Designing a menu in computer games
The first thing a player sees in any game is a menu. This “face” of a game is what gives him the opportunity to feel the atmosphere of a game from the very first seconds. That is why developers carefully think over the main menu interface.
Most players agree that a main menu should be user-friendly and intuitive.
About 15 years ago many casual games used items located on the screen instead of buttons with game titles. Probably, the first 10 games with such a menu really looked interesting. But in the end, it turned out to be not very convenient for players.
To impress players, some make a lot of background animation and insert entire videos into their main menu. It looks spectacular, but becomes boring quickly, as soon as a player sees it for the hundredth time. Sometimes even earlier, when due to a “heavy” background a page takes too long to load. In this case, all the developers’ efforts have the opposite effect and simply annoy users.
A main menu is important not only in video games, but in casual games, too. Even in slots, every game series has its own lobby. A lobby is essentially a main menu shared by several games.
The control buttons in slots are usually located around the playing field — at the bottom or on the sides. The main buttons are — spin, number of autospins, bet and number of lines, as well as the info button. These options are usually enough for a slot.
Perfect slot game menu
Slots are a specific genre of casual games and, perhaps, one of the oldest mechanical game types. At the same time, gamblers are rather conservative: many of them still prefer simple “one-armed bandits” with fruits and simple rules and controls to new animated slots. This imposes certain restrictions on developers.
During the year of working on the FairWin project, we have created more than 10 slots. For Top Drop and Yggdrasil we made special control panels and even lobbies, which matched the overall style and spirit of the games. It took us probably no less time to draw the buttons than to draw the backgrounds. For example, when developing Yggdrasil, we were considering at least three options for buttons and completely changed the concept of the control panel design at least once. Our sound designer wrote separate tracks for the info screens of each game. All this despite the fact that they are just slot games!
Some developers insert whole games into their main menu. For example, the new update of Heroes of the Storm has a hidden mini-game from the 90’s in it — Duck Hunt. Behind the main character in the updated menu there is a forest now. If you click on it, ducks, which must be killed within a limited amount of time, will start flying out of it. This is a direct reference to the legendary game of the company, released in 1984 and sold in 28 million copies.
A common technique in video games is a game menu in the form of “augmented reality”, where menu buttons are displayed directly on top of the main plot.
Some manage to make a game interface part of the story. For example, in Fallout 3NV, you can see on some characters’ hands a watch with a screen of the same system menu as the player’s.
Another common technique, used in many visual novels and interactive cinema, is a menu in the form of a personal diary, as, for example, in Life is Strange. This also sets the tone for the story and helps the player to “step into” the character’s role.
In general, a game menu is as integral a part of a game as its plot, gameplay, graphics and game mechanics, and it performs not only utilitarian functions. Yes, of course, it should be convenient above all — this is the first criterion for those who appreciate gameplay, while those who appreciate exploring and immersion will like Easter eggs and a menu design that fits harmoniously into the atmosphere of a game.
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