Presentation on the language of game interface design

1. Game Interfaces
Mike Jones
Designing

2. Mike Jones
pixadecimal.com
blog.flashgen.com
@FlashGen

4. A primer, of sorts…

11. • relevant information to the player
• occupy minimal screen real estate
• design to be unobtrusive
• need not be permanently visible
• can adapt / evolve
• simplicity goes a long way
• avoid “shrink wrapping” your games

12. however…

14. The poetics of space

15. Sometimes the house of the future is better built, lighter and larger than all the
houses of the past, so that the image of the dream house is opposed to that of the
childhood home…. Maybe it is a good thing for us to keep a few dreams of a house
that we shall live in later, always later, so much later, in fact, that we shall not have
time to achieve it. For a house that was final, one that stood in symmetrical relation
to the house we were born in, would lead to thoughts—serious, sad thoughts—and
not to dreams.
It is better to live in a state of impermanence than in one of finality.
—Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

16. Fagerholt, Lorentzon (2009) "Beyond the HUD - User Interfaces for Increased Player Immersion in FPS Games". MSc Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology

17. Fagerholt, Lorentzon (2009) "Beyond the HUD - User Interfaces for Increased Player Immersion in FPS Games". MSc Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology

19. Fagerholt, Lorentzon (2009) "Beyond the HUD - User Interfaces for Increased Player Immersion in FPS Games". MSc Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology

22. Fagerholt, Lorentzon (2009) "Beyond the HUD - User Interfaces for Increased Player Immersion in FPS Games". MSc Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology

28. mix it all together…

30. Touch me

40. • touch based devices compound game interface integration
• the “fourth wall” now becomes the main input
• input precision and screen size require additional thought
• players thumbs, fingers can easily obscure areas of the screen
• the device itself becomes an extension of the interface

41. one more thing…

43. Questions?

44. • Articles & Publications
• Beyond the HUD: User Interfaces for Increased Player Immersion in
FPS Games (MSc Thesis) - Erik Fagerholt, Magnus Lorentzon.
http://publications.dice.se/attachments/beyond.the.hud.091025.pdf
• User Interface design in video games - Anthony Stonehouse
http://www.thewanderlust.net/blog/2010/03/29/user-interface-design-in-video-games/
• Replay: The History of Video Games – Tristan Donovan

45. Thank You

46. Mike Jones
pixadecimal.com
blog.flashgen.com
@FlashGen