Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
feedback. That feedback provides the player with new information or tools, and
they're now equipped to perform more actions. This is a highly specialized job.
interface Designer
The interface is what allows the player to actually interact with the game.
Gorgeous art, terrific animation, and amazing sound can add to a fun gaming
experience, but if the player can't interact efficiently with this world you have
created, they won't play your game. It's the interface designer's job to create
interfaces that allow for a logical interaction with the game world.
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Because games are player centered, the interface designer must understand
what kind of player the game is designed for (the demographic) and what
type of game it is (gameplay style). Interaction with a movie or TV show is
one-way—from the creator of the program to the viewer. A website adds
interactivity by allowing the user to interact with the site and perhaps start
a movie or access a catalogue. A game goes further still with interactivity
by allowing a player to not only receive information and experiences offered
by the game, but also directly affect what happens during the gameplay. In
other words, games offer player-to-technology interactivity. Some games
such as many of the MMOs offer a social aspect, where players can interact
with other players (player-to-player interactivity).
Understanding, therefore, that the player must feel in control of what they're
doing and be able to intuitively grasp how the controls work and directly inter-
act with the game makes for great gameplay. In the game
Apparitions,
a variety
of screens in the interface allow players to sign in, change their player names,
navigate around a haunted hotel to hunt ghosts by using a map, and try to cap-
ture evidence of the paranormal. The interface resembles a computer laptop
screen because the research team, according to the game narrative, uses a lap-
top computer to store and analyze the data they collect.
Figure 9.2 shows two screens from an interface designed for the game that let the
player record and then review evidence they have captured. Players can also use this
screen/menu to remotely place cameras throughout locations in the hotel to try to
record video of a ghost and access a tutorial to help them learn how to play the game.
