User Interface
March 9, 2008
Puzzle League
Puzzle league’s front-end interface is mostly just menus with text. There’s nothing special, no fancy graphics or neat effects, just sort of a barebones interface with happy music and satisfying sound effects for menu selections.
In game, the interface is arranged into columns, with the player’s field on the left, the stats (timer, points, game speed, etc) in the center, and the opponent’s field on the right. There’s not really much to talk about as far as innovation here.. It’s pretty standard interface. As mentioned previously, this game has no story or cutscenes, or anything to convey to the user except the raw gameplay.. I feel sort of uninspired writing about it, except that it very competently gets the job done and doesn’t interfere with gameplay in any way. There are a few options to customize in the interface, but they mostly relate to how animated the interface is if you find it distracting while trying to play.
Mario Galaxy
Galaxy takes all the recent developments in interface HUD design and combines them into one. The information panels (health, coins, etc) hide when you don’t need to see them, leaving the whole screen open to run around on. The elements are strategically placed so that the most important element, life points remaining, is in the center. I could go on, but Smash Bros. Brawl was released today, and I want to go play it.
