Game User Interfaces

Game User Interfaces are an integral part to almost any game. They can be the key indicators for players to know how they are going. Is the avatar they are playing as nearly dead? How far off are they from the high score? What weapon do they have equipped? How many items does the hero have to defeat the boss? These are all elements that a User Interface or UI can detail quickly to the player. There are several different types of UI that can be displayed in games.

Diegetic

A Diegetic interface is where the UI is included within the game world. The best example in recent game history comes from the Dead Space game series where all of the player's health, ammo counts etc are handles through the avatar's suit and holographic displays in-scene. (Image: David, 2013).

Non-Diegetic

These displays are the opposite to a diegetic UI. These are the more traditional displays which can be seen in games ranging from the Mario series to Call of Duty. These displays are 'outside' the game world and are 'projected' to the player. (Image: A7, 2013)

Spatial

UI elements that are presented within the game world, but can be an in-game entity or not (Diegetic/Non-Diegetic). An example would be the ghosts seen in the Souls game series of previous players who have died.

Meta

Can be represented within the game world, but not necessarily spatially. This can include blood spatter or screen tinting on the camera screen to indicate damage

Below is a table that details the relationship between each of the four types of UI. (Andrews 2010).

It is extremely important to consider what type of UI you have present in a game as it can drastically impact the aesthetics of the game itself. Take a game such as Limbo. This game has no UI of any kind. The game's aesthetics both visually and aurally are created in a way that can cause malaise and immerse the player in the isolated world. I feel that by adding a UI of any kind to this game would truly break the experience. The players, like the boy character in the game, should feel lost and have not clear idea what to expect. It is elements like this that truly make this game shine.

In my 2D art project, I will be aiming for a minimalist UI due to the fact that the game is artistic created as a 'painterly' style game. I want the player to fully take in the visual components of the game itself, and not have too many UI elements distracting them. Additional UI elements to allow equipment changes or to view additional details would be hidden on a pop-up/slide out screen that the player can call at any time. I will have to be careful in the creation of my UI as I don't want the design to be discordant with all other visuals within the game itself.

References

A7, (2013). Miyamoto explains why there's no online mode for Super Mario 3D World. [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 9/10/2016 from http://unionvgf.com/index.php?threads/miyamoto-explains-why-theres-no-online-mode-for-super-mario-3d-world.1245/

Andrews, M. (2010). Game UI Discoveries: What Players Want. [Online] (Available). Retrieved on 9/10/2016 from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4286/game_ui_discoveries_what_players_.php?print=1

David. (2013). Interview: Dino Ignacio (Dead Space). [Online Image] (Available). Retrieved on 9/10/2016 from http://www.inventinginteractive.com/2013/07/10/interview-dino-ignacio-dead-space/

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