Minecraft/ Terraria UI Imporvements
Platform: Figma
Directed audience/users: Novice video game players
- Novice was defined as players with less than 15 minutes of playtime in Minecraft and Terraria, along with 0-1 hours of general playtime per week
As an academic project, the goal was to improves on the games Minecraft and Terraria focusing on accessibility for novice players. Both are survival games that focus heavily on collecting items and their inventory systems, and it became the project's focal point. Both games’ inventory systems provided little instruction to players, indication of uncraftable items, or if they made a mistake and could undo it. The inventory was found the be the gatekeeper for novice users enjoying the games.
2 prototypes were made for each game. They both highlight more visible inventory UI, the inclusion of labels for specific icons, and error indicators if an item couldn’t be crafted.
Challenges:
- User testing consisted of 6 George Mason University Students, heavily reducing generalizability
- In-game testing environments were not fully controlled and difficult to manage
- Error Recovery was not possible in the current version of the prototype
Hotbar Improvements
Small changes were made to Minecraft's hotbar. Similar features including a box to highlight the selected item were kept. Number indicators were added, allowing players to select a specific item through the associated number key on the keyboard. "E open/close" was also added, providing an omnipresent guide on how to open the inventory system.
Original
Prototype
Inventory Improvements
During user testing, participants had issues understanding each icon and feature of the inventory system. As a result, the proposed prototype adds labels to help mitigate this issue.
Original
Prototype
Error Recognition
Error Recognition and Recovery was an important aspect to consider. Minecraft only provides a red outline to indicate if an item can't be crafted. Searching for an item that doesn't indicate if it exists or can be crafted. The proposed prototype addresses this issue through a red box indicating if an item exists or can be crafted.
Original
Prototype
Hotbar Improvements
During user testing, participants had issue finding the hotbar in Terraria, which is originally in the top left corner of the screen. As a result, it was moved to the upper of center of the screen for better visual clarity. similar to Minecraft, a small indicator of how to open and close the inventory system was provided.
Original
Prototype
Inventory Improvements
Terraria's inventory system was scattered on the left and right sides of the screen. The crafting menu was restricted to a column that players would need to scroll through, or click on a hammer icon to expand it. The proposed prototype centralizes the system into one large menu. Similar to Minecraft, labels were added to each icon and function to better guide players.
Original
Prototype
Error Recognition
Similar to Minecraft, Error Recognition and Recovery was something Terraria struggled in during the Heuristic Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthrough, and user testing. The proposed prototype addresses this issue through a red box when players attempt to craft an item that doesn't exist.
Original
Prototype
