Dirty Bomb PC Game Study

Dirty Bomb is a first person objetive shooter in which the action takes place in a future London city. The study was undertaken within 1 day and it was meant to see how the game main menu could be improved.

Challenges

These were the main challenges set:

Suggest activities for the player;
Get them up to speed on what happened while they were gone;
Highlight store items of interest.

Essential features

The screen needs to provide a navigational element that provides access to the game’s main hubs: Play, Customise, Community, Shop
The screen needs to provide a way for the player to quickly resume their most recent gameplay activity;
Social connectivity is an essential part of this title’s fabric – it must be easy to form parties with friends for the current session;
The screen must highlight at least one store item of interest to the player, such as a new arrival or an item on sale; this recommendation will be based on their stats and agent preferences;
The player’s avatar, current level, as well as their balance of in-game currency must be represented;
The layout should support 4:3 and widescreen resolutions.

Nice to have features

It would be nice to represent the player’s most recently used agent on this screen in order to deepen their connection with it;
It would be nice to foster relationships by providing updates on friends’ activities;
It would be nice to incite competition between friends, perhaps based on gameplay milestones or recent performance – how can we use this to motivate players to play one more session?;
It would be nice to communicate news on this screen, such as upcoming events or recent updates;
It would be nice to give the player a snapshot of their recent performance, such as score per minute and accuracy, and how that compares to their overall average.

Current Main Menu

Moodboard

The moodboard was set together with some research on what was futuristic games on the market and how do they present us that look and feel.

Use Case Map

To reorganise my ideas I decided to make a use case map for the main screen, so I could guide myself along the process.

Sketches

Sketches with different solutions were made, and the best solution was selected to move forward to the interface design stage.

New Screens

While keeping the same identity and colour schemes of Dirty Bomb i rejuvenated the main menu. The overall design was made for the eyes to be able to follow on to what to do next, so it feels natural and comfortable. This was the result:

Thank you

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I hope this gave you a peek into my design thinking and how I rationalise my decisions, as well as the way I work. Please leave a like or share to show your appreciation.