Great video, thank you very much! Nothing is done lightly; everything is carefully considered, including the camera perspective during herb picking. The reason for this is that herbs can vary significantly in form, and picking them up clearly reveals that they are not an actual plant, mushroom, or other ingredient but an asset in a video game. To mask this, we opted for the switch in camera perspective. It’s not ideal, but like many aspects of video game development, it’s a compromise to address the issue. Regarding the inventory, there’s one more point you didn’t mention in your video: the entire inventory slides. You can see it extending to the left and right. Moving to the right from the inventory takes you to the player stats, then crafting, and finally the codex. Moving to the left brings you to the journal and the map. It’s not a separate page; everything rotates in a similar manner to the pedestal for the character model. You can compare these two images: api.press-new.warhorsestudios.cz//uploads/KCDII_GC_Inventory_2153162dce.png api.press-new.warhorsestudios.cz//uploads/KCDII_Stats_a4136fec1f.png And one more word about the helmet vision. Yes, it is still there, but you can open and close your visor at will now with an dedicated key, it's not linked to the question if you draw your weapon or not anymore.
Honored to have you here and cannot wait to play KCD2! Thank you for the high res screenshots of that MASTERPIECE. I might hang them on my wall :P I don't recall the videos showing it sliding left/right (maybe in the vendor section), but I could see that's what it would do from the cropped screens to the left/right of the center screen. There are no words to describe how gorgeous those screens are. Simply masterful and probably my favorite game UI ever ❤ And on the helmet vision, I actually go into a lot more detail about that in the original cut (which was 53 minutes long), from a design standpoint. It's a genius design idea that adds so much immersion to the game, but the popularity of the helmet vision mod showed that it was also a divisive feature. So I was curious to see if it was still present in the sequel, and am glad that it is and you've made it better.
I really, really hope you guys will have a function for a dynamic HUD, one that has elements only pop up when you ask for it, or when the situation calls for it (like combat). Furthermore im hoping for lots of HUD customization options in regards to turning certain elements off. I prefer playing my games with no, or minimal HUD. So options would be great! Can't wait for the game.
Cool to see the studio reply! Love everything I've seen so far, but I think regarding the 3rd person picking animation, that should be an option in an advanced menu. Have it on by default, but allow players to switch it to first person. As a Modder for several Bethesda games before, I can also only emphasize the videos statement that good mod support early on does so much for your game. This is one thing Bethesda has done absolutely right, even over 2 decades ago with morrowind. These games are still played to this day because of mods. Anyways, can't wait to see what you have in store for us!
About the rabbit - Dan Vavra said in an interview that first someone suggested to have an eye icon but he didn't like that. Then they tried using a knight but they didn't like using the knight when some unarmed peasant is attacking you so they came up with the bunny as it has even some historical background being in many illuminations (even some naughty ones)
I HATE, with a passion, the modern clean, black and white, sterile UI design, HATE IT! KCD was a refreshing change in that trend that I wish more dev studios took note of. Every single Unreal Engine game these days has that sterile UI design and I don't know why they are doing it. Remember Battlefield 2 and Project Reality? Colorful UI that had actual images of firearms? And now, Squad and the new Battlefield games only have GRAY SILHOUETES for guns, no imagination at all.
I look at ac shadows and think "this is the perfect game for ubisoft to add some flavor to the ui". Japanese art is so amazing and iconic that they could really create something special with that interface. Unfortunately it wont happen, especially given all the mistakes with that game. Im waiting for a video that shows me more of the game screens (all ive seen so far is the hud), to maybe give that ui the ol college try. I keep thinking it would amazing if it was inspired by water in japanese art. Kinda like in demon slayer, the anime. But yeah, like i say in the video, stylizing ui is a risky move, but when its done right, you can get a masterpiece like this one.
So many unreal games have the same generic look because they don't spend time and resources figuring out their UX & UI Design. Many developers use the default look as placeholders, and when the time to release the game is coming then there is no time to improve it so they just leave it as it is.
@@Loreworx blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpTXWzco8KIbwEGFh3TBlf3EMyoWiF88zxeSLHcu4juTDA6a2nj5esZIT2Ng4FQ23lbtrukU4Lu4YpUhGGTsbOxSY0ms8apOCgrOhvH_IlTLA-XYim1oIO9J4JOl7GyqcUK-iISxfyi0/s1600/Hase+schie%25C3%259Ft+Hund+2.jpg That is one example of the medieval rabbit. It is a document from britain.
Has anyone mentioned that silly little fighting rabbits are actually a reoccurring thing in the margins of medieval manuscripts? Also, snails were apparently pretty hardcore back in those times as well.
snails and rabbits were an artistic way to depict peasants, so knights fighting rabbits = peasant revolt. snails fighting rabbits indicates infighting. At least, thats how its been explained to me.
I think modern games have fallen into the pitfall of thinking "simple = minimalist". Because it's not just that the UIs are "clean", they are minimalist. They have minimal style, minimal taste, minimal purpose. But sometimes they aren't even simple despite being minimalistic. Kingdom Come's UI is simple. It's not battering you with all the stats and info the games is calculating. But it definitely isn't minimalistic.
There will be hotkey for opening and closing Helmet visor. Rabbit icon was knight icon earlier but people from company complained that it is confusing when old hag is attacking you and you see Icon of knight. So they choose neutral symbol rabbit (Rabbit is often used in medieval codexes in illustrations). They also had totally different idea for UI. It was meant to be 3D and rotate. Like some gothic altair that is being opened, but it caused a lot of motion sickness, so they deleted perspective and made it kind of flat.
@@IlikebeatzzzIIRC there's pros and cons for doing so. Visor down means more protection. But much lower visibility and slower stamina regeneration since it blocks your vision and limits your breathing. Open visor means more visibility and you get the default stamina regen, but you take high damage from strikes to the head.
This might be my favorite game UI of all time. Do you agree with the changes I propose? Let me know. Stick around for more game redesign videos like this one! Thank you for watching!
In the first game, I didn't need an icon on the HUD to know how much ammo I had, or what weapon was equipped, and I don't want one in the sequel. The same is true of potions, although a hotkey to use potions is a nice addition. The quest objectives do not need to be in the middle of the screen, especially during combat. You can work it out from the dialog.
I try not to remove things when making these videos (unless it's absolute insanity like in veilguard). Ammo type/counter can be considered QoL additions. My (tiny) issue was with the execution. Generally I think more like you: less is almost always better in immersive rpgs. The quest information could take up a little less of the screen. I think the "main" quest icon that shows up right under the compass could be smaller, and that would bring the rest of the text further up a bit. But it does fade away after a few seconds so it's not that bad.
@@Loreworx I only mentioned it since you asked if anyone had alternate opinions about the interface. I think the best solution would be to let the player decide what they want to see. Obviously mods will solve most of it, as you mentioned. Going back to the first one, some buffs, like Burgher/Savage, Balanced Diet, and Alpha Male, would be permanently on the screen, and asymmetrically, which I found annoying. Meanwhile, many other buffs would only show in the status screen.
6:05 There's also option E: Slightly extend the length of the whole section. Stretch the squares into rectangles instead, thereby giving the UX designer more breathing space to show the neat icons as well as ensuring the function of the counter. 7:10 "Ping Pong" analogy is spot on. There's an old game I remember handling this better. The Witcher 3. I think the trick was to simply allow dialogue to flow regardless of the timing of camera cuts. The vocal performance was paramount and the music filled in the gaps when it needed to. I also remember them *constantly* playing around with camera angles, panning, wide shots, etc. It kept dialogue feeling natural and cinematic almost all the time. It was never a static back-and-forth camera cut like we see here. 10:10 Excellent redesign! 13:23 I think the repeated "You got" X, "You got" Y, "You got" Z is redundant. Instead, they could "UX>" this by removing the "You got" text and using that screen real estate to make the font slightly larger for the item names that are picked up. Perhaps with font as large as the "Target Name Indicator", in this case, "Alchemist". 15:14 I think this could remedied a bit by adding some slight variety to the animation and different camera angles, things like this. Still jarring and repetitive but now sanded down a bit. "SkyUI, one of the greatest mods of all time." *No lies detected* It's actually the thing that got me to start paying attention to game UX. Despite bad UX in lots of places, I still think Skyrim's HUD (just the HUD) was a stroke of genius. The simple compass that encouraged exploration by only revealing icons once you're close, the bold "DISCOVERED" text, 3 simple color-coded bars...Something about it worked unreasonably well at *putting the game world front and center*. Great video! Subscribed!
Rectangles could also be an option yeah CDPR does dialogue very very well. Both in W3 and CP77. Even going back to W2. The repeated text could be contextual. So if you steal something you'd see "You stole X". But if the plan is to use "you got" for everything, then i totally agree... Remove the text. The herb picking animation is, to me, indefensible. Thankfully it will be a mod and i will be the first to download it. RPGs have been making herbs disappear in front of you for decades and no one has ever complained. This is a case of trying to reinvent the wheel and failing hard at it. They dont care that equipment disappears from a body you're looting, why give a crap about plants? I love the vanilla skyrim hud. Its excellent. The vanilla skyrim UI screens though... Were horrific. SkyUI was completely revolutionary for both Skyrim and modding in general. So much so that every bethesda game that came after skyrim tried to copy it somewhat. That modding team has my respect for life ❤️ Thank you so much for watching and for the awesome comment!
I initially got the helmet vision mod but in the end it did not make a difference. I wanted to see Henri's face (He is soooo cute), so I opted to use the open basinet all the time. Yep, I am gay. Sue me!. hehe, hehe.
How can I know, i didn't play kdc2, but in 1 it gives you protection against arrows (I mean to enemies, because you can't see it on yourself, but works both ways).
UX/UI designer here - the large overlaying icons could be potentially solved by grouping then together and only splitting them when you zoom in enough, sort of like your do with icons on a delivery screen in e-commerce. The downside is that you can potentially cover something more important underneath them.
Armed and armored animals, often fighting human knights and hunters were popular for small decorations in medieval illuminations, rabbits and snails were the most numerous.
The bit about the pause in between lines is something I had never paid attention to or noticed before in games, until Red Dead Redemption 2 nailed it like in the very intro when you first meet Micah in the snowstorm, I was like woah this doesn't feel video gamey it feels like an actual conversation and it was precisely because they nailed the timing with the lines
9:18 its because you can trade itens, like putting and item in a corpse. Somethings on Kingdom Come 1 you just discover by yourself, but like you poison a food or drink, put it in corpse, a trunk, a caldroon or throw it in the road, if someone finds it, they might drink or eat that poisonous item and dies (or get handicapped) without you needing to face him directly. With the creative team they have, taking this loot tab into next level, you could like change vest from someone you've killed to clothes linked to thieves/murders and go away with killing innocent people acting like it was just self defense. I liked your idea, but knowing KCD1 i know it wouldn't work with what they want with the loot tab.
There is story behind the bunny. At first there supposed to be little eye, but it was not allowed enought information. So they came with knight, but it was little bit confusing, and then they came with bunny. More info: ua-cam.com/video/qFreFULLDx4/v-deo.html
Regarding the UX>UI issue, I have conflicting opinions. You mentioned Ubisoft’s UI, and ironically, it’s one of the aspects I like least about their games. I think that in many situations, sacrificing a bit (but not too much) of UX can indeed be positive for the overall game experience. After all, a game is a work of art, and art is not always practical. Sometimes I would even argue that a little inconvenience/effort can add something to the experience. I don’t disagree that for “most people,” focusing on UX is obviously the smarter decision-at least in the sense that it will have greater acceptance. I would say that this balance between UX and UI is like the balance of seasoning in a certain dish. Too much, and you can’t eat it. Too little, and everything is bland, tasteless, and lacks personality. For example, there are traditional dishes characterized by their intense flavor. Authentic Thai or Mexican food is often too spicy for most people, but it’s just right for those who love the taste. Similarly, I have no doubt that a UI that tries to integrate too much with the world can alienate part of the audience, but certain people, like me, are delighted to see a UI that goes beyond the necessary to show the game’s style and personality. It's visually delicious, and I love that kind of thing. That said, KCD2 indeed managed to surpass KCD1 in practically every aspect, and in that, we are in total agreement!
Yep. Like i said, its a balancing act and a slippery slope. I definitely think ubisoft could take more risks with their ui design. But what theyre doing definitely works. Sometimes games manage to stylize while having great ux though and thats what kcd 2 does and thats why i think its a masterpiece
One thing I don't like in the new Inventory UI is the font. It seems more akin to typewriter lettering than the traditional handwriten, inklike feel of the 1st game. There was no readability issue due to the font imo.
The font in the 1st game does have more of an ink feel. It didn't have readability issues in KCD1, but that inventory screen didn't have the lighting this new one has. I'm guessing they went with a sharper, cleaner font this time around because the inklike style of the first one, under the lighting effects of the new game screens, probably was causing a bit of a readability issue.
6:00 I think all solutions are decent. The counter at the top is a better idea than at the bottom, as youve mentioned, since it will conflict with shortcut keys that show up when UI expands. The extra tile to the side is the most readable option. But then it begs the question - if you add a separate tile for the ammo type, do you also show this tile next to a crossbow in the expanded menu? Or if other tiles if there are more weapons that can use various ammo types / have special effects? Or do you only show that information only if you have that specific weapon selected? I guess it would be fine to only show it once it’s selected. I do have my option similar to yours and it’s just to expand that tile to the left and make it double the length so both the ammo type + counter and the weapon fit side by side. The tile would only expand and show this extra info if you select the weapon. This would have its own quick animation. Yes, it would ruin the symmetry a bit like the two tiles option but I actually don’t think it’s that big of a deal considering the vitals meter is already asymmetrical, health bar does not go all the way to the left of the UI element and shares space with stamina (I assume that’s what it is) meter, which is shorter. I think it could complement this asymmetry. Maybe even balance out these elements, since the long and visible health bar would now have a stamina meter and a long tile on the opposite side. Also I can see that some footage also has circular icon to the right that I assume show up special stats, so a longer tile at the left could again, balance out these elements when they show up and make them less heavy on just once side.
@@danielwhitman2255 I was just thinking about it, and one of the things I love about KCD is that you rarely get "free lunch" upgrades - everything is about compromise. E.g. many of the perks have downsides as well as buffs. Want to wear a helmet that protects your whole face, then you'll have to deal with reduced visibility. You can't dress fancy, and sneaky, and well-armoured, all at the same time. You need to make choices and trade-offs. Personally, I absolutely love that kind of RPG design and I wish I saw it more often.
@@LoreworxMonster hunter wilds is coming out on February too, they're cooked. Oh speaking of which people have complained about the healthbar in MH wilds, can you do a UI fix for it too?
Ive looked at a couple of monster hunter wilds videos but all ive seen is some of the hud. The video that showed the most was even in japanese. I need to wait for a video that shows more of the interface. Hud, character screens etc, to have enough material to make a video on. The hud alone isn't really enough most times. Unless it's full of weird decisions like in DA Veilguard. Ill keep my eye out for future monster hunter gameplay videos.
Fantastic video! I liked option D the most for the HUD redesign, because it seemed to be the closest to the spirit of what they were going for - having the ammo count inside the HUD. If it isn't too much trouble I would love it if you can check out and do a video on the game UI for Titan Quest 2, which will be launching in Early Access this Winter.
I prefer the slim health bar of KCD1, with it's aged and faded look. The new one is too bright and should be lower contrast or faded look. I'm sure it functions better, not needing to open your inventory to use a potion ect. But personally think it's a eyesore.
I'm just here waiting for the game and this video was an interesting detour into the world of UI design. You never really think about these things unless they really suck in a game.
Definitely option C, ammo/potion counter at the top. Also, it's amazing to think medieval Europe is actually closer in time to the floppy disk than we are in 2024. (In Internet years that is.)
I love that they color coded the skill icons in the inventory UI and that they grouped certain skills together. WAAAY better than how it was in the first game!
I feel like I really gained an appreciation for UI that I never had before, thank you! Although, about saves, I myself am such a save scummer, I actually enjoy being held back by their system weirdly enough, but it's understandable why others don't like it.
I for the ammo stuff i would just stick with the ammo type instead since i am not inclined to carry a bow and a crossbow at the same time due to weight which usually had a strong effect in this game.
5:42 Option E, remove icons altogether, we know we have a crossbow on our back because we equipped it, we know the type of the arrows because we chose them + we can see them when we draw the bow. Or Option F, add a button prompt to bring up that info and it can appear exactly like the changing weapons animation.
I would remove the outer lines on bottom HUD and compass. Instead the bars should be style separated. Compass? Since WH decided it's where the rabbit lives... the [ N NE E SE S SW W NW ] bar could have translucent artwork of bunnies panorama for each direction. HUD? HP bar with 2 artworks: a knight and a skull death figure that would overshadow each other depending on HP level. Stamina bar could have running or panting dogs. Horse stamina bar - steady or tired horse. Enemy HP similar to player's. Artworks themselves could separate the bars and the outer lines would say bye bye.
11:04 I guess it is not weird. Rabbit stew was/still is popular dish in Czechia. Lot of people are raising their own rabbits for meat (countryside people) and it is not unusual to see a lot of them in the wild.
Nicely summarized, the hare is amazing :). I would like to ask for your opinion on Hunt: Showdown. After the update, the UI and UX seem absolutely terrible to me, and even the original UI had its flaws, but the new one is just unusable. I don't understand why they changed it so much and didn't learn from their mistakes. Just the amount of time spent when you die in the game (which happens often) and have to prepare a new hunter is frustrating.
The haracter icon on map loked much better in kcd1 to me, and the whole hp bar is unnesecary too tall hp bar from kcd 1 with thin borders of kcd 2 would be better and gothic 1/2 ui would be best ( no borders , just hp bar only)
Those missing button icons are not a bug, that is on purpose. Consoles gets butthurt if you show other platform's controls icons in a video... Also the thing with herb picking is that you can not really make this look good in 1st person. Players hands would actually have to align to the herbs (that can be placed in any position/direction), actually grab them and pull them etc. It would be a nightmare to make it reliably look good without glitches. Also amount of herbs picked is calculated from your skills and you can harvest a pretty large area at once with high skill. And you do not want to watch all of them getting picked. And you do not want them to disappear in front of you. The cut to 3rd person with a fader is made so you can not really see what Henry is doing and it hides all the things that could not be done properly. It could be replaced with a short fader to black and back, but I am not sure if that would be a better option...
They did show 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the combat hotkeys for surrender, battlecry, etc. I think it might have been genuinely overlooked. Considering the audio quality as a whole is a lot worse in the trailer than in the actual game according to creators it seems they could have missed this
No reason to remove the button presses and leave the text strings. Remove all of it or leave it. On herb picking, while you make a good point, they dont care about that when looting. The items/gear just disappear from the bodies with no animation. So if that's the reason, its very inconsistent. Players fully expect the herbs to simply disappear. Every game does this. Theyre hurting the experience by having this be the only time the game changes pov from 1st to 3rd and back. Especially if we're still leveling strength by picking herbs. And if the worry is not having a logical picking animation in 1st person, they could just use the fade in/out in 1st to hide it just as well
@@Loreworx True! And at the end of the day I will play and enjoy the game anyway. XD Really nice video though. Insightfull what a pro thinks about this stuff. :)
I'm not sure if you saw my comment on the previous video, but I would love to see you take the UI/UX from the original Fallout (and Fallout 2) and modernize it. Bonus points if you actually implement some of the things the original game's designer, Tim Cain, wanted to implement if there was ever a remaster.
@@Loreworx Hmm. I've replied to this several times, but it keeps disappearing. Not sure what is going on. Anyways, there is a video on the Timothy Cain channel titled "Fallout: What I'd Change Today"
You can redesign UI to new Civ 7, it feels little too sharp, small and IT-ish. Civ 6 in compare was a little bit drawn, wooden, fabric and glassy, new Civ 7 UI feels steel, metalic, too sharp and cold. Just not realy matching the civ games for me. And everything is too small.
The civ 7 UI honestly just looks like a placeholder currently. There are too many sloppy mistakes in it for me to think its close to finalized. Little things like not centering text, terrible use of space, etc. I wanna give the devs the benefit of the doubt and wait for a future video closer to release to see if they fix some of these things because if i made a video on it right now, I'd be really negative. Especially when comparing that ui to its competition in the 4x space.
@Loreworx 10:50 they talk about it in this podcast, but its in czech and its really fun how much they argue on those meetings :D (also many people in the studio supposedly now tattoo those rabbits :D ) ua-cam.com/video/qFreFULLDx4/v-deo.htmlsi=t61ZWgKQsSZzCCPf&t=1060
I have often wondered what goes thru the minds of people who complain about the UI.... And after watching your video I am totally confused as to how you can over think so much stuff.... Honestly your idea of a sleek design is all good and well but I would prefer more information on my screen then less... I think this is an example of overthinking things lol.....
There isnt a group of developers in a development team that is more obsessed about being pixel perfect than UI designers. My passion for UI stuff makes me be that way. My job as the creative director at my startup is to obssess over the details to ensure that the game follows the vision that i have for it, but to also decide what's good enough and move on to the next item..because a perfect game is not a launched game. Thats why I list 3 little bugs i found in the videos, then say theyre not worth fixing if it's going to take more than 5 minutes of dev time to do so. Its definitely a balancing act that i enjoy more times than not. As for wanting more information on your screen.. Hey thats cool. You can't please everyone 😅 Thanks for the comment. I enjoyed reading it and hopefully i shed some light on how i have to approach these things
Great video, thank you very much! Nothing is done lightly; everything is carefully considered, including the camera perspective during herb picking. The reason for this is that herbs can vary significantly in form, and picking them up clearly reveals that they are not an actual plant, mushroom, or other ingredient but an asset in a video game. To mask this, we opted for the switch in camera perspective. It’s not ideal, but like many aspects of video game development, it’s a compromise to address the issue.
Regarding the inventory, there’s one more point you didn’t mention in your video: the entire inventory slides. You can see it extending to the left and right. Moving to the right from the inventory takes you to the player stats, then crafting, and finally the codex. Moving to the left brings you to the journal and the map. It’s not a separate page; everything rotates in a similar manner to the pedestal for the character model.
You can compare these two images:
api.press-new.warhorsestudios.cz//uploads/KCDII_GC_Inventory_2153162dce.png
api.press-new.warhorsestudios.cz//uploads/KCDII_Stats_a4136fec1f.png
And one more word about the helmet vision. Yes, it is still there, but you can open and close your visor at will now with an dedicated key, it's not linked to the question if you draw your weapon or not anymore.
Honored to have you here and cannot wait to play KCD2!
Thank you for the high res screenshots of that MASTERPIECE. I might hang them on my wall :P
I don't recall the videos showing it sliding left/right (maybe in the vendor section), but I could see that's what it would do from the cropped screens to the left/right of the center screen. There are no words to describe how gorgeous those screens are.
Simply masterful and probably my favorite game UI ever ❤
And on the helmet vision, I actually go into a lot more detail about that in the original cut (which was 53 minutes long), from a design standpoint. It's a genius design idea that adds so much immersion to the game, but the popularity of the helmet vision mod showed that it was also a divisive feature. So I was curious to see if it was still present in the sequel, and am glad that it is and you've made it better.
I really, really hope you guys will have a function for a dynamic HUD, one that has elements only pop up when you ask for it, or when the situation calls for it (like combat). Furthermore im hoping for lots of HUD customization options in regards to turning certain elements off. I prefer playing my games with no, or minimal HUD. So options would be great! Can't wait for the game.
Cool to see the studio reply! Love everything I've seen so far, but I think regarding the 3rd person picking animation, that should be an option in an advanced menu. Have it on by default, but allow players to switch it to first person. As a Modder for several Bethesda games before, I can also only emphasize the videos statement that good mod support early on does so much for your game. This is one thing Bethesda has done absolutely right, even over 2 decades ago with morrowind. These games are still played to this day because of mods. Anyways, can't wait to see what you have in store for us!
Rabbits fighting with swords are an actual thing in medieval illuminations. Using them in a UI is genius though.
Did not know that! Thanks for providing the knowledge!
I do hope they'll put more rabbit illustrations to things like perk descriptions and other similar texts.
Dan Vavra was the one who pitched this idea.
Some snails would be nice as well.
rabbits and snails are often used as a cartoonist way of depicting peasantry. so knights fighting 'killer bunnies' = peasant revolt
About the rabbit - Dan Vavra said in an interview that first someone suggested to have an eye icon but he didn't like that. Then they tried using a knight but they didn't like using the knight when some unarmed peasant is attacking you so they came up with the bunny as it has even some historical background being in many illuminations (even some naughty ones)
Truly a stroke of genius. Adds so much personality and fun to the interface. Hats off to them
I HATE, with a passion, the modern clean, black and white, sterile UI design, HATE IT! KCD was a refreshing change in that trend that I wish more dev studios took note of. Every single Unreal Engine game these days has that sterile UI design and I don't know why they are doing it. Remember Battlefield 2 and Project Reality? Colorful UI that had actual images of firearms? And now, Squad and the new Battlefield games only have GRAY SILHOUETES for guns, no imagination at all.
I look at ac shadows and think "this is the perfect game for ubisoft to add some flavor to the ui". Japanese art is so amazing and iconic that they could really create something special with that interface. Unfortunately it wont happen, especially given all the mistakes with that game.
Im waiting for a video that shows me more of the game screens (all ive seen so far is the hud), to maybe give that ui the ol college try.
I keep thinking it would amazing if it was inspired by water in japanese art. Kinda like in demon slayer, the anime.
But yeah, like i say in the video, stylizing ui is a risky move, but when its done right, you can get a masterpiece like this one.
So many unreal games have the same generic look because they don't spend time and resources figuring out their UX & UI Design. Many developers use the default look as placeholders, and when the time to release the game is coming then there is no time to improve it so they just leave it as it is.
The rabbit is actually inspired by medieval paintings and the game director Daniel Vavra himself fought to put it in the game
Absolute fking genius move
Not true... He said that he doesn't know who came up with it
@@AlesMicik But then again he said insisted on them being in the game agains the vote of his colleagues.
@@Greghouse that's true, but then it broken and everybody started to love it
@@Loreworx blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpTXWzco8KIbwEGFh3TBlf3EMyoWiF88zxeSLHcu4juTDA6a2nj5esZIT2Ng4FQ23lbtrukU4Lu4YpUhGGTsbOxSY0ms8apOCgrOhvH_IlTLA-XYim1oIO9J4JOl7GyqcUK-iISxfyi0/s1600/Hase+schie%25C3%259Ft+Hund+2.jpg That is one example of the medieval rabbit. It is a document from britain.
Has anyone mentioned that silly little fighting rabbits are actually a reoccurring thing in the margins of medieval manuscripts? Also, snails were apparently pretty hardcore back in those times as well.
Yep. Commenters were quick to point that out. Stroke of genius. Thanks for watching!
snails and rabbits were an artistic way to depict peasants, so knights fighting rabbits = peasant revolt. snails fighting rabbits indicates infighting. At least, thats how its been explained to me.
Having goosebumps on a UI must be the most nerd thing I’ve ever saw in my life. That’s passion right there LOL
I think modern games have fallen into the pitfall of thinking "simple = minimalist".
Because it's not just that the UIs are "clean", they are minimalist. They have minimal style, minimal taste, minimal purpose. But sometimes they aren't even simple despite being minimalistic. Kingdom Come's UI is simple. It's not battering you with all the stats and info the games is calculating. But it definitely isn't minimalistic.
There will be hotkey for opening and closing Helmet visor. Rabbit icon was knight icon earlier but people from company complained that it is confusing when old hag is attacking you and you see Icon of knight. So they choose neutral symbol rabbit (Rabbit is often used in medieval codexes in illustrations). They also had totally different idea for UI. It was meant to be 3D and rotate. Like some gothic altair that is being opened, but it caused a lot of motion sickness, so they deleted perspective and made it kind of flat.
Thanks for the info! Fascinating how they got to this masterpiece
I actually really hope they keep helmet vision, that was so immersive.
They are keeping it. Except, they are dedicating a button to it. So, you'll be able to put it up and down at will. Unlike the first game.
@@IlikebeatzzzIIRC there's pros and cons for doing so.
Visor down means more protection. But much lower visibility and slower stamina regeneration since it blocks your vision and limits your breathing.
Open visor means more visibility and you get the default stamina regen, but you take high damage from strikes to the head.
15:00 so u cannot see flowers dissapearing
Yeah. I get that. Wasnt a problem in literally every rpg that you could gather herbs in the last 250 years though 🤣
@@Loreworx It would be nice to get insta pick up perk
This might be my favorite game UI of all time. Do you agree with the changes I propose? Let me know. Stick around for more game redesign videos like this one! Thank you for watching!
In the first game, I didn't need an icon on the HUD to know how much ammo I had, or what weapon was equipped, and I don't want one in the sequel. The same is true of potions, although a hotkey to use potions is a nice addition. The quest objectives do not need to be in the middle of the screen, especially during combat. You can work it out from the dialog.
I try not to remove things when making these videos (unless it's absolute insanity like in veilguard). Ammo type/counter can be considered QoL additions. My (tiny) issue was with the execution. Generally I think more like you: less is almost always better in immersive rpgs.
The quest information could take up a little less of the screen. I think the "main" quest icon that shows up right under the compass could be smaller, and that would bring the rest of the text further up a bit. But it does fade away after a few seconds so it's not that bad.
@@Loreworx I only mentioned it since you asked if anyone had alternate opinions about the interface. I think the best solution would be to let the player decide what they want to see. Obviously mods will solve most of it, as you mentioned.
Going back to the first one, some buffs, like Burgher/Savage, Balanced Diet, and Alpha Male, would be permanently on the screen, and asymmetrically, which I found annoying. Meanwhile, many other buffs would only show in the status screen.
He just kingdom come.
Putting the "come" in Kingdom Come Deliverance
This is the start of a beautiful comment section 🤣
6:05 There's also option E: Slightly extend the length of the whole section. Stretch the squares into rectangles instead, thereby giving the UX designer more breathing space to show the neat icons as well as ensuring the function of the counter.
7:10 "Ping Pong" analogy is spot on. There's an old game I remember handling this better. The Witcher 3. I think the trick was to simply allow dialogue to flow regardless of the timing of camera cuts. The vocal performance was paramount and the music filled in the gaps when it needed to. I also remember them *constantly* playing around with camera angles, panning, wide shots, etc. It kept dialogue feeling natural and cinematic almost all the time. It was never a static back-and-forth camera cut like we see here.
10:10 Excellent redesign!
13:23 I think the repeated "You got" X, "You got" Y, "You got" Z is redundant. Instead, they could "UX>" this by removing the "You got" text and using that screen real estate to make the font slightly larger for the item names that are picked up. Perhaps with font as large as the "Target Name Indicator", in this case, "Alchemist".
15:14 I think this could remedied a bit by adding some slight variety to the animation and different camera angles, things like this. Still jarring and repetitive but now sanded down a bit.
"SkyUI, one of the greatest mods of all time." *No lies detected* It's actually the thing that got me to start paying attention to game UX. Despite bad UX in lots of places, I still think Skyrim's HUD (just the HUD) was a stroke of genius. The simple compass that encouraged exploration by only revealing icons once you're close, the bold "DISCOVERED" text, 3 simple color-coded bars...Something about it worked unreasonably well at *putting the game world front and center*.
Great video! Subscribed!
Rectangles could also be an option yeah
CDPR does dialogue very very well. Both in W3 and CP77. Even going back to W2.
The repeated text could be contextual. So if you steal something you'd see "You stole X". But if the plan is to use "you got" for everything, then i totally agree... Remove the text.
The herb picking animation is, to me, indefensible. Thankfully it will be a mod and i will be the first to download it. RPGs have been making herbs disappear in front of you for decades and no one has ever complained. This is a case of trying to reinvent the wheel and failing hard at it. They dont care that equipment disappears from a body you're looting, why give a crap about plants?
I love the vanilla skyrim hud. Its excellent. The vanilla skyrim UI screens though... Were horrific. SkyUI was completely revolutionary for both Skyrim and modding in general. So much so that every bethesda game that came after skyrim tried to copy it somewhat. That modding team has my respect for life ❤️
Thank you so much for watching and for the awesome comment!
Kingdom Cum Deliverance ❤
💀💀💀💀🤣
King cum delivery
Ngl, I really love the artsy borders.
Feels like it gives a charm and character to the game
Great analysis. I remember reading some explanation by devs for the third person herb picking animation but sadly cannot remember what it was.
Helmet vision should be kept in, they add option to open or close the view manualy when you want.
It was a neat design choice in the first game, but imo they were smart not to show it in these videos. Helmet vision was quite polarizing
I initially got the helmet vision mod but in the end it did not make a difference. I wanted to see Henri's face (He is soooo cute), so I opted to use the open basinet all the time.
Yep, I am gay. Sue me!. hehe, hehe.
Is leaving your visor open worse in terms of defense or is there literally no difference?
How can I know, i didn't play kdc2, but in 1 it gives you protection against arrows (I mean to enemies, because you can't see it on yourself, but works both ways).
@@Billnotic It reduces defense by a bit, specially bad against archers.
Great video. Can't wait for the next hud you choose.
Thank you for watching glad you liked it!
UX/UI designer here - the large overlaying icons could be potentially solved by grouping then together and only splitting them when you zoom in enough, sort of like your do with icons on a delivery screen in e-commerce. The downside is that you can potentially cover something more important underneath them.
Armed and armored animals, often fighting human knights and hunters were popular for small decorations in medieval illuminations, rabbits and snails were the most numerous.
The bit about the pause in between lines is something I had never paid attention to or noticed before in games, until Red Dead Redemption 2 nailed it like in the very intro when you first meet Micah in the snowstorm, I was like woah this doesn't feel video gamey it feels like an actual conversation and it was precisely because they nailed the timing with the lines
Yeah it makes a big difference when a game plays around with the timing of the cuts. Rockstar does it incredibly well.
9:18 its because you can trade itens, like putting and item in a corpse.
Somethings on Kingdom Come 1 you just discover by yourself, but like you poison a food or drink, put it in corpse, a trunk, a caldroon or throw it in the road, if someone finds it, they might drink or eat that poisonous item and dies (or get handicapped) without you needing to face him directly.
With the creative team they have, taking this loot tab into next level, you could like change vest from someone you've killed to clothes linked to thieves/murders and go away with killing innocent people acting like it was just self defense.
I liked your idea, but knowing KCD1 i know it wouldn't work with what they want with the loot tab.
There is story behind the bunny. At first there supposed to be little eye, but it was not allowed enought information. So they came with knight, but it was little bit confusing, and then they came with bunny. More info: ua-cam.com/video/qFreFULLDx4/v-deo.html
Regarding the UX>UI issue, I have conflicting opinions. You mentioned Ubisoft’s UI, and ironically, it’s one of the aspects I like least about their games. I think that in many situations, sacrificing a bit (but not too much) of UX can indeed be positive for the overall game experience. After all, a game is a work of art, and art is not always practical. Sometimes I would even argue that a little inconvenience/effort can add something to the experience.
I don’t disagree that for “most people,” focusing on UX is obviously the smarter decision-at least in the sense that it will have greater acceptance. I would say that this balance between UX and UI is like the balance of seasoning in a certain dish. Too much, and you can’t eat it. Too little, and everything is bland, tasteless, and lacks personality.
For example, there are traditional dishes characterized by their intense flavor. Authentic Thai or Mexican food is often too spicy for most people, but it’s just right for those who love the taste. Similarly, I have no doubt that a UI that tries to integrate too much with the world can alienate part of the audience, but certain people, like me, are delighted to see a UI that goes beyond the necessary to show the game’s style and personality. It's visually delicious, and I love that kind of thing.
That said, KCD2 indeed managed to surpass KCD1 in practically every aspect, and in that, we are in total agreement!
Yep. Like i said, its a balancing act and a slippery slope. I definitely think ubisoft could take more risks with their ui design. But what theyre doing definitely works.
Sometimes games manage to stylize while having great ux though and thats what kcd 2 does and thats why i think its a masterpiece
One thing I don't like in the new Inventory UI is the font. It seems more akin to typewriter lettering than the traditional handwriten, inklike feel of the 1st game. There was no readability issue due to the font imo.
The font in the 1st game does have more of an ink feel.
It didn't have readability issues in KCD1, but that inventory screen didn't have the lighting this new one has.
I'm guessing they went with a sharper, cleaner font this time around because the inklike style of the first one, under the lighting effects of the new game screens, probably was causing a bit of a readability issue.
6:00 I think all solutions are decent. The counter at the top is a better idea than at the bottom, as youve mentioned, since it will conflict with shortcut keys that show up when UI expands. The extra tile to the side is the most readable option. But then it begs the question - if you add a separate tile for the ammo type, do you also show this tile next to a crossbow in the expanded menu? Or if other tiles if there are more weapons that can use various ammo types / have special effects? Or do you only show that information only if you have that specific weapon selected? I guess it would be fine to only show it once it’s selected. I do have my option similar to yours and it’s just to expand that tile to the left and make it double the length so both the ammo type + counter and the weapon fit side by side. The tile would only expand and show this extra info if you select the weapon. This would have its own quick animation. Yes, it would ruin the symmetry a bit like the two tiles option but I actually don’t think it’s that big of a deal considering the vitals meter is already asymmetrical, health bar does not go all the way to the left of the UI element and shares space with stamina (I assume that’s what it is) meter, which is shorter. I think it could complement this asymmetry. Maybe even balance out these elements, since the long and visible health bar would now have a stamina meter and a long tile on the opposite side. Also I can see that some footage also has circular icon to the right that I assume show up special stats, so a longer tile at the left could again, balance out these elements when they show up and make them less heavy on just once side.
I would hate for the helmet vision to be removed
Warhorse are too based to pander to the whiny casuals who complained about it, thankfully
@slynt_ fuck yeah
@@danielwhitman2255 I was just thinking about it, and one of the things I love about KCD is that you rarely get "free lunch" upgrades - everything is about compromise.
E.g. many of the perks have downsides as well as buffs. Want to wear a helmet that protects your whole face, then you'll have to deal with reduced visibility. You can't dress fancy, and sneaky, and well-armoured, all at the same time. You need to make choices and trade-offs. Personally, I absolutely love that kind of RPG design and I wish I saw it more often.
@slynt_ yeah one of the many reasons I fucking love kcd
Ubisoft decided to move their battle against KCD2 :D
Pretty crazy move. Could have picked a better release month.
@@LoreworxMonster hunter wilds is coming out on February too, they're cooked. Oh speaking of which people have complained about the healthbar in MH wilds, can you do a UI fix for it too?
Ive looked at a couple of monster hunter wilds videos but all ive seen is some of the hud. The video that showed the most was even in japanese. I need to wait for a video that shows more of the interface. Hud, character screens etc, to have enough material to make a video on. The hud alone isn't really enough most times. Unless it's full of weird decisions like in DA Veilguard.
Ill keep my eye out for future monster hunter gameplay videos.
@@Loreworx thank you!
Great video, agree with UI things, not agree with saving system xD I love it.
Hey thats cool 🤣 thanks for watching and commenting
Fantastic video! I liked option D the most for the HUD redesign, because it seemed to be the closest to the spirit of what they were going for - having the ammo count inside the HUD. If it isn't too much trouble I would love it if you can check out and do a video on the game UI for Titan Quest 2, which will be launching in Early Access this Winter.
I prefer the slim health bar of KCD1, with it's aged and faded look. The new one is too bright and should be lower contrast or faded look. I'm sure it functions better, not needing to open your inventory to use a potion ect. But personally think it's a eyesore.
I'm just here waiting for the game and this video was an interesting detour into the world of UI design. You never really think about these things unless they really suck in a game.
Definitely option C, ammo/potion counter at the top.
Also, it's amazing to think medieval Europe is actually closer in time to the floppy disk than we are in 2024.
(In Internet years that is.)
The fact i know what a floppy disk is shows you how old I am 🤣
I really dont miss those fking things
I love that they color coded the skill icons in the inventory UI and that they grouped certain skills together.
WAAAY better than how it was in the first game!
Your suggestions are based (ammo, loot window, icon sizes on maps). IMO, arrow counter is better under the bar.
Hey man, good video.. really enjoyed your insight and I learned a few things. liked + subscribed
Thank you for watching! Glad you liked it
About herbs is SO TRUE!
I feel like I really gained an appreciation for UI that I never had before, thank you!
Although, about saves, I myself am such a save scummer, I actually enjoy being held back by their system weirdly enough, but it's understandable why others don't like it.
I for the ammo stuff i would just stick with the ammo type instead since i am not inclined to carry a bow and a crossbow at the same time due to weight which usually had a strong effect in this game.
Helmet vision is still in the game, but you are able to open and close the visor at will now.
6:04 arrow and bolts in a different slots in inventory and put it in different icon seems logical for me (so my option, A)
Or you can flip the crossbow so it is displayed vertically with information on both sides of the stock. same for bows
5:42 Option E, remove icons altogether, we know we have a crossbow on our back because we equipped it, we know the type of the arrows because we chose them + we can see them when we draw the bow. Or Option F, add a button prompt to bring up that info and it can appear exactly like the changing weapons animation.
I would remove the outer lines on bottom HUD and compass. Instead the bars should be style separated.
Compass? Since WH decided it's where the rabbit lives... the [ N NE E SE S SW W NW ] bar could have translucent artwork of bunnies panorama for each direction.
HUD? HP bar with 2 artworks: a knight and a skull death figure that would overshadow each other depending on HP level. Stamina bar could have running or panting dogs. Horse stamina bar - steady or tired horse. Enemy HP similar to player's. Artworks themselves could separate the bars and the outer lines would say bye bye.
I love the first game I am so excited and just seeing the new UI got me so hyped.
You n me both!
I would love for you to do one on cyberpunk 2077's UI.
The healthbar is too big. I know, they did it in order to have those boxes left and right a reasonable size, but it still takes up way too much space.
No arrow counts for me. I like when I try to shoot a Cuman and find that I'm out of arrow. and I'm not being sarcastic here lol
Don’t make love to it while Fernando is there 😭😭😭😭
Now I get scared every time I go to work. 😥
He's gonna ask for a raise now 😮💨
Well deserved
11:04 I guess it is not weird. Rabbit stew was/still is popular dish in Czechia. Lot of people are raising their own rabbits for meat (countryside people) and it is not unusual to see a lot of them in the wild.
yeah, several commenters pointed out that rabbits were used a lot in medieval iconography. such a genius little addition.
Besides the health bar and stuff being a little thick compared to the first its more or less perfection
A lot more more than less ❤️
Nicely summarized, the hare is amazing :). I would like to ask for your opinion on Hunt: Showdown. After the update, the UI and UX seem absolutely terrible to me, and even the original UI had its flaws, but the new one is just unusable. I don't understand why they changed it so much and didn't learn from their mistakes. Just the amount of time spent when you die in the game (which happens often) and have to prepare a new hunter is frustrating.
Thank you for the suggestion!
The haracter icon on map loked much better in kcd1 to me, and the whole hp bar is unnesecary too tall
hp bar from kcd 1 with thin borders of kcd 2 would be better
and gothic 1/2 ui would be best ( no borders , just hp bar only)
Agree on the character icon. The new one looks 3d or something. I actually said that in the video but that part didn't make the cut lol
Those missing button icons are not a bug, that is on purpose. Consoles gets butthurt if you show other platform's controls icons in a video...
Also the thing with herb picking is that you can not really make this look good in 1st person. Players hands would actually have to align to the herbs (that can be placed in any position/direction), actually grab them and pull them etc. It would be a nightmare to make it reliably look good without glitches. Also amount of herbs picked is calculated from your skills and you can harvest a pretty large area at once with high skill. And you do not want to watch all of them getting picked. And you do not want them to disappear in front of you. The cut to 3rd person with a fader is made so you can not really see what Henry is doing and it hides all the things that could not be done properly. It could be replaced with a short fader to black and back, but I am not sure if that would be a better option...
They did show 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the combat hotkeys for surrender, battlecry, etc. I think it might have been genuinely overlooked. Considering the audio quality as a whole is a lot worse in the trailer than in the actual game according to creators it seems they could have missed this
No reason to remove the button presses and leave the text strings. Remove all of it or leave it.
On herb picking, while you make a good point, they dont care about that when looting. The items/gear just disappear from the bodies with no animation. So if that's the reason, its very inconsistent.
Players fully expect the herbs to simply disappear. Every game does this. Theyre hurting the experience by having this be the only time the game changes pov from 1st to 3rd and back. Especially if we're still leveling strength by picking herbs.
And if the worry is not having a logical picking animation in 1st person, they could just use the fade in/out in 1st to hide it just as well
all makes sense, :)
Option B is best probably
Thank you for commenting!
Can't help but feel you should treat yourself to an air con unit
🤣 would still need to turn it off to record because of the noise
@@Loreworx where are you based? Must be pretty toasty
Rio de Janeiro. And yeah, even if it snowed it would be toasty here lol
Hot take... I find the Health Bar/UI from KCD 1 WAY better... it looks so nice... the new one looks like something from the 2000...
*GASPS IN SPANISH*
🤣 they cant please everyone. Thanks for watching!
@@Loreworx True! And at the end of the day I will play and enjoy the game anyway. XD
Really nice video though. Insightfull what a pro thinks about this stuff. :)
I'm not sure if you saw my comment on the previous video, but I would love to see you take the UI/UX from the original Fallout (and Fallout 2) and modernize it. Bonus points if you actually implement some of the things the original game's designer, Tim Cain, wanted to implement if there was ever a remaster.
Sounds like an interesting idea. I'll take a look. Is there an article or video where tim cain said these things?
@@Loreworx Hmm. I've replied to this several times, but it keeps disappearing. Not sure what is going on.
Anyways, there is a video on the Timothy Cain channel titled "Fallout: What I'd Change Today"
UA-cam automatically hides comments with links in them. Thats ok, i can look at them from my dashboard. Thanks for replying
when the game is released, I hope your changes will be in one of the first mods 😅😅😅
Don't show the ammo count at all. You need to count your shots like Clint eastwood.
14:36 maybe the animation of hands picking the herb was too complicated to make
It is because of perk, Dan mentioned it in interview
Loved the video, new world just got a UI update, it's better but they removed the settings that would auto hide it, does my head in😅
why the hell would they do that?! lol
thank you for watching! glad you liked it!
lmao that guys face @ 0:08
Try to make redesign of Ara History Untold UI. It seems to be a challange.
If you want real challenge, do Arma Reforger next, haha :D
If modders actually do vesteros world for the game I will play the fck out of it.
Right?!
i absolutly hate the kcd 2 hud its ugly 1 had such a beutiful ui i love it
*GASPS IN MEXICAN SOAP OPERA FASHION*
🤣
It's cool to see different opinions
It's ok, there is always someone that's wrong
I like it, they just need the old reputation symbols!
You can redesign UI to new Civ 7, it feels little too sharp, small and IT-ish. Civ 6 in compare was a little bit drawn, wooden, fabric and glassy, new Civ 7 UI feels steel, metalic, too sharp and cold. Just not realy matching the civ games for me. And everything is too small.
The civ 7 UI honestly just looks like a placeholder currently. There are too many sloppy mistakes in it for me to think its close to finalized. Little things like not centering text, terrible use of space, etc.
I wanna give the devs the benefit of the doubt and wait for a future video closer to release to see if they fix some of these things because if i made a video on it right now, I'd be really negative. Especially when comparing that ui to its competition in the 4x space.
Kingdom come Is♥️♥️♥️
@Loreworx 10:50 they talk about it in this podcast, but its in czech and its really fun how much they argue on those meetings :D (also many people in the studio supposedly now tattoo those rabbits :D )
ua-cam.com/video/qFreFULLDx4/v-deo.htmlsi=t61ZWgKQsSZzCCPf&t=1060
I get a feeling that Fernando is Portuguese.
Close! Hes Brazilian
Comment for the Algorithm
Garcia James Young Dorothy Perez Kimberly
Yeah, it's wise to cut the video when you start to feel the kingdom come...
🤣
I have often wondered what goes thru the minds of people who complain about the UI.... And after watching your video I am totally confused as to how you can over think so much stuff.... Honestly your idea of a sleek design is all good and well but I would prefer more information on my screen then less... I think this is an example of overthinking things lol.....
There isnt a group of developers in a development team that is more obsessed about being pixel perfect than UI designers.
My passion for UI stuff makes me be that way. My job as the creative director at my startup is to obssess over the details to ensure that the game follows the vision that i have for it, but to also decide what's good enough and move on to the next item..because a perfect game is not a launched game. Thats why I list 3 little bugs i found in the videos, then say theyre not worth fixing if it's going to take more than 5 minutes of dev time to do so.
Its definitely a balancing act that i enjoy more times than not.
As for wanting more information on your screen.. Hey thats cool. You can't please everyone 😅
Thanks for the comment. I enjoyed reading it and hopefully i shed some light on how i have to approach these things
18:24 wow papi 🥵
In my defense, i did say we were gonna get sweaty 🔥🤣
14:25 tooootaly disagree
Do Dragonage Veilguard next, lol..
I have ✌️
@@Loreworx Ah yeah just saw it. Nice!
i hate the new kcd 2 healthbar tbh
Adam Scott? Lol
@warhorsestudios
Not a fan of rabbits