10 Things You Didn’t Know About Video Game UI

6. The Trick To A Good Video Game Menu

Dead Space
Bungie

Have you ever thought about menus? No, I’m not talking about picking your bread at Subway. (Although, of course, in that instance, the correct answer is Hearty Italian.)

I’m talking about game menus. Have you ever stopped to think how much effort goes into them?

One of the things user experience teams indulge in, are flowcharts (you know, crack open a few beers and just make a night of it). For such a low-tech, simple process, you’d be surprised how often a flowcharts are used to map out pretty much every aspect of the user experience.

This is because even a basic-looking menu can have up to tens, even hundreds of different permutations - how do you highlight each option? Does the cursor change when you choose your option? Does the screen change? Do you need to hold the button, or just tap it?

You can see how the information starts to get out of hand - and that’s before you even consider adding graphics. That’s why the humble flowchart becomes your best friend, and soon a six-tier start menu starts making a bit more sense to build.

All thanks to some bubbles and arrows! And... about six pints of lager. That helps, too.

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Hiya, you lot! I'm Tommy, a 39-year-old game developer from Scotland - I live on the East coast in an adorable beachside village. I've worked on Need for Speed, Cake Bash, Tom Clancy's The Division, Driver San Francisco, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Kameo 2 and much more. I enjoy a pun and, of course, suffer fools gladly! Join me on Twitter at @TotoMimoTweets for more opinion diarrhoea.