Temporary UI suggestion: Smart Flight Computer edition

[beik]

Hello there!

I’ve worked in UX design for more than a decade, and unfortunately I can’t turn off my design brain, so I decided to do some unsolicited design work. Jokes aside, I think the game is visually stunning, but the current UI feels like a mix of excessive skeuomorphism and debug tools. I believe the early-adopter community could benefit from a few improvements: a better temporary system and a UI that makes the game a bit more playable.


My goals with this redesign:

• Don’t introduce anything overly complex. Keep it simple enough to build in ImGui. (Example: SAS controls are still buttons, I'm not touching the Navball, and icons are from Material symbols)
• Fix the current “warp to” mess. Make it consistent and easy to find.
• Fix the SAS control mess. Unify “null rot,” group the most important options, and put advanced controls in a dropdown.
• Auto-select the best "reference frame" based on the context.
• Create a strong foundation for the information hierarchy: Global info, Trajectory readout, and Pilot input sections.
• Highlight (in Global info) the basic principle of rocket launches: you need to balance weight and propellant to have enough dV. It’s obvious to veterans, but it takes time to master the “moar booster!” mindset.
• Add vital trajectory information without causing information overload: Maybe a smart Flight Computer?
• Keep the info learning curve approachable where most players start: ascending and trying to reach their first orbit.
• Make the UI start to make sense whether you’re flying or driving a rover.
• Create space (in the Flight Computer) for Maneuver, Target, and Docking trajectory info to appear.

I don’t expect any of these ideas to be taken too seriously, and I’m not smart enough to make a mod. But I do think this is a great starting point for discussing UI ideas where newbies and veterans can coexist.


Overview


Mockup


Flight Computer: All possible modes




What do you think? Feel free to remix this!


Peace

 

[notthebobo]

Love the thought put into this and the agregation of information feels right; it's mostly "things to know" on the left and "things to do" on the right.

I like the consistency of layout in the Flight Computer as shown in the third imager. One question though: there appears to be a drop-down on the top row for Ascending, Orbiting, Transfer, etc. The yellow text and down arrow indicate "drop down selection" to me. It appears, though, that these values are informational only, based on the condiotions indicated in your notes, correct? That is, you can't actually change this item, can you? Perhaps they should remain in that location and remove the arrow. I'm torn on re-coloring it white, as it is important to know what state you're in.

 

[beik]

Love the thought put into this and the agregation of information feels right; it's mostly "things to know" on the left and "things to do" on the right.

I like the consistency of layout in the Flight Computer as shown in the third imager. One question though: there appears to be a drop-down on the top row for Ascending, Orbiting, Transfer, etc. The yellow text and down arrow indicate "drop down selection" to me. It appears, though, that these values are informational only, based on the condiotions indicated in your notes, correct? That is, you can't actually change this item, can you? Perhaps they should remain in that location and remove the arrow. I'm torn on re-coloring it white, as it is important to know what state you're in.

Hey, thanks for actually paying attention to the details! The idea is that the orange is an accent color to indicate “active”, and in the Flight Computer it tells what mode was selected (based on the conditions). The dropdown is to be able to override the mode and maybe support custom ones.

But they main idea was to be able to override, I believe you can get funny results if you are doing doing creative constructions like a quad drone.

 

[notthebobo]

That all makes sense. I hadn't considered an intentional computer override. Good stuff.

 

[beik]

I was checking the mockup again and realized that the lack of alignment in the units was introducing some visual noise. I made a new version... Now it is easier to quickly visually parse the info!



The atmospheric density (kg/m³) and location (latlong DMS) fields are a bit tricky to fit in the 3 chars space, so there is a bit of cheating in these