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阐述电子游戏UI定义及其进化之旅

作者:Michael Poh

经过几十年的发展,电子游戏随着图像技术增强、系统处理速度加快的帮助下,越来越精致。UI为了适应越来越复杂的电子游戏,也经历了一系列进化。

3D图像和运动传感器等技术的兴起促进新游戏类型和UI的诞生。现在,我们将以几款颇具影响力的电子游戏为例,带领读者回顾UI的进化历程。

定义UI

我们这里所谓的UI是指玩家与游戏互动和接收由互动产生的反馈的方式。UI通常运用于游戏的交互性和概念。UI包括玩法的若干方面,如图像、视角、操作、关卡设计、AI行为,等等。从玩游戏或互动中产生某种体验正是游戏的目的。

重复性游戏

电子游戏行业最早运用的一种玩法是,在游戏难度不断上升中考验玩家的操作和/或反应能力。玩家在这类游戏中目标可以是通过保持必要的技能水平来打败另一名人类玩家或AI或求生。

《双人网球》 (1958):

Tennis_For_Two(from hongkiat.com)

Tennis_For_Two(from hongkiat.com)

《双人网球》就属于这种原始的游戏。在这款模拟网球或乒乓球的游戏中,玩家在一个简化了的球场上操纵球的轨道。当球在网的玩家一边时,玩家只需用控制旋钮调节击球角度后按按钮点击球。游戏一直持续到玩家错过点击。

《星际飞行》 (1961):

Spacewar(from hongkiat.com)

Spacewar(from hongkiat.com)

在《星际飞行》中,玩家操作自己的飞船攻击对手(另一名玩家)。游戏的额外挑战是屏幕中间的星体,它会阻碍玩家。但玩家可以激活“超时空”把飞船放在屏幕的随机位置上。这款游戏的玩法比《双人网球》更复杂,但想法仍然停留在反射训练上。

《Pong》 (1972):

Pong(from hongkiat.com)

Pong(from hongkiat.com)

电子游戏经典之作《Pong》也是如此。在这款游戏中,两名玩家用屏幕上的球拍把球挡回给对手,尽力不错过。如果其中一名玩家没有挡住球,那么另一名玩家就得分。正是在这个时候,游戏开发者意识到,通过玩家得分增加竞争性,也可以刺激玩家玩游戏。

《太空入侵者》 (1978):

Space_Invaders(from hongkiat.com)

Space_Invaders(from hongkiat.com)

另一款经典游戏《太空入侵者》进一步利用得分系统。这款2D固定射击游戏用可爱的像素风外星人作为玩家的敌人,玩家操作激光加农炮在屏幕底部一边水平移动,一边射击下落的外星人;外星人也会反击。游戏节奏会随着时间加快,玩家可能费上数小时才能扫清屏幕上的外星人,冲上让人眼红的高分榜。

《吃豆人》 (1980):

Pacman(from hongkiat.com)

Pacman(from hongkiat.com)

到80年代,强调技术的游戏又加入其他功能来测试玩家的反应和解迷能力。《吃豆人》就是一款集得分、强化和避开敌人(不同于迎击和消灭敌人)为一体的经典游戏。玩家在迷宫中前进,消耗能量球进入下一关,避开鬼或灌溉消耗能量球暂时扭转局势。

剧情线和交互性

技术型游戏通过加入得分和其他功能变得更有趣,而另一类游戏则靠内容取胜。

《巨洞冒险》 (1975):

Colossal_Cave_Adventure(from hongkiat.com)

Colossal_Cave_Adventure(from hongkiat.com)

《巨洞冒险》是第一款使用剧情线电脑冒险游戏。它没有图像界面,只有文本。游戏的魅力在于丰富的故事和交互性。玩家输入代表在各个情况下想做什么的指令。取决于玩家所做的选择,故事会以不同的路线展开,并以不同的结局结束。

《大金刚》 (1981):

Donkey_Kong(from hongkiat.com)

Donkey_Kong(from hongkiat.com)

开发者终于尝试把故事元素和图像一起放在游戏中;这种做法的先驱就是《大金刚》。它是最早带有剧情线的游戏之一。在游戏中,玩家扮演一个想从大金刚(大猩猩)手中拯救公主的角色。游戏一开始,玩家会看到穿着粉色裙子的女主角和一脸坏笑的大金刚。这些细节使玩家更容易识别游戏中的角色,和沉浸于故事中。

《超级马里奥兄弟》(1985):

Super_Mario_Bros(from hongkiat.com)

Super_Mario_Bros(from hongkiat.com)

随着横卷轴显示技术的进步,游戏操作不再受限于单一的、静止区域——跨页出现了。游戏区域的拓展使横卷轴在平台游戏中普及。毫无疑问,《超级马里奥兄弟》利用可爱的角色、简单的剧情和丰富的任务成为我们童年时代最难忘的记忆。

《最终幻想》(1987):

Final_Fantasy(from hongkiat.com)

Final_Fantasy(from hongkiat.com)

其他游戏也大量使用剧情线刺激玩家完成游戏。角色扮演游戏(RPG)就是由故事型游戏演变而来的,并加入角色升级系统。《最终幻想》尽管不是游戏市场上的第一款RPG,但正是它使这种类型流行开来。

从游戏到电影

经过了20年的发展,游戏中的剧情继续演变,几乎成为另一种形式的电影。事实上,有些游戏故事确实被搬上大银幕。例如,比较成功的电影《古墓丽影》和它的续作《古墓丽影之生命的摇篮》分别制作于2001年和2003年。其他值得一提的游戏电影包括《生化危机》、《寂静岭》和《波斯王子:时之砂》。

《古墓丽影》(1996):

Tomb_Raider(from hongkiat.com)

Tomb_Raider(from hongkiat.com)

《生化危机》(1996):

Resident_Evil(from hongkiat.com)

Resident_Evil(from hongkiat.com)

《寂静岭》(1999):

Silent_Hill(from hongkiat.com)

Silent_Hill(from hongkiat.com)

《波斯王子:时之砂》(2003):

Prince_of_Persia_Sands_of_Time(from hongkiat.com)

Prince_of_Persia_Sands_of_Time(from hongkiat.com)

现实主义的探索

回到电子游戏早期,有限的图像能力和计算机性能迫使玩家更加注重小细节如剧情线和高得分。这时候的“现实主义”更多地是指玩家与游戏互动方式,而不是图像显示。但90年代兴起的3D图像技术使游戏从2D跨越到3D。3D技术使第一人称视角玩法成为可能,也就是玩家可以通过游戏角色的眼睛看到活动。

这种玩法已经在第一人称射击游戏(FPS)中普及了,如《德军总部 3D》。它也许不是第一款FPS,但它为后来的经典如《毁灭战士》和《雷神之锤》打下基础。

《德军总部 3D》(1992):

Wolfenstein_3D(from hongkiat.com)

Wolfenstein_3D(from hongkiat.com)

《毁灭战士》(1993):

Doom(from hongkiat.com)

Doom(from hongkiat.com)

《雷神之锤》(1996):

Quake(from hongkiat.com)

Quake(from hongkiat.com)

开放世界与非线性游戏

随着3D开放世界动作冒险游戏兴起,游戏发展到达另一个里程碑。在前两部的基础上,《侠盗猎车手3》(《GTA III》)给玩家带来更大的探索虚拟世界的自由度和更多的满足某种目标的选择。

从《GTA》和《GTA2》通常的自上而下视角转换到《GTA III》中的街头捣乱和物品角色互动,开放世界的概念成形了。角色从一个场景到另一个场景不再需要加载页面,也没有不能穿越的“第四堵墙”。尽管如此,从该系列的前两款游戏看,游戏仍然遵循它的非线性玩法概念。

《GTA III》创造的开放结局的游戏设计和开放世界概念被许多电子游戏沿用,使该作成为史上最具影响力的游戏之一。

《GTA》(1997):

PCArena(from hongkiat.com)

PCArena(from hongkiat.com)

《GTA 2》(1999):

GTA II(from hongkiat.com)

GTA II(from hongkiat.com)

《GTA III》(2001):

GTA III(from hongkiat.com)

GTA III(from hongkiat.com)

物理引擎

虽然游戏内容对玩家的游戏体验很重要,但玩家必须玩上一阵子才能从内容中感受到“现实主义”。相比之下,图像能对玩家产生直接的重大影响,因为图像第一时间就暴露在玩家眼前。

在3D游戏兴起的几年里,在游戏的表现方面,开发者始终专注于制作更加精细、逼真的画面。同样引起开发者重视的是,组成游戏的物理环境产生的反应和移动的玩法引擎。

动态

《Dirt》的一大特色是它的物理引擎。游戏中的小车操作非常真实,玩家甚至可以看到小车碰撞后碎片飞落的景象。类似地,《孤岛危机》使用它的物理引擎创造了逼真的玩法:物品随着子弹和爆炸飞散甩落,表现得非常自然。

《Dirt》(2007):

Dirt(from hongkiat.com)

Dirt(from hongkiat.com)

《孤岛危机》(2007):

Crysis(from hongkiat.com)

Crysis(from hongkiat.com)

玩法引擎已经从Ragdoll引擎过渡到Euphoria引擎。二者都广泛运用于模拟游戏角色的死亡。

Ragdoll引擎

在Ragdoll引擎出现以前,角色的死亡效果通常是重复利用的,因为动画已经提前做好了。而有了Ragdoll引擎,角色死亡时会像布偶一样倒在地上。《杀手:代号47》、《光晕:战斗进化》和《神秘海域:德雷克的宝藏》都是使用该引擎的例子。

但很明显,这种引擎产生的物理效果仍然不够真实。

《杀手:代号47》(2000):

Hitman(from hongkiat.com)

Hitman(from hongkiat.com)

《光晕:战斗进化》(2001):

Halo(from hongkiat.com)

Halo(from hongkiat.com)

《神秘海域:德雷克的宝藏》(2007):

Uncharted(from hongkiat.com)

Uncharted(from hongkiat.com)

Euphoria引擎

Euphoria引擎更加复杂和真实,因为它考虑到角色的虚拟骨骼和肌肉,甚至包含内置的自我保护行为。这使得角色的移动和互动更加符合游戏情境。显著的例子如《GTA IV》、《星球大战:原力释放》和《Max Payne 3》。

《GTA IV》(2008):

GTAIV(from hongkiat.com)

GTAIV(from hongkiat.com)

《星球大战:原力释放》(2008):

Star_Wars_Force_Unleashed(from hongkiat.com)

Star_Wars_Force_Unleashed(from hongkiat.com)

《Max Payne 3》(2012):

Max_Payne_3(from hongkiat.com)

Max_Payne_3(from hongkiat.com)

实体控制器

与物理引擎平行发展的技术是用实体控制器模拟游戏操作。自游戏有史以来,人类就一直通过制作真实的控制器来改进玩家的游戏体验。最早使用实体控制器的游戏包括《靶场射击》(光枪)和《Gran Trak 10》(方向盘)。

在那两款游戏之后是一款音乐动作游戏《疯狂吉他手》,它的控制器就像一把吉他。这款游戏标志着游戏体验的沉浸感和真实感达到另一个高度。这第一款吉他控制器游戏一经发布,就在日本玩家当中引起难轰动。然而,使用实体控制器的游戏直到2005年《吉他英雄》系列诞生,才使这种玩法在日本之外的地区流行开来。

《靶场射击》(1972)的枪形控制器:

Light_Gun_Shooting_Gallery(from hongkiat.com)

Light_Gun_Shooting_Gallery(from hongkiat.com)

《Gran Trak 10》(1974)的海报:

Poster_Gran_Trak_10(from hongkiat.com)

Poster_Gran_Trak_10(from hongkiat.com)

《疯狂吉他手》(1998):

Guitar_Freaks(from hongkiat.com)

Guitar_Freaks(from hongkiat.com)

《吉他英雄》系列(2005-2010)的控制器:

Guitar_Hero_Controllers(from hongkiat.com)

Guitar_Hero_Controllers(from hongkiat.com)

《吉他英雄》(2005):

Guitar_Hero(from hongkiat.com)

Guitar_Hero(from hongkiat.com)

《吉他英雄》受到普遍玩家的欢迎,玩这款游戏甚至被认为是一种文化现象,使公众对真正的乐器本身也产生兴趣。虽然玩家手中的吉他只是一款任何人都能上手和精通的游戏的控制器,但他们觉得自己就像在玩真正的吉他。如果没有这种吉他控制器,《吉他英雄》也不可能变得这么热门。

运动游戏机和控制器

自此后,非传统的游戏控制器一直在发展。比如,动作控制器Wii Remote与任天堂Wii游戏机打包出售。游戏《Wii Sports》体现了该控制器的动作感应能力。玩家可以用它玩五款运动游戏,即网球、棒球、高尔夫球、拳击和保龄球。

玩这些游戏时,玩家必须用这个控制器做出真正的动作,如猛击和摇摆等。所有年龄层次的玩家,从小孩子到老年人都能够轻易掌握游戏的操作和适应游戏UI。突然之间,玩游戏也成为一种减肥的好办法。

玩《Wii Sports》很快成为一种巩固家庭和朋友关系的社交活动。所以,这款游戏自然而然成为史上最畅销的电子游戏之一。

Wii Remote (2006)

Wii_Remote_Nunchucks(from hongkiat.com)

Wii_Remote_Nunchucks(from hongkiat.com)

《Wii Sports》(2006)中的单人拳击游戏:

Wii_Boxing(from hongkiat.com)

Wii_Boxing(from hongkiat.com)

《Wii Sports》(2006)的拳击游戏的双人玩法:

Wii_Sports_Boxing(from hongkiat.com)

Wii_Sports_Boxing(from hongkiat.com)

全肢体活动

最后,《Kinect Adventures!》与Kinect捆绑发布标志着游戏UI史上的又一个技术突破——全肢体活动控制器出现了。当玩家在传感器周围和发现或命中目标时,游戏就会通过动作摄像头追踪玩家的这一系列活动。

Kinect (2010)

Kinect_Device(from hongkiat.com)

Kinect_Device(from hongkiat.com)

《Kinect Adventures!》(2010)的单人拉力球游戏:

Kinect_Adventures(from hongkiat.com)

Kinect_Adventures(from hongkiat.com)

《Kinect Adventures!》(2010)的双人激流游戏:

Kinect_Adventures_2_Players(from hongkiat.com)

Kinect_Adventures_2_Players(from hongkiat.com)

这些捆绑出售的小游戏利用一种或以上的这种功能,允许两名玩家在分屏模式或在线模式(游戏邦注:Xbox Live的多人模式)下竞技或合作。该技术预示着以后将有更多游戏利用全肢体动作控制、无控制器UI。电子游戏的这种未来UI可能随着操作概念一起演变。

电子游戏UI的未来

多亏了图像技术和计算机性能的进步,游戏现实主义已经成为开发者近年来的主要关注点。因此,我们可以预测,电子游戏将朝着更加精细、逼真和有沉浸感的方向发展。游戏的操作也将比现在的Kinect的全肢体动作检测技术更加准确和直观。

新互动方式

我们可以期待看到玩家用另一种新技术来操作游戏——通过过眼珠追踪摄像头追踪眼珠的转动情况,或甚至通过脑波检测追踪玩家的思想!随着UI进一步发展和突破,玩家有可能使用上一种全新的可穿戴的操作器,或者游戏有可能选择AR(增强现实技术),例如,《战场5》和《Droidshooting》。

3D打印技术

有望商业化的3D打印设备可能意味着,玩家不久将能够创造和自定义任何实体工具,用于操作游戏,就像Wii Remote的许多塑料插件。握住游戏武器当然比假装握住武器来得强。

总结

游戏行业还将产生更多变革。并没有多少人会料到吉他控制器会随着《疯狂吉他手》和《吉他英雄》的发布而获得巨大成功,而且导致其他非传统控制器的兴起,以及游戏机的动作控制器的革命。

同时,创新的类型也在不断涌现。纵观游戏UI的发展史,你可以发现,技术进步在游戏行业的走向中扮演重要角色。无论从今以后,游戏UI将如何演化,开发者对最终产品的着眼点始终是玩家体验。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Evolution Of Video Games User Interface (UI)

By Michael Poh

Over the past few decades, video games have been refined by graphical enhancements, increased processor speed of video game systems and other technological advancements. As a result, their UIs have been evolving to adapt to the increasing complexity of video games.

The world had seen the emergence of technologies such as 3D graphics and motion sensors which allow for new game genres and UI to come to be. Today, we shall bring you through the development of UI and how it has changed over the years and we are going to look at it through some of the more influential video games.

Recommended Reading: Evolution of Home Video Game Consoles: 1967 – 2011

Defining UI

What we’re referring to as UI here is the way players can interact with the game and receive feedback of their interaction. It generally applies to the interactivity and concepts of a game. This includes several aspects of gameplay such as the graphics, storyline, visual perspectives (point-of-view), controls, level designs, behaviors of AIs, etc. The experience generated from the resultant gameplay or interaction is the objective of the game.

Mindless & Repetitive Games Of Skill

The first type of gameplay the video game industry had for players was that involving a test of their control and/or reflex skills as they progress into the game with increasing difficulties. The enemies within these games could be another human player or the AI and the objective was to stay alive by means of maintaining the necessary skill level to defeat them.

Tennis for Two (1958)

One example of such primitive games is that of Tennis for Two (1958), a game which simulates tennis or ping pong where each player manipulates the ball trajectory over a simplified tennis court from the side. Players simply press the button to hit the ball when it is at their side of the net after adjusting the hitting angle with a control knob. The game goes on until a player misses.

Spacewar! (1961)

As one of two players in Spacewar! (1961), you are to control a spaceship to fire against your opponent. The additional challenge comes about with a star at the center of the screen that suck players toward it, even though players get to activate ‘Hyperspace’ that places their ship at a random location on screen. The game may have a more complex gameplay than Tennis for Two, but the idea was still on reflex training.

Pong (1972)

It was also the same for the classic video game Pong (1972), where two players battle in out with their paddles onscreen and try to return the ball to their opponent without a miss. When the opponent fails to hit the ball, the other player gains a point. It was about this time that game developers realize that players get an extra incentive to play when things start becoming competitive with player scores.

Space Invaders (1978)

The scoring feature was further popularized with the classic, Space Invaders (1978), which pitted players with cute pixelated aliens! A 2D fixed-shooter game, players have to move a laser cannon horizontally across the bottom of the screen and fire at descending aliens, which can fire back. The game speeds up as time passes, and players spent hours to clear the aliens off the screen, logging in high scores that were posted for all to see.

Pac-Man (1980)

By the 1980s, skill-based games had evolved to include other features to test players on their reflex-and puzzle-solving capabilities. Scores, power-ups and avoiding enemies (versus confronting and killing them) in classic hits like Pac-Man (1980) took game development further. Navigate through a maze and consume all the pellets to advance to the next stage, avoid the ghosts or consume power pellets to turn the tables temporarily.

Storylines & Interactivity

While skill games were evolving to include scores and other added features, another genre was emerging within the industry to spice up the content of games.

Colossal Cave Adventure (1975)

Colossal Cave Adventure (1975) was known as the first computer adventure game that eventually brought storylines into games. It had no graphical interface, only textual. The draw of the game was its story-rich content and the interactivity involved. Players type in commands indicating what they wish to do next in each situation. Depending on the choices the players make, the story unfolds in different ways with different endings.

Donkey Kong (1981)

Developers eventually tried putting story elements and graphics together in their games; one of the pioneers was Donkey Kong (1981). It was one of the earliest game to have a storyline. You play Jumpman who has to rescue the Lady from Donkey Kong and in-game characters began to take form – with pink dresses, red overalls and villain-trademark smirks. Such details allow for players to identify with the characters and immerse themselves into the story.

Super Mario Bros (1985)

With the advent of scrolling computer display technology, games were soon no longer confined to a single, static playing field; page-flipping emerged. The expansion of the playing field allowed for side-scrolling video games, popularizing the platform game genre. Super Mario Bros (1985) easily one of the most prominent games to grace our childhood banked on a cute and simple storyline, cute characters and multiple-stage quests.

Final Fantasy (1987)

Other games depend more heavily on storylines as the impetus for players to finish the game. Role-playing video games (RPG) arose from the evolution of story-based games and the ‘leveling-up‘ of game character experience was introduced. Final Fantasy (1987), although not the first (RPG) available on the gaming market, was the game that popularized this genre.

From Games To Movies

Over the next two decades, the storylines in games continue to develop, to the point of actually becoming movie-worthy. As a matter-of-fact, some of them were actually made into movies. For instance, the moderately successful film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life were created in 2001 and 2003 for the Tomb Raider video games series. Other noteworthy game movies include Resident Evil (2002), Silent Hill (2006) and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010).

Tomb Raider (1996)

Resident Evil (1996)

Silent Hill (1999)

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2003)

The Quest For Realism

Back in the early days of video games, the limiting graphical capabilities and computing power shifted the focus of games to the little details like storylines and high scores. Those were the times when ‘realism’ had more to do with how players interact and relate with the game than just graphics per se. But the 3D graphics in the 1990s changed that, allowing us to skip from 2D to 3D. It made possible the idea of a ‘first-person’ point-of-view (POV) gameplay, which is pretty much you seeing the action through the eyes of the game character.

Such gameplay has been popularized with first-person shooter (FPS) games such as Wolfenstein 3D (1992). It may not be the firstborn of the genre, but it laid the path for classics such as Doom (1993) and Quake (1996).

Wolfenstein 3D (1992)

Doom (1993)

Quake (1996)

Open-World & Non-Linearity Gameplay

Yet another major milestone was reached with the rise of 3D open world action-adventure games following the release of Grand Theft Auto III (2001). Following in the footsteps of its predecessors, Grand Theft Auto (1997) and Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999), GTA III afforded players with a considerable level of freedom to explore the virtual world and options in fulfilling certain objectives.

The switch from the usual top-down view of GTA and GTA 2 to roaming the streets and interacting with objects and characters in GTA III endorsed the open world concept. No more loading screens as your character crosses from one stage to another, or invisible boundaries where you cannot surpass. Nonetheless, the game stayed true to its non-linearity gameplay concept from its first two games of the series.

The resultant paradigm of open-ended game design and open world concept by GTA III was adopted by many video games that follow, thereby making it one of the most influential games of all time.

GTA (1997)

GTA 2 (1999)

GTA III (2001)

Physics Engine

While game content is also crucial to the players’ gaming experience, one must play for an extended period of time to feel the ‘realism’. Graphics, on the other hand, have a more direct impact on players since they are the in the front line of exposure to the players.

In the years that follow the rise of 3D games, developers have focused on making games more detailed and life-like in terms of its presentation. Equally important is the gameplay physics of the game, comprising of movements and reaction from the physical environment.

For Every Action

Games like Dirt (2007) featured physics where car controls were realistic and players could witness car parts flying and falling off in car crashes. In a similar vein, Crysis (2007) used its own physics engine to create a lifelike gameplay where objects fall and spin off naturally with accompanying bullets and explosions. Check out the awesome demo of the physics engine.

Dirt (2007)

Crysis (2007)

We have also seen the transition of gameplay physics from Ragdoll to the Euphoria physics engine. Both are commonly used to physically simulate the death of game characters.

Ragdoll Deaths

Before there was the Ragdoll game physics, character death sequences were often repeated because the animations were already created beforehand. With Ragdoll, the character will collapse to the ground much like a ragdoll. Some games that used such an engine were Hitman: Codename 47 (2000), Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (2007).

But for obvious reasons one can see, it still wasn’t realistic enough.

Hitman (2000)

Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (2007)

The Euphoria Engine

The Euphoria engine was more complex and realistic because it takes into account the virtual skeleton and muscles of the character, and even contains self-preservation behaviors built within. This makes the movement adaptive and interactive in accordance to the gaming scenario, as evident in newer games such as Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) and Max Payne 3 (2012).

GTA IV (2008)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008)

Max Payne 3 (2012)

Here’s an example of the comparison between both engines.

Physical Simulation

Developing in parallel is physical simulation of controllers. There had been attempts to improvise the gaming experience for players by having realistic controllers since the beginning of the gaming history. Some of the earliest usage of physical props for games include the light gun for Shooting Gallery (1972) and a steering wheel for Gran Trak 10 (1974).

Then came Guitar Freaks (1998), a rhythm game from the genre of music-theme action video games which showcased the guitar as a controller. And the world saw another side of immersive, realistic gaming. The first guitar controller game to be released was an instant hit with Japanese gamers. However, it wasn’t until 2005 before the Guitar Hero franchise in 2005 took things outside of Japan.

Shot-gun Style Light Fun For Shooting Gallery (1972)

Advertisement Poster for Gran Trak 10 (1974)

Guitar Freaks (1998)

Controllers for Guitar Hero series (2005 – 2010)

Guitar Hero (2005)

Guitar Hero was so well-received by the masses that it had been recognized as a cultural phenomenal, sparking the public’s interest with the actual musical instrument itself. Players may feel as if they were playing an actual guitar, except that it was just the controller for a game that anyone could play and master. Without the special guitar controller, Guitar Hero would not have attained the same level of success as it did.

Sports Consoles And Controllers

From there, non-orthodox controllers developed. Motion controllers like Wii Remote (2006), which was packaged along with the Nintendo Wii console (2006). The launch title, Wii Sports showcased the motion-sensing capabilities of the remote. Players get to choose from five sports games to play with, namely tennis, baseball, golf, boxing and bowling.

For each individual game, players had to execute real-life motions while holding the controller, such as punching and swinging. As a result, players of all ages including young children and the elderly were able to grasp the controls of the games and adapt to the gameplay UI easily. Suddenly video games became a great way to lose weight.

Wii Sports soon became commonplace in social gatherings as a way of bonding with family and friends by means of friendly competitions. The game went on to become the best-selling video game of all time (as of 2012).

Wii Remote (2006) With Nunchucks Plugged (left)

One-Player Wii Boxing from Wii Sports (2006)

Two-Player Wii Boxing from Wii Sports (2006)

Full-Body Movement

Finally, the breakthrough technology of full-body movement control was demonstrated with the release of Kinect Adventures! (2010) that came bundled with Kinect. Using its motion camera, Kinect games track the full-body motion of players as they shift left or right, move towards or away from the sensor and acquire or hit targets.

Kinect (2010)

One-Player Rally Ball from Kinect Adventures! (2010)

Two-Player River Rush from Kinect Adventures! (2010)

These bundled mini-games utilized one or more of such capabilities and allowed two players to compete or co-op in either split-screen mode or online mode in Xbox Live multiplayer. The technology spelled out the opportunities for upcoming games to tap into full-body motion control sans controller user interface. The future UI of video games may very well evolve along such a control concept.

The Future Of Video Gaming UIs

One observation we can all make is that, thanks to improved graphical and computing capabilities, game realism has become quite a primary focus of developers in recent years. As such, one would expect the future progression of video games to be more detailed, life-like and immersive. Controls will also get more precise and intuitive to the player than the existing full-body movement detection technology of Kinect.

New Ways To Interact

One might expect to see gamers controlling with their gazes by means of eye-tracking camera technology or even with their thoughts via detection of brainwaves! As user interface develop further and break boundaries, the use of new wearable gadgets may take over, or the industry may go in the way of Augmented Reality (AR) for instance like Battlefield 5 on Glass, and Droidshooting.

Recommended Reading: How Augmented Reality Is The Next Big Social Experience

3D Printing Technology

The much-anticipated commercialization of affordable 3D printing hardware may mean that players will soon be able to create and customize any physical props to serve as controls for games, much like the many plastic Wii add-ons for its remote. Holding a game weapon sure beats pretending to hold a weapon.

Conclusion

There are many ways things may unfold for the gaming industry. Not many would’ve expected guitar controllers to become such a huge success following the release of Guitar Freaks and Guitar Heroes, which inadvertently resulted in the rise of other non-orthodox controllers and consequently even a console war over motion controllers.

Novel genres have sprung up unexpectedly at the same time as well. As you could see throughout the history of video games user interface above, technological advancements play an crucial role in charting the paths that the industry take. No matter how video games interface may evolve from now on, the end product which all developers will always keep an eye on shall always be that of the players’ experience.(source:hongkiat)


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