great UI != tons of prompts

by kidtsunami , Atlanta, GA, Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 05:50 (4167 days ago) @ urk

WIll one of those things looking to pull you away from the main objective include competitive modes? Or will competitive involve a more controlled environment like going to some Arena in the city or selecting an option from the menu?

We've yet to detail out anything about competitive mp (dodge!), but I will say that the design pillar "Activities for Every Mood" is predicated on player choice. "Pull" is likely too strong a word to describe whatever falls into the bucket of "those things" here. "Entice" or "offer" might be better.

Well consider me excited to be enticed by some offers

I believe there was a comment about trying to remove almost any UI (in regards to a prompt asking you to approve a public event).

There's UI to announce the Public Event, but no loading or lobby to sit through. We're not actively trying to eliminate all UI from the game (Hey, Candland!), but rather trying to ensure that as many actions and activities as possible feel woven into the narrative of the world itself. UI plays a huge roll in that obviously, and in fact, down the line I want to show it off as a reveal in and of itself. Which isn't a promise, but a personal preference. ;)

Sorry for the language I used, UI is one of my favorite things about Bungie games and I've always appreciated the care the team has put into making the experience as smooth user friendly as possible while providing tons of power under the hood. Heck, I was super pumped when Candland was one of my ODST firefight buddies for the FLAG event so I could pick his brain for questions.

Ever since I built an XNA game and got 2 XBoxes to find each other and join a game, I've wanted to build or play a game that made the matching seamless. Journey and Dark Souls among others fulfilled part of the promise of that concept and I'm looking forward to enjoying Bungie's take on a seamless matchmaking adventure.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how you'll handle some issues that I've discovered in my design process, how to keep the universe persistent, what happens when more than the intended amount of users want to goto the same location, and how to balance the progress while matching people efficiently. Suffice it to say, if there weren't so many challenges to bringing this idea to life, the result wouldn't be so satisfying.

Thanks for answering those questions Bungie, one of the reasons I've always loved you is the respect you show your fans.

You should hear all the shit DeeJ says about you when you're not listening!

Oh we know he doodles DBO usernames on his trapper keeper.

Thanks for letting me gush a bit.