Game developers have to consider a lot of variables when creating a game. For instance, they know that that immersion is everything. Once the player is immersed in a game, they become completely engaged in what the game presents. But two conspicuous factors that have to be carefully considered are the fluidity of the game’s UX and the design of UI.
An excellent game could turn out to be a turn-off if it requires multiple prompts or provides either too much info or too little, all which can be confusing to the player. More worrying is the fact that many game developers fear making UIs as it is always seen as a creative job which is better left to artists. However, this shouldn’t always be the case. UI and UX design are largely logical processes that can be dealt with by a developers who are familiar with the current market trends.
In this article, we are going to look at what constitutes a good UI and UX, and the different aspects that a UI/UX developer should consider getting wind of in 2020.
But what is UI/UX meaning?
The terms UI and UX are often used interchangeably, which is incorrect as they have their respective meanings.
User Interface,or UI simply refers to the methods and interfaces through which a player interacts with the game or a website. On the other hand, UX, or User Experience is an interaction process that leverages on human science and psychology to craft better gameplay experiences.
What Does Good UI and UX Do?
Of course, the work good or what makes something good is subjective. However, there are a few universally accepted design attributes like consistency in the visual design, interactive design, and adherence to information architecture design principles.
With that said, a good UI should be able to quickly and seamlessly provide the player with relevant information and get out of the way ASAP. Moreover, it should be easy to navigate and eliminate any repetitive tasks.
Despite UX design being a relatively new field, it is crucial for game developers as it could mean the success or failure of the game. Many associate it with creativity, graphics, and colors, whereas its true definition is derived from the game’s functionality. As such, a good UX design should enhance the functionality, usability ,and adaptability of the game.
Importance of UI/UX Inspiration
The IT world and development world has an extensive and varied history of evolving. As the technologies continue to grow, so do the trends change in a bid to seal the loopholes created by these new technologies.
As such, game developers need to continuously improve their skills and allow their creativity flow. And since a great game design is rooted in inspiration, there both modern and historical design resources where you can seek inspiration and infuse in a game or website. For example, one of the biggest game design icons Shigeru Miyamoto had to seek inspiration from his childhood memories when creating The Legend of Zelda. The game’s enchanted forests are a recreation of his small village near Kyoto, where he grew up exploring the woodlands.
Additionally, there are other multiple online resources featuring millions of templates that can be used to spark imagination to create intuitive and interactive games.
7 Gaming Trends that Will Largely Influence the Work of a UX/UI Developer in 2020
In 2019, we have seen a plethora of advancements in the gaming world, some of which are expected to dominate the headlines into 2020.
Below is a list of 7 trends that will help create the best UI/UX in games in 2020 and beyond.
Artificial Intelligence
Game designers are just starting to grapple with the ripple effects and advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Although still at its infant stages, AI is beginning to make in-roads into usable development tools and playable products.
One of the specific areas that game developers can gain access within the AI ecosystem is to create intelligent and immersive games. Using the emerging automation tools, developers will be able to design and build sophisticated games that can easily respond to the players feedback, and even in-game characters capable of evolving as the players spend more time with them.
Cloud Gaming
It’s almost impossible to imagine a world without a telephone. A few decades ago, we were waiting for letters to be sent via mail which would take many days if not weeks. With that said, the video games market still lags behind by operating under the same model as it used to be in the early 70s. You basically have to buy specific games to run on a specific device. These devices simply process a code, runs it, and then display the results on the screen.
Cloud gaming in the gaming industry development is promising to do away with with physical servers and migrate into streaming, meaning it will be possible to play on multiple devices. Although these streaming services are expected to breed a new problem of lag, faster internet connections and improved UX/UI design/s are expected to massively impact the gaming industry.
Augmented Reality
A few years back, augmented reality was the talk of the town. However, in 2016, Pokémon Go made it a reality and the gaming world almost came to a standstill with players hunting the characters. This technology merges the real world and computer graphics. And while there are multiple virtual reality crossovers, it is expected to fully go mainstream in the next few five years.
From 2020, more and more free games with physical AR “experiences” and other related add-ons will continue to emerge. This in turn will continue to pose new challenges for UX/UI designers.
eSports Will Continue Making Strides
eSports are huge. There are millions if not billions of people streaming live action games on platforms like Twitch. For instance, in 2018, more than 100 million across the world people streamed the League of Legends Worlds. With eSports slowly making inroads in the traditional media, the gaming demographics will continue changing and the games will get even more realistic.
With these changes, the boundary between eSports and real sports will start to blur meaning the scope of work for the ui/ux designer will continue to evolve and become more demanding.
Spectator Experience on the Rise
In the era of celebrity YouTubers, developers are having to consider not only how their games are played but also how they are viewed. The statistics in terms of the number of people watching and playing games concurrently, are beginning to gravitate towards the former. If you like watching esport tournaments online you can check here the calendar of all the next matches.
Over the next 5 years, more game developers and designers will be looking to exploit this loophole, specifically targeting YouTubers. And this shift is already on course. For instance, games like Speed Runners and Gang Beasts have specifically been built to be appealing to Twitch streamers and YouTubers via quirky visuals and fun co-op modes, all of which emanate from UI/UX experience and design.
Transparent Game Design
For long, game developers have been using crowd-funding gain a following and finance new projects. On top of that, there is an emerging stream of initiatives like Xbox Preview programme and Steam Early Access which allows players to buy games as they are being developed. This real-time interaction with the audience definitely affects the entire development process including the design aspect.
Additionally, these changes in the gaming ecosystem are expected to significantly impact on the types of games genres and designs made. For instance, rogue like games which are heavily reliant on the services of a UI/UX designer will continue seeing a steep growth curve.
Acceptance of Dark Mode & Color Coding
The USP for both Android Q and iOS 13 is the Dark Mode. The expected improvement on the two is also planned to render this dark mode better. In the meantime, the latest mobile app UI design trends are also embracing this concept.
Future mobile applications and games will continue to transform the idea of a dark mode by having a better color coding. Moreover, thanks to the compatibility of the UI design with dark, readability and interactions will continue to be elevated.
There are few additional trends for UI gaming design like engaging animation graphics and Video & Motion UI.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, the world design landscape is set to see a lot of changes. Today, what may seem like UI/UX best practices may be antiquated tomorrow. The key lies in creating a flawless and seem-less user interface that does not turn out to be a problem to the player. With the above listed factors, you shouldn’t have an issue as a developer in creating that.
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