The lecture on interface design was quite interesting, I don’t think anybody really thinks of the interfaces in games and I don’t think anyone really thinks of the design and Art behind it. It was quite interesting to see how much thought they give the menus and things within games, when you wouldn’t really think they see it as to important but it is!
Simon was talking about how the way a child would perceive a game interface, with things such as bright bold colours and what that would mean to them, which now thinking about it, it is quite important that to get that right, for example a game for children would need a brightly coloured and welcoming interface else it’s not going to be as attractive to the audience. It was interesting to see how many designs they come up with for a games interface and he even said it takes as long as the game itself to design and make, and of course the Artist don’t just take care of it, the designers and programmers are all involved, it is very important even though many wouldn’t consider it as important as the actual game play of the game in production. Interface includes little icons and symbols in games and no one ever really thinks about them but it’s surprising how much we take these little things for granted in games when were actually playing them so we can adjust ourselves to them so we know what they mean simply by looking at them as a picture/icon when they appear on screen. It extremely important to get it right for the game’s audience for the way they see it and interact with it. Would 18+ games want brightly coloured interface? Would a kiddies game want death icons and gory scenery? No I wouldn’t think so.
Simon was also saying once you graduate and get a job within the industry of course you’ll be earning a very little salary but eventually you work your way up just like being a very tiny cog in a huge system, but no matter how little you are, you are just as important as anyone else because without you the rest won’t turn. You could be a part of a team of 250 people developing a game but everyone in the team is necessary toward the completion of the game itself and like he said some of the games he’s helped work on have sold 2 million copies worldwide within just 2 months, so it makes that ‘small’ cog in the company you work for fell much more bigger an important than it is. But of course the longer you work and more hard effort you put in, more good things will come just as all the other lecturers have said putting in extra time is great cause it all adds up in the long run. He then started to talk about concept design, its rather just the same as the interface, you just create and render images that can be good for the final game and you can create hundreds of them on the way towards the final thing, it seems like a long process but in time you get there in the end like practising something over and over.
One thing he mentioned was how when he did his undergraduate degree and his masters he did visual communication skills because it was the closest thing to games as you could get and that was in the year 2000! This show’s gaming educational courses are a very new thing. It sort of tells you before then you would need a degree in something closely related to gaming to get in the industry which seems like it was hard but even now it’s becoming increasingly harder to get in, but at least this is the best course in the land! I mean can you really get better than having lectures from people working in the industry themselves? Or having them recruit directly from this course? All the lectures so far have told me what is required, now it’s the case of simply getting on with it but also enjoy it!
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