Nintendo's Bland New HUDs and UIs

[NICKtendo DS]

I'm just someone from the outside looking in and the M and Mario head silhouette ideas I already felt were a bit of a stretch, because I know the heart makes the most sense. Maybe it's the 3 slices that bothers me? I'm not sure. Maybe it'll look better if the heart was a bit more rounded, a bit more Super Mario-like.

[Goemar]

You could just do an M in a circle?
Or do it Doom style and have Mario's (or Cappy's) face get sadder or something until dead.

Honestly, I don't really with an issue with what's on offer. And well, when you start getting this concerned about a videogame's HUD... probably time to put the kettle on you know?

[Koopaul]

like really; you don't see skyrim's UI with a bunch of goofy fonts and stuff. maybe a fancy text box, but the text is good and clear; and even better in terms of accessibility (cleaner text means end users with sight issues will have an easier time reading opentype-ish text as opposed to a stylized one)

You use a font or HUD that matches the theme. If it's a sci-fi game you expect to see a sci-fi HUD.



Also you guys say that this stuff doesn't matter and that we should prioritize gameplay. Okay then by that logic we should get rid of textures, unique NPCs, music, and have the environment just be colored blocks. All of those thing were destractions that added nothing to the gameplay. By having a game of nothing but jumping around on texturless colored blocks you prioritize gameplay... no destractions!



Aesthetics are too destracting.

[TomGuycott]

The reason Metroid Prime works that way is that it is supposed to be viewed from Samus' visor the entire time. In fact, that's very much a significant part of the gameplay, scanning enemies and finding their weaknesses, etc. In a first person game there is also a much higher level of immersion.

In a game like Mario, Mario is never really viewing his own HUD, it's just a device for the player to view the important values in their gameplay. Frankly, the minimized style of the HUD is just the current trend at Nintendo at the moment (previously seen in Breath of the Wild and Arms). Text and HUDS are very clean and streamlined.

[Goemar]

like really; you don't see skyrim's UI with a bunch of goofy fonts and stuff. maybe a fancy text box, but the text is good and clear; and even better in terms of accessibility (cleaner text means end users with sight issues will have an easier time reading opentype-ish text as opposed to a stylized one)

You use a font or HUD that matches the theme. If it's a sci-fi game you expect to see a sci-fi HUD.



Also you guys say that this stuff doesn't matter and that we should prioritize gameplay. Okay then by that logic we should get rid of textures, unique NPCs, music, and have the environment just be colored blocks. All of those thing were destractions that added nothing to the gameplay. By having a game of nothing but jumping around on texturless colored blocks you prioritize gameplay... no destractions!



Aesthetics are too destracting.

That's the stupidest argument ever and you know it...

[Zero Kirby]

Yeah honestly Koopaul as much as I love Metroid Prime and advocate using it as an example (and it is an excellent example of a situation where a stylized HUD is necessary, don't get me wrong) your example here is just silly. Jumping to that extreme hyperbole afterwards also didn't really win you any points.

As stated above, the idea is that you are literally seeing the world through Samus' eyes, and the HUD is what Samus actually sees. The game messes with it sometimes too (Rezbits in Echoes uploading viruses, or getting electronic interference from Sentries).

If you had a game of nothing but coloured blocks, that could actually detract from gameplay. For example, Team Fortress 2. The two sides have unique facades for their bases (BLU usually being industrial, RED being rural) so that you can more easily tell them apart if you have trouble telling the colours themselves apart. Every character has a unique design and silhouette so you can tell in an instant how threatening they are. You'd lose this if the environments and characters were nothing more than coloured blocks.

I mean sure technically you could create a platformer that's nothing but coloured blocks, but how would you easily differentiate between different threats, different areas of the environment, find your bearings, etc. etc.? That would probably make Super Mario Odyssey unplayable.

The idea is to create designs that are fast and easy to read. I can tell at a glance that Goombas = bad, Super Mushrooms = good. And I can easily read the HUD and it looks quite nice, honestly.

[Gors]

Poopaul seal of posting quality



it's not because the HUD is minimalist that the game aesthetics should follow suit. This doesnt even make any sense lmao

im going to stop here, if u think a little harder you'll understand what guycott, goemar and zero kirby said

[JewyB]

I think Nintendo should go more along the WoW route instead of the minimalist route, it jsut looks so much smoother!

*Uses extreme examples to make point*

[iyenal]

I think Nintendo should go more along the WoW route instead of the minimalist route, it jsut looks so much smoother!

*Uses extreme examples to make point*

You killed my eyes. Congratulations. It is not even a UI.
You must have a NVIDIA GTX 1080Ti + 2 meters 4K TV to distingish the data .
I gave you a reputation for this image, because HOW COULD YOU SEE THIS MORE THAN 30 SECONDS TO PUT IT HERE ???

[Koopaul]

I actually came back because I have something constructive to post instead of hyperbole, since I thought of it.

If the simplistic font and icons are there to be less intrusive or noticeable, then why are they on the screen at any given point in Odyssey? You see, in Super Mario Galaxy the icons disappear from the screen throughout most of the game and only appear when you collect the appropriate item. If you care about immersion, then Galaxy's method is actually better and makes sense since the screen will only show Mario and the world through most of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaizQl7tcgc

So why are the icons in Odyssey always on the screen instead of disappearing when they don't need to be seen? Take a look at some footage from Oddysey, those icons are always there.

Another thing. If taking up too much space on the screen is an issue, then why do the coin icons in Odyssey have an underline? The coins in the upper left corner have an underline. Why is this? What's the point? They could have easily just had the numbers and the coin symbols there but they went and underlined them too. Thus, taking more unnecessary space on the screen.

Finally, being flat white may be problematic in snowy or cloudy worlds where the icons would just blend into the background and you wouldn't be able to see them at all. If they had a black outline they'd be more flexible for light or dark areas in the game.

[Lexou Duck]

Heh, looks like i'm the only one who is somewhat on koopaul's side here

The HUD/menus for LoZ:BotW are woefully inadequate
As great as a minimalist UI can be to better tailor the UX, the one in BotW is immersion-breaking

that's the line really: i agree that you should prioritize good UX design over just having your menu sparkle the way your game does - but there's a point in which the mood of the menu and the game is too different, and it doesn't work, killing the immersion every time you press pause. (or worse, whenever you check the corners of the screen - how anyone manages to play BotW without the less intrusive HUD, i dont understand)
But it was intentional, if you just compare with the "select" menu (the shiekah slate), that one is thought out to resemble the other shiekah technology in the game, and it looks okay doing so

the skyrim menus are perhaps the best example - even though the UI is somewhat close to BotW's (in that they are modern and minimalist despite the epic fantasy setting), i'd say skyrim fares better in their font choice throughout (even though the use of the "zelda font" in BotW is nice to see)

I guess all i'm trying to say is - yeah koopaul is wrong if he means to say that the look of the menu trumps its usability
But you still gotta make it fit in with the rest of your game, otherwise you're just lazy (i'm looking at you, symphony of the night with your placeholder PS1 menus)

[TheRewster]

I think I'm with Koopaul on this one (very cool avy too I must say, BTW).

On the one hand, it's not a terribly big deal, at all. But I always did like the little bit of personality and just pizzazz that made the font and interface distinctly Mario in the games since Sunshine. I'm going to kind of miss that in Odyssey. Heck, I kind of missed it on the Zelda front in Breath of the Wild too. (There wasn't even title screen music in that game!)

I mean, I wouldn't mind an interface that's less busy than say the Galaxy or early Paper Mario games, something subtle but distinct. I think the sheer absence of personality in the Odyssey interface might be swinging the pendulum too far the other way. I'm sure Nintendo will correct course soon enough, though.