Main and In-Game (Pause) Menus
My task was to design navigation and interactions in the main and pause menus.
benchmark & flow charts
I decided to start with a benchmark. Event[0] is a first person narrative exploration game that takes place in space. I picked a couple of games in the same style and analyzed them. The objective was to determine good and bad practices related to menus.
The next step was to make menu flow charts. To determine how many sub-menus were necessary, I needed to know which options we would be proposed in the final game. As a result, the charts were amended as more options were developed by the code team.
wireframes & mock-up
Once the flow was established, I made wireframes and then a mock-up using Axure. It helped the team to visualize the menu design and iterate on it.
Based on the mock-up and specifications I made, programmers started prototyping the menus. After several iterations with the programmers and the art director, the final version of the menus was created.
USER TESTS & RESULTS
During playtest sessions, I observed how players used the menus: both on their own and when given a specific task. These tests allowed us to confirm that the navigation worked and finalize it.