Games Interfaces
- 1. GAME INTERFACES Data, Feedback, Channels of Communication
- 2. Source material: Jesse Schell, “Players Play Games Through an Interface,” The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
- 3. GAME INTERFACE ➤ “Interface” can mean many things: controllers, display device, control scheme, virtual character, how a game communicates information ➤ Key concepts from Jesse Schell’s chapter: ➤ interface data flow ➤ feedback ➤ channels ➤ dimensions ➤ modes
- 5. INTERFACES: INPUTS & OUTPUTS ➤ Interface is everything between the player and the game world ➤ Physical input – some way for players to touch/interact to make changes in game world ➤ Physical output – some way for player to see what’s going on in the game world.
- 6. GOALS OF AN INTERFACE? ➤ To make players feel in control of their experience ➤ To communicate information needed for gameplay ➤ To facilitate feedback – data flows in a loop between player and game, round and round. ➤ Other design considerations: immersion, accessibility, thematic/metaphor, balance and simplicity vs. complexity
- 7. THE VIRTUAL INTERFACE ➤ The conceptual layer that exists between the physical input/output and the game world ➤ Virtual interface has both input elements (virtual menu where player selects things) and output elements (score display, etc.) ➤ Virtual interface can vary from minimalist and thin to dense, packed with virtual buttons, sliders, menus, etc.
- 8. THE CONCEPT OF INTERFACE MAPPING ➤ Process by which data is mapped onto and through different interface elements. How the interface elements work together; how changes to one element affect another.
- 9. INTERFACES COMMUNICATE INFORMATION ➤ Jesse Schell: “Choosing how to map game information to channels and dimensions is the heart of designing your game interface” ➤ Channel of information: A way of communicating a stream of data to the player. ➤ Examples: part of the screen (top, bottom, corner), the avatar, sound effects, music, border, in-game object, etc. ➤ User Interface/Dashboard often includes different channels of information ➤ Different channels of information will have different dimensions: quantity, color, shape.
- 11. INTERFACE MODES & MODE CHANGES ➤ Interface modes are changes in one of the mapping areas. Different modes map different interface elements ➤ Changing mode will feature/foreground a different mapping of interface elements. Mode changes are often activated by a specific input (button)
- 12. FLORENCE AND USER INTERFACE
- 13. FLORENCE AND USER INTERFACE