Visual Design of Games

Through this exercise of using thumb notes, I explored how the UI of our project — “The Art of Flaking” — can be improved. While not exactly post-its, I used a mini moleskin notebook that I carry around all the time for this exercise.

The Art of Flaking is comprised of 5 major components. In our initial UI prototype, 4 of those were placed in a rectangular matrix form.

After reading Christina’s Visual Design of Games, the first exercise I tried for our project was exaggerating the size of one random component. Out of our 5 game components, I somewhat randomly chose the timer to be the subject of that experiment. I believe it turned out to be a good choice — I could imagine several turn-based games emphasizing the time limit of a round. Evoking a sense of ‘urgency’ ties in well into the game’s theme of ‘completing a group project in time’.

Having a giant element on screen also forced me to think about how to go about arranging the other components. It made sense to center the timer on the center then, while placing the other panels around the timer.

On the right image, I explored then how relevant grouping should be done. Since cumulative points and time spent are related components (points earned from a round is a direct function of the time spent per individual), I figured that they should be in a similar shape/font and arranged at opposite sides, separate from the timer element. I also decided that the TA element did not need a separate panel — an image of a TA can overlay the whole screen in the event when they show up to the project meeting (30% chance).

Lastly, I explored various fonts and letter placement possibilities for our logo.

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