In game UX
In game UI and UX is a bit of a tricky one. There was two things that would define this game, speed and style. Speed for the gameplay, style for the graphics. The idea is pretty simple, its everything else around it, that needs to support this ideal. This coincides with the game design choices, and just like with the gameplay, handling, sound design, the UI and UX needs to do so as well. For me, already having done a website and an app, this where the bulk of the challenge comes from for me. Other screens and UI are static. In game is not. This creates an entirely new set of challenges and considerations to tackle head on when designing the UI.
This creates an even bigger set of challenges when designing the UX for the game. The big three for this particular game are the following. How do I make the UI function without doing the following
Being too obtrusive
Being too out of the way
Being visible at all times WITHOUT interrupting gameplay (e.g. having to look away from the action at a UI element)
Breaking immersion of the games world (the “gamey” point)
Presenting the information in a way that suits the gameplay’s themes AND the UI themes at the same time
Now, to me, much of this sounds like common sense. But not everyone is a gamer to the point where they notice subtle changes, or even subtle artistic decisions to support the design. To all five of these points will need to be explained for the more casual readers. The first is being too “obtrusive”.
Obtrusion
Obtrusive game elements are probably one of the more annoying things a gamer can experience. The thing is, there’s no imaginary slider that tells you too much is too much. You add one thing, and suddenly, the UI is clunky and cluttered. This is very prevalent in AAA games in my opinion (ironically though, MMO games have this in spades at times, as you can see from the above picture), there has to be an aiming reticle, a mini map, a health bar, and whichever additional mechanic is on the screen. The problem of all this is obvious. Information overload. The way, in my opinion to avoid this, is to only have something appear on screen if it needs to be there. Others think this way too, considering how often its been utilised.
Being too out of the way
One of the key things to take note of in games, is where the users eyes are going to be centred. This is absolutely key for several reasons. Your eyes are effectively where the action happens. Things outside of this circle of attention, unless they identify themselves, do not exist. It is impossible to overstate how important this is. Not just for the game as a whole, but for UX. Have you ever played a game where something “suddenly” hit you without a chance to react? The disregard of this principle is precisely why. This rule alone, is why many games have a sound cue that plays when important events (such as your health bar being low), otherwise you would just die “suddenly”. If you didn’t have this, you realize that you would have to take your eyes off of the action, which could lead to you making a mistake you can’t realistically react to. Think about where you would focus your eyes in that picture, and then look at where the health bar and the ammo is.
For the record, war-frame is very much a one hit kill game at higher levels. I can personally attest to this. Digital extremes knew this UI didn’t cut it and redone it. Sadly, the same problem persists.
The map and health bar might as well be invisible. Don’t get me started on the ammo counter neither.
See how just one small removal of an element transforms a game from “challenging” to “false difficulty” This is what happens when a UI element, is shifted out of the way without its regard for importance to the scene at large.
There is an entire page worth of these sorts of bad experiences on TV Tropes. Under the page “fake difficulty”
See here — https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeDifficulty
Ultimate I am saying that it is imperative that the UI is visible at all times WITHOUT interrupting gameplay (e.g. having to look away from the action at a UI element)
This is the true hard part. Because not only is it somewhat subjective, but its also important to the point where it can break the experience do to what I mentioned before. The game that I look to for reference on this, is actually the street fighter series. From Super street fighter 2 turbo (where the series added supers), this was handled expertly. They’re placed in a way that you can always keep an eye on them, but not so far off to the point where again, you have to actively search for them. The health bars are handled the same, keeping the user constantly informed of what is going on, without them having to force feed it into themselves. Fighting games have this the hardest, because they’re arguably the most intense genre of competition, as they’re solely player vs player, not team vs team, so all of the work has to be done yourself.
This manifests itself into my game, because whilst its not this intense mentally, there is a lot of action In the game and it is very very fast paced, being comparable to the wipEout games of old. A split second lapse results in a crash every time in this title, so the user cannot and shouldn’t have to ever take their eye off of where the camera directs them.
Breaking immersion of the games world (the “gamey” point)
This tends to apply to more realistic games, (you wouldn’t have a mini map on the corner in real life for example) but the root of it is, anything that breaks immersion and reminds you “you’re playing a video game”. It doesn’t really matter on the direction of the game, its just a far easier rule to break when your game is realistic, because your mind will be trying to differentiate what is going on, and then notice things that are awry.
hyper realistic shooter…with a health bar. also, note where its placed.
This doesn’t “sound” like much in the way of UX, but immersion is a key factor to video game. The user wants to be led on, they want their suspension of disbelief to be satisfied, they want to feel like their a part of the world they are interacting in, and that in a way, that world could feasibly exist. When this is done right, this difference is immeasurable. This is, ultimately what sets trend setting video games, like metal gear solid, goldeneye 64 and doom apart from other competing titles.
Everything has to be considered here, the immersion isn’t part of the UX, it IS the UX. If this breaks at any moment, the design is a failure.
Presenting the information in a way that suits the gameplay’s themes AND the UI themes at the same time
This is another one of those “needs to be explained” sort of things. What it boils down to, effectively is this. Gaming is a medium, much like books, much like film. Gaming has a different set of tools that can be used to present its information, its story, and its theme. Once again, the main rule prevails and is always at work here.
Show, do not tell.
The problem is. Gaming is a different medium. Showing in a movie, is not the same as showing in a game. Showing in a book, is not the same as showing in a movie.
To tell in a movie, is to have pointless expedition (normally a conversation) that just reveals a plot point. An example is someone talking about someone’s abilities, but this never being shown. This is known as an informed ability.
To show in a movie, is to have a plot point presented to you with action. Action speaks louder than words. It doesn’t have to be a big micheal bay explosion, it can be in body language. This is shown masterfully in the wire.
In games, you can not, I repeat, can NOT use this same principle. To tell the player something, often means to take control from the player, and play a cutscene.
Nine times out of ten, this cutscene can be playable.
To show a player, have them experience what you want them to experience. The designer is the master of the show, he can dictate what the user needs to feel and when.
Always show, never tell.
This distinction is absolutely important to make, because it a lost art in gaming. Many of the most iconic moments, are cinematic in ways only gaming can be. Let’s take a look at this iconic scene. The psycho mantis boss fight. Half way through the boss fight he scans your memory card and reads it. For reference. Psycho mantis is a psychic who reads and controls the minds of his foes. For any first time player, this throws you in a loop. The user isn’t’ told he is psychic, they’re merely shown it when they have to fight their friend. But in this moment? The player is SHOWN that the man is a psychic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0oHnGM_iQw
This, in any other medium is simply not possible. The character is reading game data, and using it to comment upon the player. This was ground breaking at the time, and in many ways it still is. It highlights how to “tell” in a game and how to “show” in a game (because the scene where he possesses the woman COULD be done with gameplay, simply have her attack you out of nowhere whilst on your side, but I digress. it’s a classic moment regardless)
So how does this apply to my game? Simple, the game is stylish and fast. The UI and UX needs to convey that in a way that only a game can. This means that with the design of the UI the user at all times must have control, even something small like manipulating the UI to coincide with the speed of the game, adds to the dramatic effect that I am trying to sell to the user.
Once again, immersion isn’t part of the UX. Immersion IS the UX.
Originally published at https://www.tumblr.com on October 12, 2018.
