Listen… I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but give me a moment here.
I’ve been experimenting with first person manual flight for a bit. Needless to say, it is highly impractical with how clunky and irregular the ships behave while using it. Separate issue.
I have found however, that in the rare event you want to maneuver like this, a small UI change would be pretty helpful and easy to implement. Specifically, the target HUD →
For one, it is hard to see in the background, so maybe if you could change the colors that they either stand out more would be good, or have them change on their own to be visible at all times.
What I actually wanted to propose, was to extend the lines of the HUD. Have the vertical lines extend infinitely both up and down, while also applying the same to the vertical line, something like this →
How is this helpful, you might ask?
Simple, if you’re piloting in first person, you’ll have to look away from the HUD to keep track of your targets or where you are going. Since you are maneuvering while doing so, you will sometimes lose your orientation and not know where your ship is currently pointing. In that case, you look back at the HUD to get your orientation back. If you had those extended lines however, you could more accurately gauge where your center is without having to look away from your target, allowing you to keep your focus on maneuvering.
Who will this help? Billions. Glad you agree. Let’s do this.
With ace regards
-James Fuchs