This article is a work in progress…
Example 1: In-Game Inventory Management
Imagine you’re scavenging in a post-apocalyptic city. Your bag is full. Get to a safe place. Lock the door. See what you have.
What do you do?
I bet you dump it out on the floor in front of you.
But in the Fallout games, you pull out an alphabetical list with obscure names:
Now, you could get fancy with mimicking a real-life experience. Instead, what if we had a simple gallery that we can reorder by dragging, like this rough mock-up:
You can now see how many pistols you have, which weapons are bigger… all at a glance.
It’s best to use an existing intuitive cue (like size) than create a new abstract cue (like range). What if more powerful weapons were always beefier? What if the most accurate rifles were longer?
In the game, there is little correlation between a weapon’s size or visual impressiveness and its damage. You’d think ANY gun would finish an enemy with just a shot or two at close range, but that’s not the case. I don’t know which weapon can incapacitate a raider with a single shot at close range. If I did, the choice of which pistol to carry would be less intimidating.
Example 2: Storage Metaphors
Here’s another example. In the Farmville game, the user can buy all sorts of equipment, seeds, etc. But seeing getting to the inventory requires menu diving.
Where’s my stuff?
Well, in real life, my stuff would be in my storage shed. So let’s add a shed:
Example 3: Character Interaction
In one aquarium simulation game, the fish swim around, and you have to feed them and buy stuff for the aquarium. I found it unexciting.
I used to have a real fish once (a rescue) and my real-life experience with him was quite rewarding. He saw me and followed me when I entered the room. He was at times curious, lethargic, startled, cozy… Why not model the AI of the fish to simulate some of these real-life behaviors? Wouldn’t that engage users more?
There are many situations where comparing to the real-life equivalent can generate solutions to UI problems.