Just thought we could start a thread to share some of the best UI in games…
But I’m not sure what is the best so over to you?!
It’s hard to judge good UI. It’s one of those areas that ideally are transparent, and it’s a bad thing to notice it. Either the UI is serviceable and it works, or it’s somewhere on a sliding scale of shit that is doing more harm than good.
Designing a good UI is like being a good writer. Get your point across quickly, less is more.
Conversely, loading people down with a whole lotta things that they aren’t even sure what the heck they’re even there for, like animations and special effects and just generally testing human patience through use of an obtuse, cluttered disaster that only you understand fully is just plain bad. That said, there are lots of bad UI’s out there in successful games. Not too many times though, do you see really good UI in a really bad game… Like you might have bad writing in a TV Show you love, but if a show is well written it’s usually pretty good no matter what.
I defy you to not understand what this UI is trying to tell you:
I think Dead Space had a very good UI: the life points where visible and integrated in the players armor and the bullet amount was projected near the weapon.
Furthermore the inventory and shops were holographed into the 3d room.
It worked very well because it was seemingly integrated into the game world and fitted the setting , which helped to immerse into the game.
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Ico had a really innovative ui check it out for yourself
Metroid Prime. Particularly, dat 3D minimap. Ohhhh my gosh I need to go play this game again. squeeing sounds in background
Can I just talk about how perfectly this UI fits in the game’s lore? Realistically, this could be exactly what Samus is seeing. I’m not one to gripe about how artificial HUDs (that is, just the HUD floating in midair for no good in-universe reason) break immersion (because they don’t!), but an intuitive and readable UI that also fits the lore certainly adds a lot to immersion.
That 3D minimap brings back great memories. There’s never a moment where you can’t find something on the map because it’s actually a few hundred feet over your head. It’s a little too small to be useful for navigation, but its fullscreen counterpart more than makes up for that, and as a result, you spend a good chunk of the game reviewing that map. I never learned to navigate a world in any game quite like a Metroid game.
The things at the bottom-left and bottom-right would be quite unintuitive, except they’re not even there in the early game and they only appear once they’re relevant (you found the item that enables it) and your only option is to use that element to get out of the room you’re otherwise trapped in.
It’s full of Easter Eggs, too - that subtle exclamation point on the left? You probably won’t even notice it’s there until it warns you that you’re about to walk into a superheated room. (Which I proceeded to do anyways, shortly followed by my demise) The four blue lights on top, on the Wii, indicate your controller’s battery level.
My only complaint? I didn’t figure out until the second game in the series that those “Energy” dots at the top each represented 100 extra points of energy, in addition to the 99 represented by the more traditional health bar.
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I think two games show the best possible UI design, and they couldn’t be more different.
My #1 is Journey, by Jenova Chen (That Game Company). It has virtually NO UI - the scarf is your health, and that’s about it.
My #2 is Hearthstone, by Blizzard. Every action yields an exciting, juicy, and beautiful response.
Gigi
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Personally, I think a great UI is one that can tell its information while not having to directly look at it as little as possible(when you know the ui), or using your periferals can tell the same info. And having minimal info to show as well. You want to look in front of you not in a corner of the screen to see how much ammo/health you have left while stuff could be going on.
The ‘Endless’ games have really good UIs:
Endless Space
Endless Legends
Dungeon of the Endless
They’re a bit plain looking, but the usability is fantastic.
They also use Unity.
I would say they are hit and miss. I’ve only played space and a bit of legends (which keeps crashing on me, so to hell with it for now), but I would tend toward saying their UI is mixed. Most of the deeper spreadsheet-esque menus cover everything you need to know well, but it’s always lacking when it comes to a “personal touch.” The individual city hud/menu is terribly small in legends, so figuring out what items to build is an exercise in reading the tooltips of everything. Actually, the games’ reliance on tooltips is probably one of the worst things about it. There are few, if any, decisions that you make where you won’t be reliant on reading those damn things when that information should should just be visible and be done with it.
Do I even need to get into the new game options wall?
I guess this depends a lot on the individual, for me the more information is displayed in a UI the more immersed I am. That’s why I freaking love Crusader Kings, the UI is so complex, it took me days to know my way around the game and I still stumble a few options I was unaware of after a few hundred hours.
I’ll reiterate that it’s hit and miss. If I want to find something, like city information, it’s easy and works great, but when it comes time to make an informed decision, like what to build or what hero upgrade I want, it’s a pure pain in the ass.
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One of the most immersive games I have ever played next to the condemned games. When I think of a good ui I always think of Deadspace and the life bar on his back. Easy to see at all times and they used bright colors to signify health level. You didn’t even have to look. Just cant beat it.