Civilization 6
Civilization 6 is one of the most complex games I’ve ever played. A turn-based strategy game from Firaxis Games, you guide the historical growth of an ancient civilization of your choosing. As a player, you are given a plethora of possibilities in the game, from macro decisions such as deciding which type of government you will use to rule, to micro decisions such as optimizing the amount of uses a builder has to make resource improvements. But with such great control over your civilization also yields a large learning curve. Having played past Civilization games (4 and 5), I still tend to feel lost or overwhelmed sometimes with all of the options the game presents you with. But the charm, challenge, and sweet sweet cultural victories continue to bring me back to the Civilization franchise.
After starting a new game of Civilization 6, players are given the option of selecting between in-game tips that are geared toward newbie Civ players or veterans. The training and help usability principle really shines here for Civ. The developers and designers understand that their game is robust and warrants some player assistance and direction, especially lending help navigating the various different interfaces. These tips appear through the course of the game in different formats, from popovers that provide explanation or insight, to integration into the visual interface selections for recommendations. A tutorial is also available for a more guided introduction. Due to Civ’s size, however, it’s nearly impossible to introduce every aspect directly to the player. Self exploration is a necessity, learning the basics and continuing to build on that. That feeling of being overwhelmed is almost expected, with the turn-based format being forgiving, allowing the user to take the time they need each turn.
With so many aspects of your civilization to manage, the various unique interfaces and menus are the bread and butter of this game. While the sheer amount of different panels can be overwhelming, it’s a necessary part of the gameplay, and it allows the user to do as they please with their civilization. However, when playing, I found that some of the visual representations in these panels tend to overwhelm the content. While the visuals are strongly on-theme and reflect the style of the game elements, the combination of in-game graphics, interface menus, and modular panels start to feel like they’re competing for attention. I don’t fancy myself strong in the visual design department, some possible solutions to remedy the visual struggles I encountered:
- Cut down on use of gradients
- Make texture use more subtle so they don’t compete with one another
- Use of serif fonts for clarity and increase scanability
- Decrease use of layering visual elements to cut down on heaviness
With so much to manage in the game already, I’m curious as to whether a more minimalistic panel style would be a pleasing contrast to the game’s more dynamic interface aspects.
Taking a sidestep to the realm of interface possibilities, Civ has the opportunity to expand its management tools even further, into a more customizable management approach. It would be interesting to have a “micro tracker,” or something the user can pin different improvements/elements they want to track closely throughout their civilization. Often as a player, I found myself wishing I could track specific elements through the construction process, especially when I was at war and needed troops fast. I found it frustrating to have to select each individual city every couple of turns just to check up on the progress of my construction projects. While the game does provide a “world tracker”, this macro view felt too broad. It would take some user testing, but by allowing players to customize their quick tracking capabilities, Civ would do a much better job of making players aware of everything happening in their civilizations, potentially speeding up each turn by putting all the most important information right in front of the user. It’s worth noting though on how important user testing is, for this could potentially backfire by making the experience more complicated. Design, user testing, and iterating is such the life of a designer!
You can tell a lot of time went into the interfaces in Civ, making sure they seamlessly integrate with the gameplay. Having to account for every aspect of gameplay in the interfaces is no small feat, so seeing how well they work and complement each other is satisfying to see as a UX designer. While I did feel overwhelmed by the visual design aspects, the strength of the information hierarchy with regards to the content and presentation should not be overlooked.
Thanks to Joshua Calixto for editing this piece!
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