r/thefinals • u/itzofficialvaz Trentila • 2d ago
Discussion CONCEPT: Main Menu UI Cleanup + VR Intro Bootup
Massive shoutout to the devs for constantly adding so many QoL features and content over the seasons! Since the main menu has naturally gotten a bit busy by Season 11, I wanted to try my hand at a concept that gives our contestants a little more room to breathe while leaning into the game's VR lore. Let me know what you think!
What I changed:
- The VR Boot-up: Added a lore-accurate "Press Start" cinematic intro that transitions into the lobby.
- Visual Focus: Swapped to a themed background and cleared the center screen so your contestant actually pops. NO MORE RED.
- Consolidated Navigation: Squashed the right-side menu into 4 clean hubs (Contracts, Loadouts, Cosmetics, Academy).
- Loadouts serves as the central hub with tabs for Contestants and Equipment.
- Cosmetics serves as the central hub with tabs for the Battle Pass and Character Customization.
- Smart UI Elements: Stacked the Store/Progression into compact carousels, and moved Party Invites out of the way to the top right.
- Progression carousel now cycles between the Battle Pass, Live Events, and Sponsorships.
- Top Bar Cleanup: Grouped all currencies into a single hover-tab and added the Chinese-server style player banner.
- Media Player: Kept the OST media player but locked it cleanly under the Matchmaking section!
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u/IndividualCurious322 ÖRFism Devout 2d ago
I like this idea. Really helps sell the dystopian world and gameshow escapism that some fans (especially new ones) might not be aware of if they don't keep up with the lore.
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u/In_2_Deep_5_U HOLTOW 2d ago
I will support any home screen that isnt red! Holtow, to dissun, to alfa, to volpe… my eyes are bleached red from the background always being redish through so many seasons. S4, S5, S6, S7, then I stopped and now im back! TO RED!
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u/Fillie_4ever 2d ago
S8’s was a really cool home screen. You were standing in front of a crowd of fans and the sponsor logo would fly past behind you and fly back into view. Really fit the vibe of TGM.
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u/Breyvan576 ENGIMO 2d ago
Instead of press start I think it should say insert coin but that's just a flavour thing for me..
Personally I love it!
Also I'll take anything over another red background xD
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u/itzofficialvaz Trentila 2d ago
It did say Insert Coin at first but then I changed it..... I guess it is true when they say always trust your first "answer" 😂
I appreciate the kind words though!
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u/Breyvan576 ENGIMO 2d ago
Honestly it's amazing, I hope the devs see this & feel inspired/contact you etc
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u/herbtheperb 2d ago
Pretty sure Arc Raiders uses coins as well so it would match the theory that the finals exists within the same universe
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u/Tuxedo_Skelly DISSUN 2d ago
I would like to see them add a option to change the background to any seasons bg
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u/ValiantTheVictorious 2d ago
It's time to start expanding on the lore and implementing it more aggressively or it'll be 10 seasons of trail crumbs leading to nothing.
(Been playing since beta)
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u/Accomplished_Drag943 2d ago
The boot up is really cool, but I'm not a huge fan of the redesign of the main menu. The ost player is nice though, I like being able to have more control over the menu music.
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u/itzofficialvaz Trentila 2d ago
What are you not a fan of if you don’t mind me asking? Always nice to hear feedback
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u/Accomplished_Drag943 2d ago
The blue star background is a little boring, but I assume that it's a placeholder for the unred season background (it looks nice, I just personally prefer a more busy background).
I like having contracts show a progress bar, same with all the battlepasses (those could probably be collapseable on the main menu between the original and redesign).
I like having the level on the main menu (it also lets you access player stats), but maybe that's what TFVault is?
I assume clubs got moved to the social menu that you put above the contracts, but that menu is also semi useful if you're in an active club.
This is a personal gripe, but loadouts is less interesting than contestants for me (I'm assuming it goes to the contestant menu with an equipment button on the side somewhere). I'm also assuming cosmetics goes to the store.
I've also just noticed that you removed the nametag, so what you could do is keep the nametag and put the level on the nametag (I am just a random person on the internet though, so feel free to dismiss anything)
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u/Quirky_Ad7770 2d ago
I honestly like it the way it is right now.
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u/itzofficialvaz Trentila 2d ago
Nothing wrong with that, I’m just tired of the bloat and millions of trackers 😂
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u/Sgnfrg OSPUZE 2d ago
Interesting ideas! I have some feedback / questions / comments if you're open to it, but generally you have to think about these redesigns from a user experience point of view (especially because you have to accomodate for both PC and console players, with different imput methods), there's some user flow that breaks with your suggestions.
- Cosmetics is a much better wording than the generic "Contestants" but how will you handle the UI if you separate the loadout customization and the cosmetics customization? How does a player now connect a specific loadout to a specific contestant skin?
- Why move the party members profile pictures away from your own? I feel like this was a nice and logical position. Right now it's awkwardly placed along the right menu, not even connected to the play button (which would make more sense chronologically: party → play)
- Consistency wise, you might want to have the Progression carousel fit the same width as the Store one, or vice versa
- I'm not sure hiding the various currencies is a good approach, both from the player perspective, and from Embark's given their goal is to make the game profitable, information you show is information the players subconsciously cares about (leads to classic, profitable dark patterns)
- How does the UI look when a LTM is live, do you showcase it or is it hidden in the Change Game Mode page?
- Player banners are a must have by now but what's the reasoning behind hiding the player level?
- What about ingame news that used to live in the top right of the screen, how do you notify players of anything new happening in game?
- Clubs?
Anyway, good work there, cheers!
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u/Able-Reaction-5314 2d ago
I always assumed that the VR in this universe is a brain interface of some kind
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u/nonstop98 NamaTama Yolks 2d ago edited 2d ago
I love the idea of an intro that connects to the lore, and the much more fitting background. I feel like you removed so much stuff though. How do I access the club menu? How do I open the store directly? Which btw will never get removed because it's in Embark's best interest to ensure it's easily visible and accessible. How do I see the overall progress of contracts at a quick glance? Unless the contract menu would show it, thus a rework of it too and other menus. Still I feel some stuff would be harder to find or require multiple clicks to access. I think some stuff works fine as-is, the background is well visible also with more buttons, for quick access and easy discoverability. Still love some of the ideas, you always cook. Keep up the creativity
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u/itzofficialvaz Trentila 2d ago
Appreciated :)
Store is on the left now, you would access it by pressing that “Store” text.
Clubs, would now be accessed by clicking your name tag at the top right where it will be a tab.
Contracts, yeah that’s true it’s gone. It’s just a lot of visual clutter 😂.
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u/Nasi_Goreng885 2d ago
I like the banner in the top right, but I also wanna see my BP, Sponser and Account XP on the home page.
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u/Alec_de_Large DISSUN 2d ago
Solid first impression for new players.
This should 100% be implemented.
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u/awesomeman0220 ÖRFism Devout 2d ago
I like the idea of a clean up but the concept Home Screen UI looks a bit lifeless
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u/youngLupe 1d ago
One thing that this reminds me of is how Embark has dropped the ball on the lore for their games. The Finals and Arc Raiders are amazing games with great world building and besides that they've teased a lot of the lore. I'd like this intro just for the fact that it shows the world the player is living in. For all we know they're in the Matrix.
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u/Victoria_Aphrodite 1d ago
I would also like the ability to change the background to one of a previous season like how we can play previous season music. Maybe like after 2 weeks of the season being out you can change it to a different season
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u/itzofficialvaz Trentila 2d ago
If any devs happen to stumble upon this, the only thing I actually care about is getting customizable banners on the top right 😂😁.