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Figure 1: (Click
to enlarge) Interface 1: Settlers of Catan (playcatan.com). This
screenshot is from a game in progress in which three players are still
relatively early in the game. |
Figure 2: (Click
to enlarge) Interface 2: Xplorers (games.asobrain.com). Similar
to Figure 1, this screenshot is from a game in progress in which three
players are still relatively early in the game. |
GAME OPTIONS/SETTINGS:
Interface 1 has a bar of graphical buttons meant to serve as game options/settings.
Each button allows the user to control various aspects of the game such as
resolution and zooming in and out of the board. Interface 2 only has two buttons.
These are two well-accepted standardized buttons for zooming in and out of
the board game. In this case, the simplicity of design in Interface 2 seems
to be a better choice for design since too many unknown buttons makes it difficult
for the user.
GAME PIECES (CITY, SETTLEMENT, ROAD, ROBBER):
Interface 1 is nicer, cleaner, and more appealing to the human eye. The easy
distinction between cities and settlements is due to the 3-dimensional nature
of the game pieces which makes it much easier to visualize the current status
of the game. In addition, the game pieces have different shapes and sizes
to help distinguish between the two. However, Interface 2 does not share many
of these characteristics. The size distinction between a city and a settlement
is very small and on a quick glimpse looks much the same since the pattern
is what differs between the two. Cognitively speaking, the patterns and minor
size differentiation do not easily distinguish the two from one another. The
differences in the roads are similar to the differences mentioned with regards
to the cities and settlements. Similarly the roads and robber in Interface
1 is given a 3-dimensional shape and color. However, in Interface 2, the robber
is just a black dot on the board.
TRADING PORTS:
Interface 1 easily marks the trading ports with target “anchor”
symbols. This way the player knows where to build settlements/cities easily.
Interface 1 also has pictures next to the ports to easily identify the type
of port. Interface 2 on the other hand just has two lines extending out the
spots where the settlements/cities can be built. Interface 2, however, also
contains pictures to indicate the type of port, but these pictures are not
very clear or easy to see.
AVAILABLE CARDS:
The available cards function for both Interface 1 and 2 are similar. They
clearly represent the cards available with easy to decipher symbols. The colors
and symbols used are representative of the functions for each. Interface 1
contains cards that are more since they contain rounded edges, in essence
providing a more sleek and elegant décor. Interface 2 contains cards
with straight edges which provide a more rough and crude feeling to the interface.
GAME ACTIONS:
In Interface 1, the game actions are 4 buttons on the left hand size of the
player’s screen. These buttons contain symbols representative of the
actions. The symbols are easy to decipher and intuitively make sense. Interface
2, the game action buttons are spread apart. Three of them are written in
text and are located on the right side of the screen. The fourth action, the
rolling of the dice, is located a little above the other buttons. This is
not very intuitive since neither the buttons are not all clustered together
nor do they all look alike. Textual representation for some buttons and graphical
representations for others make it difficult for a first time user to easily
play.
PLAYERS AND PLAYER STATISTICS:
Interface 1 has the players distributed around the board. Each player is given
an “avatar” to indicate the player and the player statistics are
located right beneath the avatar. This makes it easy for each player in the
game to visualize the current status of the game by looking at the necessary
statistics for the other players. Interface 2 has a listing on the top left
hand side containing the names of the players in the game. Interface 2 only
provides the current score for each player. To visualize other statistics,
one must click over the player’s name. This makes it quite difficult
to see the status of the entire game with all necessary statistics as it is
only possible to expand information one player at a time.
Given that the Settlers of Catan game is played with other players, the presence of avatars on the board game to represent others in the game provides a nice human touch. Interface 2 does not provide this. In essence even though the player is playing with other humans (or the personalization of the game is missing. This makes the game seem more mundane and perhaps less exciting and human-like.
OVERALL:
In general Interface 1 seems to be better designed in terms of interface than
Interface 2. Table 1 summarizes the various aspects of the two interfaces
as discussed above. Interface 1 is more visually pleasing given the colors,
textures, and layout of the interface. Interface 2 uses darker, gloomier colors
and has too much information on the screen that is spread apart to make it
easy for the player to easily maneuver.
| Table 1: Summarizes the interface designs for each of the interfaces. Shaded cells represent the interface that contained the better design. | ||
Interface
1: Settlers of Catan (playcatan.com) |
Interface
2: Xplorers (games.asobrain.com) |
|
| Game options/settings | Bar of graphical user buttons | Two graphical user buttons |
| Game pieces | 3-dimensional pieces with various size and shapes | Flat pieces with no texture and very little color, pattern, and shape distinction |
| Trading ports | Easily identifiable and clearly marked | Not as easily identifiable even though there are markings for port type |
| Available cards | Similar in both
interfaces. Easily identifiable with different colors and textures. |
|
| Game actions | Graphical user buttons clustered together | Buttons spread apart in location; Combination of text-based user buttons as well as graphical ones |
| Players and player statistics | Summarized with player icons around the board | Player statistics not easily available and summarized. No avatars to indicate players |