- \n
- anchoring – connecting the player to the world and keeping them there; immersion >>> believability; grounds in the reality of the world; sense of presence<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- informing – audio communicates information about the game and setting to the player; feedback and reward; direct player focus; evoke mood emotion; accessibility <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- branding\/identity – sound and music that transcends the game itself; studio\/product; game franchise identity; to be iconic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Categories of game audio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- sound: ambience; ui\/ux; sfx; silence<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- music: diegetic – exists within the game world (radio in the game); non-diegetic – outside the game world (soundtrack); custom; licensed <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- speech: voiceover; dialogue; group chat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
diegetic: car radio; weapons, spells; character dialogue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
non-diegetic: menu sounds; underscore; narrator <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
IEZA models – four conceptual domains of communication:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interface – menu, scrolling etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effect – gunshots, attacks, swimming etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zone – setting, ambience<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affect – not in the world, but contributing the setting the scene<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Audio and non-linear media<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key concepts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- interactive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
player > game \u2014 trigger comes from the direct action of the player; footsteps; gunshots etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- reactive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
player > \u2026 > game \u2014 trigger comes from the indirect action of the player; combat start\/stop; reward sounds; enemy reactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- adaptive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
game > game \u2014 trigger comes from conditions or states within the internal game system or environment; time remaining; low health; day\/night cycle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- dynamic <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
sound > sound \u2014 real-time mixing of individual sound and music; ducking music for important dialogue; spatial positioning and distance; prioritising\/culling audible sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thursday lecture was focused on HUD, UI and accessibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Non-diegetic UI<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- ring menu \u2014 circular menu that allows the player to spin through recourses or actions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- life meter \u2014 meter that shows how much health the player\u2019s avatar has remaining <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- level map \u2014 small-scale map that show the entire layout of the level<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Diegetic UI<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- futuristic UI overlays \u2014 advanced UI, often inside of a helmet, that provides the player\u2019s avatar with vital stats and information<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- in-game gadgets \u2014 gadgets that hold important clues for the player\u2019s avatar <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- physical limitations \u2014 when the player\u2019s avatar is physically hindered after sustaining damage <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Spatial UI<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- selection auras \u2014 coloured bracket that the player uses to select in-game objects<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- racing lines \u2014 highlighted line that indicates the path for a vehicle to follow <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- object text labels \u2014 text label that hovers near the in-game objects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Meta UI<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- FOV colour filters \u2014 colour filter that overtakes player\u2019s field of view and denotes a change in resources, health or scenario<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- grime \u2014 materials like blood, dirt, and cracked glass that advance the story but only exist on a 2D plane<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- scrolling text \u2014 spoken dialogue that scrolls horizontally across the screen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The task of this lecture was to create a UI for a game setting that we chose. In my team\u2019s case it was a farming game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/57\/2025\/11\/IMG_3018-edited.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\nWe were given a selection of UI elements that could be added to the screen. Reading through them we crossed out the ones that did not go\/weren’t used in farming simulators. We left Stamina but ended up not using it, but I guess, in some contexts, it can be a part of the UI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my game, the elements would be: inventory\/quick slots, \u201cmap\u201d (more like location archive), dialogue box, tutorial prompts, mission objectives, accessibility toggles, pause menu w\/ settings menu combined.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/57\/2025\/11\/IMG_3019-1024x659.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\nFarming simulator games are essentially focused on collecting resources, levelling up your farm and extending territories\/discovering new resources etc. In our case, we combined UIs from different games and came up with something new. Games like HayDay or Township have non-diegetic UI for gathering grown plants off the yard \u2014 a hovering menu with farming tools that appears when you click on yard sections where the plants\u2019 growing cycle finished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tutorials usually have the same concept in mind in any game \u2014 short, informative windows that pop up when the player discovers a new feature in the game. They\u2019re usually narrated by a relevant NPC or are just a part of special UI. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/57\/2025\/11\/IMG_3020-1024x686.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\nWe decided to make Quest Log look like an actual notebook\/diary that can be interacted with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will have the same type of UI in my game, the main character\u2019s notebook will serve as an Archive for all the animals you have encountered. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Decided to separate accessibility from settings as it\u2019s supposed to be accessible<\/em> and not being hidden away in the settings menu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my opinion, farming sims are that type of games that are supposed to have a lot of hovering UI that doesn\u2019t take away space on the screen and can be easily accessed by only clicking on relevant objects. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week we focused on audio and sound aspects of games. Audio gives your settings context, guides players through the narrative and helps set the tone of the game in general. It is important to know how and where to focus on the audio and sound, and how to source\/produce a high-quality audio for your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-year-2-semester-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1259,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/eo1u24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- dynamic <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- adaptive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- reactive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- interactive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n