[Feature Request] Make Portal Images more prominent in Portal View

edited April 2021 in General

When Prime originally came out, a significant 'feature' was having portal images displayed on the game field, in the flames of portals. This was, to be blunt, painful and distracting.


As time went on and community sentiment showed that the flames were a bad idea, the feature was changed so that the flames only appear in the portal. While better, this still fails to adequately display the portal image.

Eventually, sizing changes, adding names, a photo border and an arrow to more portal info later, we come to the current Prime appearance.

However, one of the things from Redacted that a number of people have commented on, and I myself noticed after it was mentioned, is that Prime doesn't really favor "knowing" the portals by their images or even really, their name.

Using Redacted, you learnt the images, and could easily match the key image to the portal image etc. when flicking through looking for the right key to pull out. People could show you a portal view, and you'd know where that was and remember it by location and remember the images of the portals around it.

Neither image nor title are prominently shown in the Prime Portal View.

The name, while visible, for most Android users at least, is half faded by the Android status bar. It almost feels pushed away, to make space for the descriptions that only really new portals have. The owner's name is often truncated if there are more than 10 characters (depending on kerning). The image in full color is shoved into the top corner, presumably because someone thought a washed out flickery image in flame on the portal was sufficient.

So, excusing the fact that I am not a visual artist, and my Paint.Net skills are passable for very little, I'd like to suggest some alterations to the portal view, in order to make the photo and name more prominent.

  1. Shift the Resonator Array down slightly. This may mean shifting the portal in the background slightly to keep it centered in the resonators, but that doesn't seem like an issue.
  2. Remove the image in the top left corner
  3. Add a significantly larger portal image as counterpoint to the Mods array, clickable for more info.
  4. Move the Name, Level, Description block down so that it is completely unobscured by the status bar. With the removed image, they can use the full length of that area to display name and text instead of truncation.
  5. Drop the GPS Coords Button, range indicator, and owner name to a line below the Level indicator. This allows the Owner's Agent name to be displayed in full up to the 16 characters too.
  6. Also, fix the bug where the Subscription wings overlap the Agent name.

This horribly inept mock up gives a vague impression of the changes I mean. Obviously a competent artist could fix this up and make it far more palettable.


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Comments

  • InvestigateXMInvestigateXM ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2021

    The status bar covering portal information might be a bug, as it looks fine for me. There's even a bit of space between them.

    Although I absolutely want the portal image being a bit more prominent, your mockup looks... too busy, in my opinion. I know you've used Paint, but assuming Niantic would make the picture that big whole while keeping the general layout of the resonators, it just looks to squished. But by all means Niantic, if you want to remodel the portal menu, please make the picture more prominent.

  • IshiraIshira ✭✭✭✭✭

    I do have to say that I agree with the issues with the names of portals. I think adding more of a border could fix that and possibly increasing text size.

    I do have a like of the flames but I agree it does distort the images a bit to the point some portals you can not **** at all what they are without clicking the image in the corner.

  • I think a significant difference is your phone is generally just "taller". My screenshots are all coming from a Pixel 4, which isn't as tall.

    And yes, if Niantic can make it look better, please do. I don't build front end clients and stick to the server engines, for a reason. 🤣

  • HopeaKotkaHopeaKotka ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2021

    Looks great!

    Horizontal size could be even dynamic: So for 4:3 and 16:9 horizontal image size is bigger.

    And for vertical images horizontal size is smaller while vertical size remains the same.

    Example of 16:9 horizontal portal image with mission button added and left arrow removed:


    And with mods grid at left:


    Post edited by HopeaKotka on
  • ToxoplasmollyToxoplasmolly ✭✭✭✭✭

    Prime doesn't really favor "knowing" the portals by their images or even really, their name.

    While I agree, I think that ship has sailed. "Portal View" doesn't strike me as intended for "getting to know the portal". It's more like an overlay on the main map that highlights the portal's current state (resonators, mods). Buttons like "Deploy" and "Charge" change this overlay to highlight information specific to those actions.

    As such, "Portal View" should focus on this informational aspect. Remove the portal flame. Remove the description. Redesign the header and the header for "Remote Portal View" so that they're the same: Portal level on the left. One line for the title (which should be bold). One line for the portal's owner or address (depending on the view). One line for the distance. Thumbnail photo on the right, using the slightly larger version of the current Remote Portal View.


    ===

    The mocks ups so far, with the photo on the left and the arrow pointing left, confuse me. Left is "go back". In that style, I feel like the photo should be on the right, and the mods grid moved to the left. It's also not clear to me where the "missions" button would go in that layout.

  • The arrow could probably be dropped altogether, and yeah the Missions button should probably be meshed with the mods array.

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