UX Design and Cutscenes

User Experience

As the art director and UX designer, I am responsible for creating a satisfying and pleasurable user experience through practical UI and experience design practices. My goal is to balance usability and functionality with visual appeal for an enjoyable and entertaining user experience. I am responsible for creating an elegant, and functional interface and a UX design that focuses on immersing the player into the gameplay. For one, I ensure that any changes that the player makes in the game world are persistent and noticeable. The game goals are clear, and the skills needed to attain the goals are taught early to apply later. Players must not need to read a manual or documentation to play. There are multiple play styles in Disco is Dead! and the game must be balanced in multiple ways to win. Players feel in control and may influence the game world through their narrative choices.

I ensure that the game provides feedback and reacts in a consistent, immediate and challenging way to the player’s actions. I ensure that the screen layout is efficient, integrated and visually pleasing, while the UI is consistent in terms of controller, colour, typography and dialogue. Finally, navigation is consistent, logical and minimalist, while preventing player error. A common practice for me is to avoid overwhelming a user with clutter, whether that be wordy messages, visual-heavy pages or lack of contrast and hierarchy. My goal is to promote easy learning by teaching the user how to be successful in a simple and understandable way.

Visual appeal plays a significant role in a game’s ability to keep a player immersed in a game. People play games for challenge, exploration, self-improvement and socialization. The illusion that you are in control of your progress and the emphasis on a satisfying visual experience makes for an enjoyable game. From the way the characters slap zombies to the way zombies die, I am responsible for offering numerous opportunities for user engagement through visual appeal. By integrating familiar visual cues and graphics, the UX design makes it easier for players to learn new processes and components.

On Disco is Dead, it is important to predict what the user wants to know, and give them that information through the UI. Information must be easy to find, and the UI should be easy to use and navigate. I will establish patterns where I can. I also ensure that the user’s location in the menu system is obvious, and it is clear where the user can go and what they can do from there. Finally, I would eliminate or simplify repetitive tasks by removing the amount of tabs and menus that players must navigate.

The Shooting Script

The storyboarding process begins with the breakdown of the script into component pieces. The job is an arduous task of translating shots into visual scenes that tell a dynamic story and convey emotion. The director’s requirements will often determine the complexity of the storyboards, laying the basis of production for the development team.

The shooting script is the finalized screenplay that has received the green light for production. Once approved, it was my responsibility as art director to analyze each scene to understand how one shot flows into the next, and which scenes require new camera angles. Our narrative-mode consists of several scenes of 2D comic-panels to tell the non-linear story. The shooting script is composed of camera faming and angles, lighting notations, and character blocking.

Shot Selection

When determining shot selection, there are certain criteria to consider, including practical, aesthetic, and psychological factors. Practical considerations include what character’s viewpoint is the story being told. For example, if the viewpoint is subjective and a character talks directly to the camera, frontal shots may dominate. Over-the-shoulder shots may convey a point-of-view perspective. Other practical considerations include basic shot selections, such as an establishing shot used any time a new location or setting is introduced because it acclimates the audience to where they are and what is happening in a scene. For Disco is Dead!, the very first drawing in the storyboard is an establishing shot of the warehouse to introduce the characters’ location of that scene.