Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption looks great, as the video above shows. I like the trimmed down UI, and the quick shot of the “store” UI looked pretty slick as well. Interesting choice for that persistent mini map in that lower left. Looks like it with lifted right from Grand Theft Auto IV.
Today Apple announced their IPad. A new, bigger version of what essentially is the IPhone minus the phone. Like most folks in the tech world I was interested in what Apple would bring to the table. Especially when it came to mobile gaming on the IPhone/IPad/IPod. I’ve been a critic in the past, and I was hoping to see something new. I wanted to see Apple move beyond the control problems that have plagued the IPhone/IPod from becoming a viable platform for games.
I wasn’t impressed. Apple brought nothing new to mobile gaming, especially when it comes to controls. Sure, the screen is bigger (9.7 inches) and the frame rate is improved, but this will come at a price. Weighing in at 1.5 pounds with the larger footprint will only makes motion controls clunkier, holding it up for long periods will making gaming strenuous. In the end tilting the larger screen to steer your car in EA’s Need for Speed Shift won’t be “funner” it’ll just be more annoying. Couple this with more replicated traditional controllers as opposed to solid real world buttons and joysticks just rings towards more of the same coming from Apple.
Frankly, I don’t see this being a viable platform for gaming. Mobile Internet, fine. Doing some typing with the Keyboard dock, okay. When it comes to gaming on the go, I still think a user is going to be much better off with a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP. The IPad just isn’t going to cut it, despite what Apple may try to tell us in the future.
Early, early, early this morning Touch Arcade’s Eli Hodapp (who apparently doesn’t sleep) posted the above video for the release of Anrufen Online, a cross platform MMO, now available on the App Store [Link for the Bold.]
I guess subscribers to Anrufen Online might find this exciting, but the video did little to peek my interest in the MMO. Still, I summoned my courage and I downloaded it. I’ll be honest, I spent very little time with this game. Maybe ten to twenty minutes, what I found really put me off.
Inglorious appears in the world of Anrufen.
The UI and control scheme is, well, at it’s best it’s awful. I found the UI to be clunky, confusing, crowded and ugly. Icons are a muddy mess, surrounded by these stylization elements that server little purpose. When screen real-estate is at a premium, you don’t waste precious space by over styling your UI. A large majority of the screen is covered up by the players thumb when moving about. Onscreen text is a mess, and I am not sure whats going on in that mini map in the upper right hand corner.
So, this might have viruses in it? Wait a second!
While technically impressive to port your MMO to the IPhone, all it does it strengthens the idea that while it’s possible, is this really necessary? If you’re looking to get your MMORPG fix on the go, I’d look somewhere else, or hope and pray that Anrufen’s developer WiSTONE’s takes a solid pass at correcting the issues after this first release.
Luke Mathis posted a great article at his blog Ignore the Code called Realism in UI Design. I recommend giving it a read. He does a good job encouraging designers to strive for the easily accessible middle ground between detail and simplicity.
People are confused by symbols if they have too many or too few details. They will recognize UI elements which are somewhere in the middle.
I like this especially when we narrow our focus on game UI design. Games have a tendency to error in the direction of being too realistic. Look at those muddy icons in MMO hot bars. While Mathis points aren’t exactly ground breaking it’s a good solid reminder for us UI designers everywhere. Read it, understand it, and apply it.
…also he channels Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics which is a must read for anyone and everyone involved in any level of artistic pursuits.
Split Second integrates the typical race HUD in a rather ingenious way.
There’s no doubt you haven’t heard of Black Rock Studios upcoming racing game Split/Second. A lot of interested has been bubbling with the recent videos showing some pretty impressive gameplay. The game flips some of the traditional elements you’d see in a typical racing shooter by adding destructible environments and special abilities that allow for some intense fast paced gameplay.
As seen in the screen shot above Black Rock has rather ingeniously introduced a integrated HUD into the mix. Instead of the typical direction with HUD elements located on the periphery Black Rock has clustered it all near the rear of the players vehicle and angled it in a way it feels like it’s apart of whats happening on screen. This not only puts relevant information right where the players are looking, the center of the action, it does so without interruption.
Black Rock takes it a step further by adding effects to the HUD making it feel just as much apart of the action as the exploding buildings, crashing cars are. The HUD flickers and fades, glows hot and shifts around compensating for the moving camera. This adds to the action and these small but important effects serves to not only pull a player into the gameplay but still deliver important contextual information. When you see Split/Second’s clustered integrated HUD in action it really feels cinematic. It’s rare when a HUD can ads to the drama of the gameplay experience.
Be it be ammo readouts located on a weapon like some modern shooters have done, or health displayed on a playable character model similar to Dead Space. HUD integration is a good way to draw a player deeper into the experience. I encourage you to check the video after the break to see Split/Second’s HUD in action.
Avatar isn’t going to just be a new movie from Titanic director James Cameron; it’s also going to be a new video game developed by Ubisoft. It’s gotten a significant amount of press for a movie tie-in, even dominating a sizeable space at PAX for a booth featuring a replica of the cockpit of one of the flying machines starring in the movie… er… game.
As this video posted on Kotaku shows the graphics are impressive, however I’m not awed by Ubisofts choices for HUD layout. Persistent elements are thrown in every corner, and numbers and icons fade in and out. I understand the idea of keeping action the center of attention, but with a display this scattered it takes a lot to check health, know where you’re going, what you’re fighting with, how much XP you have, and if an ability is ready to use.
Here’s my take, I’d group things differently and focus on making it easy for the player to get the information needed without spending too much time looking away from the action. There are four persistent elements on the screen, a combo health meter and ammo meter, an XP bar, a mini map, and a radial menu for abilities. Randomly things like weapon ammo, selected weapon, target’s heath and hits, will pop in and out as well. These could have been grouped in a much nicer manner giving the player one location to look at as opposed to scanning all edges of the screen to get the important information.
Grouping elements at the bottom
This example sets the grouping together at the bottom of the screen. The selection weapon is displayed below, and the users aren’t forced to scan every edge. The nonpersistent elements could easily be displayed between the radial menu and the Minimap, or above the various bars on the left or the right. I’ve done one other thing as well. I’ve grouped action related elements, ammo, health, abilities, on the right side of the screen, and bigger picture elements: mini-map, XP on the left. This gives the user one place to look for action and combat information, and a second area that can be ignored until needed during more exploratory moments.
Grouping elements on the sides.
Similarly Ubisoft could opt to group each set on the sides. This unclutters the bottom and provides the user only two locations to look at as opposed to four or five. Again as in the above example, I’ve split the grouping between necessary action related elements and more bigger picture elements.
The goal with any HUD design is to blend so seamlessly it’s unnoticed as a player interacts with a product. A few quick changes and a scattered HUD can be streamlined allowing an easier play experience. Easier play means more immersion and more immersion allows for better storytelling and ultimately a more memorable experience. With a few changes and Ubisoft could be well on their way to creating that memorable experience.
I tend to get obsessive when it comes to games. For better or for worse I suppose, when a game hooks me, it hooks me. Gearbox’s Borderland is a game that does just that. Ever since I heard about it’s blending of role-playing elements and shooter game play my interest was peaked. Then after seeing Borderlands at PAX I would say I was enamored. So when a friend asked me if I had tried split screen, admitted I hadn’t. After all most of my experience with the game thus far have been me and three other buddies playing from the comforts of each of our couches in each of our own individual homes.
It seems clear this physically solitary gaming is what Gearbox intended. After all why would something as unacceptable as these interfaces even be allowed with a modern game? Theses screens attached are some iPhone photos of the split screen game play. Really. As you can see, it’s quite frankly, unplayable. Menus don’t fit, it’s hard to see what your looking it, it doesn’t scale it’s hard to read. It seems like split screen was a last ditch afterthought. Why else would a something this half-assed even be allowed to ship? Why would you expose this to the public? They could have shipped the game without split screen, there be minor grumbles but in the end players would have focused on the solitary co-op game play. If they simple had to have it, at the very least they could have allowed the UI to scale.
It sad to see such a great game tarnished by one major mistake. If you played it single player or co-op over the network of your choice you’d never have noticed this faux pas. Gearbox seems to miss the fact that gaming is getting more and more social. People like get together and like sitting next to each other as they play games. That’s why the Wii has had such a great success. Nintendo encouraged players to get together and game. Maybe all the markets focus on social gaming is why it seems so odd for Gearbox to quite frankly ignore something as simple as split screen.
Hopefully there will be a patch to fix this. Until then, I wouldn’t be able to recommend playing Borderlands via split screen. I’d have to encourage us all to remain solitary and sit on our individual couches and hunt for the Vault via voice communication only, it’s too bad really.
So I am about half way though Brutal Legend, and my experience so far has been fantastic. I must say Tim Schafer and the rest of Double Fine did a great job blending action and a bit of RTS together. I’m having a blast. Brutal Legend also game me the chance to experience yet another game with no persistent HUD. It was nice to see an action title take on this challenge. The solutions for the typical things like health and navigation are really clever and well integrated.
Health is something we’ve seen before, a similar style to Call of Duty, a red vignette that gets stronger and stronger as the player’s character, Eddie, gets more and more damaged. It’s a great effect, and is probably the direction we’ll see a lot of HUD-less games go for dealing with a players health. It can be difficult however to know how fully damaged Eddie he is at certain points. It would have been nice to see texture or animations that reflects levels of damage.
Navigation used a great concept and it works really well. You choose your waypoint via a map and a bright shaft of light from the rock gods themselves extends from the heavens and shine on your destination. When I say extends from the heavens, it really does, you can see the beam of light from just about anywhere, behind mountains, over lakes and rivers. It totally fit with the over-the-top theme of the game, doesn’t feel out of place and is a clear direction taking you where you want to head.
Navigation in Eddie’s car the, Druid Plow/The Deuce, is also aided in a clever way. The tail lights server as directional arrows, gradually brightening and darkening in the direction the Eddie should be going. The brighter the taillight the harder Eddie should turn in that direction. If the tail lights are off, you’re going the right direction. Such nice work.
I found the more typical UI was well stylized, well presented, quite clear, and easy to read and use. A solid job all around, it’s nice to see Tim Schafer and team with a well selling title on their hands that absolutely deserves it.
Just picked up Brutal Legend, the latest game created by Tim Schafer and the crew at Double Fine (creators of 2005’s amazing Psychonauts.) After seeing this treatment of a main menu I had to share! Talk about a strong introduction to a games overall tone, even if the heavy metal styling doesn’t impress you you’ll have to admit the level of detail alone is astounding.
It’s so elegantly simple to use and it’s a fun way of handling the main menu. Check out the similar yet slightly different spanish version after the break. It’s refreshing to see Schafer’s level of polish touching even the the main menu. That attention to detail isn’t something you see a lot of developers doing anymore. Good on him and good on the team at Double Fine.
[Edit: So yeah, I thought I had edited it out, but apparently I hadn't. The Spanish version is distorted not some funky european shape. The error has been corrected. My apologies. Proof read!]
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