The Mobile HUD Redesign: Finally Built for Thumbs
A good chunk of you play on your phone. We know it, we see it, and for a long time... we didn't respect it enough. Dovion's old mobile HUD was basically the PC interface adapted for touch: it worked, but you could feel the seams. This summer, we started from scratch with one simple question: where do a player's thumbs naturally land when they're holding a phone?
The honest assessment: it was designed for a mouse
On PC, you get a precise cursor and the whole screen within click range. On phone, you get two thumbs, dead zones in the middle of the screen, and fingers that block whatever they're touching. Bolting a PC interface onto that just forces mobile players to compensate constantly. The result: missed buttons in the middle of combat, a minimap blocking the action, important actions out of reach.
So we stopped patching things up and rebuilt the mobile HUD for real.
What's actually changing
- The joysticks do the work: the left stick sets your heading, the right stick handles firing. No more separate "Fire" button hogging a thumb — aiming already fires.
- Combat aids grouped together: the auto-combat, flee, and turbo buttons are stacked in a column right where your right thumb naturally rests. In a panic, you're not searching anymore: everything's in one place.
- The minimap relocated: it's moved up into a corner where it no longer hides the action, while staying readable at a glance. To get the most out of it, read our minimap guide.
- Fewer elements on screen: every button that wasn't essential was removed or tucked into the menu. On a small screen, every pixel of interface is a pixel of game you lose.
- Portrait and landscape handled separately: holding your phone upright or sideways isn't the same grip or the same reachable zones. Both orientations now have their own layout.
Why this matters so much to us
Because Dovion is a cross-play game: mobile and PC players sail in the same rooms. If the mobile interface lags behind, that's not just uncomfortable — it's an unfair competitive disadvantage. Our goal is for a good phone player to be able to hold their own against a good PC player. The gap will never hit zero, but every redesign shrinks it.
And honestly, let's be real: a lot of us test the game on the bus. We're the first customers for this HUD.
How to get the most out of it
If you play on your phone, two companion reads: the complete mobile guide to get you up and running, and our article on mastering the joysticks to take it to the next level. Also consider installing the game as a PWA: full screen, a home-screen icon, instant launch — it's free and it makes a real difference in comfort.
What's next?
An interface is never "finished." We keep getting feedback on phones we don't own, with notches, curved edges, and improbable screen sizes. If a button lands wrong on YOUR phone, tell us on the forum along with the device model: that's the most useful feedback you can give us.
Go on, grab your phone and see for yourself: Play Dovion for free.