More about gaming interface

Much is said about interface in games today. After a long winter, producers and game designers discovered that a merely beautiful game does not work as product nor as a good experience to different kinds of players.

Try to imagine this situation: a beautiful futuristic game fulfilled of great cut scenes and technological characters. Everything in the scenario is perfect, but every action is a mystery for the player inside this fictional universe. It’s difficult to understand where you need to go, when the objective is accomplished, and it’s impossible to determine what kind of object you can take from the ambient.



Schell (2008, p.222) says in his book The Art of Game Design that the goal of a good gaming interface “isn’t ‘to look nice’ or ‘to be fluid’, although those are nice qualities; the goal of an interface is to make players feel in control of their experience.

Complementing Schell’s ideas, Perron and Wolf (2009, p.66) postulate that one of the “fundamental conditions that govern our interactions with video game virtual environments is that our actions are mapped onto the game system by various technological means, since we cannot physically manipulate the virtual entities directly”. By this last quotation we can understand the importance of a good interface and how it can create an immersive experience to the audience.



An interface establishes an answer system between the game and the player. Before we think about fantastic graphics, it is more important to design the interface to create a deeper experience. For more information and to discover more about this theme, I strongly recommend the following readings.

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References:

PERRON, Bernard; WOLF, Mark. The Video Game Theory Reader 2. New York: Routledge, 2009.

SCHELL, Jesse. The art of game design. Burlington: Elsevier, 2008.

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Duet

A few weeks ago I downloaded a very elegant game in my mobile phone: Duet. The game is a minimal and hypnotic experience created with a simple interface and high level of involvement. It is an invitation to “expand the limits of your radial awareness”.



The game comes from an Australian publisher named Kumobius and the composer Tim Shiel signs the awesome soundtrack. The idea is very simple: you press the right side of the screen, two small balls spin to the right; you press the left side of the screen, they spin to the left. With these two simple movements you must dodge elements that fall from above. Check the gameplay below to understand the main idea:


The game has a complex learning curve with a real challenge in the high levels. This kind of experience tells us about how a casual game could be a challenge even for hardcore players. And, in this scenario, we can see how rich the field for good ideas to mobile media is.

Another point to highlight on Duet is the simplicity of the interface. With few elements, the game conveys an engaging idea and a perfect ballet between aesthetics and gameplay. About that, it’s possible to say that “Gameplay must take place somewhere, and so the design and creation of digital environments is a critical factor in developing outstanding games. (…) Designing game spaces comes in two distinct parts – the first is the look and feel of the game environment, and the second is the design and challenge of the playing space” (THOMPSON; BERBANK-GREEN; CUSWORTH: 2007: p.98).

Let’s discuss more and more about this emerging category of the gaming industry.

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Reference:

THOMPSON, Jim; BERBANK-GREEN, Barnaby; CUSWORTH, Nic. Game Design: principles, practice, and tecniques - the ultimate guide for the aspiring game designer. New Jersey: Wiley, 2007

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