I have a thread for that somewhere… 
Totally agree with the flat radar. Just look at ED. It’s a mess. You don’t always see it, because most fights are relatively small, but get into mining and have all of those rocks pinging on the radar, or get into a combat zone, and suddenly, you have 10-20 triangles/contacts. What happens when you have 50, 100, 500 contacts?
The ED radar when I last played (it’s been a while now) was utter dogshit. It gives you a rough idea of where to point, but after that eyeballing and using the targetting reticule is usually easier. It’s also so limited in range that it’s practically useless in asteroid belt encounters, where battles could be spread over a fairly vast distance. Again it was much easier to eyeball for the occasional laser blast to get a bearing.
Would like access to view behind permanently displayed or even better a camera that switches views as part of the HUD. Made a mock up of a rear view (front view camera not needed because of existing view) and think it would really help with visuals, especially if ships behind were highlighted with icons.
Overall, I like the style presented. Cudos to the Art team
Regarding the radar system:
If i’m interpreting this correctly, the upper left radar shows everything to the back and sides, while anything that is in front of you is simply an icon on screen. Effectively this makes that display the radar equivalent of a hemispherical rear-view mirror.
If correct, then this is something that I think I could get behind. It would only need to be referenced when I need to know what I can’t see and would prevent overlapping forward and reverse hemisphere dots on the radar. It would also prevent icons from cluttering the edge of the screen. A win-win in my opinion.
In this case, for the forward screen icons, I would suggest (if possible) that the icons themselves scale and/or change intensity with distance, up to radar range. Both would be preferable to keep clutter to a minimum. Also to keep icons from blending into background, animating them in some fashion with a 2-3 second interval would keep them noticeable. Any contacts known from external sensors (outside ship radar range) would only show up on the map. Selected navigational targets would be an exception.
A question though: If the HUD is tied to the player’s view, then does radar coincide with the forward ship direction, or the player’s viewpoint.
Some HUD thoughts:
For HUD elements that may or may not be missing:
Lastly, a general question:
In the past, quite a few of us have posted suggestions on gameplay mechanics, but to date, I’ve really only seen general outlines for how you guys want the mechanics to work. I was wondering if you might take the time to tell us the level of intricacy you wanted for these mechanics. Knowing whether things like thermal management is an intended mechanic, and how you want to implement it, would help us provide better feedback on what and how we would like information arranged on the HUD. It might also save some time in the long run so the HUD doesn’t get re-designed a bunch of times.
Thanks, and keep up the good work! 
This is probably the way to go with the radar.
As others have said, radars rarely work well in any kind of space game. A sphere is the most logical kind, but those can be very hard to read on a 2D PC screen. Flat radars are even worse, especially in combat.
But, a rear view “mirror”… it works for driving in real life because we get used to seeing things behind us. Make it hemispherical to incorporate the extra axis (vertical) and we could be onto a winner.
As I’ve said previously though, I’m against cluttering the forward view. So anything ahead should not be marked unless it is your target IMO. Perhaps though, there could be a Radar View button that highlights ships around you so you can get a quick idea and choose a target. I think this should only be something that has to be actively erm… activated and regular flying is normal view. Not a toggle option.
I think a radar sphere like E:D would be best. Oscillating the sphere would allow depth perception on a 2d screen. We already discussed that some time ago, see here:
I’m always in favour of the Freespace orb because it is easier to read who is fore and aft while in combat. The issue I have with the elite radar is that it doesn’t draw connecting lines back to your ship icon which would help me read fore/aft direction.
what about measurement units? think metric. you are using Mkm witch is equal to Gm. just use them.
I was thinking the same but Million Kilometers is really wide used when it comes to large distance.
Honestly though, most players can’t imagine something above 1000km anyway … so going with engineering notation and pushing the adoption of that wouldn’t hurt.
When it comes to numbers like that the question is more: “What do I want the player to learn.” and less “What can the player associate more with.”
Hi,
I saw that you were looking for feedback from a subforum to do with another game, and have just created an account here to do just that.
Now my opinion shouldn’t count for much as I chose not to be an early backer, although the chances are I may be one of the first to buy the game post launch.
I think the HUD is too busy. It should only contain the most useful of information, and I really would love to see, needing a reason to check your ship’s instrument panels be something implemented in the game.
Hello and welcome to the forum.
A quote from the top post.
Many of the HUD elements will be hidden unless necessary. For example in space we won’t display the planet altimeter, artificial horizon etc… Shields will only show up when damaged. Communications will only show up when somebody’s currently saying something. So the mockup is a “maximalist / full” representation, but your average game it should be less busy.
If you think the HUD is still too busy, please explain what you would cut and why you think it wouldn’t affect your ability to process information during combat.
I do note that people don’t seem to be a fan of the squad list, especially the names. I’m not sure if names could be cut. A generic designation would probably be confusing, especially if you play with friends you know and it’s dynamically assigned ( so when new people join / leave the squad, designations would change ). There’s the option of not displaying names / designations at all in the bottom right corner, but to keep them on top of 3D indicators in the viewport; however I’m not sure how that would work when your squad members are far away from you. The way it’s currently designed, information in the bottom right can be used at a glance to see where your teammates are located. Maybe that could be moved to another screen instead ? ( hold a key and you’ll see squad info ? ).
I think it is supposed to be a traditional progress bar, only not displayed when full. I share your distaste for a color-coded shield integrity.
I know it’s all to easy to be a critic, and I apologize for that.
My first impression was that if you just removed the cockpit altogether, then the HUD seems to be so comprehensive then you could still play the game. A bit like “Freespace” for example.
I think the point I’m trying to make is I want the cockpit to be more than something I sit in. It’s how I communicate with the ship, it’s how the ship talks to me, and tells me what’s wrong with her.
and as much as I instantly feel from those screenshots that it just looks wrong, I am at a loss to say why, and what I would do to put it right.
I know that doesn’t help you much.
Sorry
I really agree with that. The squad menu should be tuned more towards people that don’t regulary play together rather then friends. It should support both but having a designation that is clear would really help push the adoption of more communication. Numbers alone may be a little too less. Maybe somithing like “F1” “B1” or simmilar. And “O1” etc. for objectives.
What I feel with most games is that if the comms aren’t intuitive enough I tend not to use them.
Concerning the HUD/Cockpit symbiosis, redundacy versus dependancy some brought up.
I don’t think designing the HUD towards being integrated or having some vital information only visible in the cockpit is a good idea.
The Hud, or at least the default one should have all needed information and should be the same for 1st as well as 3rd person as well as for all small crafts. Tuning the HUD to fit certain structural parts of the cockpit only creates more work while probably not working when turning the camera etc.
I need the info of the HUD when I turn the camera or go 3rd person.
The cockpit may show the same information or less important information like a snipet of a tactical map, something that can be brought up with a button in a more gamey way anyway.
If people want to rely on that alone, why not allow for some customisation, so for instance people can change what parts of the HUD always show, never show or be the default way, disapear when not changing.
The prototype currently has a HUD that went trough some iterations. Maybe by telling us how you find that one we may better understand what exactly you are suggesting.
Here’s a screenshot from the Prototype like it was during the Kickstarter, it includes a mockup of some transparent screen at the bottom as well as MFD to the bottom left:
And here is something @inoX drew up as an Idea:
The topic for the last mockup as well as another related topic:
https://forums.inovaestudios.com/t/hud-recognition-levels/3017
The problem there is that the developers would need to make a completely different hud for every ship in the game.
Part of why you might feel it looks wrong could be because it’s painted directly onto a screenshot, flat, when a lot of games now bow hud images outward a little, as though they are being projected onto a lens.
(Personally I’d love to see a hud and control scheme fully integrated into each cockpit model, but I know how crazy that much work is after watching the development of a couple games that have done things that way.)
If all ships have an MFD style square screen in the cockpit then I can see how some low priority info like the Squadron list could be moved there. However, I don’t know how much extra work that would involve compared to having all info on a floating HUD.
Those MFDs do need to be functional otherwise they will appear to be pointless. A camera snap function like Elite could be used to view the MFDs for players who don’t have head tracking units.
The irony here is that the current HUD in the prototype has some remarkably good ideas (even though it doesn’t look particularly attractive). I’ll pick out things that I like about it:
I think we need to try not and get too caught up in all the things we want the game to be able to do. The actual HUD that shows in flight and combat should not have many elements visible, because only a few are actually important.
So, the fading out may be the most important factor here - let’s prioritise HUD components and when they should appear.
E.g Even the energy bar is not important unless you’re using energy, so low priority unless firing or warping? Whereas speed is always important so should always be visible.
Just my thoughts…please do a black outline around all HUD lines. Reason being it will be REALLY hard to read the HUD when you’re facing the sun otherwise, SC is guilty of not doing this. Also Evochron has a toggle for 3 UI modes, no HUD, minimalist, and max info.
I don’t know if you’ve thought about sounds yet, but I would like to get some retro beep feedback whenever I take an action, i.e. like this:.
