beyond the hud - user interfaces for increased player immersion in fps games
DESCRIPTION
Master thesis from Chalmers University of Technology done at DICE in 2009.Full thesis available on: http://publications.dice.se and http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/cpl/record/index.xsql?pubid=111921The concept of immersion has been adapted by game developers and game critics to describe a deep and positive game experience. While the definition of this concept varies, the user interface of the game is often said to affect the degree to which players can immerse themselves in a game experience. In cooperation with game developer DICE, this master thesis aims to investigate how the notion of immersion affects, and is affected by, the user interface (UI) of first-person shooter games, with the ultimate purpose of delivering user interface guidelines for increased immersion. By conducting a study of contemporary first-person shooter (FPS) games, the current state of user interfaces in FPS games is documented. With the addition of a subjective study of FPS games as well as games of other genres, a design space for UI designers is mapped out in order to provide a structure upon which the guidelines can be built. A literature study of various resources within the fields of ludology, cognitive science and media studies is conducted in order to gain increased understanding of what immersion is and its relation to the game experience. The knowledge acquired is used to formulate various hypotheses of how player immersion is connected to the user interfaces of FPS games. These hypotheses are evaluated by user studies and user tests. Looking at the results of the user tests and the literature study, a final definition of immersion is proposed, upon which the guidelines are based. The first guideline, Know Your Design Space, explains the user interface design space of FPS games and encourages UI designers to look at it as a set of tools. Know Your Game discusses how the competitive focus of the game and the game fiction affects the user interface from an immersion point of view. The guideline Establish Player Agency focuses on how the player can be transferred into the game world by acting within it as an agent rather than simply a player of the game. Finally, Strengthen the Player-Avatar Perceptual Link suggests how the user interface can link the player closer to his in-game character on a perceptual level.TRANSCRIPT
Beyond the HUDUser interfaces for player immersion in FPS games
Magnus LorentzonErik FagerholtInteraction Design Master’s ProgrammeIT-Universitetet, Chalmers Tekniska Högskola
Beyond the HUDHow do we design interfaces for player immersion in FPS games?
1. Studied and player 20+ contemporary FPS’s
2. Studied innovative games in other genres
3. Interviews, focus-groups and play-testing
4. Extensive litterature study
FPS games playedThe following titles were included in the preliminary game study
Hour of VictoryAmerica's Army: True SoldiersTurning PointLegendaryConflict: Denied OpsHazeClive Barker's JerichoBlackSite: Area 51TurokTimeShiftCall of JuarezMirror's EdgeThe Darkness
F.E.A.R.2 Tom Clancy's GRAW 2Resistance 2Left 4 Dead BioshockKillzone 2
The following titles were included in play-testing
Halo 3CoD 4: Modern WarfareBattlefield: Bad CompanyFar Cry 2
other games of relevans Other games played or studied during the thesis work as examples of innovative UI solutions
Jurassic Park: TrespasserPeter Jackson’s King KongCall of Chuthulu: Dark Corners of the WorldMetroid PrimeTom Clancy’s Splinter cell: ConvictionHeavy RainGTA 4Rockstar’s Table TennisDead SpaceResident Evil 5
from this…
… to this
“In a participatory medium, immersion implies learning to swim, to do things that the new environment makes possible." (Murray, 1996)
The interactive illusion is an illusion in itself…
ludology
not
what is immersion?
what is immersion?
When the player accesses his real world perception, reasoning skills or emotions to play the game or voluntarily adopt the game world as a primary world, and reason from the character’s point of view rather than having to refer directly to the rules of the game in order to understand it
guidelines
guidelines
1. Know your design space
2. Know your game
3. Establish player agency
4. Strengthen the player-avatar perceptual link
know your design space
know your design space
Every UI element can be categorized based on two fundamental properties:
FICTION
SPATIALITY
Fictional map, non-fictional tutorial text
Spatial runner vision, non-spatial subtitles
know your design space
know your design space
Non-diegetic elements (non-spatial, non-fictional)
Meta-perception (non-spatial, non-fictional)
Meta-representation (non-spatial, fictional)
Geometric elements (spatial, non-fictional)
Diegetic elements (fictional, spatial)
Diegetic elements (fictional, spatial)
Signifiers (fictional, spatial)
Signifiers (fictional, spatial)
know your design space
The user interface is not restricted to visual elements. Don’t forget to make use of…
… the auditory dimension
… the haptic dimension
know your game
know your game
Distinguish games of progression from games of competition
Single player vs multi player
Non-diegetic HUD elements, justified given that the nature of the game is highly competitive (Battlefield: Bad Company)
know your game
Distinguish games of progression from games of competition
SP games can be highly competitive
HUD elements added to the more competitive Time Trial mode of Mirror’s Edge
know your game
The fiction of the game determines the possibilities of diegetic UI elements
Consequently, fiction provides opportunity to explain why certain information is available to both the player and the player character, bringing the player closer to the avatar that he or she controls.
A glimpse of the highly diegetic UI of Dead Space
know your game
The game fiction also determines what UI designers can get away with outside of the diegetic area…
… would Runner Vision feel right if Faith wasn’t a ”runner”?
establishing player agency
establishing player agency
Percieved Affordances
Signifiers
Material Constraints
Formal Constraints
remember…
Exsisting affordances might need to be amplified
Non-existing ones might need to be supressed.
Amplification using signifiers
Supression AND Amplification
Demonstrated Affordances
"Hey, Resident Evil 5, I'm well aware that I'm supposed to throw a grenade into the boss monster's mouth. I kind of got the message from the way grenades keep getting spawned… So that's what I've been trying to do for twenty minutes by actually equipping a grenade and throwing it at the boss monster's mouth… I had no idea you expected me to walk directly up to the boss monster's mouth, at which point I would be prompted to press a button to script equipping and tossing a grenade. Last I checked, a grenade was a ranged weapon."
breakdown…
- Tom Chick
strengthen the player-avatar perceptual link
strengthen the player-avatar perceptual link
Due to the fact that the player is only connected to the game world through graphics, audio and haptics, much of the way we act within the real world is lost when transferred into a game experience.
This must be compensated by the game UI!
strengthen the player-avatar perceptual link
The most significant loss of perception is the broken perceptual link regarding the internal states of the player character
Meta-perception – a straight forward strategy towards linking the player closer to the senses of the player avatar
Meta-perception by simulating tunnel vision (Call of Duty 5)
Meta-perception using ”blood on camera lense” metaphor (Killzone 2)
Meta-perception to give an increased sense of speed (ME)
strengthen the player-avatar perceptual link
It is also important to consider perceptually linking the player to the external game world
For example, use signifiers to leave environmental traces that strengthens the player’s sense of direction
Shoe smear marks in Mirror’s Edge, increasing sense of direction regarding explored environments
Blood traces, strengthening the player’s sense of direction regarding unexplored environments (Dead Space)
strengthen the player-avatar perceptual link
If non-fictional UI elements are used to guide the player, it is important to balance between providing the player with too much information and too little.
While players appreciated the increased sense of direction that Runner Vision provides in ME, they actually preferred discovering their own paths through the game environments, without using Runner Vision