Welcome To the master examination of: Bas Kersten

WHO IS BAS KERSTEN?

ALLROUND ARTIST With a passion for interface design

ALLROUND ARTIST Internship

ALLROUND ARTIST 4 Th year project

GAMES

THE START OF MY IDEA

CREATE A RTS INTERFACE

NOT FOR PC

BUT FOR A MULTI-TOUCH DEVICE

WHY A MULTI-TOUCH DEVICE? New type of device On the PC the most is already done Much to explore

THE RESEARCH BEGINS

MAIN QUESTION Designing a clean RTS interface for a Multi- touch device?

SUB QUESTIONS What is necessary and what are the main features when creating a RTS interface? What are the possibilities and limitations of an interface on a Multi-touch devices compared to the interface of a traditional RTS game What is the best way to test my interface?

ARE THERE RTS GAMES FOR MULTI-TOUCH DEVICES?

INTERFACE ANALYSIS

INSPIRED BY: Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth

BECAUSE IT FEATURES Minimalistic interface Pre-made building spots Unit micromanagement Clear icons Tight unit cap

GOAL OF THE GAME Build units Gain map control Destroy the enemy

ONE PAGE DESIGN DOCUMENT

IMPORTANT DESIGN CHOICES Short game Premade building spots 4 Types of Units Small Fights Fast gameplay

UNITS 2 normal units, tank and helicopter 2 elite units, Elite tank and Elite helicopter Upgrades through buildings and Elites

TANK & HELICOPTER UNITS

ELITE TANK & ELITE HELICOPTER

BUILDINGS

INTERFACE TEST SCENARIOS

TWO TYPES OF TESTS Interface testing (9 testers) Upgrade icon testing (12 testers)

THEST METHODES Think out loud method (Interface testing) Evaluation Questionnaires (Upgrade icon testing)

THINK OUT LOUD METHOD One on one testing Comfortable setting

TESTING DEVICE iPad 2

TESTING AUDIENCE Age: jaar Used to playing games Higher educated

TESTING GOAL To make a solid Multi-touch RTS interface To improve my interface concept design

FIRST INTERFACE DESIGN

THE TEST RESULTS

MAIN INTERFACE SCREEN Radar Unit screen Elite screen

TEST 1 Create a building

TEST 1 - PROBLEMS How to build? Premade building spots?

TEST 1 - SOLUTIONS Clear building icons Short explanation towards pre-made building spots

TEST 2 Unit production

TEST 2 - PROBLEMS The buildings aren't clear in their functionality.

TEST 2 - SOLUTIONS Clearer building design by integrating recognizable parts of the units in the design

TEST 3 Unit movement

TEST 3 - PROBLEMS Pressing instead of dragging Unit movement is too slow The units only respond in a straight line

TEST 3 - SOLUTIONS Short explanation towards the movement system Tweak the movement to the desired speed Clickstream

TEST 4 Unit upgrade

TEST 4 - PROBLEMS Difficulty determining what the upgrades are

TEST 4 - SOLUTIONS Extensive icon testing

TEST 5 Unit attacking

TEST 5 - RESULTS Because of the movement test they know what to do Same way of attacking as in traditional RTS games

TEST 6 Screen navigation

TEST 6 - PROBLEMS Testers had no idea how to start the navigation through the level

TEST 6 - SOLUTIONS Short explanation towards the navigation system Additional navigation features

UPGRADE ICON TEST

TEST RESULT SHIELD ICON

TEST RESULT SPEED ICON

TEST RESULT ATTACK ICON

8 GUIDELINES

GUIDELINE 1: Give the user feedback on their actions

GUIDELINE 2: Make sure that objects, actions and options are visible to the user

GUIDELINE 3: Multiple options for navigation, but keep it minimal

GUIDELINE 4: Show all options that the user requests

GUIDELINE 5: Design elements (buttons) are large enough to be operated with the fingertips

GUIDELINE 6: Use clickstream for unit movement

GUIDELINE 7: Provide a minimal interface

GUIDELINE 8: Fast and short tutorial

FAST AND SHORT TUTORIAL

CONCLUSION Guidelines Important interface elements Basics for further development of a RTS games on Multi-touch devices

THE END Questions?