Designing Without Words

[Repost from my Tumblr page.]

A while back, I released my first game, Warp Tunnel. I was very happy with its results. It had 100,000+ downloads (primarily free and pirated), high ratings on iOS and Android app stores, and I still love playing it. But it has its flaws. The worst of which was how much text was in my game. I learned something very important through Warp Tunnel:

People don't read. 

At least mobile players don't read. The tutorial was built around helping people grasp each aspect of the flying controls and then combine them. The problem with this? No one reads what to do. I never realized just how bad this was until I presented at GAMESCAPE in Baltimore.

There are ways to remedy this. For example, requiring the user to do something before dismissing the text, or display the text for a long enough time where there is nothing else to read. But should these really be our first thoughts? If your text is not localized, you're alienating a great deal of the world. And even if it is localized, what about kids and people who simply don't read in games?

I'm not saying you shouldn't have text by any means. What I believe is the design should stand on its own and then text should be considered. This is not a new practice in games. But from most games I have played, they have not actually realized this. Relying on text to explain your game, hurts your game. Your mechancis and aesthetics should reinforce how to play; text afterwards.

This was my philosophy in UDLR:SWIPE.

The game has a fairly simple premise. Each color represents the direction you are to swipe. Yellow means swipe up, green is down, blue is left, and red is right. I could have simply stated this and been done but that wouldn't work for all players. Instead, I approached the game without words. I continuously thought of ways to teach the player what each direction meant.

Eventually I arrived to a few simple solutions (not so simple to realize). Until you reach a score of 20 swipes, the game will take you through 10 cards with arrows on them. As you swipe, they eventually fade away until there is no arrow and then the game begins, giving the player time to learn on their own. There is also an arrow of the appropriate color under each card, in case you mess up. This is to, again, remind the player of relation between color and direction (picture). There were more but you get the point.

This design philosophy added mechanics to my game that allowed it to better support itself. Only after I had exhausted all ideas for conveying the game without words did I then add in text. And even this, specifically for UDLR, I left simple. Instead of the game outright telling the player what to do, it felt natural as a puzzle. It's always better for the player to feel smart by figuring out how it works. The game is your competition but it doesn't need to belittle the player. 

There are hundreds of games that do this well, but one of my personal favorites is Hundreds (see what I did there). This game set much of the design philosophy for UDLR:SWIPE. Due to having a minimalist theme, minimal text was very appropriate. Hundreds allowed you to explore the space, feel your way around, quite literally, and discover each new mechanic. It was fresh. Would this have been the same if they told you how each circle worked? Not at all! It was the lack of unecessary information that truly conveyed the game's beauty.    

Again, I am not dismissing text from games. Sometimes it is essential. Let's consider, for example, interactive fiction; text is the very essence of the game. But many IF games follow this "text after design" philosophy. The game trusts its player. It allows you to learn your constraints on your own and truly leave the sky as the limit. How creative would people be with in-game commands if we simply explained everything? It wouldn't be fun! It would feel rigid, restrictive, and unimaginative.

So before you begin teaching everything with text, ask yourself if there is a better way. Chances are, there is. It is by no means easier. I spent hours playtesting new users, observing how they discovered the game. We'll see when UDLR:SWIPE releases Monday whether that was enough. Any helpful criticism is much appreciated. Thanks!

See ya <(0 0,)>