Yeah it took me like 3 months of posting here, till someone clued me in on how to embed from ibb lol. I wish we could attach savegames and image files and stuff like that on these forums
I just appreciate the energy and effort put into layouts, since its helpful to have a visual. I've seen a couple others floating around, but I like the general thrust of this one for something more flexible and coherent at a glance.
I agree with pretty much all of the ideas outlined in the sections in the OP above. I hope they take some of those ideas and run with them.
My last playthrough was right after the last patch 3 dropped, but UI and control gripes just make it not a particularly enjoyable experience for me, so I've spent more time replaying BG2 since Christmas than I have playing BG3, which is a bummer.
I wish they'd patch in some better camera controls, and character selection tools. Something to deal with the body block for party movement, get the hotbar and spellcasting interface dialed etc. I much prefer the layouts above for ease of accessing quick information via icons on portraits and such, and just the general arrangement portraits and alignment of related info on the screen. A compass and option to move or hide the mini map is also something I'd love to see. Everything related to party management, and also way the character/equipment/inventory tabs are organized to remove redundancies and make doing stuff more efficient. Definitely prefer the quiver and organization of the attack/action UI here, and also how that is distinct from spell bars and hotbars.
Also a lot of great feedback in that thread point by point
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=697104Oh also one last idea, but I really think the character icons showing the PC locations on the minimap should be arrows instead of a rounded/planchet shape, so its very clear to see which direction the character is facing in relation to the minimap/compass.
Λ
An arrow is just easier to read at a smaller scale. I like the shape you used for the "character outside of the minimap" display for that purpose because it is larger and arrowed at the back and riding the edge of the mini-map cicrle of view, so easy to distinguish that there is a character "that way" beyond the field of view. For minimap functionality, I wish we could toggle a larger triangular icon showing the camera itself at the center, to show which direction it is facing in relation to N on the compass. BG1/2 didn't have a minimap, it was just a very zoomed-out view of the actual area itself. But the BG3 minimap uses its own kind of terrain abstraction and visual key for stuff like walls or doors, that is not always the easiest to parse. Clearer visuals for the Camera and PC "facing" orientation via triangles would help I think. Especially if the player is using the "rotate mini map" option in their settings, which was way too haywire for me to tango with the way they have the camera and minimap set up right now.
Another idea while thinking about the mini-map in relation to leadership or party formation would be to use color to tell who's who on the mini map. Right now they use White for the selected character (which I think de-emphises it actually) and blue for the party on the mini map. A different option might be to use colors for party positions on the PC's mini map arrow.
So maybe the party leader (position F1) has a number 1 color white. Second position F2 a number 2 and color blue, and so on, stuff that actually displays on the mini map. So you can tell at a glance who's who on the mini map, whether its Shadowheart or Gale or whoever, based on their position in the party leadership hierarchy. Who's on top of who in the portrait layout to the left of the screen in the main UI. My hope would be F1-F6 (since I still hold out hope for a larger party). Perhaps summons showing with a smaller triangle F7-F12? A visual would be helpful. For most people its easier to distinguish variation in shape than color.
I think Enemies should display as Red arrows, so you can also tell which direction they are facing
ΛFriendlies or Neutral NPCs outside of combat could display as simple circles
○ ○ or squares
□ □ (since their orientation matters much less from the player's perspective). Or maybe normal NPCs are circles, and Merchant NPCs are squares, or using a different color or shape so they jump out more once you know that they are merchants? ♢ ❖ ☆
Right now for mini map/portrait colors they use white (selected PC) blue (all other Party members) green (friendlies) yellow (neutrals) and red (hostiles), but they could do more with the colors within the party if they wanted. Cyan, Magenta and Orange, aren't really used right now, maybe a few of those could work along with Blue or White for the party itself? Then summons could also show with the same color for whatever associated player position. So for example maybe the the PCs use a larger open arrow/lambda shape, and the summons uses a smaller one of the same color...
Λ
Λ Λ Λ ⧐
⧐ ⧐ ⧐That would be an easy way to separate friends from foes, or to navigate the minimap when it becomes very crowded.
Also I really think using White for the selected character (party-leader) portrait/position is a terrible color choice.
Green for the Party leader would be much better, and fits more with the BG color tradition. Stands out more and is more intuitive and less bland than White.
Blue would be a better color for friendlies, and keeps with the whole "Blue Team vs Red Team" opposition, which is traditional going back to early days and familiar from wargames.
With a party of 4 it could look like this maybe...
Hostiles
ΛFriendlies
ΛNeutrals
ΛParty Leader 1:
Λ Party Position 2:
Λ Party Position 3:
Λ Party Position 4:
ΛFor the colorblind or people who struggle with tiny icons there might also be options to enlarge the minimap as well as fonts and things like map symbols/icons. With a larger icon they could use an arrow with an alpha-numeric inside that just says F1 or F4, for the quick selection key binds. Little stuff, but it makes a difference for ease of use and for parsing the map at a glance.
