HCI for Computer Games
HCI or Human Computer Interface is essentially the way that humans can interact with the games they play via external or internal means, for example an external method would be a keyboard and mouse, which is essential for a large portion of PC games, similar to a controller for consoles. An internal method would be something like a HUD (Definition here) within a game, where you can view information at a convenient level within the game, similar to an inventory where you can interact with any items you may have within the game. Menus within games are also a form of HCI in order to start a game, find credits and save/load your previously played games.
Within this article I will be covering a range of Human Computer Interfaces, listed here;
- Technologies – External means of Interaction and how humans interact with these – Keyboards, Controllers and Joysticks.
- Interfaces – Internal means of Interaction – Command lines, Menus and Methods of Selection.
- Design Principles – How design can change the way gamers perceive HCI’s – Gestalt Theory and Visual/Auditory feedback.
Technologies:
In this portion of the article, I will be covering a range of the physical technologies that humans can use to interact with computers, comparing how effective they are in relation to each other and the genres of games that they are used for.
The first, of which I will be covering and most widely known, is the control pad. This is one of the best, in my opinion, forms of interaction with computers that humans have, due to its aesthetic appearance, comfort and ease of use. For example, a lot of money was spent by Microsoft for the design of their Xbox 360 Controller, and the money was well spent, considering that hundreds of thousands of people will use it for many hours of the week. Human factors in controllers are the d-pad and the joysticks; these are the main components of the controller and the main way to interact with the computer, using them to navigate around menus and the game. The buttons are used for selecting things and carrying out various scripted functions.
Controllers for Consoles and PC]
| Pros: | Cons: |
| · Aesthetic· Easy to use
· Comfortable · Recharges · Vibrates, adding to immersion |
· Sometimes too big/small depending· A lot of buttons
· Not as simplistic as other designs |
Obviously with the controller, the principle of equidistant proximity has been used with the joysticks, buttons and d-pad because of the distance between each other yet they are all grouped together in people’s eyes.
The next physical technology I will be talking about is of course, the keyboard and mouse; quite possibly the 2nd most used HCI within gaming and probably the 1st in overall HCI Interaction. One of the reasons this method of HCI is so successful is because of the fact that it has the most functions and abilities of use on a computer. The keyboard and mouse are used to access near enough everything and is the most common way to interact with a computer.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| · Versatile· Easy to use
· |
· Large· Complex
· |
The proximity principle is in use here too, as people group together the QWERTY keyboard
A joystick is another version of HCI, similar to the controller, but more simplistic in its uses and design.
The Wii Remote is an intuitive HCI created by Nintendo and requires a lot more human interaction compared to other forms of HCI
Interfaces
Now I will be talking about the interfaces that humans can interact with via the games themselves rather than the technologies used to communicate between them and the game. A good and common example of this is menus. In nearly every game that I can think of, there is a menu of some sort, be it a basic pause screen to a complex save/load, options and settings menu. The reason a lot of games have these is to coincide with the technologies that are used, for example for a menu, you would need some way to navigate between each selection, so for example, the Wii remote (or ‘Wiimote’) requires that the remote be pointed directly at the option you wish to select, this is due to the fact that the Wii remote has technology which makes a cursor appear on the screen in line with an infrared sensor on the top of the remote, making it responsive and fast. This is an effective way to navigate through menus because of the ease of use that this has and the amount of the interaction the human feels like they have with the console and game.
Another example is the desktop of a PC, which is navigated via the all popular keyboard and mouse. The way to interact with this is via the icons which are on the desktop, typically the ‘My computer’ Icon, which leads you to the settings of the computer. There are also ‘My documents’ which are all the files that are saved on the Hard Disk of the PC. The main navigation portion of a PC though, is the start menu, where you can search your PC, all programs and applications that are installed and view near enough every navigational part of the computer. Windows is a good example of well a well-designed interface, obviously except for Vista, but windows XP and windows 7 were solid systems.
The common fate principle is obviously here in the windows 7 interface as the toolbar on the left all moves together and everything on the screen is part of some kind of group. It could be better by having some kind of ratio between how high the taskbar/start menu comes up compared to the desktop, also the icons would benefit from being similar shapes/sizes rather than each of them being completely different entities.
Mills Art - HND Games Design 