Some UX issues I faced while playing this game...
Embedded Files
...and how I would solve them:
Weapon Pick-up
Weapon Pick-up
The situation:
Players frequently need to drop weapons to pick up new ones they find as they explore the overworld.
The problem:
This "dropping-picking" is a long process requiring at least 8 button taps.
The interaction happens too frequently in the game to not be annoying.
EXISTING FLOW
EXISTING FLOW
1. See a weapon.
2. Try to pick up the weapon.
3. Error message.
4. Go to the Inventory.
5. Select a weapon to drop.
6. Drop the weapon.
7. Pick up the weapon.
MY SOLUTION
MY SOLUTION
A single screen to swap weapons that reduces this interaction to 2 button taps:
The modal showing the "inventory full" message doubles as an access point for players to view weapons they possess in their inventory as well as to drop a weapon directly without carrying out any more interactions, hence saving time and avoiding back & forth.
Sheikah Sensor Tracking
Sheikah Sensor Tracking
The situation:
Sheikah sensor is a proximity sensor that allows the player to detect shrines as well as items/creatures in their heading.
Its common to have frequented sensor targets such as Shrines, treasure chests, & certain enemies like Guardians or Lynels.
The problem:
Changing a sensor target is cumbersome and time-consuming. It requires players to go through the entire directory of targets (Hyrule Compendium) to find the item they want to track. The process requires multiple steps, and doesn't allow switching between frequently accessed targets.
EXISTING FLOW
EXISTING FLOW
1. Open the map.
2. Access the Sheikah Sensor.
3. Change the sensor target.
4. Browse through the Hyrule Compendium.
5. Select a target.
6. Set the sensor on that target.
7. Target selection confirmed.
MY SOLUTION:
MY SOLUTION:
A modified "Select search target" UI that doubles up as a quick access for frequent targets. could work like a "quick access" screen by having a grid list of frequent targets that the player can easily switch to within seconds.
Clothing Combinations (Inventory)
Clothing Combinations (Inventory)
The situation:
Most clothing items in the game are in a set of 3: headgear, shirt, trousers.
Players are more likely to access the entire set together because equipping entire sets grants them some additional bonuses or special effects.
The problems:
Once the player has a large number of clothing items in their inventory, finding the right combinations is always time-consuming in the existing 5x4 grid despite their "sort inventory" feature.
EXISTING INTERFACE
EXISTING INTERFACE
MY SOLUTION:
MY SOLUTION:
To ease access to clothing sets, the inventory could be reconfigured into two overall columns - with each column accommodating 3 items together, and titled with clothing set names for clarity.
The entire inventory could utilize the "ZL" & "ZR" buttons on the Switch, that could be mapped to navigate for instance the item section navigator in this screen.
Vertical scrolling could be added while getting rid of horizontal sub-scrolling with the item section navigator.
Weapon Slot Expansion
Weapon Slot Expansion
The situation:
The player collects Korok seeds throughout the overworld, and exchange them for weapon slots with this NPC called Hestu.
The number of seeds required to expand each slot increases over time.
The problems:
Each time the player performs this transaction, there is a cut-scene with Hestu playing his maracas. It can be fun but time-consuming and repetitive.
The cut-scene is skippable, but even the action of triggering it and then skipping it takes some time.
The player has to perform this transaction individually for each slot they want to expand. There's no way they can holistically plan the slot expansions.
EXISTING INTERACTION
EXISTING INTERACTION
MY SOLUTION:
MY SOLUTION:
A single screen that lets the player make all the transactions once. Even if there is the dance cut-scene afterwards, the player just has to skip it once.
The screen gives players a holistic overview of all info they require to make decisions more efficiently and plan their expansions well. This includes:
the total amount of Korok seeds they possesses,
the number of slots they have for each category - weapons, bows & shields,
the total cost of expansion, broken down for each category,
numerical steppers to let them change the number of slots they want to add.
Trading
Trading
The situation:
There are certain NPCs you interact with purely for transactional purposes. They've got something to sell, you've got something to buy/sell.
Often you need certain items urgently, but you don't have enough money, so you sell some of your items to raise some cash. As such, it can be useful to have a quick glance of the total amount of money required to buy those items, so you'd know how many items you need to sell to match it.
The problem:
Since the selling and buying interfaces are separated within the same scene, the player has to:
Go and see which all items are available to buy,
REMEMBER how much all of that would cost,
And if they do not have enough money, then return to the "selling" interface to get rid of some of the items to gain enough cash.
Then they need to go back to the "buying" interface and get those items they want.
EXISTING "SELL" INTERFACE
EXISTING "SELL" INTERFACE
EXISTING "BUY" INTERFACE
EXISTING "BUY" INTERFACE
MY SOLUTION:
MY SOLUTION:
If not having entire "buying" & "selling" sections in a single interface, at least being able to see what all you can buy and their cost within a sidebar would be valuable.
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