Critique #4

Since <Journey>doesn’t have much UI elements, I decided to switch to the original game I chose for critiques: <Skyrim>

Skyrim

Basically a traditional HUD interface for feedback is used by Skyrim, but it’s improved in a more diegetic way by hide some HUD elements until needed. In the default screen, direction bar is always at the top and the health, mana and stamina bars are displayed in combats. Also the tab menu allows the player to check Skills, Items, Magic and Map is definitely not a part of the game world and can’t be seen by the character.

Although I won’t call it a hybrid, Skyrim also has some spatial, meta and diegetic UI elements. For example, a special symbol is always shown wherever there’s a quest-related NPC or an automatic checkpoint (usually a door); when the character is hurt, blood spots will be displayed on the screen; and the weapons and armors equipped at the moment actually exist in the game world and are visualized both for the player and the character.

I think the interface layout of Skyrim is appropriate enough for functionality. Though not all functionalities can be activated by using the control menus (e.g. Shift for changing speed, Ctrl for sneaking), they could be found in the setting menu and learned by playing.

Skyrim displays simple elements in the default screen and hide the complexity with sub-views, which is favorable for an experienced player. In an exploration or combat situation, the intensity would be high and the pace would be fast. The player only focuses on the environment, the quest(s) and the character’s equipment, action and personal real-time attributes (health, mana and stamina), so only these elements would be displayed. But when the player decides to take a break (e.g. after killing an enemy or finish the exploration of a dungeon), the intensity and pace go down, complicated interface and operations such as changing the weapon(s) and checking the skills would be more acceptable to the player.

I have only played the PC version so I’ll only talk about it. The basic controls are intuitive indeed: WASD and arrow keys for movement, E for action (although personally I think it’s not as intuitive as a simple F key), LMB and RMB for attack and mouse for viewport and angle. However, the tab menu control and the other main action key R are not intuitive enough and leads to a bunch of mistakes for a player not being used to the game. One good thing is that there’re a lot of shortcut controls in Skyrim that can improve the game experience after the player has gained some experience.

But there is still a serious problem. When the player needs to use items or change weapons during a combat, he/she has to call the menu which stops the game. Although the favorite menu provides a shortcut, the pause-and-continue scheme still breaks the smoothness of the game.

Alice Madness Return

Alice Madness Return is an action puzzle game, so there is more tolerance for HUD than the pure traditional action games or adventure games. It not only aims to simulate the reality, it also has the gameplay of finding particular items in a scene and picking them up to promote the progress of the story. Therefore it has to add a diegetic interface for this gameplay mode with all the others in a traditional HUD style. Some of the elements of the interface are visualized only for the player but not for the character. Even sometimes when the character “uses” an item both in the game world and displayed to the player, this item would be shown as an abstract template item instead of its real shape. However, the life points and the gems are always displayed on the screen.

Besides, there is some spatial UI elements that I think it’s interesting to mention and it’s the characteristic only belongs to Alice Madness Return. Unlike other games whose spatial UI elements will show up as default, this game requires the player to take some actions so that the player can get spatial hints. For example, the player need to press a key to shrink so that he can see something invisible from the eye when he is in normal mode. Then he can see the spatial UI elements which indicates spatial hints.

Instead of displaying all the elements, Alice Madness Return simply displays the elements of the interface only when the player has a need. For example, if it’s exploratory mode, the interface will only display the life points and the gems. However, if it’s battle mode, the interface will add two more elements: the current weapon and the reticle. I personally really adore its design principle of the interface: simplicity. The functionality is complex, however the interface is simple but can support all its functionality.

I shall say the control scheme of Alice Madness Return is very intuitive, and it’s quite similar to other action or platforming games. The shortcuts provided by Alice Madness Return are the same as other action or 3D platforming games which definitely respects the using habit of players. And it provides enough tutorial levels for players to get use of the control. If the player forgets the shortcuts, what the player needs to do is merely iteratively moving the cursor and selecting the button of main menu, or pressing the “M” key on the keyboard. There are no obstacles for both the newbie and the experienced player.

Comparison

Well it’s hard to compare the two because they are totally different kinds of games and have different design aims for their interfaces. I don’t want to see a bunch of text descriptions or illustrations in Skyrim nor an interface telling me where to go next with a quest log in Alice Madness Return. But talking about how they work in their own genres respectively, I would take Alice Madness Return as a winner.

Although many people criticize its gameplay, I shall say that Alice Madness Return does great job in UI elements. The UI elements as I have mentioned before, are clear but strong that can support all the functionality. It makes the player more immersive to the gameplay and forget that they are actually in the virtual world. However, at the same time, the player can easily control the character and get enough feedback from the UI elements.

The problem of Skyrim is that it wants to hide as many as UI elements to lessen the distraction for the player, and has too many functionalities and affecting variables that have already distracted the player and lure them to check the complicated menu frequently at the meanwhile. As I’ve mentioned, separating the interface into a clean one and a complex one is a good idea ignoring the heavy learning load for an inexperienced player. But anyway, I don’t think it’s the fault of the interface of Skyrim because the interface design is hard for an open world game with that many components indeed.