Very cool one on Automata's hacking music and how they converted the songs into their 8-bit version:
Happy Hacking: Music implementation in NieR:Automata
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Exemplary UI Design In Games (Warning: GIFs)
- Thread starter Ishaan
- Start date
Happy Hacking: Music implementation in NieR:Automata
The main menu also deserves some kind of award
Love it, but wouldn't us seeing the words the correct way mean the character is seeing them reversed? Lol I know, nitpicking, but still amazing
Thanks! I'd still love to cover Destiny 2. I think Destiny continues to have one of the best UIs in a game, ever.
Functionally, although a lot of people are averse to the cursor driven UI, it's pretty brilliant in Destiny's context. It allows you to hide so much information behind contextual items, and it gives the player control in menus they'll be navigating again and again.
The UI Director gave a GDC talk discussing the cursor and all the detail that it involved. It's also a great watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp4NZ8i80QI
Basically, the momentum and "hit boxes" of mouse over areas is finely tuned depending on the item. It's why games like No Man's Sky and AC:O give the cursor pattern a bad name--Bungie is just on another level in terms of user feedack and feel.
But it also seems like one of the few games that gives the UI team time to design while the game is in development and pre-production. All of the art and 2D graphics helps build the world. The iconography matches the feel of the factions in the world. The director is so lush that it makes the world feel "bigger" than it actually is.
Persona Q's UI is one of my favorites.
The bright colors are wonderful, and I love the way they change and how the UI elements react to your button presses, whether it's a change in color or some kind of tween/animation. Not just the battle system's menus act like this, but every menu in the game is this wonderful and smooth. They didn't just think about how the UI would look in a screenshot or at a glance. They put so much work into making the sure the complete experience: static look, transitions between elements, and sound effects, were absolutely perfect. I'm tremendously exited for Persona Q 2 because 1) I loved Persona Q, and 2) I can't wait to see the UI, but with hopefully some changes to accommodate the aesthetics of Persona 5's cast.
The bright colors are wonderful, and I love the way they change and how the UI elements react to your button presses, whether it's a change in color or some kind of tween/animation. Not just the battle system's menus act like this, but every menu in the game is this wonderful and smooth. They didn't just think about how the UI would look in a screenshot or at a glance. They put so much work into making the sure the complete experience: static look, transitions between elements, and sound effects, were absolutely perfect. I'm tremendously exited for Persona Q 2 because 1) I loved Persona Q, and 2) I can't wait to see the UI, but with hopefully some changes to accommodate the aesthetics of Persona 5's cast.
I'll give a shout out to a game that isn't going to win any awards for beauty and probably gets a fair share of criticism for its menu design (if for no other reason than because its fans are particular). But Pillars or Eternity conveys a ton of information in a clear and accessible way. RTwP games in the Baldur's Gate tradition are among the most complex single-player games this side of grand strategy. PoE, building on the old Infinity Engine UIs, is so easy to use that even after years away from this style of RPG, I felt like I'd been born running a party through the Dyrwood.
The presentation of it looks nice, but none of it looks intuitive at all. If I wanted to go somewhere specific, how am I supposed to know where it is?Dirt's 2's UI was glorious
OP
OP
I'm really digging the way the menus "swing out" from your selections.
Condolences v_v
Great post; I actually do overlook the simple UI, so good that someone covered it. The bit I quoted is something I only noticed recently, but found super charming once I started paying attention to it. It's a nice touch. All it needs is units cowering in fear when facing certain death (or not, if they're badasses.)It's a little addition, but the unit portrait now emotes in regards to the battle prediction outcome. The more favorable the result is, the more confident the portrait become. Of course, the reverse applies as well.
The main menu also deserves some kind of award
I should buy this game.
I don't have any GIFs, but Terranigna had a fun menu UI. When you pressed the menu button, the MC would pull out a magical box and leap into it, leading into this screen:
This room was framed as the in-universe "menu," where different doors led to the rooms where the MC stored his various items, weapons, etc. Then, when you were done going about your business, there'd be an animation where he jumped out of the box and back into the game world.
It's not slick or efficient like the modern UI examples, but it's a great example of an older game using UI as an immersion tool rather than a basic spreadsheet-looking visual element separated from the rest of the game.
This room was framed as the in-universe "menu," where different doors led to the rooms where the MC stored his various items, weapons, etc. Then, when you were done going about your business, there'd be an animation where he jumped out of the box and back into the game world.
It's not slick or efficient like the modern UI examples, but it's a great example of an older game using UI as an immersion tool rather than a basic spreadsheet-looking visual element separated from the rest of the game.
If we're talking about Fire Emblem UIs, can we appreciate Fire Emblem Heroes' UI a bit?
I'd like a way to move the Sacred Coin and castle upgrade icons somewhere else though. Those buttons do annoy me a bit, especially now that I've upgraded the castle to its highest level.
The stats of the last selected unit are shown up top; tapping any of the stats or skill icons gives a brief explanation (this works for pretty much anything in the game.) You can't see it in this screenshot, but stats are displayed in green if they're buffed and red if they're debuffed; I really appreciate the visual cue to let me know if I can buff my units further or need to move them out of the enemy's debuff range.
The auto-battle button can be moved between the main battle screen and the options menu via the game settings; I often use auto-battle, so I've put it on to the main battle screen even though it clutters it up a bit more.
It also shows the weapon triangle in the corner to remind new players - I would definitely have appreciated this in my first mainline Fire Emblem game :)
As soon as you touch a unit, you can see all its options immediately; movement range is shown in blue, special movement range is light blue (in this case my unit has a skill that lets her move next to allies within range), supports are shown in green, and attacks are shown in red (with actual enemies I can hit highlighted more brightly.)
At the top of the screen, it shows the result of the action; unlike mainline Fire Emblem games, there's no RNG involved so it doesn't need to show hit/crit rates. And like Fates, the unit portrait changes depending on the outcome of the action.
As an action is performed with a single drag, you can easily check the results of each of your attacks by dragging over the different enemies in turn, and cancel the action by dragging back to the unit's starting location. What's better than the two-button-press actions in mainline Fire Emblem? Being able to take an entire player phase by making just four drags.
I also really like the celtic knot motif that's present in all the Fire Emblem Heroes original assets. It's pretty obvious in the castle, but it's also present in the UI elements, the maps set in the FEH world, and the generic enemy designs. It really ties the designs together :P
The main menu is really nice for a mobil game (especially compared to other gacha games.) You've got your inventory at the top and your actions at the bottom. Notifications such as ongoing events are displayed the first time you start the app each day, and otherwise are hidden behind the notification board in the castle. Your friends list, log-in bonuses, and quest rewards are also represented by objects in the castle; each icon is animated and has a visual representation when something is new (for example, the golden fountain makes it obvious I have some quest rewards to pick up.) The units in the castle are also animated; you can tap them to hear a short conversation or hold down to see their stats. The units are a mix of your current team, your "leader" unit, random units from your barracks, and one of your friends' leaders.
I'd like a way to move the Sacred Coin and castle upgrade icons somewhere else though. Those buttons do annoy me a bit, especially now that I've upgraded the castle to its highest level.
The battle UI is really simple to use. Each unit has a visible health bar as well as the exact amount of HP it has; you can also see the weapon type, special charge time, and any buffs/debuffs at a glance. I usually play with "danger area" turned on; the tiles highlighted in pink are the tiles that are in range of enemy attacks (you can also tap and hold an enemy unit to see the range of that particular unit.)
The stats of the last selected unit are shown up top; tapping any of the stats or skill icons gives a brief explanation (this works for pretty much anything in the game.) You can't see it in this screenshot, but stats are displayed in green if they're buffed and red if they're debuffed; I really appreciate the visual cue to let me know if I can buff my units further or need to move them out of the enemy's debuff range.
The auto-battle button can be moved between the main battle screen and the options menu via the game settings; I often use auto-battle, so I've put it on to the main battle screen even though it clutters it up a bit more.
It also shows the weapon triangle in the corner to remind new players - I would definitely have appreciated this in my first mainline Fire Emblem game :)
You perform an action simply by dragging one of your units to the thing you want to perform an action on. Attack for enemies, support for allies, or move for empty tiles.
As soon as you touch a unit, you can see all its options immediately; movement range is shown in blue, special movement range is light blue (in this case my unit has a skill that lets her move next to allies within range), supports are shown in green, and attacks are shown in red (with actual enemies I can hit highlighted more brightly.)
At the top of the screen, it shows the result of the action; unlike mainline Fire Emblem games, there's no RNG involved so it doesn't need to show hit/crit rates. And like Fates, the unit portrait changes depending on the outcome of the action.
As an action is performed with a single drag, you can easily check the results of each of your attacks by dragging over the different enemies in turn, and cancel the action by dragging back to the unit's starting location. What's better than the two-button-press actions in mainline Fire Emblem? Being able to take an entire player phase by making just four drags.
I also really like the celtic knot motif that's present in all the Fire Emblem Heroes original assets. It's pretty obvious in the castle, but it's also present in the UI elements, the maps set in the FEH world, and the generic enemy designs. It really ties the designs together :P
Classic original Silent Hill for me. While you are frequently going into the menu it is completely clear in game. And Harry/James/Heather focus your attention by looking at stuff you have yet to interact with or an enemy, which I think is really cool compared to a glowing object.
OP
OP
Atlus are masters of UI design, and I think that largely comes down to the fact that so many of their games have been on portable platforms (primarily DS and 3DS). When you spend so many years designing around two tiny screens, it really helps you figure out how to use screen space efficiently.
Something else that's worked out in their favour is that Atlus have been using COMPs as a technological concept for years. Now, a COMP is basically the equivalent of a smartphone and UI-wise this makes it much easier for them to come up with a design aesthetic.