Hello adventurer! In today’s quest, we’re going to explore a fundamental rule that is very important to make a good UX in games…. being Consistent! It might sound like basic design (and it fundamentally is), but it is still important and is something you need to remember in all your game design.
WHY CONSISTENCY MATTERS
One of the most important rules of UX for creating a great player experience is Consistency.
Players constantly learn the rules of your game through interaction. They build expectations about controls, UI, rewards, feedback, and how the game world behaves.
When those rules stay consistent, players build confidence. They spend less time figuring things out and more time enjoying the game.
But when interactions suddenly change, confusion and annoyance happen.
If they are told you can climb on certain objects, but on another level you suddenly can’t, or menu navigation behaves differently across screens, players lose trust in what the game is telling them.
Good game design creates memorable moments.
Consistent game design makes those moments feel effortless.
This might sound obviuous and too simple to mention, but it is very important, and you would be surprised how many times concistency is lacking in games. Especially during development before someone (a UX designer) spots it and fixes it.
Sometimes this happens because things fall through the cracks, but sometimes the game team (game designers, combat, enviroment art, UI art) ends up creating different looks and designs across the game because they want to “shake things up“ because “it’s boring if it looks the same on every level“, not keeping concistency in mind or how this creates problems for the players.
Examples in game UX:
Using icons and/or colour to present a feature or concept, make sure to use the same icon everywhere for that thing.
Don’t use that icon on other features too if they don’t belong together.
Don’t change it to something else suddenly and expect players to still know it’s the same thing.
Try not to have different versions of that icon. If one is large and highly decorated and presented on a yellow round background, it might be difficult to recognise that it’s the same icon if you also have a small minimalistic version that is displayed on a square purple background.
Consistent icon design across menus and HUD in God of War:
Skills icons in menu
Weapon icons in menu
Weapon and skills icons used on HUD
TLDR:
Make sure you are consistent with how your design is presented, or players might have a hard time understanding the game.
When you do the design for your menus, how items or environmental pieces, and features are presented, STICK to that design and be consistent in how it displays across the game.
Thank you for reading!
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