Quality’s Our Priority: In-Match UI Update

Hello, fellow gamers! This is Jared Saramago from the HEX R&D team, here to talk to you about some of the new in-game UI changes that are coming to HEX. When you launch into your first game after updating, you will notice some familiar UI features look a little different now. I’d like to discuss some of the changes you can expect to see in this update, give you some insight into the high-level goals behind this mini-revamp, and share our reasoning behind some of the specific adjustments that were made.

Alright, So Here’s the Plan…

If you’ve been playing HEX through the last few updates, you already know that we’ve been working to enhance the experience for players who are new to the game and to TCGs in general. As part of this continued focus, we wanted to improve the way the in-match UI helps guide players through a game. We felt that this was an especially important goal, given the recent influx of new players and the potential difficulties those players may encounter as they try to fully understand HEX’s gameplay. We believe that guiding people with a more intuitive UI will provide a better initial experience and aid us in growing the community.

Another of our goals was to reduce the likelihood of gameplay mistakes that were a direct result of people playing ‘UI-whack-a-mole.’ Some of the in-match UI was constantly popping up and visually encouraging you to click through it as fast as possible instead of allowing you to concentrate on analyzing your options.

For this update, we made the decision to focus primarily on improving visual guidance and not on making major mechanical adjustments. The changes will impact the appearance and presentation of things, but you won’t have to worry about them impacting gameplay mechanics or rules. We hope this will make the initial transition easier for players who have grown accustomed to things the way they are.

Win, Lose, or Draw First

One of the first changes you will come across is the dialog window for choosing to play first or draw first. This might seem like a pretty minor thing to need updating, but let’s explore why we thought changes were necessary. The image below compares both the previous and current versions of the dialog that appears if you win the opening coin flip.

In the previous version of this prompt, the dialog we were using seemed to confuse players who were unfamiliar with TCG lingo. The phrase, ‘Play or Draw?’ is a verbal shortcut that seasoned players use to quickly describe a more nuanced set of rules in order to make game setup and discussion faster. But for the many players who are new arrivals to HEX, it doesn’t properly convey the results of making one choice or the other. “Why would I NOT want to play first? What are the drawbacks?” Or on the other side, “Well, I chose to draw first, but then I drew my hand at the same time as my opponent. What was the point?” The old presentation of this choice left a lot open to the reader’s interpretation.

We made improvements to this prompt by clearly spelling out the mechanics using easy to understand wording. We wanted this change to have minimal impact on existing players, so we made sure to preserve the function and location of each button as it is currently – clicking the left button will still result in ‘draw first’ for us HEX veterans.

We also made similar text updates to the dialog for keeping your initial hand or selecting to draw again. (AKA “What’s a mulligan?”) Again, we kept the button functionality the same so you won’t be caught off guard by clicking in the same spot as you did before.

Even minor changes like this one can have a big impact by providing clarity to the players that need it the most. The easier it is to pick up and play HEX, the more people we will have to trade and do battle with in the long run.

A Swift Kick in the Pass Priority

One of the most confusing moments for a player trying out HEX for the first time is often the inevitable moment when they first see the “Pass Priority” button during a game. Obviously, the concept of priority and passing it back and forth as players interact with one another is paramount to HEX’s gameplay. However, when a player is taking their first baby-steps into learning the mechanics of the game, it is more important that they actually understand how interaction works than knowing the terminology of ‘pass priority’ itself. We took steps to modify the wording and appearance of the old button in order to feel less complicated to someone who is just getting their feet wet. Just to reiterate, we have not made any rules changes here. This is intended as purely a cosmetic upgrade.

In addition to “Pass Priority” becoming “Continue,” you will see lots of other improvements to the text that appears on buttons. These buttons will more accurately indicate what phase of the game you are in and exactly what will happen if you click the button to advance. “Continue to Opponent’s Combat Phase” is much more specific and grounding than an abstract “Pass Priority” button.

By using specific but easy to understand phrasing, we hope to reduce the perceived complexity of the priority system, while also allowing players of all levels (even Twitch viewers popping into a game already in progress,) to better follow along with the flow of a game.

Click, Click, Oops!

The same “Pass Priority” button that functions to move you through a turn also has several other functions. It is used for a wide variety of things like attacking, blocking, confirming a choice, and even resolving an event on the chain. The drawback to using this ‘one-stop-shop’ style of button is that you might often click it when you didn’t really mean to. One overzealous click and you might advance through a step without getting a chance to do what you had planned. You might even skip by an important moment without having processed what that event was, because you are so intent on clicking the shiny button, constantly popping up in that same location. We know firsthand that this happens to a wide range of players; we’ve noticed it happen during streams, read about it on the forums, watched it happen during live demos, and even experienced it in our own games.

Well, all of you habitual mis-clickers reading this can now rejoice; we are reducing the potential to accidentally skip! We have created separate interaction methods for important events that demand attention such as resolving a spell on the chain, making a targeting choice, or interacting with the combat phases.

For example, the “Resolve” button has been moved up to appear closer to the cards and effects on the chain. Clicking the button, shown here, will pass priority on the last event on the chain. An animating arrow will point out the corresponding card/effect to be resolved and always move to the last item on the chain. You can also still use the shortcut key (Spacebar by default) to resolve things, if that’s your preference.

The buttons for combat will still be located in the same general area, but clicking too quickly in the center area will no longer accidently skip you through attacking or blocking. You can click on the button to the left in order to skip that step. If you click on any of your troops to declare them as either attacking or blocking, you will then be able to click the button below to lock in your selection. We have also removed Spacebar as the hot key for selecting to ‘Skip’ in the attack and block steps, since it was just as easy to accidentally skip with Spacebar as it was with a click.

For all of you veteran HEX players that would prefer to keep the current behavior for hot keys, we have added in an option for you as well. In the ‘Battle’ tab of the settings window, we have added a checkbox that, when checked, will allow you to use Spacebar to skip attacking/blocking. You can select the “Same as Continue Turn” checkbox (in the Battle tab of the settings window) to keep the pass and skip buttons assigned to the same hot key. This allows you to use Spacebar to skip attacking/blocking if you would like to.

One Step at a Time

So, there you have it! You should now have an idea of what to expect in your matches after the update. As I said earlier, updating the guiding text and game UI is a continuous process for us—one that we will continue to evaluate and improve going forward. Good luck in your games, and please continue to share your feedback with us!

-Jared Saramago

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