Games

A look at some common user interface patterns used in video games and how they do, or can, relate to other types of user interfaces, especially web design.

This weekend marked the second year I've visited the Eurogamer expo to get a chance to view and play upcoming games. Here are my impressions.

After attending the Games Based Learning 2010 conference in London I've come away with a realisation of what the medium is capable of and present the case that web designers should be informed and ready to implement games as another form of digital content.

Games are introducing innovative interactive elements that blend traditional UI patterns with fictional ones that follow the narrative. I examine the different categories of UI elements and look at examples of their implementation in some recent games.

The Independent Games Festival unfortunately doesn't get a lot of main stream media coverage but I think showcases innovative ideas in interaction, game design and art.

The Independent Games Festival took place at the end of last month in San Francisco, along side GDC. The finalists are listed on their website.

Augmented Reality and free Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games are helping to advance interaction design.

Advertising often embodies worlds that don't exist, at least in the physical sense. It makes use of myths and portrays an appropriate moment or environment in order to prompt a certain emotion or reaction in the reader. Like film or TV it often provides guidance when handling real life events. Advertising and media act as a powerful informers of local culture.

I've been looking at ideas based around 3D information systems recently, as research for a project I might be working on this month. While I haven't finished researching, one of the topics that has got me interested is the redundancy of interactive elements such as icons and scroll bars when navigating a 3D space.