UI and UX: An Explanation

UI refers to User Interface and UX stands for User Experience. The user interface communicates visual information to the viewer and in most cases has an interactive element to it. Taking a hit from a monster affects the Life Bar by shrinking it down, for instance. This tells the player to avoid hostile entities. User experience refers to how the user (or player in the case of games) handles the interface. If they have a frustrating time reading information or finding menus, they have a bad experience. If screen flow is good and data is clearly communicated, the experience is great. Both play important roles in games.

UI is used to convey information in a visual, yet non-intrusive way. Examples of UI elements include Health, Lives, MiniMaps, Power Meters, Time (or time left), Collectibles, Level Names and Locations, among other things. UI elements can be emphasized with visual effects such as bright colors, glowing auras, color change, and even sound effects. You should avoid using flashing effects or anything obnoxious. The notification should be brief enough to get the player’s attention, but not stop game flow. UI isn’t limited to just being on the screen. It can appear in the game world as well. Floating text over NPCs who are speaking, dialogue boxes, Health bars on players and enemy units, damage numbers, icons for status ailments, and more. These UI elements are more context sensitive as they appear only on related objects. You don’t need to see the damage you can do to a monster at all times; it makes sense to show it when you’re attacking and hitting the creature.

The point of a UI is to show information to the player without getting in the way of the game itself. Notice that some games like Journey have no UI elements because the game goes for a more immersive feel. Seeing HUD elements brings a player out of the experience, especially if the focus needs to be on the game world. Other games such as Night in the Woods have minimal UI elements. Most of the time the game world shows no HUD of any kind. When approaching something that can be looked at, an eye icon appears on the object for as long as the player remains in range of that object. Once they move out of range, the icon disappears. A paw icon shows up for objects that can be picked up. These UI elements are distinct enough that players immediately know what the symbols mean and what will happen when they choose to interact. The game only shows those icons when necessary.

UX is more about how the player navigates through UI and Menu. For example, a Pause Menu is included in most games whenever players need to stop the action for any reason. Inventory Screens are a way for players to see what they have on them that can be used in the game world. Navigating through Menus should be direct and require as few clicks as possible. There shouldn’t be layers upon layers of menus and sub-menus to sift through to reach a particular option. It’s best to keep most elements of a menu consolidated to a single screen so there isn’t a need to scroll through options. Placing similar options in the same menus makes them easy to find. 

Ultimately, UX is affected by UI. Menus are a form of user interface that display information, typically in list form. The user experience comes from how easily the user can locate certain options in these menus. Listing objects alphabetically makes things easier to find as opposed to ordering items by some arbitrary rule (though including additional sorting options isn’t a bad idea). Broken UI can ruin the experience of the player navigating through it. An example may be a game with lots of lore entries that are found in a journal. Players can read these entries at any time, but for some reason the word “NEW!” always sticks by the lore entries even after the player has clicked on them. It tells the player that they haven’t read this entry yet even though in reality they just got through reading it! Make sure your elements work properly (or if they don’t work at all, consider throwing that element out).

UI and UX are suitably classified as forms of game design. With games you create some rules for players to abide by, then notice issues with gameplay during playtesting. Designers remove rules or add new ones to fix these issues and try again. UI and UX have similar workflows: this UI element is meant to convey player location, but players have no idea where they actually are in the world. The UI element is changed by adding a couple of features and now players have an easier time navigating the world. 

Design requires iteration in order to perfect and user experience does, too. Rules must be communicable and understandable; UI must be comprehensible and readable right away. Both must be engaging or fun to interact with (ideally both). A good game has a good UI and user experience. UI/UX design can potentially make or break a game.