Top 5 Game Interfaces (RPGs)

---

Posted November 1st 2011

I bet everyone has had this at some point in their gaming career; you are totally hyped about a new game, you buy it, you start playing it.. the gameplay is great, everything you expected and more! However, the game interface is either so ugly or utterly confusing, it just completely throws you off and makes it unnecessarilly  hard for you to enjoy an otherwise fantastic game!

So GOE decided to take a look at some game interfaces for you. We will start with some of the better (PC) RPG-games!

——————————————————————————————————————

1. The Witcher 2

In-game:

• Health/magic/endurance/.. -bars Present, well-positioned and clear enough to be able to monitor them during combat.
• Minimaps present, representing a large enough area and incorporating clear area markers (shops, quests, etc)  to be able to find your way reasonably without constantly having to switch to the large map.
• Quickslot bar (weapons, potions, (magic) skills,  ..) not really there, the in-game interface only shows what ‘magic’ power and what throwing weapon you currently have selected. Weapon switches, potions, etc are mostly only available through menus.
• Companion representation (health/magic/endurance/..) just a healthbar, but mages seem to have infinite ‘magic’ anyways.
• The ‘look’ (design) Its a nice simple style, well positioned, that is perfect for its purpose.

Menus:

• Inventory press I, easily managable, classically divided set-up (weapons, potions, traps, All, etc).
• Skills press C, nice looking skill-trees with clear descriptions of what they will do for you.
• Magic also through C, magic is incorporated in the skill-trees. 
• Crafting/Upgrades Depending on what you want to craft, you will have to find craftsmen (weapons, etc) or do it yourself (Alchemy) through the ‘meditation’-menu (can’t be in combat).
• Quests press J, easily managable quest trees, generally with clear descriptions of what is expected of you and quit elaborate background stories accompanying especially the main quests.
• World Map Clear map, clear markers.
• Game World Info press J, nice background stories about people you met (secondary and main characters) and what their relation is/was to you and the in-game world. Also info about the different beasts you killed and how to best kill them and the places you have visited. 
• The ‘look’ (design) pretty sleek design of the menus, lots of pictograms, somewhat translucent moving background. Functional and easy to look at.
• Additional notes the different menus in the Witcher 2 are sort of all over the place when you just start playing the game for the first time. You can’t just press Escape and see some kind of list of all the menus. Some you can access through just a button, others you will have to first get into meditation for. That being said, its not rocket science either. You will (eventually) find out where to access what.

2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

In-game:

• Health/magic/endurance/.. -bars Present, well-positioned but because its mostly a numerical representation and a quit small one at that it usually isn’t something you can monitor very well during intense combat.
• Minimaps present in the form of an upgradable radar on which you can only see representations of people and quests (so no environment). Actual map is only available through a menu.
• Quickslot bar (weapons, potions, (magic) skills,  ..) One editable quickslotbar for weapons and inventory, one small pre-set diamond shaped quickslot panel for augment-skills (‘cloaking’ for example), those skills are accessible through F1-F4.
• Companion representation (health/magic/endurance/..) no companions.
• The ‘look’ (design) Adam’s augmented vision is represented in that interactable objects get highlighted with a tight yellow border and quest locations and travel distance to them are always represented while running around. This is nice because this means you will not miss the fact that you don’t have a minimap (only a radar) in-game. The in-game HUD is minimal and functional, which works good.

• Inventory press I, Adam’s upgradable inventory is based on space rather than weight and is very limited (likely by design as this way you can’t walk around with ALL weapons, all hack devices and shitloads of ammunition). Also, no variety of ‘armor’ is available (Adam likes his flower-printed coat, kthx) and inventory space really is only used for weapons, ammo and some hack devices. 
• Skills augmentations take the form of ‘feats’, ‘skills’, or ‘magic’ in this game and are clearly represented in a body-part-related subdivision-menu. You are able to see the next steps of every augmentation and so you can plan ahead your build.
• Crafting/Upgrades Ugrades (weapons only) are done quite simple through combining upgrades with the weapon in the Inventory menu.
• Quests not that much background info given usually, but definetely enough to understand what is expected of you. 

• World Map Clear map, clear markers of quests and buildings (names). No representation of important people or merchants however (unless related to a current quest), wether you met them already or not.
• Game World Info Most of the game world info you get is from conversations, e-readers and e-mails. The e-mails are stored so you can find them back whenever you want to. 
• The ‘look’ (design) bit of a sleek ‘inside-a-robot’s-head’-design, with lots of moving little meters (‘temperature’, ‘CPU’, etc) at the bottom of the screen that are there just for the looks. An orange/yellow color seems to be prevalent not only in the menus, but in the game world as well. 

3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1 & 2)

In-game:

• Health/magic/endurance/.. -bars Present, well-positioned and clear enough to be able to monitor them during combat.
• Minimaps present, easily showing a big enough area to rarely feel the need to use the big map (which is accessible by either pressing ‘M’ or just clicking on the minimap). No icons (for shops, quests, ..) on the minimap though!
• Quickslot bar (weapons, potions, (magic) skills,  ..) present and preset in such a way that you can easily access your shields, force powers, ‘potions’ and even character-AI. To switch around weapons, beyond the two sets you can equip and switch around with the click of a button, you will have to go to the equipment menu.
• Companion representation (health/magic/endurance/..) present in the form of smaller portraits close to your own, showing health, force and wether a companion is buffed or negatively infected in some way or not.
• The ‘look’ (design) simple style, you got something in every corner of your in-game screen, but definetely not in an obtrusive way. Colorwise it follows exactly the menu’s design in which a blueish green is prevalent.
• Additional notes besides using quick keys you can also just click the pictograms of the menus at the top of your screen. Very easy access.

Menus:

• Inventory press I, easily managable, classically divided set-up. You will however notice quickly that you won’t be spending much time in this menu as its mostly ‘just see, don’t touch’, but rather in the ‘equipment’ menu where you get a lot more interaction with your junk fabulous collection of weapons, armor, shields, etc.
• Skills info about skills, feats and force powers can be viewed by going to the ‘Abilities’ menu (K), however you can’t see feats/force powers you don’t have yet. Only when you level up can you actually see the entire ‘tree’ and make an attempt to plan ahead in what abilities are actually worth getting for your chosen character.
• Magic same as above (force powers). 
• Crafting/Upgrades You can only craft through workbenches (weapons, armor, upgrades), medical workstations (stimulants, health packs, implants, etc) or one or two companions who can act as such stations.
• Quests press J, not that much background info given usually, but definetely enough info given to understand what is expected of you. 
• World Map Clear map, clear markers.
• Game World Info Most of the game world info you get is from conversations and datapads, this knowledge isnt compiled in one place for access at a later point though. 
• The ‘look’ (design) structured and grid-like design that fits the game’s science fiction background, lots of pictograms. Functional, but can get a bit boring to look at.

 

 

 

4. Neverwinter Nights 2

In-game:

• Health/magic/endurance/.. -bars Present, well-positioned and clear enough to be able to monitor them during combat (especially since you can pause combat anyways).
• Minimaps present, with about 4 different zoom options. 
• Quickslot bar (weapons, potions, (magic) skills,  ..) present in multitude (about 10 bars in total), you can put pretty much anything on these bars (skills, weapons, armor, etc).
• Companion representation (health/magic/endurance/..) present in the form of similar portraits close to your own, showing health, buffs and negatives.
• The ‘look’ (design) every ‘panel’ has a little ‘bling’ in the form of small stylish decorations. It looks pretty but in a modest non-obtrusive way. 
• Additional notes you can hide or drag almost all the GUI-panels wherever you want them in your in-game screen.

Menus:

• Inventory press I, though weight-restricted (upgradable through investing points in STR), you have loads of space for all sorts of junk, especially since your party members can carry just as much as you. A ‘sort’-button can be used to organize your items, which is quite useful in an inventory that can get messy quite fast. 
• Skills info about skills, feats, attributes, etc can be viewed by going to the ‘Character’ menu. However you can’t see feats you don’t have yet, which can make it reasonably hard for new players to plan their build. 
• Magic represented as a Spellbook. Generally its easiest to drag spells from the book to your quickbar or use the special in-game quickcast menu for magic.
• Crafting/Upgrades You can only craft through placing stuff on workbenches and perform the proper action on the bench. There is no special menu for this.
• Quests Not that much background info given usually, but definetely enough to understand what is expected of you. 
• World Map Clear map, clear markers.
• Game World Info Most of the game world info you get is from conversations and some from books, this knowledge sadly isnt compiled in one place for access at a later point. 
• The ‘look’ (design) Same as the in-game ‘look’ since for most menus you don’t quit the in-game world.

5. Mount & Blade: Warband (SP)

In-game:

• Health/magic/endurance/.. -bars Present, well-positioned and clear enough to be able to monitor them during combat.
• Minimaps no minimap.
• Quickslot bar (weapons, potions, (magic) skills,  ..) no quick slot bar, but as there are no ‘potions’ or special skills that can be activated during combat, you don’t need one, you can switch your equipped weapons with the press of one button though (switch from your bow to your sword&shield for example).
• Companion representation (health/magic/endurance/..) none
• The ‘look’ (design) Its a relatively simple design, not pretty nor ugly, just functional.

Menus:

• Inventory press I, not weight-based, but space-based. Upgradable. All items take an equal amount of space and you generally have enough room if you sell the junk from time to time. 
• Skills press C, very straightforward design and skill set-up. No rocket science.
• Magic no magic in this game.
• Crafting/Upgrades no crafting/upgrading in this game, if you want better equipment, loot or buy it.
• Quests named as ‘Notes’, again very straightforward and not hard to understand.
• World Map Since you spend a lot of time moving real-time over the world map with your personal army, the map is quite far developed compared to ‘normal’ RPG-games. You can see towns, villages, armies, all sorts of roaming bandits, etc while galloping through the snow, the plains or even the deserts.
• Game World Info Game has a sort of in-game encyclopedia in which you can view information about all the NPCs, the towns and the kingdoms.
• The ‘look’ (design) Mount&Blade: Warband is not a beautiful game and neither is its menu-interface. Not ugly, definetely not pretty, but functional.

 

Next time we will look at the interfaces of some of the better strategy games!

About Jasper Vick

Jasper is an enthusiastic aspiring game artist interested in everything on games! At the moment -through working with Games Of Experience- he is working on expanding his knowledge about the different disciplines, workflows and possibilities in game development and the industry itself. In his spare time he is also trying to work as much as possible on his game art portfolio.

View all posts by Jasper Vick →