Interfaces

Interfaces are really important in games, as not only can they can effect the whole tone of the game, it would be impossible to play the game without them. The best interfaces are usually simple and very easy to understand. Usually with flash games the screen is limited as it is, and having to have lines of text for buttons would clog up the screen, therefore symbols are very important. 

 This dress up game is a good example of a good interface, the buttons on the side are easy to understand and aren't to big and the colours and such fir the theme.

 This game is sightly worse, words are used more which is less aesthetically pleasing, although it fits in with the feel of the game. They are also a bit too complicated and spread out rather messily.

This interface is good but the use of grey looks slightly out of place next to the bright characters in the game.

All in all it's important to keep in mind your target audience/feel of the game (is it a bright children's game, or more mature) if it's understandable and placement.

After looking into interfaces we did a series of tasks where we were given a basic game and we designed the interface for it.

 The first game we did was a maze which I made into a dark-ish themed game, set in a factory. Therefore I used brushed steel textures, metallic colours and a typewriter font. I liked this design but it was a bit drab.

Next we had to made one using web 2 graphics (shiny reflective smooth surfaces, very clean looking) my design was simple but stylish and I liked it, even if it was a bit boring.

And finally we did one for a childish golf game, I made the background myself and used the apple graphic used as a golf ball for the scoring system, I even edited the apple to look like it had been eaten to represent a miss. I liked this interface, especially with the font I had chosen but I just wished I could have worked on it for a bit longer.

Through this experimentation I learnt a lot, especially form the feedback I got. I realise now colours and placement are a lot more important than I thought and that I prefer the look of web 2 graphics as they look more professional.