Fading Light
Fading Light is a fictional game inspired by survival horror games like The Last of Us, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill 2.
I imagined a player revisiting their pre-apocalypse neighborhood to obtain items from their neighbor's house, who has long since abandoned their home for unknown reasons.
What information would a player need to progress? How can that be balanced with the minimal aesthetic seen in most modern horror games?
Gaming
Survival Horror
UX/UI Designer
Why I Did This Project
I am a long time fan of horror games as both a player and a designer. Developers that work within this genre do an amazing job of striking a balance between immersion and information, always ensuring players have what they need to progress through the story while still feeling like they are part of the game. I thought this would be a fun exercise and wanted to try my hand at it!
Tools Used
All UI was created using Figma. Things such as weapon icons and the "3D Model" of the note were made or edited using Adobe Photoshop.
All background images used are screenshots taken from the Megascans Abandoned Apartment environment by Isaac Crafoord from Quixel. It can be found on the Unreal Engine Marketplace.
Process
Define
The first step in this process was to think about and define my goals. What type of experience did I want to accomplish? How did I want to visually represent things to the player? What did I want players to feel about the UI and the gameplay?
It's important to note some aspects of the player's experience cannot be captured in still mockups. Because of this, I decided to aim my focus on key screens the player would encounter that are a bit more reliant on UI.
UX Goals
Balance: Find the best way to
balance immersion with pertinent
information for the player.Intuitive: Ensure all interactions
are streamlined so players can
quickly engage no matter the
encounter.Accessible: Create a HUD that
enhances player experience and
does not contribute a layer of
unnecessary friction to an already
"difficult" genre.
UI Goals
Subtle: UI should only appear when
players need it most, and should only
show pertinent information without
encroaching on the combat corridor.Minimal: Focus should remain on
gameplay, and the UI should not
distract from the player's current actions.Clear: UI should be legible and clear
whether players are in darker
environments or well-lit scenes.
Research
The next step was to do some research into survival horror games and analyze how well their UI meets the goals I set for this project. I decided to pull inspiration from Silent Hill 2 Remake, various Resident Evil games, and The Last of Us Part II.
Horror games like the ones shared below heavily rely on diegetic elements to maintain tension and immersion for players, but there are times where UI is the best approach for enhancing gameplay. Situations such as resource management and item interactions could potentially have diegetic solutions, but a non-diegetic approach to these oftentimes ensures clarity and ease of use for players.
Design
Wireframes
First, I created some wireframes to outline all content and provide brief descriptions of key inclusions.
Mockups
I then used those wireframes to create my final product.
I am typically designing for fast-paced, PvP encounters that have numerous states and can sometimes be very (visually) loud in order to ensure the player understands what is happening even during high-stress situations. I also rarely create the final UI that ends up on the screens of players, and instead design the functionality and early visual iterations of it.
However, this project allowed me to get out of my comfort zone in a number of ways: designing for a new genre I have never worked in, analyzing the needs of a game experience I have only ever experienced as a player, and creating the final visuals with a "muted," immersion-first mindset. While I feel like I still have plenty to learn about what it takes to craft great UI and how to properly design for a horror game, I thought this was a fun exercise into the unknown and served as an awesome challenge outside of my day-to-day work!
