Interaction design using the graphical

user interface (GUI)

One of the areas that receives a lot of attention is the design of the GUI.

The GUI is really important in a game because it includes everything that the user interacts with: all of the opening menu screens, options menu, the pause menu, any in-game menus such as inventories (where the character’s possessions are stored) and the Heads up display (HUD).

The GUI

The HUD is the main game screen. It has information, usually around the edges, that tells you the important things you need to know, such as health or ammunition remaining.

As you can see in Figure 26.1 on page 8, the HUD contains information that is crucial to the player and could mean the success or failure of whatever objective the player is trying to achieve. The design of the HUD is very important – too much information means that the player will need to take their attention off the gameplay, but too little information means they might not know what’s going on.

A lot of thought is put into the design of the HUD and how to give information to the player without distracting them. Game designers’ use techniques like sounds and icons instead of text.

The HUD

IntegrationIn some computer games, the HUD is integrated

into the gameplay itself, so you don’t always need to distract the player. This also makes them feel

more immersed in the game world.

There are many different platforms for playing computer games. A games platform can be a hardware device or it can be a special type of software that has been designed to play different computer games.

When people first become interested in playing computer games, they tend to play games that are available on a platform that they already have access to. For example, people will play computer games on their phones or their televisions because they already have these. Platforms such as these tend to have casual games on them which can be played for short periods of time and not taken very seriously.

When people want to spend more time (and money) on computer games, they will usually choose a platform that has been designed specifically for gameplay.

Gaming platforms

Issue platform task and feedback

Platform task

1. What kind of genre does Sonic the Hedgehog come under?

2. Is Pac Man a 2D or a 3D game?

3. What were the NPCs in Frogger?

4. What is a HUD?

5. What was the name of the game that old Nokia phones came with?

Just checking