- UI is an important feature which is crucial for accessibility.
- You need to understand your games mechanics and theme completely to make a good UI.
UI or user interface has always been a crucial part of making a game more accessible. UI is becoming more and more important as video games become more and more mainstream and more and more people begin to pick up controllers. The other big thing is that UI design for gaming is becoming studied and talked about by UI designers and becoming a field. A good UI is one that fits in with the games theme, convoys necessary information to the player, and doesn't interfere with the game-play. This turns out to be really challenging to make because to make a good UI you must completely understand the game's theme and mechanics completely so you can properly display the necessary information to the player while enhancing their experience and not interrupting game play. Without good UI video games may not have not become the huge industry that it was today.
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In a video games the aesthetic is the most important part of the game that is going to draw in an audience and get people hooked. Games that have a art style that stays with you, without even playing the game, tend to become some of the most recognizable games in the industry. Games like Persona, Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door, Mirrors Edge, Borderlands, Sonic the Hedgehog, A Night in the Woods, and Overwatch are some great examples of games with a clear and unique art style that really brings each game to life. These styles have huge ranges from bright and colorful to dark and mysterious. A lot of first person shooter games from the 2000's have been forgotten because they all have a very similar art style. The art style can also complement your game play and mechanics. For example, in Mirrors Edge the bright red items guide you through the entire game. In order for a game to be successful and memorable, the consumer needs to captivated by the mechanics and aesthetics.
One of the best games that I played last year is Dark Souls III. I finished the game after the final DCL came out, around the end of my sophomore year and moved on to other games. Then, a friend of mine got me thinking about Dark Souls III again so I started another play through on the PC. Coming back to it, here is my take on what I appreciate about the game compared to all the hype.
When Dark Souls III was first released there was a huge amount of hype behind it's release and it was supposed to go back to its roots. Dark Souls II changed up a lot of the mechanics and the feel of the game compared to Dark Souls I. Dark Souls III was supposed to bring back some of the old places and mechanics. I heard a lot about new, interesting multiplayer features. There were definitely a lot of nods and glances back to Dark Souls I. Entire areas were referenced and specific character stories were retold. I specifically liked seeing armor from the original characters resurface. For me, a lot of the hype was worth it. Dark Souls III is faster paced than its predecessors. It has a huge and highly detailed world and some colossal new bosses. Some of the later bosses are memorable and challenging fights. Unfortunately, the game fell short in a few areas. It got rid of a lot of the innovative mechanics from Dark Souls II, and replaced it with the weapon art mechanic. I would have liked to see more references to Dark Souls II which has always been one of my personal favorites. The game feels a little over reliant on movement for a game that is themed around knights and armor. Role spamming is way too useful to avoid enemy attacks. To Fromsoftware's credit, enemy attack patterns have become shockingly more aggressive and psychotic. All in all, the game holds up and is still worth playing. Its challenging enemies and expansive landscapes make it blast to play. Happy Junior year for me! Not that I'm excited for summer to end, that doesn't mean our class has just been mourning those lazy dog days, we have been working on getting through the first section of the work for this year. The most interesting part of these past two weeks has been making the info-graphics that we have made. The design aspect for the snake info-graphic was really challenging to figure out because I couldn't think of a good layout, but after some brainstorming I was really proud of the outcome. The other info-graphic I made was the concept artist info-graphic which is the main carrier that I want to go into for my carrier choice. The design for that info-graphic was mostly effective but i had a major spelling error which was on the title. Honesty that was slightly embarrassing to present other than that the design was spot on in my opinion.
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Miles RomanHi, I am a student at Durham School of the Arts, and this blog will be documenting my experiences with my Game Design class. Categories
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