The Steam Library Is Getting a Visual Overhaul

Tsing

The FPS Review
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Valve has finally updated Steam's functional but aging Library. With the new beta coming on Tuesday, September 17th, users will be introduced to a new, beautiful landing page that offers quick access to not only owned titles, but game updates, recently played games, friends activity, and collections.

The new Steam library was built with the belief that our libraries are valuable to us – for some customers, they contain more than fifteen years of games. From your absolute favorite AAA title that all your friends are playing, to that solo indie art project that only you seem to love, your Steam library represents your gaming history.
 
Beauty should never be the emphasis of UI design, because the most functional design is almost never the prettiest and function is >>> appearance.

Hopefully this won't be an annoying downgrade.
 
I took a look at the screen in the article. It looks a lot like Epic's and Origins really... and like Uplay's. IE not a lot of difference. I like that they kept the long test list on the left though.
 
I want someone to write a unified client for all of the streaming services. That way I can have one client that pulls from them all and gives me all of my games in one UI that I don't have to play the game.. "Was that Uplay, Steam, Origin, Epic, that one I had for Masters of Orion II... Starbase or something... wait didn't the guys that made Fallout and Elder Scrolls have one.. ****.. where is that game?!"

**** I even forgot about Actiblizzards interface. That's another one. See we need 1 universal client! I suppose today that's windows.. CRAP I forgot about the Windows or Xbox Live one too! Yea I really need that universal interface.
 
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Grimlakin said:
I took a look at the screen in the article. It looks a lot like Epic's and Origins really... and like Uplay's. IE not a lot of difference. I like that they kept the long test list on the left though.
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Yeah, I find tiles, icons and pictures to be kind of annoying and of low usability value. This is the reason I still hate the ribbon interface in Office 12 years later (though I have reluctantly gotten used to it) Lists and hierarchical menus are always much better. At least the list is still there.
 
I think the Steam UI is archaic. Hate on EA all you want, but for many things Origin has a better UI in my opinion. It certainly handles DLC management and procurement much easier, which isn't surprising since that contributes to the bottom line. Battle.net and even UPlay are arguably better in some respects as well. Everyone else is moving forward, and Steam is stagnant.
 
Grimlakin said:
I want someone to write a unified client for all of the streaming services. That way I can have one client that pulls from them all and gives me all of my games in one UI that I don't have to play the game.. "Was that Uplay, Steam, Origin, Epic, that one I had for Masters of Orion II... Starbase or something... wait didn't the guys that made Fallout and Elder Scrolls have one.. ****.. where is that game?!"

**** I even forgot about Actiblizzards interface. That's another one. See we need 1 universal client! I suppose today that's windows.. CRAP I forgot about the Windows or Xbox Live one too! Yea I really need that universal interface.
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GOG Galaxy 2.0 is literally doing this very thing.
 
Dan_D said:
I think the Steam UI is archaic. Hate on EA all you want, but for many things Origin has a better UI in my opinion. It certainly handles DLC management and procurement much easier, which isn't surprising since that contributes to the bottom line. Battle.net and even UPlay are arguably better in some respects as well. Everyone else is moving forward, and Steam is stagnant.
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I agree. That is why I'm hoping this change works out.
 
Dan_D said:
I think the Steam UI is archaic. Hate on EA all you want, but for many things Origin has a better UI in my opinion. It certainly handles DLC management and procurement much easier, which isn't surprising since that contributes to the bottom line. Battle.net and even UPlay are arguably better in some respects as well. Everyone else is moving forward, and Steam is stagnant.
Click to expand...


I'm a big fan of the Battle.Net program. Then again, it was perhaps the very first one I ever used
 
Battlenet's UI only works the way it does because of how few games there are on it. If it were to support a great deal more like Steam or Origin, it would have to be drastically overhauled.
 
Grimlakin said:
I want someone to write a unified client for all of the streaming services. That way I can have one client that pulls from them all and gives me all of my games in one UI that I don't have to play the game.. "Was that Uplay, Steam, Origin, Epic, that one I had for Masters of Orion II... Starbase or something... wait didn't the guys that made Fallout and Elder Scrolls have one.. ****.. where is that game?!"

**** I even forgot about Actiblizzards interface. That's another one. See we need 1 universal client! I suppose today that's windows.. CRAP I forgot about the Windows or Xbox Live one too! Yea I really need that universal interface.
Click to expand...

I support this idea. A unified launcher would be awesome.
 
Grimlakin said:
I want someone to write a unified client for all of the streaming services.
Click to expand...

Streaming services?

Grimlakin said:
That way I can have one client that pulls from them all and gives me all of my games in one UI that I don't have to play the game.. "Was that Uplay, Steam, Origin, Epic, that one I had for Masters of Orion II... Starbase or something... wait didn't the guys that made Fallout and Elder Scrolls have one.. ****.. where is that game?!"
Click to expand...

I like this idea, but I'd also like to limit the amount of data that gets collected, and the amount of background processes that get to run. It can't just be a front-end. It has to replace all the other clients and be privacy-centric.
 
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