“Future of everything is Mobile”
Mobility Technology has transformed the way we live, work and play. With smartphones getting more affordable, mobile gaming industry has surpassed PC and console as the leading gaming platform. It is worth estimated 36.9 billion industry as compared to $29 billion of PC and console collective gaming. By the end of year 2018, it is estimated that the gaming industry is expected to raise to 45 billion with smartphone gaming and up to 39 percent with tablet gaming.
Creating an enthralling mobile gaming application with flawless and smooth UX design is a challenging task. It requires an exceptional skill set and experience to comprehend the concept and accomplish a user-friendly and appealing design.
I personally know a number of individuals who talk about a lot of ways to create usable mobile apps but only a few talk about smooth UX and great mobile game-player experience. This article is directed to the people who are new to or interested in mobile game interface design. So without further ado, let’s discuss some amazing tips to improve Mobile Game UI Design.
Fast, Fresh, Clean & Simple
Well, it is essential that the Mobile app design is as Fast and as Responsive as possible. It might get subjected to a number of iterations but the end product should be simple, fresh and easier to use. Make sure that every animation, each menu and every screen pops up instantly and responsively. Try hiding the depth in deeper menus to make the UX as simple as possible.
Make sure that the fonts are readable. The fonts that you’ve selected might look great on the tablet or big mobile device’s screen, but are they legible on small screen phones with lower resolutions? It advised that you ensure that the fonts, you have chosen are readable at all resolutions. Also make sure that you have adequate solutions to make the texts easier to scale, scroll or flow so that it becomes legible for the game players.
Design for Small Screens
Considering how a user hold the device, designer has to wisely make use of the limited screen space to make every inch of it more valuable. In majority of the PC games the controls and the action buttons are stuffed in the corners but on a mobile it becomes totally useless. On an average, mobile user faces hard time in reaching out to the controls at the corners. It is better to keep them at the center of the screen in both portrait and landscape gameplay.
Colors are important
Colors have an immense on the modern day web design, branding, packaging, product design and even on mobile UX design. It is essential for your mobile game app success that the colors are correctly used in the interface. Use of colors have a very lasting and provoking impact on various mobile gaming applications not only on the look and feel but also on the even the conversion rates as many colors instill a tendency to take actions. You must be aware that the use of some primary colours like green, white and red have a certain preconceived meanings to the human psychology. Sometimes colors act as indicator for function or state change of a button.
Design For Playability and Fun
‘Mobile Games must be fun’
This simple rule override any other playability principle. If the game is fun, nothing else matters to the player. It will keep him / her hooked for a long time even if it has some minor faults or poor design. Sometimes, it’s good to challenge the users and make them think, sparking little curiosity. But if your challenge is too hard for the user it might leave the game in frustration. So be very calculative in challenging your user in the gameplay. Another amazing way to enhance the playability is to keep adding new game modes and features. If your gaming app offers reward points for the game play, nothing is better.
Using Intuitive Gestures
Gestures have made touch screen mobile games a huge success. Your favorite car game whether it's Real Racing GTI or Ashphalt 8 Airborne comes with tilt control steering. Who wouldn’t love to tilt steer the wheel instead of pressing the screen?
It is believed that Gestures make the game play smooth and enjoyable. It offers good ground to innovate and make the games extra fun. But a designer should keep the the gestures on an intuitive level. Their is no point using the same old gestures like pinch to zoom. Instead you can come up with innovate new gestures which are inspired from the human behaviour and can improve the playability.
Play n Test to overcome challenges
Video games offer highly dynamic experiences and this very feature makes testing is an indispensable part of the UI design. Let me explain how. The flow of event alters from time to time and each decision the gamer makes leads to a number of outcomes. Many of the games are bundled with element of randomness, in short the same player can never have the similar experience twice. Multiplayer games are even more unpredictable. A wise game tester doesn’t go directly for controlling the actual gameplay. Instead he focuses on controlling the underlying system in which the game play unfolds. You must also not neglect to playtest your game early and often.
If you are fortunate, your past experiences about background testing can come in handy. Exploit it at every stage of mobile game testing. Research from the internet, discuss with your coworkers, sit with them, watch them play your game. Be critically harsh about the product. Be truthful to yourself! Do you feel like playing it again? Was it boring? Did the game play made any sense? Was it confusing? To adapt a design that makes the gameplay more enjoyable, it is essential that you put your game under the microscope again and again.
An overwhelming UI design and a delightful user experience is easier said than done. Thankfully with the technology at hand, mobile games are now made pretty flexible providing you an opportunity to almost change the entire UI even after it’s launch. These 5 Top tips will help you get started, but soon you’ll be required to learn and manage the challenges as they come up. Always play to your strengths, trust your instincts and ensure that you track how players interact with the Game UI to corner the problem areas and improve the the interface accordingly.
Author Bio:
Ankur Kumar is a content marketing expert and an experienced blogger. He likes to ideate and write on various topics including technology, digital marketing, startups and environment. He is an active member of FindNerd, a social tech community and an online project management tools platform. An avid outdoorsman, explorer and nature lover who believes in minimalist lifestyle. You can find Ankur on LinkedIn and Twitter.