Arya Bakhsheshi
Interaction Designer / Game Designer
UX/UI INVENTORY SYSTEM DESIGN
THE PROCESS
Concept Introduction
In this project my intention was to design a user friendly, accessible and efficient User Interface for character customization and inventory system panel for a stealth action game, which has some elements of RPG games such as complicated inventory system, XP points and upgrading system. The visuals of the hypothetical game has a more minimalistic and retro look such as “stealth bastard”, “Invisible Inc.” or “Volume”. This allows me to experiment more with graphics and visuals and also focus more on pure UI design and better usability in the interface.
The Game features lots of gadgets and different costumes, armors etc thus needs a coherent and efficient UI for the customization menu. It also has lots of items that the player gets during the gameplay and can use them anytime during a play session. The UI for inventory system features a close up of the avatar’s head, hand and satchel for attaching/detaching appropriate head gadgets as well as a full body inventory diagram that shows different parts of body with the ability to install different gadgets on them. It also shows a storage managing system (inventory grid) character skills (using XP points) etc.
User Goals
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Players would be able to scan all the sections of a complex inventory system in less than 10 seconds and be able to make decisions
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Players would be able to make decisions about customizing their character before the mission in less than 30 mins with ease of access
Target Audience
Age Range: 18-30
Education Level: High School up
Tech Comfort Level: A range from beginner gamers to Pro Gamer - Tech savvy gamers
Other Products Used: Other stealth-action, RPG and AAA or indie games. Applications on touch devices. Software on computers.
After getting the test results from people, I started to create the assets in order to bring them inside Game Maker Stuidio. After this part, it was mostly a matter of little by little development and programming, while I was going back and forth to create the most suitable graphic elements and colors and test them accordingly. Althought I am still working on polishing some parts and adding some other parts, the system works in most of the parts and shows the overal UI design.
You can download the 0.1 version of the application from here.