HW11 Interfaces

1) Describe the user interface in your game.
The game is in third person view, with the scene taking up most of the screen space showing the avatar walking around the island or driving the boat.  A health meter is shown as a bar across the top of the screen, and a menu of options, such as exit or pause game, is shown as a bar across the bottom of the screen.  The player uses computer keys to tell the avatar where to go and what to do, and the mouse and mouse-button to select menu items.

2) What role will the interface play in your game.
The interface will provide information on health, risks, and navigation.  Health is indicated by the health meter, but risks and navigation will be based on seeing the scene around the avatar. 

3) Intuitive interfaces give a feeling of control. How easy (or hard) is your interface to master?
The interface should be easy to master, even for players who are not familiar with other games.  The health meter and menu items will always be visible on the screen.  The player will not be able to see the whole layout of the island at one time, but figuring out how to navigate around the island is a part of the game play.

4) Will your players have a strong influence over the outcome of the game? Please describe? If not, how can you change this?
The player will have a somewhat strong influence, because they will either complete the task or fail.  The time to complete the task of retrieving the father will be limited, so that they player does not feel like he or she does not face a challenge.

5) Players like to feel powerful. Do the players of your game feel powerful? How could this be improved?
The player should feel powerful thanks to having control over where the avatar travels throughout the entire, but small, island. However, most of the buildings cannot be entered, which a more elaborate game could allow to enable the player to feel even more powerful.

6) What does the player pick up and touch?
The player walks around the island and rides on a boat, but can also pick up items, such as a flashlight, mining hat, jacket, locket, water bottle, gun and knife. The player can also touch animals and the father that she or he is in search of.

7) Does the interface map to actions in the world? How?
Yes, the keystrokes will guide where the avatar moves to within the confines of the island and harbor, and will be used to control movement at either basic speed or double speed.

8) How does your interface let the player see, hear and touch the world of the game? Could this be improved in order to make the game world more real to the player's imagination?
The imagery of the island around the avatar, the sounds of the ocean and animals, and the ability to move around objects but not through them, will provide the aspects of seeing, hearing and touching the world of the game.  A virtual reality version of the game would be more real to the imagination, but impractical for this course.

9) The ideal interface is invisible to the player. Does your interface cater to the players desires? What are these desires?
The player is hopefully going to want to explore the island while trying to find the father, and the interface will allow that to happen without much obstruction.  The keystrokes will allow the avatar to be moved in the desired direction and with two choices of speed, which will hopefully make the fact that this transfer of information is through a computer to be inconsequential to the enjoyment of this exploration.

10) Can your interface be used without the players thinking? Is it natural?
The player will need to know what the keystrokes are for doing what he or she wants, which requires thinking.  We will try to make it feel as natural as possible, but using arrow keys for directional movement, and keystrokes that are common among other games.

11) Assuming you can do what you want, how would you make your interface more natural?
Utilizing verbal cues for the avatar's movement and actions, and for pulling up menu items, might seem more natural, at least for some people, but not necessarily for everyone. Many more speeds of movement than just two would make the interface feel more natural.  Having the avatar change to a sickly color as health runs down, instead of using a health bar, might also be more natural, but more difficult for the player to gauge actual health levels.

12) What kind of feedback does your interface present to the player? What do the players want to know? How does the interface relate to the player's goal? Will it help achieve that goal?
The interface will allow the player to see when he or she is putting the avatar into the presence of danger or running low on health.  This will help  the player to achieve the goal of successfully navigating the island to retrieve the father, by allowing the player to prep for these threats.

13) Is the interface feedback continuous? Why or why not?
Feedback is continuous because the visuals of island scene and the health meter are continuous. However, the player is not given updates about actual proximity to the father until he is actually in the scene.

14) Please describe the concept of interface modes? Does your game have multiple modes? Please explain (Lens #60).
The interface has multiple modes, or things the player can be doing through the same keystrokes.  There will be an option to use items, such as the water bottle or weapons.  Holding a weapon while moving around will work as an attack for defense purposes. This simple mode change is not expected to hae any major drawbacks.




Contribution
This week I helped with group planning and to update the game notes.