Games Design 2 - Lecture 5 - Text

Game Design 2 Lecture 5: Text http://www.comu346.com dfarrell@davidlearnsgames.com

Errata and News • TV Shows worth watching (iPlayer): • Gameswipe • Design for Live • There will be no classes next week • Objectiﬁed ﬁlm - Dundee - October 27th

Objectiﬁed

Tuesday, 27th October • 3.30 train arrives around 5pm. • Denki @ DCA around 5.30 • Film at 6 • Last train is at 21.52, arrive at 23.15 • £20 (ish) for train + £3.20 for tickets

World of Goo • http://bit.ly/worldofgootour • Layering & Seperation • Cursor outline and trail • Parallax scrolling • Blur • Shadows

Reading • Duarte 140 - 155 • Fox 87-98

Two Questions • How do you use text visually? • How can text help you visualise data?

Anthropomorphised Fonts • Fonts have personality. • Serious • Playful • Friendly •Tense • Annoying • Distressed

Functional Fonts •fixed width fonts { useful for programming; because characters line up; } • Other fonts are suitable for OCR

Font components Caledonian University

play Cap Height

play Cap Height X Height

play Cap Height X Height Baseline

play Cap Height Ascender X Height Baseline

play Cap Height Ascender X Height Baseline Descender

Serifs play Cap Height Ascender X Height Baseline Descender

Serifs play Cap Height Ascender X Height Baseline Descender Counter

Serif Fonts • The serifs connect letters • useful at small point size • or in large paragraphs • problematic for dyslexics

Sans Serif Fonts • Sans means ‘without’ • generally accepted as easier to read • work better on computer screens

Ligatures • firefly • note how the ‘f’ and ‘i’ interact • firefly • Keynote applies ligatures but not to ‘fl’

Kerning • Fixed width fonts look strange because they force equidistant spacing between letters. • Kerning is the process of adjusting space between letters to soothe the eye.

Mixing Fonts • Paired fonts can be effective. • one for header • one for main text • Have a really GOOD reason before going to three or more fonts

Colour & Contrast • Essential in menus & HUD • If game is dark, use light text • If game is light, use dark text • If cannot guarantee background, add a border to text • can be x pixel border or container space

Animating Text • Only animate if it adds meaning • Nintendo style of conversation is to animate blocks of text • Colour change for rollovers == OK • Colour change to make GUI shiny == bad

Using Text • Where possible, show don’t tell • but where necessary tell • Use little text • Even in adventure games, people don’t read • Avoid UPPPERCASE

Using Text • Sparing use of colour or emphasis can pass on important information • If you allow resizing of text, test extremes to see how your design holds up (especially true of web browser based games) • Consider fully justifying blocks of text

Text as visualisation • Word Clouds

Internationalisation • Not all fonts are compatible • UTF-8 fonts should work • Much care needed if copy / pasting • If using dynamically loaded text, often text effects cannot be applied.

Games Design 2 - Lecture 5 - Text

0 comments

Notes on slide 1

Favorites, Groups & Events