40 Days #18: How about some standard rules for using controller buttons to navigate games?

Peter — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:27:58 GMT

Not everybody is a fan of Microsoft's certification process for Xbox 360 games. At the same time, it's probably good to have the practice in place in order to enforce some technical and usability standards.

However, despite all the complaints and delays this whole process creates, it almost seems like sometimes they need to test usability a bit more and make some suggestions to the developers.

I would really be thrilled if Microsoft would examine how developers implement navigation through menus and screens in their games, because there are just way too many inconsistencies in how these little touches work across different games.

Take the initial splash screens of many games, for example. They usually say tell you to press the start button to begin. I don't know whether this is still really necessary in this day and age or if it is some holdover from old-school gaming days. In any case, sometimes those screens also let you press the A button to continue. Sometimes they don't. Given that the A button is usually associated with yes/go/next on the 360, wouldn't it be natural for all Xbox 360 games to at least let you use it to start a game, if not outright replace the start button prompt? I mean, you press A everywhere else to do things anyway. I wonder if the the start button convention is related to multi-platform games, where a start button is usually one of the few controller buttons guaranteed to exist on multiple consoles, and developers are too lazy to make the prompts controller specific.

The other area where navigation inconsistencies annoy me is the Xbox Live Arcade. On one hand, all games have a very familiar menu structure, with comforting staples like "Help & Options" available universally. This must be the result of Microsoft's certification efforts, and is certainly a good thing, since gamers new to a game can quickly figure out the basic layout of the game. However, once you get into areas like help screens or even the screens that try to persuade you to buy the full game, the reliable familiarity is usually gone in a flash.

For example just navigating from one screen to another while learning how to play an arcade game can be totally different across games. Some use the typical A/B forward/back setup. Some use triggers. Some use shoulder buttons. Some use the D-pad and a stick. Some use multiple methods. Some use just one weird one that no other game uses. You just never know what it will be.

Same thing with the purchase prompt screens and the prompts to exit to the arcade. I always have to carefully read those, because I can never rely on a standard button to get me out of the game, instead of unlocking the full version.

I'm not sure if this disparity is the result of developers trying to be "original" somehow, but it really isn't necessary. You don't need to reinvent the wheel here, especially one that works well and lets gamers rely on it. And Microsoft needs to enforce some more stringent UI standards, unless the developer needs to break from them to implement some neat functionality in their game. Most developers don't. While it's true that what I am asking for could make the already arduous certification process even longer, Microsoft either needs to be a lot less controlling everywhere else or go all the way and demand consistency. Part of the reason people are unhappy with the cert delays now is that you still get these little niggling issues, which makes the whole thing look like a period of delay where the certification folks give the game only a cursory look anyway.

Playing on Easy : Game Design

40 Days #18: How about some standard rules for using controller buttons to navigate games?