Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Best practices in UI design
Now that we have discussed the theoretic aspects of interface design for mobile
games, in the following section we will provide a list of useful hints to approach the
creation of a well-designed UI for your next game.
The first golden rule is that the better the game interface is designed, the less it will
be noticed by players, as it allows users to navigate through the game in a way that
feels natural and easy to grasp.
To achieve that, always opt for the simplest solution possible, as simplicity means that
controls are clean and easy to learn and that the necessary info is displayed clearly.
A little bit of psychology helps when deciding the positioning of buttons in the inter-
face. Human beings have typical cognitive biases and they easily develop habits.
Learning how to exploit such psychological aspects can really make a difference in
the ergonomics of your game interface. We mentioned
The Theory of Affordances
by Gibson, but there are other theories of visual perception that should be taken into
consideration. A good starting point is the Gestalt Principles that you will find at the
following link:
Finally, it may seem trivial, but never assume anything. Design your game interface
so that the most prominent options available on the main game screen lead your play-
ers to the game.
Choose the target platform. When you begin designing the interface for a game,
spend some time thinking about the main target platform for your game, in order to
have a reference resolution to begin working with. The following table describes the
screen resolutions of the most popular devices you are likely to work with:
