Nintendo's Bland New HUDs and UIs

[Goemar]

Honestly the Mario font is ugly as hell and has been used to death. I'm all up for a new Mario font mind.

[Kosheh]

Is it weird that that minimalist aesthetic is starting to grow on me lol?

like really; you don't see skyrim's UI with a bunch of goofy fonts and stuff. maybe a fancy text box, but the text is good and clear; and even better in terms of accessibility (cleaner text means end users with sight issues will have an easier time reading opentype-ish text as opposed to a stylized one)

[Gors]

Mario's polygonal font only works for titles, but using it for HUDs and other "fast interpretation text", it's not good. It lacks definition. not to say they don't even line up well together, as normal fonts do.

Don't also forget that this "You got a Star" text prompt is reminescent of real life travel journals, complete with the date you achieved then, which is the whole point of Mario Odyssey. All in all, it makes sense and it works.

[iyenal]

I don't know if I am the only one, but I like far more the Galaxy UI than Odyssey UI.
A fancy UI is just like a fluid animation. If you want a minimalist UI there are dozens of mobile applications that have one.
If you play a console, it's for playing exclusive things.
You can make a modern and fancy UI (Sonic Generations) :

(don't see the link)
VS this :

(this is ironical) -> ARE YOU MAKING ECONOMIES NINTENDO
After all it's just my opinion.

[Gors]

apparently making readable HUD means that a game company is dying hoo boy

i know that's just your opinion as you have put it, but it takes way more than a minimalistic typography to sink a 100+ year old company

[iyenal]

No Dead/of/Nintendo it is for the cascade of disastrous choices. And it's just an overstatement, Nintendo have still capital.
And Galaxy UI is perfectly readable, we are playing on a TV not on a phone.

[Gors]

and i dislike galaxy's HUD aesthetics so I guess that would make it a personal "cascade of disastrous choices" then?

just because you aren't playing some game on a tiny ass screen doesn't mean that we see the entirety of the screen. most of the times, HUDs are interpreted with the peripherial vision as the main focus is on the character actions. It makes no sense to stylize and add detail on something that will rest on peripherial sight, unless you like to look at HUDs while keeping the character on the peripherial vision

which would be rather ridiculous

[iyenal]

Every detail compose a game, even if it isn't seen in the foreground.
And there the UI is more than 30%

But I respect your point of vue.

[NICKtendo DS]

People are up in arms over this? What?
I didn't even take notice of the UI until it was brought up. It all seemes natural to me until we start paying attention to it.
I think the text is fine. If you take a closer look at the font used for "You got a Moon!", it's not just Arial or some shit, they actually designed a font for this. The only thing I'm not really a fan of is the health pie. Maybe a stylized silhouette of Mario's head, or just the M from his cap instead of a heart. It's fine the way it is though.

[Gors]

This is the thing, if the UI is not noticeable, then it means is doing its job pretty well. And odyssey's HUD is doing a great job.

[iyenal]

Really ? You don't think that the Odyssey UI is bland ?

The only thing I'm not really a fan of is the health pie. Maybe a stylized silhouette of Mario's head, or just the M from his cap instead of a heart.

I agree, and the M letter for heatch is actually a good idea.

[Gors]

the letter M for lives doesn't work as well because M has a lot of negative space and wouldn't be able to fit a number inside. Maybe it could be a mushroom, but that's rather alienating for newcomers and less designating for a "life" than a heart symbol is. you could maybe use "M x 3" instead but that's 5 character spaces instead of just "3". Simply, it's the easiest and most logical route for this.

Stylized Mario head was a thing on Mario 64 and hasn't been used ever since, I don't know why you'd bring it back

designing a HUD requires knowledge in intuitiveness and usability, not looking pretty. Prettiness is a secondary goal for something that has the main goal of informing your game data.

[iyenal]

I thought rather on a M letter with a contrasted/solid vertical gradient red to another color that scroll according to the health.

[Gors]

it's still not as readable as the current design. the letter M doesn't mean anything other than Mario, but you aren't making a "Mario Meter" at all. You're making a HP bar.

[iyenal]

it's still not as readable as the current design. the letter M doesn't mean anything other than Mario, but you aren't making a "Mario Meter" at all. You're making a HP bar.

Yes, maybe we can use it as life indicator alone, but we have all our opinion. (As long as the UI doesn't looks those used in custom MKWii tracks...)