Interfaces

Chris Castaldi

An Interface is?

Display of progress Map information Objectives

Information Health Ammo Map information

Feedback Blinking health bar means your dying

A little Optics

Low Resolution of the Eye

Long Side View Peripheral vision

Interfaces should always go on the

edges away from our central vision

The First Person

Center of your view is always where your gun will shoot. Targeting recital.

Health and ammo almost always on opposite sides. To alert you of one or the other going low.

Interface is Minimal. Don’t want to get things in the way Should also be semitransparent.

System Shock II

First Person notes

Where to put things? Health on the left and ammo on the right. Players who play FPS’s expect things to be in the

same place. Maps

Top of the screen out of the way of your target. Inventory/Weapon Choices

Toggled, either approaching from the sides or on top.

3rd Person

Many games are done in the 3rd person because it creates the illusion of Peripheral Vision.

It also creates the movie feel being that you see yourself doing the actions.

3rd person usually required Targeting so you know what you are aiming at.

God view perspective

God view games usually deal with managing lots of objects/units Sims Warcraft III

Most all of them have a clear distinction between management and action.

Also usually have the biggest interface of all.

Homeworld

Types of Interface

Buttons ~ What will the F4 do now? What is available and what do I need to press. These buttons are mutable each one can mean something

different. Management ~ How do I manage groups of things?

Group Movement / Composition Raid Interfaces Inventory (Items can be considered a type of unit)

Targeting ~ Who am I looking at? Current (Target) Health/other pool of target

Types of Interface (cont)

Info ~ How much do you have? Current Weapon Ammo Health Inventory

Textual ~ What is he saying and who is he? Usually seen mostly in MMOs or RPGs Chat Dialog Nameplates

Navigation ~ Where am I? Compass Minimaps World Maps X Marks the spot

What makes an Interface bad? Chunky

Contains to much information Unresponsive Contains to little information

What makes an interface stick out? Bad typography

Fonts are important! Poor Color Choices Incorrect style

Looking atEudemons Online (The Bad) Font

Square not rounded like the other font is. Two different fonts used

In different families

Too much going on Text overload

Lack of Targeting

Looking atEudemons Online (The Good) Buttons

Buttons animated making it a bit more excitable Responsive

Unit frames “Pretty” with the subjection of the font Numbers are also pretty.

How important of a role does the interface really play? Reality Cue:

Examples: Out of Air while underwater Entering a Irritated Area Cooldowns for powers/spells That your dying….

Meta knowledge A good interfaces breaks reality while maintaining

disbelief.

Further Reading.

Off With Their HUDs! http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060203/wilson_01.s

html Evolution of the Interface.

http://www.xyzzynews.com/xyzzy.7f.html What Games Teach us about human interaction.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/4/15/503/20814

Games Used:

System Shock 2 by Irrational Games Neverwinter Nights by Bioware Warcraft 3 by Blizzard Homeworld 2 by Sierra Eudemons Online by TQ Entertainment