It seems unrealistic for a mobile game to achieve an expression similar to a 3A work: First, its screen is only as big as a palm, and part of the screen will be covered by hands when playing, so the UI design is quite limited; second, the complex function distribution It is not friendly to mobile game players, and the screen is easily filled with various visual effects, which will look chaotic so get apex legends boosting service.

But is it really not feasible at all? Some time ago, “ApexM”, jointly developed by Photon Studio Group and EA Respawn, topped the iOS free list in 110 countries and regions on the day it was launched. It not only restores the taste of the end game, but also makes an interactive design suitable for mobile games.

At the 6th Tencent Game Developers Conference (TGDC) held by Tencent Game Academy, Yang Zefeng, chief interaction designer of the “Apex Legends Mobile” (later called “ApexM”) project of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Photon Design Center And Wang Shan, the main visual designer, shared their mental journey when designing “ApexM” which was shutting people off from when they buy valorant boosting. Perhaps these related experiences can give manufacturers an idea for reference.

The following is the shared content organized by Grape King:

01

How to do a good job in UI layout design for terminal transfer

Hello everyone, I am Yang Zefeng, a game interaction engineer from Tencent IEG Photon Design Center. This time, I will share with Wang Shan: the design experience breakthrough of “ApexM”.

First of all, please watch a video of our game with Immortal Boost.

What problems will be encountered in the experience when porting a client game to a mobile game?

First of all, from the perspective of experience, there are often many difficulties in changing hands, such as how to layout the HUD interface with so many functions? The functions of the end game are so complicated, copy or simplify? These problems are some of the key difficulties that will be encountered in the end-to-end transfer. Due to the limited time, I chose two problems to share with you, which are also the more challenging problems I encountered during the research and development period of metaverse game development.

The first difficulty: how to layout the HUD with so many functions in the terminal game?

Differences in equipment bring about differences in experience. In a traditional PC, the keyboard is mainly responsible for the movement control, such as running, jumping, squatting and other basic behaviors, while the mouse is responsible for shooting, turning the angle of view and other controls. The brain has clearer instructions for the left and right hands, but in mobile games, it can only be done by rubbing the screen. And the occlusion of the fingers of both hands will result in only two-thirds of the screen remaining, so optimizing the operating experience is a problem that must be solved in shooting mobile games.

As a game interaction designer, based on the background of changing hands, you can think from several points: operating habits, such as different player types; inheritance and change, because many functions of end games are very complicated based on changing hands. Changes are made based on the operating layout of the mobile game; the learning cost needs to consider the different operating habits of different IP players and Apex mobile game players.

How to create a better operating experience? “ApexM” adheres to the interactive concept: easy to use, fast and smooth, and refreshing skills. These concepts are also reflected in the follow-up plans.

First, let’s take a look at a framework of our in-game battles. Due to limited space, we cannot list all of them. There are about 12 modules, 80+ functions, and 36 first-level operation buttons. Then the question arises, everyone sees so many functions and buttons, how do we determine the screen position on the mobile phone?

I think it is necessary to determine an evaluation dimension – first determine the operation hotspot, then list the priority of functions, and finally consider the position of placing various buttons comprehensively. Only in this way can we make our button layout design well-founded. You can look at the left side first. The operation hotspots can be divided into three levels, which are divided according to the operating range and difficulty of the fingers.