Design Document v 0.2

Here you can read the version 0.2 from the design document.

Early Icon Designs

The first designs for interface elements and Icons.
The chesspieces (left upper corner) represent the units for the formation in prebattle, the coloured icons (left center) represent Armour and Weapon types. The actions icons (upper right corner) that are used to perform actions. The board (under left corner) where the actions will be displayed, and the shield (under middle) which represents the stamina en resiliance of the selected unit. If stamina is used or resiliance is lost, the paint chippes of the shield and the texture underneath becomes visible. This shield will only be used for the Christian units, the Mercenaries and Arabs will get their own shield designs with the same working.

Screendesigns

Been working hard on the first design for the interface, here the results so far.

Character designs

The first full 3D character models are near completion! Made by Sjoerd Buikema and Jeroen Jooren, our artist.

Game Design, Secret of the Sages

Marc Saltzman, 2000, Game Design Secret of the Sages second edition, Macmillan Publishing

Chapter 12, The all important User Interface and Game Control, page 249-262

While it's likely that you'll find some conflicting advice in areas of this book on art techniques, level design suggestions, or the best way to animate a character, it's universally recognized that a bad user interface (UI) in a game can be its own demise, regardless of how good the content is.

UI and game control may be a personal thing, so many developers of PC and console games are now allowing players to customize these setting to their liking. Most games, in all genres, allow players to remap keys/buttons to their liking, or assign hotkeys or macros. Give players the option to make the game their own.

"You must attempt to immerse customers into the experience- make them forget who they are and make them believe they're the character on screen"
                                                               - Vance Cook, Lead designer Sierra Sports

"Gamers are notorious for not reading manuals. If they can't quickly and easily get into a game, they'll become frustrated and look to other games for satisfaction"
                                                               - Scott Orr, EA sports

Age of Empires II won an award for best interface in 1999 from Computer Gaming World magazine.

"The Backhoe Operator Syndrome: Making the UI so intuitive to the gamer that he or she becomes one with the onscreen avatar. By making the UI as simple as possible, without limiting the players options. "
                                                               - Richard "Lord British" Carriott, Texas Origin Systems

"Your mom should be able to play the game intuitively, even if she doesn't like it."
                                                               - Tom Hall, Ion Storm

Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game design

Andrew Rollings, 2003, Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game design, New Riders Publishing

Chapter 6, Creating the user experience, page 147-197

From the moment the player loads the software and the first screen appears, he is in your world. Everything that he sees, hears, and feels from that point on- every audio, visual, and interactive element- must strive to convince him that the only  thing that exists is the game.

When games first entered the world, they were limited by computer technology. This made it so that there wasn't much information in the game, and that the player needed to play the game. This resulted in very simplistic in-game interfaces. But as the technology progressed, so did the complexity of games. The player needed more information to know what was going on, and so the interfaces became more complex. 

For RTS-type of games three levels are needed to create an effective interface: Grand strategy, Group and Unit navigation and unit micromanagement. But not all RTS games rely on all three levels. It is best to let the player decide on which levels he wants to interact. If he doesn't feel like micromanaging, let the computer handle it.

The interactive element:

Aside from all the Glitz and glamour, the main function of a user interface is to allow the player to play the game. From a purist point of view, that is its primary purpose. All else is secondary. We've lost count of the number of games we've played that have forgotten this simple rule. In these games various interactivity problems prevent them from showing their true promise; the interface actually gets in the way of playing the game.

Some common problems are: The interface is overly graphicly obscure, the graphics are beuatifull but stand in the way of understanding how the game works. Overly complex interfaces, there is just to much text or options to go through and the player gets lost.  Overly simplistic interfaces, which creates an on-rail experience.

KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. keep the layout of the screens simple. Don't bother with lot's of fiddly little overlays. Group all similar functions together. That way the player can take in the information she needs in a single glance, rather than having to roam all over the screen to gather the information she requires.

The human eye does not see consistently throughout its field of vision. there is an area immediately in the center of your field of vision where you see with the maximum amount of detail. the central vision area, the macula, is geared up to take in the visual information at the highest possible resolution.  The peripheral vision of a human eye does not sense the same amount of detail as the macula but it is geared for detecting movement and change. Of something changes in your peripheral vision, your first instinct is to turn and focus on the area concerned, to scrutinize it in more detail. The instinct can be exploited to focus the players attention on an indicator if some important happening that they need to know about occurred.

Guidelines for creating interfaces: Be consistent, Enable hardcore players to use shortcuts, Give good feedback, Design the interface to offer defined tasks, Don't allow the player to make silly mistakes, and allow recovery from minor errors, Permit easy reversal of actions, Remember that the player is the one in control, Don't strain the player's short term memory.

Example of an invisible interface: Black and white, the interface and all the actions performed are handled by a hand. By gestures you perform all the actions and spells and no other interface is needed or given. 

However in our opinion, an interface does not need to be nonexistent to be invisible. Our definition of an invisible interface would be one that fits the game so well that the player forgets it's there. Starcraft is such a game.  The interface is so well designed that the player performs her actions subconsciously.

21st Century Game design

Chris Bateman and Richard Boon, 2006, 21st century Game Design, Charles River Media

For reading this book I focused on Chapter 7, Principles of Interface Design, page 123-147. Here are the notes I made and things I found interesting.

A weak, disorganized or overly complex interface is a barrier to enjoyment for all players, and therefore every interface should strive to be as simple as is feasible to express the required game actions.

Five Golden Rules: Be consistent, Use the simplest interface feasible for the game play, Draw from the familiar, One button, one function, Structure the learning curve.

Five cautions: Shortcuts are for advanced users only, icons for speed, text for clarity, Allow skipping of non-interactive sequences, Provide options and save options, Document it.

Learning curve: Adjust the curve to your audience. Gradually introducing, easy to learn hard to master, prior knowledge influencing the curve.

Action depth: The amount of sub actions needed to perform an action. The action depth should always be as low as possible. Minimizing action depth makes the interface easy to learn and fast to navigate and minimizes player frustration. 

Tutorials: Control Flashcard, Training movie, Linear Exercises, Goal oriented tutorials, Help signs, Imbedded manual, Context sensitive Commentary, Checklist with prompts, Staggered complexity.

The designing of interfaces should be done with the target audience in mind. Hardcore players actively require character actions to deliver a sense of competence and might be frustrated when the game offers them insufficient options for controlling their character. Conversely Casual players require simplicity and generally want an interface that favors mimicry.