So, I've been browsing around, and I've been looking for some tips on UI design. So far, I just have general tips, like keep things consistent, use the same words for the same or similar things, pick about 2 - 3 fonts at most, don't over use effects (outlines, drop shadows, gradients, etc.), things like that.

And all of these things are fantastic advice. I most certainly see the value in making sure that no one makes their menus a complete typographical train wreck, or keeping someone from making a needlessly confusing set of icons.

But, what I'm looking for is some advice for mobile devices, specifically. And, I know a lot of advice that you can give me depends on a lot of factors, so I'm going to share a bit of what I'm working on, in order to narrow in on what kind of advice would be helpful.

I'm planning on making an RPG of sorts. Of course, I'm making sure to accommodate for the control limitations of the device itself, because, as many of us know, controlling a character with a virtual joystick on an iPhone/Android screen can sometimes have.... inconsistent results. So, as a result of this, there will be a decent portion of menu navigation, and I'm trying to make it as convenient and painless as possible. Only time will tell, but I feel like I have a decent balance of action and menu navigation. Despite that balance, the menus have got to be not only good to look at, but also easy to navigate, preferably as quickly as possible.

I'm also making my life just a little bit easier, by making the game play only in horizontal orientation - so I don't have to reconfigure menus for when the phone is held vertically.

And, I know a few basic things that probably won't work. Considering the orientation, it would be a bad idea to split the screen horizontally down the middle if I'm going to be displaying any large pictures. For instance, if you were talking to a shopkeeper, it would be unwise to have a text box covering the bottom half of the screen for the player's shopping needs, as it would force the shopkeeper to be rather tiny, and wouldn't provide a lot of space for the player to look at items.

But I was wondering if there were any other things that may detract from the experience that I should avoid. Perhaps, some "UI Design faux pas," You may know about. Even if it is obvious, I'd really like to know. And, if you have a link to a guide or article, that's more than welcome.

Also, as you might have noticed by the example, I am mostly concerned with layout - where I should put specific things that need to go into the menu. But, if you have any pointers about other visual design, I'd still love to hear it. Because, as it is, I know some things about visual design (having been taking art classes for most of my life) but I'm not entirely sure how it connects to UI design just yet, and if anything could actually end up making my menus look good visually, but impair the overall experience.

Recently, I played a game where some tiny buttons had such a microscopic hit area, that I sometimes needed to try a dozen times on my phone screen before it would react.

Other tiny buttons had a number on it, which was important to watch while tapping it. The problem is that your finger always obscures the number and you need to try to angle the device to watch the screen from the side.

Another atrocity are inconsistent menus, where the close buttons are randomly top left, top right, mixed with some other positions in the middle. This causes you to constantly change how you hold the device and which hand/finger you tap with.

1 hour ago, wintertime said:

Another atrocity are inconsistent menus, where the close buttons are randomly top left, top right, mixed with some other positions in the middle. This causes you to constantly change how you hold the device and which hand/finger you tap with.

 

Interesting; I wasn't giving as much thought to how one might be holding their device at any given time. Good thing you pointed it out to me before I messed this step up.

On 5/30/2018 at 6:52 PM, rcrawford115 said:

Interesting; I wasn't giving as much thought to how one might be holding their device at any given time.

Also keep in mind that some players might hold the phone in one hand in portrait mode which means they won't have the full range of the screen to tap on.

That's why many portrait-only games on mobile devices only have buttons on the bottom of the screen.

Have a look at this:

https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/02/how-do-users-really-hold-mobile-devices.php

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