at this, +1 to everything pointed out
15 Jan 2013, 03:26 AM
#17
Posts: 508 | Subs: 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF9_HXZfFrY
Anybody else who thinks it looks like this? (it's a MOW video from our very own TychoCelChuu)
I just feel it's terrible overall, with the horizontal resources being the worst part.
Anybody else who thinks it looks like this? (it's a MOW video from our very own TychoCelChuu)
I just feel it's terrible overall, with the horizontal resources being the worst part.
15 Jan 2013, 10:21 AM
#18
Posts: 117
Nice video, also agree everything you said in there...
15 Jan 2013, 18:01 PM
#19
4 Posts: 505
+1
15 Jan 2013, 18:36 PM
#20
Posts: 879
Totally agree on blue/red. This is standard in most military games, including actual real-life war-gaming. Blue=Friendly, Red=Enemy.
Also, I do not think the resource panel should be horizontal either. It's much easier to take in vertical information when there are separate categories. There's a reason you almost never see tickboxes in software arranged horizontally. Bulleted lists are also never horizontally arranged. It would be ugly and hard to read. Note that they also used a serif rather than san-serif font for the income numbers. Sans-serif is much easier to read on computer screens.
Overall I also think it's much too busy in the color scheme. It's not totally garish, but I think they need to reduce their palette a bit.
Also, I do not think the resource panel should be horizontal either. It's much easier to take in vertical information when there are separate categories. There's a reason you almost never see tickboxes in software arranged horizontally. Bulleted lists are also never horizontally arranged. It would be ugly and hard to read. Note that they also used a serif rather than san-serif font for the income numbers. Sans-serif is much easier to read on computer screens.
Overall I also think it's much too busy in the color scheme. It's not totally garish, but I think they need to reduce their palette a bit.
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