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Menu Planning

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JakeSamiRulz edited this page Sep 22, 2015 · 1 revision

The menu is really not too difficult to build, but for a game like this, it is the only real interaction between the user and the game. Combined with the fact that we have literally 4 different control schemes…

  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Touch
  • Gamepad

added on to the varying sizes of tablets, phones, and PC’s. The challenge is keeping the interface simple, but able to be used between all the devices in use.

Control Limitations and Rules

Of the four control schemes, I think that the one with the most limitations is touch. It is not enough that the menu items are visible, but they also have to be big enough to touch and flexible enough not to cause unnecessary mistakes.

There are a few rules that I think will make it much easier for touch users…

  1. Always a way out – Each menu should have a visible border that is completely around the edge. The reason for this is that the first instinct for any touch player trying to exit any menu is tapping outside the menu. In order to cater to that instinct, I will build with that in mind, making it easier for players to interact and not giving the feeling that a player can’t back out of something.

  2. Double Tap – Each menu selection needs to have a mechanism where it taps once to put a selector on it. The second tap on a selected tap should confirm the selection. The most frustrating thing about touch is the lack of control on press, so I believe that most things should be handled on release, where people have more time to select what they want.

  3. Near the bottom – It would be wise to have the selectable options near the bottom of the screen for easy access for fingers wherever possible. It’ll make it easier to play the game with one hand, rather than struggling to find a table to play the game on. Hopefully, there will be a way to reduce the amount of scrolling one would do in the game, but there are no guarantees.

  4. Top border denotes layout – If orientation is enabled on the device, I’ll let the top border decide the layout of the menus. There will essentially be two menu schemes (one for horizontal portrait, and one for vertical landscape). Each one will layout the screen differently, decided by the length of the top vs. length of the side.

  5. Big menu buttons – Where applicable, the menu buttons will try to retain a certain size. My hope is that large icons and buttons will make it easier to select units quickly, and a scrolling system in game will allow users to find the object they are looking for faster.

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