I continue fighting the open-ended nature of this sandbox into a more guided experience, today I redesigned the flow so that it’s split into different parts:
- Title screen: An image covering all the screen. Tap anywhere transitions to Track Selection
- Track Selection: Allows selecting a track. Confirm selection transitions to the Loading Screen
- Loading Screen: A progress bar fills as the required assets are loaded. After which the Main Screen is loaded
- Main screen: The current screen. Tapping on the [Memories] button transitions to Memories screen. We will remove the buttons to select music track and open sketchbook from here.
- Memories screen: A separate screen with the sketchbook, allowing you to drag the photos into it and draw. A [Next Day] button takes the player back to the title screen
The idea is to remove the clutter from the main interaction on one hand, but also removing the sketchbook from it and putting it on a separate phase will allow players to focus more into the lyrics in the main interaction (which is highly desired), and play around with the sketchbook afterwards (if they want). Forcing track selection, and making it the centerpiece of every session, follows the same rationale.
I also went ahead with a UX pass over the main interaction; the photo mode is now active by default, and I removed a lot of noise on the HUD too. In the end, I decided to also remove the photo strip from the main ui, and add a preview of the picture you just took, to further reinforce the lyrics aspect as well (tho that still will need to be given more weight)
Another important thing I’m thinking of, and this is a requirement to further work, is the mobile UX; I’m thinking it’ll be totally different there, with the whole viewport becoming your camera’s viewport, and looking around be controlled using the phone gyroscope.
Slashie's Gamedev Adventures 