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He kind of indirectly did with Hearthstone. Things that are important are brought forward and highlighted, or animated, then fade back to the second or third "r

He kind of indirectly did with Hearthstone. Things that are important are brought forward and highlighted, or animated, then fade back to the second or third "row" of importance. I didn't read the whole article, save searching for "slay the spire" and reading the accompanying sections, but I agree with his criticism of it, assuming those little status icons below the characters really are as important as he says. And why is your health in two locations and two colors? Maybe there's a good reason, but if I take the author's word for it, it is redundant and raises more questions than answers at first glance. I'm primarily a developer, so I've only dabbled in formal UX study, but it does seem like the game is just giving up easy design wins. Design is subjective, but I suspect many UX folks would agree with him.

detaro 8y ago
The health is always in the top bar, and additionally beneath the character on battle screens, where the player figure is visible, matching the enemies health display. Having the own health only in the top bar on battle screens seems wrong: the enemies have it fully displayed, and in battle health development is obviously especially important to see, so the bar-representation makes sense. Removing it from the top bar just on battle screens doesn't seem to make that much sense either (do you pop it back in when a full-screen menu appears during battle, which covers the player character? redesign those screens to be more cluttered, just so the bar on the character is visible?) One can argue about the importance of the status icons. For some of them I'd prefer it if they (or rather, their effects) were more noticeable, others are not that important most of the time. On the other hand, them being were they are the important facts are displayed fairly compact and leaving lots of room for the really nice graphics - I'd disagree that the overall screen is cluttered.

detaro 8y ago

The health is always in the top bar, and additionally beneath the character on battle screens, where the player figure is visible, matching the enemies health display. Having the own health only in the top bar on battle screens seems wrong: the enemies have it fully displayed, and in battle health development is obviously especially important to see, so the bar-representation makes sense. Removing it from the top bar just on battle screens doesn't seem to make that much sense either (do you pop it back in when a full-screen menu appears during battle, which covers the player character? redesign those screens to be more cluttered, just so the bar on the character is visible?) One can argue about the importance of the status icons. For some of them I'd prefer it if they (or rather, their effects) were more noticeable, others are not that important most of the time. On the other hand, them being were they are the important facts are displayed fairly compact and leaving lots of room for the really nice graphics - I'd disagree that the overall screen is cluttered.