Game User Interface (UI) demos (2020)

From Dec 2019 to July 2020 I worked as a UI Programmer/Technical Artist for an unannounced GPS-based AAA Mobile RPG (cancelled). As an mobile-based RPG for a hardcore audience, the game featured a many screens for receiving, equipping, buying, selling inventory. I also developed UI for a conversation with branching choices, event logs, avatar customization, an opening tutorial and many stuff in-between.

Here I will showcase a lot of these concepts in an unrelated demo since a selection of my most advanced UI work is not necessarily for proper "games" (web, installations, VR, etc.).

User Experience (UX)

Some wireframes I created for my demo.

There's nothing more important than the user's experience. For the best results, I've found that a little planning goes a long way. When developing a game screen, I typically start by planning as thumbnails and/or wireframes. At this stage my ideas can communicated and I can get feedback from stakeholders to understand the purpose for the screen - what information needs to be display, which interactions will be made, and how it's intended for the player to use the screen.

Unity User Interface Demo (work in progress)

Unity UI/Gameplay demo

Here I have the major screens outlined roughed in. The buttons are setup to take you from a demo "game view" into an inventory screen where you can swap between different tabbed screens and sub-screens.

An example of a tab selection class.

In this demo I'm using serialized data to control the functionality of the tab switching from within the editor. Ideally I like to create systems that are flexible to change quickly while laying out screens in the Unity Editor. Some things make sense to be populated by external data - usually some form of JSON pulled from a web server.

Exporting terrain from Houdini

For this demo, I'm experimenting with using Houdini to generate a procedural terrain that serves as a backdrop. The player will be able to walk around and interact with the towns located across the landscape, similar to a 16-bit RPG overworld map.