The following pictures are finished concepts for the last assignment, barring pending critiques. The reason you only see two concepts here is because I decided one inventory concept worked a bit better than the other and I wasn't sure what else to add to the shooter interface.
Inventory
Item Shop
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Mock Game Interface Samples
Here are samples of the interface previews in progress. Some of them are in various stages of completion because some of the interface samples took minimal time to rough out while others took a little longer. With the ones that took less time to rough out, I wanted to add a bit more detail.
Inventory (Version A)
Inventory (Version A)
Inventory (Version B)
Item Shop
Combat: ShootingWednesday, May 16, 2012
Thumbnails for action game
Here are a set of thumbnails I created while brainstorming possible interface setups for the theoretical game. In these, I covered the Attack sequences and navigation (attack and navigation are grouped into one since chances are they would overlap within game), player inventory and shopping menus.
Attack/Navigation
Player Inventory
Shop Menu
Attack/Navigation
Player Inventory
Shop Menu
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Design document for mock game
Design Document
Game Pitch in one sentence:
Red Dead Redemption meets Star Wars, or Firefly with more sword
fights.
Game Summary:
On a far away copper colored planet, a totalitarian regime
holds sway over a civilization scattered throughout the budding world’s
surface. The rich and affluent are well cared for by the advanced technology
and extensive defense force of the council; the less fortunate are left to fend
for themselves, fighting over the gradually dwindling resources, societies in
squalor in comparison to the lavish palaces built alongside them. Some look on
the lavish palaces and the massive castle builder ships that construct them
with awe at the power of the council. Some with hope of what they might one day
have, if they are one day judged worthy. Some look on in envy of something they
know they will never have. To Logan Wyverne, the castles are a symbol of his
past and every reason he abandoned his old life. Resigned from the royal guard,
Logan roams the wastes in search of
any work he can find to eek out a living. He’s a vagrant. He’s a mercenary.
He’s not a hero. But events have been set in motion that may change that. No
one has ever resigned from the royal guard and Logan
is about to find out exactly why.
General Genre: Action Sci-fi
Game Genre: Third-person action/exploration
Game play:
The game is primarily action based, combing sword-driven
melee combat with gun play. The main characters weapon reflects this, with a
gun built into the hilt of the character’s sword. Logan ’s
sword isn’t one of a kind, though, and is standard issue to the royal guard,
one of the harder characters Logan
will have to fight for this game, so enemies will be able to counter Logan ’s
ability to switch combat paradigms with their own. Players will be able to take
cover, run and gun and hack and slash their enemies as they see fit.
Within the action of the game, the player will also be able
to upgrade their weapon and acquire equipment to help their character that may
also be subsequently upgraded. This is done through shopping in local stores on
the towns the player visits. The player will need to do odd jobs in order to
earn extra cash to pay for upgrades.
In addition to rpg elements, there is a degree of
exploration within this game. The game is set over several different towns,
with a sometimes barren, sometimes lush wilderness set in between. Players will
often visit the wilderness to fulfill side-missions but may also explore for
minerals and other resources they can either sell or use to upgrade their
equipment.
Systems:
Combat
Character Interaction
Exploration
Game Modes:
Combat
Shooting
Standard
shots
Upgraded
ammunition (rapid fire, charged shots)
Cover
mechanic
Melee
mechanic
Brawling
Healing/Recovering
health
Character Interaction:
Shopping
Upgrades
Items
Side-Missions
Acquiring
side missions
Speaking
to other people to resolve side missions
Exploration
Navigation
On
foot
Vehicular
General Interface Notes:
The game’s interface will be a mix of gritty science fiction
elements and organic displays. Think some of the read-outs from Fallout, with a
lot of the displays looking as though they were lit with old-fashioned LED
screens, mixed with some of the elements of Dead Space, where some displays and
warnings occur organically on the character. Things such as the aiming reticule
for the gun mode, the player’s health and enemy positions will be part of the
science fiction display, whereas things like ammunition, weapon condition and
sustained injuries would be part of more organic feedback. Alternatively, some
of this information, such as ammunition, may be available on both fronts, with
a count-down display or bar decreasing at the same time as an on-character
indicator.
Breakdowns on modes and systems:
Combat:
At any given time, a player should be able to switch between
sword combat and gunplay. This might require some kind of indicator informing
the player which button to press to make the switch. May also want to consider
button reminders on move sets, although this is not required as some games have
proven you don’t need to list what the buttons do at all times. For example,
whereas Assassin’s Creed has a button layout explaining what each button does
at all times, games such as Devil May Cry 3, which have extensive melee combat
and combination systems, don’t really list which buttons do what.
Either at the start of the game or through unlocking
upgrades, the player should also be aided in their ability to spot enemies by
the interface, be given a map, a system that shows unique perks about the
environment (strategic positions, breakable items) and possibly a system that
gives extra feedback on the enemy (how much ammunition they have left, their
melee combat skill, etc).
There is a chance that the player will acquire shields,
armor or else an extra way to protect himself. This upgrade and the condition
thereof could either be indicated by its own separate meter or else
incorporated into the standard health feedback.
Since the game is going to involve shooting weapons, there
will no doubt need to be some kind of aiming reticule to assist the player.
Depending on weapon upgrades, there may need to be the option to zoom, though
this might come standard via an extra aim option. Perhaps there’s a run and gun
mode where the player can move quicker and aim in wider arcs but still hit
enemies considerably well while there’s also a mode that allows the player to
zero-in on specific parts of the enemy’s body at the cost of quicker movement.
In addition, movement should also make aiming more difficult, which may cause
the reticule to grow or else shake a little instead of staying at its current
position.
Different weapon or ammunition upgrades will need to come
with their own tweaks to the interface. Perhaps an upgrade allows for more accurate
or specific shooting, shrinking the reticule. Rapid-fire ammunition would need
to cause the reticule to expand or else show sings that the player isn’t able
to aim as accurately while the gun kicks back. Any kind of animation that
allows the player to charge a shot should also have some sort of specific
indicator, be it organic or on the readout.
The player will need feedback on his health. This could be
done either through a separate meter or incorporated into anther portion of the
interface, such as the reticule.
Ammunition remaining will either be indicated by a separate
numerical read-out or meter, an on character indicator, such as a light display
on the character’s shoulder, or patched into another interface element, such as
the reticule.
The displays should change at least slightly when in the
different modes: Brawling, Sword and Gun. Feedback on health will need to be
present in all. Feedback on weapon condition will factor mainly into the sword
mode, although it might have its place in the weapon mode.
Character Interaction:
The player will have to interact with other characters
within the game in order to purchase items, gather information or
receive/complete side-missions. This interaction will require its own menu that
covers dialog choices afforded to the player. Ideally, the system will be
streamlined so that it doesn’t take up too much of the screen. Something akin
to the dialog interface BioWare has used with the Mass Effect series might be
the best choice, though there probably won’t be as many branching options
within the game.
Item purchasing should require two separate interfaces; the
first an interface similar to the standard character interaction interface
while the second interface has to do specifically with purchasing items. This
will be a mixture of pure interface elements as well as organic, in-environment
elements. For example, weapon upgrades will be depicted on a hologram situated
inside an upgrade shop while specifics on these upgrades will appear on a side
bar that’s pure interface. In addition, an item shop will have the items it’s
selling displayed on shelves behind the vendor. When the player engages the
vendor to shop for an item, the camera will pan to show the entire shelf and
specifics on the items will appear as an interface element.
Exploration:
As stated with combat, there will be an in-game map system.
This system will be even more important in the exploration aspects of this game
as knowing where the player is and where the next checkpoint for a goal are
vital. Natrually, player position and key points of interest will need to have
their own graphics on a map. The mini-map could be minimalist, as it is with
Skyrim, or have a larger display more common among games that have this
feature. Since the technology is futuristic and since it could allow for more
scenery dressing, as of currently the mini-map will be designed with a
minimalist layout in mind. The game will allow a full-fold out map that covers
the terrain in detail for the player’s reference.
General:
Notes will need to be given to players on what the player is
and isn’t able to interact with. This could be in the form of auras, tool-tips
telling the player which button to press to enact a certain action, or some
combination of both. Perhaps this could vary depending on what play mode the
player is currently in.
As organic elements are interwoven in between pure interface
elements, there will need to be specific animations which will play when the
player enters into different modes. The player’s avatar will need to pull out
holograms to project maps, sheathe his sword when entering into brawling or
shooting mode and interact with a kiosk when purchasing an item.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Simulation Analysis: The Sims 2
The Sims 2 might
be difficult to categorize as just a sim. Some would argue that it’s as much a
strategy game as anything else. Still, as with Bastion, The Sims is a game I am able to reference and so I am going to
examine a few of the aspects of the interface.
The bulk of the interface within The Sims 2 is clustered in a hub at the bottom left corner of the
screen. Different buttons on this hub allow the player to fold out sub-menus
that allow for either analyzing the situation, building or purchasing items for
the house, as well as a fold-out that opens up a standard options menu. In this
hub, there are also navigation buttons, clustered on their own smaller wheel
within the interface, that the player can use to navigate around the game
environment instead of the keyboard and mouse shortcuts. Mousing over anything
in the hub displays it’s name in case the individual symbol over each button
isn’t enough of a clue what the button does. At all times to the right of the
hub are a smaller set of buttons that allow purchases and building moves to be
undone and re-done and a few other keys specific to the building process.
As sim games are, as their name implies, simulations, it may
be at times difficult to figure out what the set objective, if any, of the
simulation is. In vehicle sims, the objective typically seems to either be set
by the individual player or by parameters the game sets out. The original Sims
allowed the player to more or less set their own goals for their characters
but, perhaps in an effort to be more of a game, The Sims 2 seeks to narrow focus by way of a new aspirations system
in addition to the standard character needs (more on this later). There are
buttons that appear on the right side of the hub when a character is selected.
Clicking on the aspiration button (located just above a meter that displays a
sim’s overall satisfaction) causes the menu to fold out in a small display that
shows the player what a given character’s aspirations and fears are.
Aspirations are color-coded with a green background, denoting the positive
effects of attaining them, and fears are color-coded with red backgrounds,
denoting negative effects. Each aspiration or fear has a specific design on it,
much like everything else, but mousing over one will reveal a text which
explains what it means.
A player can also select menu fold-outs that show a sim’s
needs. This fold out presents each need as an indicator bar. Full portions of
the bar display green while depleted portions display yellow. As a bar fills, a
green arrow will display on the right side of the bar. The more green arrows,
the more easily a certain need is being met.
As stated before, there are specific fold-out menus assigned
to customizing a living space. These are grouped into the building and buying
menus. The buying menu can group different items by room, category or art
style. These three selections appear right next to the hub when the buy button
is selected and lead to a fold out that displays further sub-menus that, when
clicked, display the given items in the category. Clicking on an item and
leaving the cursor there will cause a fold-out to appear giving an item
description, stats on how much of an effect the item will have (aesthetic value
to the sims, how much it helps with food preparation, etc) and, in some cases,
a set of buttons that allow the player to further customize the look of the
item from several presets. When an item is chosen to be placed within the
house, it’s location can be chosen based on where the player drags his cursor.
Placement is indicated by both the position of the item and the base bellow it.
A red base means that the item cannot be placed while a green base indicates
the item can. The item can also be rotated but it seems that once it is rotated
it is placed in the environment as the only way to do this is to hold shift and
left click. Left-clicking in the environment causes an item to be purchased,
thus why the item appears.
There is a similar menu for building items. Items are sorted
by category and tend to have sub-sections within those. For example, flooring
is a category but within flooring are smaller categories pertaining to outside
pavement, interior carpet and tile, etc. Interaction with this menu is much the
same as with the buy menu; a player clicks on a button displaying a small image
of the given item and that item is selected for placement in the environment.
Unlike the buy menu, however, the player typically clicks and drags selections
for building, unless the given item is a door or a window. Single items, just
like with the buy menu items, will display a red base if they cannot be placed
and a green base when they can.
The simplest remaining button is the play button. Clicking
on this returns the game to real time and gets rid of the red box display and
pause symbol that rims the screen when action is paused. The bulk of the game’s
action occurs in this mode, with most of the feedback that doesn’t occur on the
character menu coming from floating displays over a Sim’s head. The characters
speak jibberish, so these visuals are what the player has to rely on more,
although it’s very evident, thought character body language as well as tone of
voice, if the character is upset.
The player issues commands to a sim by having a given sim
selected (selection is denoted by a green rim around a sim’s picture, displayed
just above the hub and to the left) and clicking on an item or person. Things
that can be interacted with will hi-light slightly. After clicking, picture of
the sim’s head will appear, surrounded by a list of different options. The
sim’s head will turn to look when these options are moused-over. Some options
lead to further menus while others simply initiate an action.
Interacting with an item or a character will typically cause
some sort of display to appear over the character during the action and when
the action ends. In the case of items, it might be a gradually filling skill
display that tells the player how close a character is to achieving a skill
point, an indicator within the game at how skilled a character is in a certain
category (for example, cooking can increase a cooking skill, rehearsing a
speech in front of a mirror can increase a charisma skill, etc). Finishing the
action will cause a pop-up informing the player that a sim’s skill his
increased.
Pictures will display when characters are engaged in
conversation as well in order to denote what the character is talking about.
When the conversation concludes, a small picture appears showing how the
characters have changed in social standing with whomever they were interacting.
Specifically, if two characters finish talking and red minus symbols display
over their heads, they have started to dislike each other, whereas green plus
symbols denote affinity. Like with the arrow displays in the needs bars, the
more minuses or plusses at a given time, the greater the effect of the
interaction.
There is another button that opens a menu dedicated to
stories. Players are able to take pictures of their sims and write descriptions
of the events occurring. They can also choose between different families by
clicking on their respective buttons in this window. Each button is denoted by
a picture of the family along with a tool-tip that displays their name when
moused-over.
Lastly, there is, at the bottom of the wheel, a button that
opens a fold out which display’s a standard option menu. Mousing-over each icon
gives what the icon does and clicking on the button brings up the corresponding
menu.
My experience with the interface in The Sims 2 reveals that it is pretty efficient. Everything is
clustered in one place, alleviating the need to navigate through many sub-menus
to find something. The interface itself is a bit on the large side and there
were some navigation difficulties I experienced while trying to place an item;
the bar was in the way of where I wanted to place the item and I had to juggle
the camera around a bit. Regardless, the interface mostly manages to stay out
of the way, though perhaps a smaller interface could be made. Some of the icons
could be made more situational, freeing up real estate. Perhaps some other
icons could be shrunk, though I’m reluctant to suggest that since visibility is
key. The best suggestion I can come up with, though, is affording the player
the option of disabling the navigation buttons in the bottom left corner, much
like a user is able to do with the view cube within an Autodesk program. Though
these buttons can allow for steady navigation, it’s mostly faster to use
keyboard and mouse navigation and so not that necessary to have those buttons
there if a player doesn’t need them.
RPG Analysis: Dragon Age: Origins
For analyzing an RPG interface, I’m going to take a look at
the interface for Dragon Age: Origins. Dragon Age is something of a game between an RPG and a real time
strategy. The game can be played in real time, but the player is afforded the
option to pause the action and have time to make strategic calls.
Much like with many other games, one of the most important
stats that merits feedback is player and character health. In an rpg, this is
especially important because a lot of strategy can revolve around keeping
characters alive/conscious. Depending on the game, a character falling to 0
Hit-points can cause anything from needing to waste a turn to revive a
character to the character becoming inaccessible for the duration of battle. In
the worst case scenario, a specific character becoming knocked out could result
in a game over. In the case of Dragon Age,
a game over only occurs when all of the characters on the field are knocked
out. However, unlike many other games, there are little to no options afforded
to the player to revive team mates, so feedback on player health is vital. In
battle, character health appears alongside an avatar of the specific character.
The bar is color-coded red and depletes down the side of the curved health bar
when a character takes damage. Characters in game tend to give off certain
sound cues if they take damage or are near death. However, one of the drawbacks
this interface system experiences is that it’s not always readily apparent how
near death a character is. This isn’t to say that the health bar isn’t a good
indicator of how likely a character is to fall (although my personal experience
with the game has shown that there are a fair share of monsters within it that
are capable of killing a character when they are at half-full health) but that
there are few warnings when a character is at low health. Because of the chaos
of battle, it’s difficult to always hear characters give off their sound cues
amidst all the noise of fighting. The visual cues for characters near death
also leave something to be desired. Character avatars will blink red when
taking damage but the effect isn’t always eye-catching and since health
indicators are far away from where the talent bar is located, the player needs
to be able to divide attention between monitoring health and deciding what talents
to use. Perhaps if there were some other form of alert message when a character
were near death or if one of the other cues, such as the character audio or the
blinking red avatars, were more obvious to the player.
Talents and magic within the game are reliant off of their
own point system. The amount of talent/magic points a character has remaining
is indicated alongside their health indicator, taking up space on the left side
of the character avatar instead of the right. As with the health indicator,
this bar will deplete as the points are depleted, though the bar only depletes
when talents or magic are used. Some spells and talents within the game require
that a certain amount of talent/magic points be sacrificed for the duration of
the talent/spell’s activation. When this happens, a corresponding section of
the talent/magic points bar fills with a transparent, glowing white indicator beyond
which the character’s talent/magic points do not increase until the spell/talent
causing the effect is de-activated.
A fair amount of strategy in Dragon Age relies on the placement of a player’s party. Members of
the party tend to be denoted not only by a slight aura around them but also by
a glowing, round base bellow them. Also, thanks to unique designs, it’s
difficult if not impossible to lose a party character amidst the melee within
the game, even though the screen tends to become very crowded from time to time
with enemy monsters. Mousing over a player to switch play to or a monster to
attack will hi-light them with a slight glow, telling the player what he’s
about to select. Character control can also be switched by means of selecting
the character’s avatar at the upper left side of the screen, alleviating the
need to scan the battlefield for characters who might be far away from each
other or who the player may have a difficult time selecting thanks to enemies
crowding around him.
Much of the gameplay revolves around talents. In addition to
simply attacking enemy characters, a player is afforded the option of having a
character use a talent, provided that they currently have enough talent/magic
points to use it. There is a bar located at the bottom of the screen that
houses character talents for quick selection, rather than the much more
cumbersome method of opening up the game’s stat book and selecting the talent
from there. A player can choose what talents to place in the talent bar,
thought the game tends to initially automatically assign talents to the bar as
they are made available to the player. The player is also afforded the option
of assigning items to the talent bar, allowing them to use stat buffing
potions, health items or offensively-used poisons. Mousing over the talents
hi-lights them, much like with characters, and the talents can be used either
by clicking them or by hitting the number key on the keyboard corresponding
with the item’s slot. For example, if the talent or item is situated seventh
from the right on the talent bar, hitting the seven key on the keyboard will
activate the talent. Many talents tend to have a required cooldown, which is
indicated to the player by the given talent turning dark and gradually
illuminating in a brief animation. If there aren’t enough talent/magic points
for a given talent/spell to be used, the spell/talent will be grayed out.
A key element in any rpg is character customization and
“leveling up”. Dragon Age has players
customize their main character from the start, jumping off to a customization
menu when the new game option is selected. There, the player can select their
character’s gender, race, combat class (magician, warrior or rogue) and back story.
All of this is illustrated with buttons with designs that fit well within the
universe, typically made out to look like stained glass window designs. In
addition to the feedback in the form of highlighted buttons, a character model
appears off to the side to show the player what their character currently looks
like due to their customization. The player is afforded the option of
controlling a character’s physical appearance as well by the way of various
toggles and sliding bars, though there isn’t much allowance for customizing the
character’s clothes as much of this is reliant on in-game selection of armor
and equipment.
Advancement is handled via a level up screen. When a
character is ready to level up, a particle effect and shine animates over the
character, followed by a quick music cue. After this, an icon appears on the
character’s avatar where the player can click to enter into a screen to level
the character up. The player puts a given number of points into different
attributes by way of an arrow toggle that allows them to increase or decrease an
attribute, though not past the current number of points (For example, if a
character’s Defense score was 6 and the player added 2 of his available points
to the attribute, the player would be afforded the option to take back 1 or 2
of those points before moving on, but wouldn’t be allowed to reduce the
character’s defense score back to 5 in order to gain an extra point for
spending on other skills). Mousing over an attribute will tell the player what
the attribute controls. At a certain point in the game, the player is allowed
to choose an extra specialization, providing the player has met the right
people in order to unlock the specialization. The screen will transition over
to a page where a player can select what talent or spell they want to learn.
Mousing over the talent or skill reveals what is needed for the player to learn
it, since a character might need to have a certain attribute score or a certain
skill level. On certain occasions, the menu will navigate over to a page
housing skill progression. The player can choose which skill to upgrade
provided he meets the criteria. Once again, mousing over reveals what is needed
for the skill.
Navigation is typically handled via an in-game map. There
are two varieties in Dragon Age; a
large scale map contained within the larger menu where most other player
information is displayed and the smaller in-game map situated at a corner of
the screen. Different icons on the map help to denote landmarks and areas of
interest. Typically, if someone is a trigger for a quest, they will appear
within the game world with an icon floating above their head.
The bulk of the rest of the interface is situated on an
unobtrusive bar at the top of the screen. This menu set mostly consists of
feedback information in the form of player stats. Unique icons are situated in
this bar corresponding to character stats, skills, talents, inventory/equipment
and AI behavior, along with a section detailing collected parts of the world’s
fiction, written documents and quest findings and objectives. Sections such as
the skill lists can’t much be interacted out of outside of looking at the stat
or mousing-over to see what the skill/spell/talent does or what a given stat
controls.
The inventory/equipment screen allows players to interact
with their character’s equipment. The character is displayed as they currently
are in a window on the left, with equipment slots situated around the character
in corresponding positions (for example, a chest armor slot will be near the
character’s chest, foot armor slot near the feet, etc.). The player is able to
interact with the character’s equipment by way of clicking on the equipment and
selecting from a small drop down menu whether to equip, examine or throw away
the equipment in question (or sell/purchase if the player is in a shop window)
or dragging the equipment over to the corresponding slot. The player can also
use the arrows above the picture of the charcter to scroll through different
character’s equipment, in addition to choosing from a drop down menu that
provides the names of all in the party.
The AI customization screen, called Tactics, allows the
player to set individual character behavior by way of drop-down menus and key
phrases. For example, a player can assign a behavior to a character to automatically
use a healing item once they fall bellow a certain percentage of health or to
always attack enemy characters with a certain talent/spell while under a
certain condition. The system is pretty intuitive if a bit overwhelming at
first thanks to the extensive language. The player can also cycle through some
pre-set behavior by way of another drop down menu. This menu seems to control
general behavior, such as if a character will run off to chase an enemy or
stick back near the player during a battle.
The party selection screen is only accessible when the
character is outside of a building and not in battle. Clicking on the
corresponding button brings the player to a scene in which the entire available
party is gathered, with a grouping of round character slots situated on a menu
element beneath them. Mousing over individual characters will hi-light them and
clicking on them will add them to your party. Characters in a player’s party
will not only display in one of the slots bellow the scene but also strike an
action pose. Taking a player off the selected team triggers an animation
wherein the selected character typically sounds disappointed/angry whereas
clicking a character to put them in the party triggers an animation wherein the
character sounds excited, happy or ready to fight.
The codex screen sorts different kinds of information into
different groups and allows the player to open folders to view different
records. It’s light on extra bells and whistles but still follows the games
aesthetic.
Lastly, there’s the typical pause menu where the player can
save or load their game, adjust settings or exit. This interface isn’t as
detailed as the in-game interface but there are little flourishes that show
that it belongs within the game.
All in all, I would rate this interface as very good, aside
from some feedback complaints addressed earlier and an occasional tendency for
the interface to look a bit too polished for the environment in which the game
takes place.
Action Game Analysis: Bastion
I might be cheating a little since Bastion is an action RPG,
but it’s elements lean more towards that of an action game than an RPG and it’s
a game I have played recently, thus it makes it much easier to write about it.
Within an action game, the most important feedback elements tend to relate to
damage, namely how much damage the player has taken, when the player takes
damage, how much damage the player can take before being knocked out or killed.
These same elements need to be applied to enemy characters. The player should
know when they’re causing damage, how much damage their attacks are causing and
when an enemy is causing damage on the player.
Bastion solves the problem of player health feedback much
like other action games; by way of a health bar. The health bar will decrease
when the player takes damage as well as change color when the player’s health
decreases past certain levels. It looks like there is also a bit of a screen
blur effect if the player’s health gets very low. The bar increases when the
player drinks a potion. Both damage and potion drinking have corresponding
sound effects. There is also controller feedback in the way of vibration when
the player takes damage. An enemy’s health is displayed in a circular health
bar that stays on the ground beneath the enemy. The health bar decreases block
by block while the player attacks the enemy. There are also corresponding sound
effects, plus a visual effect in the way of the monster character blinking and
glowing red when badly damaged.
In most action games and any game in which there is a fair
amount of combat, the player needs to know what weapon he is using. Bastion not
only lets the player know what weapons he has equipped by way of an icon that
appears next to the health bar but also tells the player to which button he has
mapped the weapon by way of a button icon appearing directly next to the weapon
icon. Because there are ranged weapons with ammunition in Bastion and because
feedback with any kind of ammunition-based weapon needs to be in place in order
for the player to manage his ammunition, there are weapon-specific ammunition
displays for each weapon concerned. Some weapons are either single-shot weapons
or else can be thrown but have a cool-down timer before they can be used again.
In these cases, a weapon-specific cool-down bar appears when the weapon is
fired or thrown, indicating how long the player has until the weapon can be
used again. A similar cool-down display appears when the player is reloading,
accompanied by a small “reloading” message hovering over the player avatar.
How Bastion displays navigation is a bit different from
other action games in that there is no map. It’s tempting to write this off as
an oversight and say that some kind of in-game map should have been provided,
but in reality this does less to make the game more needlessly difficult and
more to add to the immersion. The world in which Bastion takes place is a
floating wasteland, the very earth having crumbled away beneath the survivors.
One of the character’s abilities, granted to him by an artifact he carries,
involves tiles of land forming up in front of him as he walks around. In this
way, almost immediate feedback for where the player should go by way of the
tiles forming up in front of him, the player knows where to go. Also, thanks to
the level design, it’s usually pretty easy to figure out where you’re supposed
to go, though there are some problems encountered when pathways branch off as
it’s sometimes difficult to determine whether you’re going off to a secret path
or advancing the level to the point where you won’t be able to go back and
explore.
In any game where there are items which can be picked up or
interacted with (read: almost every game created in the history of gaming ever)
it needs to be made clear which assets can be interacted with and which are
there for just decoration. Bastion does this by way of having items that can be
picked up give off a sparkling particle effect and levitate off of the ground.
Items which can be interacted with typically display an arrow floating above
them signifying that the player needs to press a button in order to advance. In
rare cases where there might not be an arrow (I can’t remember any but there
might have been one or two, particularly in the trial levels where the player
is afforded the option of re-starting a trial by way of pressing a reset
button), an in-game pop up will display over the button telling the player what
button on the controller to press to interact and what the interaction will do.
Lastly, in an action game as well as an rpg, the player
needs to be given feedback on what he has equipped and what skills are
available to him. In most roleplaying games or action games, finding this out
is as simple as dropping into a pause menu. In Bastion, it’s a bit different.
Skills in Bastion are set by way of spirits. As a player levels up, slots for
spirits are unlocked in the distillery in the Bastion, the game’s main hub. The
player is able to equip spirits to different slots by moving over to a slot,
hitting the selection button and choosing a spirit to be placed in the slot.
Each spirit has a short explanation on what it does to help the player, the
effects ranging from special abilities to increased attributes. As stated
before, a player’s equipped weapons are displayed on the screen during
gameplay. In order for the player to equip new weapons and weapon-specific
abilities, however, the player needs to enter into an armory, either in the
game world or at the Bastion. This environment is similar to the distillery,
with certain aesthetic changes. Slots for each of the two weapons a player can
have on him at the time, plus the third slot for a special ability, are
displayed while in the armory. Selecting a slot lets a player pick a weapon or
skill to place in that slot. In addition to these areas that allow for weapon
and buff selections, there is also a smithy where a player can increase
weapons, each weapon having several slots and different upgrades to switch back
and forth from, a lost and found where the player can purchase items, a
foundation where the player can claim awards for in-game achievements and
challenges, and a pantheon where the player can choose added challenges to
gameplay while at the same time boosting his exp and money gain.
All in all, the interface for Bastion is very successful and
easy to use. There are no movement bugs where the player can get stuck and it’s
very easy to tell what everything does without needing to look at a play manual.
If I could make any change to the design, it would be that perhaps there should
be some way to tell what kinds of spirits the player has equipped without going
to the distillery. I feel, however, that there doesn’t need to be an option to
swap out weapon and skill sets while in game as part of the idea behind Bastion
is to plan ahead with weapon and skill combinations. The drawback, though, in a
game like Bastion is that it’s not always apparent what is going to be in an
area the player is going to enter into, so a player could pick a combination of
weapons that doesn’t suit the enemies in a given level. Because of this, it
might be nice if the game provided some hints as to what kind of enemies a
player could expect in a given area. Care would have to be given, though, in
not spoiling any surprises. Part of the thrill of any game that has multiple
enemies with different behaviors (read the aforementioned almost any game ever
created) is encountering a new enemy type and trying to figure out how to
battle against it.
Amnesia Interface Re-work
As per instructions, I have re-worked my interface idea for Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Here's an explanation on the elements of the interface...
I was not entirely sure about the lighting in this first version, so I created a second version with darker lighting.
Here's an explanation on the elements of the interface...
I was not entirely sure about the lighting in this first version, so I created a second version with darker lighting.
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