Graphical Interface Overhaul

That does look really good...I wouldn't think that would be hard to put in either.

If nothing else, I would just like the world map

Wow...  how the hell did we go from that to the current lack of information?

It has all the relevant info (including kingdomwide break down and minimap) and limited clutter.  Who decided that the current model is superior to this?

Wow..... I gotta admit, that looks pretty cool.  I play the majority of the game in the cloth map mode, so although I do like this world, it wouldn't make that much difference to my overall enjoyment of the game.  However with an interface like that, I can see how it would be an improvement.  Anyone know what happened to this UI?

oooh, minimap...then I wouldn't have to play the game in cloth map mode constantly.   Please tell me I'm stupid and just missed a setting that enables a minimap!

I think it just got lost while reinventing the wheel

there is a button for the minimap in the top right corner

That minimap is very nice, much better then what is currently in game.

It's a mockup.

It's a mock-up...

It's an AWESOME mockup!

Why did the dev team go towards the very bland and uninformative current version over this?  It gives most of the necessary info about the unit and kingdom with minimal clutter.

ahahaha, me and Kryo both replied at the same time!

I suppose I guessed right!

Nice mock-up...let's implement it!

I think something even more intrinsic to the magic-fantasy-adventure theme is in order. Less buttony and windowy, more parchmenty and crystal bally. The UI textures should be richer and more detailed, and should use concepts from within the theme to enhance immersion.

Wow, that UI does look really good.  And the world is so pretty and full of contrast... and there are no tiny buttons!  Slap an empire tree on there and I would love to have that as the in-game interface.  And like Istari said, if you reskinned that to be more "parchmenty and crystal bally" it might look even better.

It really doesn't look good at all, I don't agree with you guys at all. It's missing way too much info, like resources, recent events, unit vitals and so on. It's also taking up way too much space.

Add on top of that the list of cities, units moving, city HUDs, tooltips and it's easy to see why they went with something reasonable instead.

Edit: the texture and the minimap look better, for sure.

Chant with me! Kill tiny buttons, kill them all,  kill tiny buttons...

The trees are only marginally better than the current 3D map trees.  If there is only one tree,  will there be only 20% of the tree-square defense bonus?
Can you only 20% not build city tiles on that square?

55/60 HP on a scout! It has a "falcon" trait! Oh oh, and advance ballista, as if catapults wasn't cool enough... must get!

Actually... on second thought, I don't really like it all that much. For example: what's the point of giving a numerical for population, settlement, heroes... the empire tree does that better (despite its flaws). Maybe I just got used to the current Elemental UI, but it's not really bothering me all that much. *shrugs*

PS: Can you imagine the mob swarm that would be coming out of that forest?

I don't mind the current interface but have a couple things that should be tweaked. 

1. Even when i don't have any of a resource it should still be listed up top.   I ran into a problem where I had farms but no food and couldn't figure out how negative I was since the stat isn't displayed at the top if you have none.  Not to mention it took me awhile to even know about some resources(crystals) since they are up there and I didn't run into them for a long time.

2.  The city screen should list which bonus squares are being utilized.(oasis, mines etc).  Its a pain zooming into each city to try to keep track of which ones have bonus tiles that are being used... Maybe even put the symbols next to the city in the empire tree...  Would also be nice to have the city name over there as well so I don't have to mouse over every one trying to find the city I want to go to.

Our current interface simply has too much there that get in the way of usability and simplicity.  

For example, does the faction progress graph really need to be on the overworld interface?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to put this in the "Kingdom Report" section?  Also, a unit's actions should be front and center on the screen, not buried under a tab.

The whole interface needs more text labels, really.  The most important buttons for a city is obviously for building improvements and units.  You need to make the most important buttons the biggest, because your users will be using them the most.

I love how the mock-up interface had the picture of the selected unit displayed so vividly and clear.  There is no question here, who you have selected.  Half the time when I'm playing now, I often do not even know who or what the heck I'm targetting without squinting at the bottom.

The bottom line is that it seems to me that an artist designed the original UI and a programmer designed the current UI.  I'm probably not far off from saying the same about the whole game in general.  There is no "magic" or diversity in the color scheme.  It all feels so plain and ordinary.  Graphics are not too important to me in video games, but I know we could have done a lot better here.  I mean, just look at what we're getting with HoMM 6:

I'm not asking for the game to look as detailed as this, a lot of the modding creates limitations with what you can do but... come on!  You can't tell me that in 2010 Elemental couldn't have looked a little better.

If elemental taught us anything, it's that you can't trust the screenshots released.

Food is listed when negative, so if it does not show you have zero.

Not a little. A lot.

A new interface is possible and not super complicated.

DesktopX builder could be the modder's bestest friend:

The hardest part is mapping each piece to the right control.