From Desktop to Mobile: UI Patterns for User Interface Adaptation in Games
Pihlajamäki, Eveliina (2016)
Pihlajamäki, Eveliina
2016
MDP in Human-Technology Interaction
Informaatiotieteiden yksikkö - School of Information Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2016-06-22
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201608032125
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201608032125
Tiivistelmä
Over the last decade, the popularity of mobile gaming has increased dramatically. It is becoming increasingly more common to include mobile as one of the target platforms in game releases. However, implementing a game for multiple platforms and devices is complicated due to the various interaction mechanisms. The versatility with platforms and devices poses major challenges for UI designers; various aspects from resolutions to input devices have to be taken into account. However, by looking at the research in this area it seems that guidelines for multi-platform game UI design have yet to be established, which is what this thesis seeks to address.
Firstly, this thesis investigates whether there are factors in modern gaming applications that differ by device when comparing phone, tablet and desktop user interfaces. For this, three games were picked as case study subjects, and qualitative approach was used to analyze what those factors are and how they are addressed in the UI design of different device versions of the chosen games. The second objective was to form a collection of straightforward design patterns based on the discovered UI differences. As a conclusion, by analyzing several games along the existing research, it is possible to form a collection of design patterns. A set of 17 UI design patterns were documented for adapting a desktop optimized game application to mobile platform.
Firstly, this thesis investigates whether there are factors in modern gaming applications that differ by device when comparing phone, tablet and desktop user interfaces. For this, three games were picked as case study subjects, and qualitative approach was used to analyze what those factors are and how they are addressed in the UI design of different device versions of the chosen games. The second objective was to form a collection of straightforward design patterns based on the discovered UI differences. As a conclusion, by analyzing several games along the existing research, it is possible to form a collection of design patterns. A set of 17 UI design patterns were documented for adapting a desktop optimized game application to mobile platform.