Comments on: How to process an intense screen of information?

By: Arcade

Arcade — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:34:52 +0000

@Jesper

Yeah, maybe that’s how it is.

@gutek

It gotta suck if you’re getting a really high score and the person you’re talking to hang up.

By: gutek

gutek — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:03:51 +0000

the thing with twitch-based gameplay is that almost all processing on the players side is done on a subconscious level. once you try to concentrate on what is happening, you’re going to lose. (this is why i listen to music or talk on the phone while playing those games. helps me crack my own highscores).

in the case of games like geometry wars, coding is key. give the enemies distinct shapes, colors, sounds and introduce them properly, so the player can learn their behavior and later on read them properly when mid-game.

it’s all about readability. it always is.

By: Jesper

Jesper — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:08:55 +0000

Not sure what you mean here. Peripheral vision is actually more acute then focused vision but indeed monochrome. This means not that, as your pictures illustrate, our vision is blurry around the edges, but the other way around. It is actually more crisp around the edges but also completely monochrome.

Now remember your Gibsonian cognitive psychology, we understand shapes from edges, colors and sizes. So in your example, desaturating objects farther from the players point of focus (in Stardust HD, the avatar) would make the information on the screen a lot faster to understand.
However, it would look quite strange to people not playing the game.

Great read!

By: Arcade

Arcade — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:01:07 +0000

Thanks for agreeing. I looked at your site and I think Moldering looks awesome; I’ll keep an eye on it from now on.

By: James Daniello

James Daniello — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:09:30 +0000

I, for one, know I do this. It get’s overwhelming when you’re trying to watch everything… waaay to much stimulus. Rez is a good example of this. For some of those boss fights you need to just watch the center of the screen and let your hands work in your peripheral vision.