Some people buy games because they like the genre or have some strange, unrequited affiliation towards a publisher. Some people buy games because their friends are all buying it, and wouldn’t want to miss out on that all important few days of online play.
And some people – fewer, admittedly – buy games because, just now and again, the men pulling the strings actually give a shit about the user interface.
To me, how a game looks (and I’m not talking about polygon counts or shaders) can be as important as anything else, and whilst that may sound alien to you, know that I appreciate a good menu design or logo much more than trophy count, game length or cutscene frame rate.
[drop]So when most gamers bought WipEout 3 because it had smart course design, or a thumping licensed soundtrack, I bought it because the title screen simply said wipeout three title screen.On white, in a still fresh looking typeface against deep grey and black, those four words conveyed more about the game to me than any preview could ever attempt to.
In 1999, fresh out of Uni, WipEout 3 was hugely influential on the rest of my working life.
The reason? The Designers Republic, a Sheffield based graphic design studio set up thirteen years prior by one Ian Anderson.
Seeing that title screen swerved my career path, from programmer to designer, in an instant.
I envied the studio and what they were doing as I struggled with an underpowered Mac; was insanely jealous of their consistently against-the-rules output and would have given anything to work there.
“tDR,” as they were known, “is a declaration of independence from what we perceive to be the existing design community” said Anderson. They started on record covers before moving onto games with WipEout in 1995; their rather postmodern outlook back then was skilfully married with Japanese influences (especially Manga) to produce some wonderful artwork.
But while the studio were involved with many games, Psygnosis’ WipEout 3 stands out as being the title that really locked me into the line of work I now follow, and will forever result in an ever critical eye against ever game I play.
This, as you might expect, presents its own set of problems – ones that I can’t easily shake or cast aside no matter what game I’m playing. And my general (and perhaps overly critical) finding is simple, and yet troubling:
[drop2]Rarely do publishers and developers understand good user interface design.It’s not just the visuals, it’s the way users move through the menus and options; a jarring jump to a save screen or a switch around of the buttons are hardly rarities in the industry, the presentation often feeling like an afterthought or farmed out to an intern.
Psygnosis involved tDR from the start, and it shows – throughout the entire game.
Apart from the aforementioned title screen, the same minimal approach flowed into the menus, the team logos, the weapon icons, the loading screens and the in game billboards and livery, all of which were interconnected and consistent.
It made a massive impact – the game was praised for it – and yet for the most part the acclaim that the designers garnered all those years ago is ignored and cast aside as games continue to feature atrocious UI. Not everyone can afford the services of a dedicated agency just for this area, but overlooking it means you may as well just use Comic Sans.
I’m sure I’m in the minority here, at least with respect to how much emphasis I place on what others may perceive to be an inconsequential part of their £40 investment, but I’m certainly not alone.
And on that note, it’s telling that I couldn’t connect with Fusion at all, the PS2 WipEout dropping much of what made the earlier games so special in terms of design.
To me, the work tDR did with WipEout defined the series and showed that games can easily be transformed into something beautiful (or depressingly mundane) away from the purely technological aspects of whatever the publishers are pouring their millions into.
Of course gameplay is king, but a good UI should always rule.
Jambo
WipEout three and Colin McRae rally 2 are my favourites and both are actually very similar.
I do love a nice clean simple to use UI.
MrSpeedyGonzales
Colin McRae 2 was sooo good. The cheat to give you fireballs made that game one of the most enjoyable, I’ve ever played.
Tuffcub
I bought WipEout for the music rather than the UI., specifically Atom Bomb :)
KeRaSh
I remember the first time I heard Firestarter in Wipeout. It was the moment I fell in love with the series.
Jambo
On a related note why aren’t 2097 and 3 SE not on the store yet!?
teflon
With double negatives like that, who needs affirmatives?
mugsybalone
Ain’t nobody what don’t need no affirmatives.
Jambo
Gosh darn it.
Bodachi
Could be to do with the soundtrack perhaps they might have to re-licence music?
Youles
Nice article. I don’t consider presentation when I buy I game, but I certainly appreciate good presentation. One of the flaws (imo) with a lot of Japanese games are the “cheap”, arcade-style menus, and whilst they aren’t game breaking, it makes you wonder – if they give such little attention to the menus, which are generally your first impression – what else they have overlooked. The format and appearance of the Pro Evo menus changed completely from one screen to the next; the menus in Everybody’s Golf on Vita are ghastly; and I recall some pretty basic Resident Evil menu screens.
Dead Space is one of the best games for in-game interfaces/menus – with no HUD (ideal for being immersed in that particular genre) – and all the radio transmissions, ammo counts and health-bar being part of the in-game equipment or shown as part of what the character sees themselves.
More recently I was a little disappointed with Gravity Rush’s HUD given it’s great artwork and visuals, it kind of spoiled the view. WipEout looks fantastic and is my Vita showcase game to friends. Not only is the presentation simple and clinical, it still feels detailed as it’s totally representative of the game’s quality and futuristic feel.
Alex C
Yep, some of the Japanese games have menus and titles that are so ugly I simply won’t play them. Resident Evil for one – they’re generally shockingly done and not ever in an ironic way.
I remember seeing Pro Evo’s menus and UI a few years back and doing a minisick. I assume it’s still just as bad.
Youles
Lol, Pro Evo is certainly worthy of a mini-sick. It seems mad they don’t keep the same Font or Font Size, let alone layout, colours. It just looks Messi. (See what I did there?) Perhaps my OCD is too bad, but if I was a developer I would see each screen displayed as a piece of art or an opportunity to show-off something. Ignoring that opportunity just seems lazy. The impact a single design should not be underestimated, it might even be subconscious that we recognise or appreciate a games’ reflection by a simple Font/Icon/Colour in a pre-game menu, but for me it’s always noticed one way or another, for good or for bad.
fs
Thats odd i’ve always liked the PES interface. Hmm.
Youles
To be fair I am a bit critical/picky, and I’ve only played the demos of this gen’s Pro Evo’s, so perhaps they have been improved. They just seemed very basic and unnecessarily changeable ;)
fs
I agree 100% it’s a huge part of the connection between gamer and game. Even if its sub-concious, it happens. MGS has always used good interfaces with their games, wasn’t thrilled with MGS4 though. PES is always clean and simple. I think the Ghost Recon FS interface is ugly as is the interface for games likes Call of Duty and AC. I like the clean, digitalised look and you barely ever get that. Ofcourse, it’s not always relevant to the game so I let off games like Skyrim, Max Payne, GTA, Fallout and Journey. Journey’s interface btw is absoutely briiliant, so simple and unique, love the way you literally just press start and your sweeping through that gorgeous HD rendered sand!
fs
Speaking of interfaces, TSA is really pushing the Skyrim DLC is it not?
The Skyrim Axis.
TSBonyman
I liked how in The Getaway, when you let the game idle at the title screen and the screen would fill with all the sliding bands of colour while that cool 70’s tv show music would play.
I don’t care for the world maps that have replaced menus in some racing games. Sometimes it feels like they don’t lend themselves to a natural sense of progression. I prefer to begin with the easiest, move on to the next difficulty level and so on and not be hopping around through a selection of events at varying difficulty levels.
tactical20
I’ve a got a Designers Republic/DrumandBassArena Tee somewhere from 2001. They did a lot of work together as both based in Sheff.
btime
oooh, I’ve come over all P.W.E.I… love tDR’s stuff :)
nice piece, very interesting.
Forrest_01
*waits for the inevitable “whats P.W.E.I??” question from someone too young to remember*
:)
blast71
Piss Wasser Elevates Indigestion ? ;)
Kennykazey
Err…. How about a picture? I want to see it now and I’m too lazy to Google.
Alex C
It’s right at the top of the article.
Kennykazey
Is that it? It actually says “title screen”? I thought that was just a header for the article. Whoa, that’s badass!