Hello,
I’ve noticed a trend with Steam games where they intuitively look as if they were initially designed for mobile, but modified sufficiently for PC deployment.
In your view, what are some signature characteristics of mobile games that make them easy to spot even when they’re adapted for non-mobile platforms?
Thanks!
Everything’s big and puffy and friendly. Large touch targets, oversimplified menus. An under-reliance on text input (choosing more graphical stuff, e.g. sliders instead of inputting a number). PC games tend to have small, sleek buttons.
I think the UI trend is generally good. Mobile games more often target international audiences, so there’s less reliance on text. Done well, this makes the UI easier to understand at a glance. Since mobiles have less screen area, UIs have to be more streamlined and economical. This is generally good for hardcore games, too, as it opens up more screen to actually show gameplay. Notifications tend to be temporary and contextual, rather than taking up permanent screen real estate like in older, traditional UI designs.
In order to aid the discussion, could you post links or screenshots of Steam games you feel “look mobile”?
Does a game that you can play on your laptop count as mobile?
Do you think these aspects of the mobile look can work well for PC titles?
I think it works fine for Minecraft.
Looking at more traditionally PC-oriented games like shooters, did Doom really need to take up all the screen space at the bottom?
Newer shooters (admittedly with higher resolutions to play with) provide more information in a less obtrusive way:
I think they did because there was no alpha transparency in those days.
It’s not so much alpha transparency, but it did save on fillrate. In Unity terms, it allowed them to shrink the rendering rect for the main view.
That said, TBH, I find Doom’s UI far easier to read than the one on the bottom. Part of this is because the whole UI is in one place, partly because the newer one chose much more muted colors and small text. This, on top of alpha transparency. Everything in the bottom right is really hard to read because it blends in with the gun.
I don’t mind when people disagree with me, then in the course of their arguments prove my point. 
I wasn’t sure about those example screenshots myself. I got a little sidetracked. The point I wanted to make was that older games frequently had very heavy, opaque UI frames for various reasons. Maybe this example better reflects this:
You can’t get away with that on small mobile screens, so UIs have trended toward opening up.
I know what I say right now is going to be controversial… But I think we need to remember that the purpose of the user interface is to show the user information that they need to know and allow them to interact with the game. So the best user interface is no user interface other than the game itself, basically the minimum amount of information and options possible should be presented to the user at any given time.
Now what I think you’re having is people using user interfaces as a way of enhancing the play experience by making them epileptic spasm interfaces with changing colors alpha transparency special effects etc.
It’s all topsy turvy I tell you… When developer compete to see who can get the most crap on screen and still have the game be playable
Doom’s UI was also intended for smaller screens at much smaller resolutions than most of today’s smart phones. It’s also only there to display information.
The biggest thing going against mobile here is that it’s too imprecise. The inventory would have to be a full screen overlay just so you had enough room to properly drop items where you intended. Problem is that the UI, as is, is intended to have inventory management be just as important as anything else.
“Wow look at all the crap on the screen. This game must have depth.” - Guy who dropped $2.99
In Ultima Underworld’s defense, I loved that game. It was groundbreaking for its time. But there’s always room for improvement!
Maybe that guys right, who knows.
Might want to play the game before you bash it. I’m not saying the UI is a masterpiece of engineering, but the point of it was to show all the elements on screen that are equally important for any given moment. In that regard, it’s quite commendable for it’s time.
As much as I like minimalist, or even HUDless, approaches, there is something to be said for actually being able to provide the player with all the variables they need to know.
People automatically assume I’m bashing everything. You tell me how there’s not a lot of crap on that screen. I defy you to explain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
Might want to watch all of it, but just cut to the important bit at 2:10. Apparently the forums don’t like timecodes.
100x this.
The reason interfaces have become more minimal is because it’s simply aesthetically better that way. It’s better to see more of the game world and less of the HUD because the game world is prettier to look at.
Example:
The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)
What am I looking at? There’s my name. You know, in case I forget. I guess that’s also what I look like. There’s a few meters representing my health, stamina, and mana (let’s just say I already know which colors mean what - it’s not too difficult to figure out ingame), I should really keep an eye on those. Oh, there’s a compass up there. I guess I might want to know which direction I’m going. There’s a bunch of buttons down here too, what do all those do? I dunno, they’re just icons. Do I really need to see them at all times? Finally, there’s a box where I assume text goes. That’s important for an older game where it was easier to describe actions via text.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
So, what am I looking at here? There’s a big compass up top, an enemy in front of me and slightly to my left (also known as the thing I’m currently torching), and my objective off to the right. That thing is called a “Frostbite Spider” and it’s down to ~1/4 health. I should keep doing my fire thing.
Now, at the bottom, I can see that I’m draining mana by doing said fire thing, but not at an alarming rate; I’m ever-so-slightly injured (if I weren’t, the health bar wouldn’t show up at all), and my stamina is a little bit down. There’s also a meter on top of the stamina bar that’s not obvious at a glance. (minus one point for my “good” example).
By having less things there, each item that stays is more meaningful. All the menu options are moved off-screen and you press a button to see them. (And enter a perfect example of minimalism gone too far at the expense of usability, but that’s a post for another day) Any meter that’s not immediately relevant gets out of your way. The only thing that’s there all the time is the compass, making it very clear that this game is about exploration. Very clever.
