Also, the elegant way to present new features is the "first load" screen that opens only once, when the new version is detected (like we did in UI++, but it requires new strings so it's probably not be the most feasible approach for the official release).
Yeah, that's true... The first load solution is cute and a good heads-up to players. Maybe beamdog need a similar approach when updating and adding new features and altering the look/feel...
Btw sod screen... very much not intuitive how to get to it. At first I would click continue and see myself in front of sarevok again. Then kill sarevok again to transfer automatically to sod and then load the latest sod save to continue my sod game... I did that for 3 or 4 times until I just started clicking everywhere by chance thinking there must be a way to start sod by default. And then I clicked the round icons and changed the ui to sod start thinking that could have been a lot more transparent.
@Iroumen Why did you find the icons unintuitive? I thought they were pretty clear.
At first I was looking for a larger button in the middle like the BG2 screen. The smaller buttons weren't obvious until mousing over them highlighted them.
Because I finished bg1 and was transported to sod. Then exited and later continued again. I expected that the 'continue adventure' would let me continue my adventure in sod, but it was the continue in bg1. Yet that part was already finished, nothing to continue there. I thought the first time it took me back to bg1 could have been a bug or fluke so I just redid the end battle
So in essence I was staring at big letters telling me to click on it while I should have clicked the sod icon first. The text buttons compel you to find the access to sod via one of them. The round icons then just seem like flavour in the gui and I did not expect them to do anything.
There is no clear full menu compared to BG2, BG2EE or BG1EE without SoD (which had BG1 and BP1 next to it).
The worded buttons are prominently on the screen. So "Continue" suggests that if you click it you will continue your latest save. However, since my latest save was in SoD, the behaviour I got (starting my final save in BG1) was not the one I expected. Then I quit that game, actually went into "Single Player" to find where to start SoD and BP only to realize that it cannot be found there and going back to the main menu to click on the round buttons. In no way do I find it obviously clear that I should click the round icons to switch adventure.
Ending original campaign and moving to SoD should switch the main menu to SoD campaign, yes. Other than that, I do not find the SoD main menu unclear at all. The smaller campaign icons along with the active one at the centre clearly indicate their functionality to me.
Comments
Maybe beamdog need a similar approach when updating and adding new features and altering the look/feel...
To not dilute this thread too much, I've opened a separate discussion to discuss the options.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/61385/making-it-work-options/p1
At first I would click continue and see myself in front of sarevok again. Then kill sarevok again to transfer automatically to sod and then load the latest sod save to continue my sod game... I did that for 3 or 4 times until I just started clicking everywhere by chance thinking there must be a way to start sod by default.
And then I clicked the round icons and changed the ui to sod start thinking that could have been a lot more transparent.
So in essence I was staring at big letters telling me to click on it while I should have clicked the sod icon first. The text buttons compel you to find the access to sod via one of them. The round icons then just seem like flavour in the gui and I did not expect them to do anything.
The worded buttons are prominently on the screen. So "Continue" suggests that if you click it you will continue your latest save. However, since my latest save was in SoD, the behaviour I got (starting my final save in BG1) was not the one I expected. Then I quit that game, actually went into "Single Player" to find where to start SoD and BP only to realize that it cannot be found there and going back to the main menu to click on the round buttons.
In no way do I find it obviously clear that I should click the round icons to switch adventure.