Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
terms, what gameplay modes the game will have. At the beginning of the elabora-
tion stage, start to design the gameplay modes in detail.
Your first job will be to design the
primary
gameplay mode, the one in which the
player spends the majority of her time. See the sections “Interaction Models” and
“Camera Models” later in this chapter for details about each of them. Once you
have chosen the camera model, interaction model, and gameplay for the primary
gameplay mode, you can begin to create the details of the user interface for that
mode.
When you have designed the primary gameplay mode, move on to the other modes
that you think your game will need. Plan the structure of the game using a flow-
board, as described in Chapter 2. In addition to gameplay activities, don't forget
story-related activities. Design modes that deliver narrative content and engage in
dialog if your game supports these. Be sure to include a way to interrupt narrative
and get back to gameplay, and a pause menu (if it's a real-time game) so the player
can answer the telephone.
Gameplay modes do not typically use completely different user interfaces but
share a number of UI features, so it's best to define all the modes before you begin
UI work. If your game provides a small number of gameplay modes (say, five or
fewer), you can start work on the user interfaces as soon as you decide what pur-
pose each mode serves and what the player will do there. However, if the game
provides a large number of modes, then you should wait until
after
you have
planned the structure of the game and you understand how the game moves from
mode to mode.
Once you have the list of gameplay modes, start to think about what visual ele-
ments and controls each will need. Using graph paper or a diagramming tool such
as Microsoft Visio, make a flowchart of the progression of menus, dialog boxes, and
other user interface elements that you intend to use in each mode. Also document
what the input devices will do in each.
Occasionally gameplay modes can share a single UI when the modes differ only
in the challenges they offer. If you want to allow the player to control the change
from one mode to another, your user interface must offer commands to accomplish
these mode changes.
Steps in designing a game's user interface include, for each mode, designing a
screen layout, selecting the visual elements that will tell the player what she needs
to know, and defining the inputs to make the game do what she wants to do. We'll
take up these topics in turn. The remainder of this discussion assumes that you're
working on the user interface for the most important mode—the primary gameplay
mode—although this advice applies equally to any mode.
