Importance of a GUI

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a_bertrand
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Importance of a GUI

Post by a_bertrand »

In any software being a game or not, a GUI is a fundamental part of it. Many developers don't like to spend time or enough time on it, because they either don't know how to improve it, don't have the taste for a nice GUI or wrongly under estimate its importance.

A GUI is what can make or kill any software (interactive software that's it). Why? Simply because that's what the user will have to use to interact with the software. So being simple, yet powerful is a must. Another good thing to keep in mind is keep an interface as users already know. For example, scroll-bars are well known things, therefore don't try to re-invent the wheel and make something different unless there is very good reasons for it.

Also think about creating tools to make life easier not "funny" or "cool". Making your GUI resize is also useful, as even if may look like nice or good on your screen, nearly everyone will use a different window size. Forget about "standard resolutions", here really everyone works differently, so make it resize.

Try to make good usage of the space without cluttering your screen with thousand of buttons. It is not user friendly, and will slow down the usage of your tool.

Finally don't post pone the GUI improvements thinking you have more important things to do. Nothing is more important than having an usable software.

Now don't think I consider my own GUIs perfect, I actually more with the opinion of never being happy with my GUI, and always trying to improve them. Example? My admin tools inside cubicverse are displayed in a sliding panel, however for some of those like the NPC editing, it can be a mess. Therefore I added a resize button which makes the panel uses the whole browser window. Is it enough? no, but it helps.
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Dayo
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Re: Importance of a GUI

Post by Dayo »

When i (attempt) to design the UI i always find it easier working from smaller resolutions (i.e. mobiles) then adding to it as it gets larger. Its only been the last year or so where i have been working on improving the UI on my sites and it really does make a difference and with frameworks like JQuery and the countless CSS frameworks there is relay no excuse to have poor UI in this day and age.
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a_bertrand
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Re: Importance of a GUI

Post by a_bertrand »

Indeed. But don't think a good GUI is just a shiny & cool one with nice shadows and such. A good GUI could be plain text as well, if it fits the requirements.
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Xaos
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Re: Importance of a GUI

Post by Xaos »

I actually working on GUI right now for my fish harvesting game. I am instantly turned off by a bad GUI, so I hope I don't have that problem. But a usable, attractive GUI can sell me on a game, especially if you spend a lot of time in menus.
Xaleph
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Re: Importance of a GUI

Post by Xaleph »

Amen to that Betrand. GUI`s are underrated and many games suffer for it. Think about GUI in a broader sense as well. A good example is the wristband in Dead Space. It allows you to pop open a menu to interact with your bot, but the time it takes to open that screen is about 0.5 seconds. This might look like nothing, if you do it once or twice, but consider this; you play that game for at least 50 hours ( i hope..) thus opening that same menu 10`s or maybe 100s of times. And each time, you have to wait for that frikkin menu to open. That, my friends, is also bad GUI. A GUI doesn`t have to look nice, it has to work good. An appealing design helps, sure, but as long as it functions correctly and doesn`t bother, it`s working OK. In browser based games, where the GUI is probably the only interface you have without actual gameplay, you better be damn right how you order things like menu`s, buttons, text, panels etc.
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Jackolantern
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Re: Importance of a GUI

Post by Jackolantern »

The GUI is also definitely not a place to display creativity, at least functionally. We learned years ago in traditional development and web development not to innovate, and actually oftentimes the best course of action is to straight-up copy popular software/websites that are similar to your product so that users can seamlessly begin using your software. This has become such common practice that it even has a best practices term called "Look and Feel".

However, games are still getting to that point. So many game developers just want their games to ooze creativity out of every orifice that they begin tinkering with the GUI, and usually with bad results. An example that sticks out are some of the earlier PS2 Katamari Demacy games. In the second one, they had a "Menu Field", which was actually a fully rendered 3D area you walked around in to save, start games, go to options, etc., instead of having a text-based menu like pretty much every other game. It was kind of funny and cute for a minute until you can't find the option you need, or can't figure out where to go. I found it highly frustrating, and really wished for a standard, no-frills menu screen.

Players want creative gameplay, not input and GUIs. If you can, copy the GUI and controls "look and feel" of the most popular game in the genre you are making. It will make players instantly feel comfortable and productive. Then wow them with creative and fun gameplay.
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