New UI?

[Azarius]

I'm saying it now, and I'm going to cut to the chase.

The User Interface in NHL 2k6 is possibly THE worst I've seen in a game in a VERY long time.

Text is small... Hard to read. Its not just ugly, it's Fugly! Laid out poorly and can make loading rosters/songs etc a real chore.

I hope that 2k7 gets a real update in this area, as the game play is way ahead of what EA offers in terms of a hockey feel. Unforunately, the UI is where EA really makes 2k6 look like crap. Oh, and although I *LOVE* being able to add and edit my own music, that interface is clunky and could use a big face life as well.


See you in 2k7!

[slammerxt]

The only thing I really didnt like about last year 2ks was the lousy menu interface. And what happened to the in game instructions in MLB. The games are so deep you need more than the 20 page leaflet that comes with the game.

[sultan of slapshot]

The most frustrating thing about the interface is that nothing is convenient to where you need it?

For example, why isn't contract information one of the columns in roster mode? When I'm near the trade deadline and I have to consider if I need to make room under the cap for draft picks or free agents, I have to switch between roster for stats and contracts for costs.

And why do you have to jump out of your calendar in franchise for practice and training? Make that a menu on the calendar.

And roster changes allow you to move players up and down from the minors and between dressed and scratched without restriction - until you go to leave the menu. But the line edit screen requires you to have the counts correct at all times.

Speaking of which, why not have the line edits directly accessible from the roster screen as well? Convert the top half of the screen to a line page that you can swap players from the bottom to the top on the fly.

It seems to me the whole interface was bodged together by different groups working on different things instead of being built holistically with the player in mind.

And don't get me started on the lack of a manual!

SoS

[sultan of slapshot]

More suggestions for the UI and playability:

- Spreadsheet functionality. Currently, the only thing you can do is sort (high or low) by a single column. I'd like to be able to do all of the following:

(1) Move columns around. It would be nice to re-sort things in a way that makes sense to me, like putting all the awareness figures together, then the bias figures, then the skating-related ratings, etc.

(2) Filter by columns. It would be nice to be able to prune a list to "above minimum" or "below maximum", particularly during scouting and the draft. If I'm looking for a skater, I'd like to be able to dump anyone with acceleration below, say, 70, and then sort by passing, for example.

(3) Add a column for "current line". Should only have the four forward lines, 3 defensive lines, and then generic terms for "scrached" and "minors", that way you can sort by your line orders and quickly see if your skater types are well-suited or not, and more easily see if you have a captain or assistant on each line, or who the best candidate would be.

(4) Add contract and season performance info to the main interface. Seriously, why isn't it all just one single interface? In particular, if I can sort columns, I can ensure the relevant info stays together in a place for when I need them.

(5) Make "sticky" columns. Starting with the first, be able to freeze one or more columns so they don't scroll off screen.

- Scouting. Oh how I hate thee:

(1) Said it before, I'll say it again. Don't make me sit through the skills tests or game play. Give me the option to just spend my scouting hours and move on.

(2) Give me a way to quick fill all skaters with 1 or 2 hours workout, using pruning limts. For example, add a 2 hour workout to all players with overall rating above 65. Or, add a 1 hour workout to all goalies between 55 and 65 rating overall. This should be possible on every column, so that I can choose to workout players that impress me during skills tests, who might not based on overall rating.

- Drafting.

(1) Allow me the option to step the AI through each of their draft picks. If I see a player I want dropping in the draft, I want the option to call on the next team to work out an opportunity to trade up for him. (Particularly if you fix the trade rules to make it not so darn easy to get the top pick every year.)

(2) Give me access to my normal roster from the draft screen. The limited information on contracts and skater type makes it doubly hard to work out gaps.

(3) Allow a way to mark or highlight players for interest, as is done with the free agency.

- Off-season events.

(1) Give me a draft preview before renewing contracts. Maybe not a full scouting report, but even just the impact bar summary (by position) so I can know if it's a strong draft class or not.

(2) Give me some way of knowing who is going to retire before working out new contracts. Even if it's just an indicator of "likelihood to retire" on each player.

(3) Give me a summary of free agents before the draft. I hate drafting someone for a position only to find that a solid free agent is on the market with a number of big names ahead of them, giving me a good shot to fill my need that way instead of wasting the draft pick.

- Coaching and line editing.

(1) Why, oh why, is the coaching suggestions available on each game but not on the line edit interface? Seriously, the place you need it is the place it isn't. And if the line interface had the same "spreadsheet" style functionality described above, that'd be tops.

(2) It'd be especially good if the coaching options were build options for each line. That way, I could see how the coach filled each line according to my direction (an offense line, a defense line, a chemistry line, etc.) and tweak from there.

(3) In line editing, have an option to build the specialist lines off the 7 main forward and defense lines, as changed by the user. If I trade left wingers on the top two forward lines for chemistry reasons, I have to go through all the specialist lines and make the same change. It's even worse with defensemen.

- Calendar and training

(1) Have training accessible directly from the calendar.

(2) Have options to call training according to some calendar. For example, automatcally fill the calendar for practices whenever there is two days off in a row. Fill double practices when 3 days off in a row, etc.

(3) For individual training, organise players by player type, and be able to select training according to changing that type. For example, if I simply select R3 (PS2 controls) and auto-fill training, everyone eventually becomes a scorer. It'd be nice to group players by type and select training to retain their type as a group - then perhaps modify individual players whose type I'm trying to switch.

That's all I can think of for now...
SoS