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View Full Version : What happened to the user interface?


VTial
04-20-2009, 03:01 AM
I've been gone for a while so my apologies if I sounded like a party pooper on a great installment but as with any curious person dissatisfied with the demo all I have to say is...what happened to the user interface?

The 1st WMMA looks to have a special look to it. Very blue with Blurcat forums that was gigglish at first sight, help texts within the game to guide a new user besides the provided help texts, easy to click interface with fonts that weren't hard to read on most brightness settings...

Then I've installed the demo and first thing that got to me was the brushed metal texts if only because I usually set the game to a dark setting. That wasn't good enough to bother me so I continued further. (although I wasn't a fan of the red background)

Then the game started and I really really hated the fact that there are many areas where you must press view profile compared to the old click on Avatar thing. Another minor but noticeable change is that it seems alot of the profile bios were rushed or under-written. Too many "first generation" texts and stat descriptions when that is what the stats used to be.

Also while I think I can get used to the karate belts and the detailed view is still there, it really seems vague for newbies to the game but not only that, it seems to be a downgrade to the first game. I didn't really get why it just wasn't in one screen along with the detailed view if it would just be all about colors.

Finally what really bothered me was the way PBP and Match making works as that's the core of the game. Match making wise, I really found I constantly accidentally click add new from my trials because the matchmaking button was inside the schedule screen and was positioned in the far right of a set of buttons with the brushed metal look.

Besides that, with the belts, it seems more necessary for a meeting screen more than ever but I don't think I spotted any on the screen. Also now it seems it's much harder to compare fighters because there's no advise screen. I couldn't really figure out if I was exceeding the cash limit for fighters and I just constantly booked those fighters and clicking fan feedback.

With the PBP, the screen makes the 3d faces look more aliased and the PBP makes it much harder to look back on crucial rounds plus the overall design reminds me of a comic book instead of the gritty original look of the first. Also with my test of 12x5, it seems there are many repeated texts (although I was using WEFF) and even when a fighter has severe fatigue problem, they seem to constantly be going back and forth even up to the 12th round with no interruption. (although not all fights ended by decision)

All in all, I like the new improvements but the game really reminded me of Kudos' transition to Kudos 2 where the changes were appreciated but the game seems to have lost what made it special in the first place. It really seems like a much more advanced version of the first game than a true sequel. (Even though I understand, the improvements were announced prior and I was among the ones who got excited.)

Adam Ryland
04-20-2009, 03:26 AM
Another minor but noticeable change is that it seems alot of the profile bios were rushed or under-written. Too many "first generation" texts and stat descriptions when that is what the stats used to be.

A few people have said this, so I'll ask - what exactly were you expecting from the biographies? Writing them for wrestlers is fairly easy, as you can be creative about backgrounds, identities, motivations. Writing them for MMA....well, what are you looking for? Other than referencing their style and perhaps a short summary of their strengths, there isn't much else to say. That's not because the bios were "rushed", it's because there is a lack of anything else to say.

Eyeball
04-20-2009, 03:55 AM
I personally like the new system now that I've gotten used to it. Check out the mod called BluStuff or something in the mod forum if you want the less aggressive WMMA1 blue back. It also switches the belt images with a coloured letter system as well, which I much prefer.

Only thing I really dislike about the new system now is the fan reaction button. It shouldn't be a button, it should be a text window always displaying the fan reaction so you wouldn't have to click the button all the time. Oh, and a meeting screen lite suggesting good headliner matches would be good too, although I'm not nearly as annoyed by its absence in WMMA2 as I was upon release.

VTial
04-20-2009, 04:01 AM
I'm not sure I can give you a clue as I really didn't read much of the wrestler bios of your past few games. (Though I knew of the TEW games from playing EWR)

When I tried WMMA for the first time, I really had no expectations so I guess that was what made it satisfactory. As you said, there's less things to write for MMA so it was really a refreshing thing to see an MMA game where the character renders and bios gave a bit of personality to the fighters.

I guess where this new one failed is where there seems to be a lack of progress. With the first, it probably added to the screen presence of the fighters because first time users weren't expecting anything out of any of the bios but they were good. Now add the Blurcat forums topic and it really seemed to give an identity to the fighters unique to each other.

Now with this new one, I haven't skimmed all the profiles but when the old fighters of WMMA get tagged with "first generation" so and so or pioneers of MMA, it really seemed to come off as lazy. I guess one way to look at it is if the bio could sound like something from the UFC Countdowns or do they sound like the writer was insulting the intelligence of the reader.

With the first one, even if it wasn't as detailed as one Countdown show and had a good set of skill descriptions on some of them, the combination of the full blown avatar, more paragraph based definition (as opposed to the karate belts) and just in general the idea that the some of the special fighters had bios really "clicked" for me in sculpting the identity of the fighters.

With the second one, alot of the "first generation" texts are annoying because it's akin to someone reading about say Mark Coleman or Royce Gracie being part of the early UFCs. The "part of the early UFCs" text are boring to read because there's no context. Alot of the better surprises of the bios in the first game like with Sukarno had some surprises like oh this guy has a mythical record or this guy has shown some surprise and stuff like that.

Now as the fantasy time progresses, I guess the more expected bios would be to further connect the fighters. (although this is more of something I would be ideal with rather than what caused me to be disappointed) In general, the disappointment just came when there were very little explaining the growth from a fighter in WMMA time to the same fighter in WMMA2 time.

There's just something disappointing and dry in finding out Rachel Mcguiness is a fitness instructor who had some success in boxing or Sarah Vaughan becoming a pioneer because that's something I kind've expected from the avatars and the first game and really the 1st game did a balanced job of letting the things not needed to be said left unsaid and letting the stats speak for themselves where they should and letting the bios be the bios.

Now ideally I would say hearing more about Yuya's relationship with Hanako and Heikichi would fit a better bio idea for example than just hearing about Yuya's skills when the stats are already there to explain them. My idea really just revolves around UFC Countdown for an ideal model to base on the bios because that's really where I hear people say "the UFC can make fans get pumped up on fights they didn't really care about" but in general I really can't explain what disappointed me about the bios text only because I really felt the first WMMA was a better molding of fighters that it didn't really made me think that it was anything but the texts but now that I think about it, alot of it had to do with all the little bits of texts coming together. In WMMA2, it's more compact and I get more hyped by reading the book meeting screen than the profiles and I guess the bio definitions just seemed like the old stat definitions of the first game so it felt like the bio was short changed because there were more texts in the first game.

VTial
04-20-2009, 04:05 AM
I personally like the new system now that I've gotten used to it. Check out the mod called BluStuff or something in the mod forum if you want the less aggressive WMMA1 blue back. It also switches the belt images with a coloured letter system as well, which I much prefer.

Only thing I really dislike about the new system now is the fan reaction button. It shouldn't be a button, it should be a text window always displaying the fan reaction so you wouldn't have to click the button all the time. Oh, and a meeting screen lite suggesting good headliner matches would be good too, although I'm not nearly as annoyed by its absence in WMMA2 as I was upon release.

Do you have a link? I can't seem to find it and search only yielded this text. (Although my eyes are getting really tired right now so I might've missed it if it's in the front page)

the_andy
04-20-2009, 04:17 AM
Have a look at:

Weidt WMMA2 Skin (by Weidt):
http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40437

Blooskin (by myself):
http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40072

Eyeball
04-20-2009, 04:18 AM
http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40072 That's the blooskin mod.

And I think the bios are just fine as they are. Vast improvement over WMMA1.

Adam Ryland
04-20-2009, 04:34 AM
In general, the disappointment just came when there were very little explaining the growth from a fighter in WMMA time to the same fighter in WMMA2 time.

That's because there is no "growth" to explain, as they're two different databases which aren't in the same continuity. This is explained in the database description, and in the help file too I believe.

I don't agree with the rest of your points, but I don't really see the point in debating it given that they're down to personal opinion and the game isn't going to be changed in that manner, so I'll leave it there.

curtains
04-20-2009, 12:25 PM
Real quick unrelated point but I believe there is a misprint at the end of Aleksander Ivanov's bio. It says something about him improving and then taking some beating. Didn't want to make a thread out of this though.

Derek B
04-20-2009, 12:29 PM
Real quick unrelated point but I believe there is a misprint at the end of Aleksander Ivanov's bio. It says something about him improving and then taking some beating. Didn't want to make a thread out of this though.

I think you've misunderstood the bio... it means "once he gets better, he will be tough to beat" but I suspect you are reading it as meaning "once he gets better he will get beaten up a lot". :)