Assassin's Creed: Valhalla Character Menu UI
For this project, I decided to try to apply UX principles to fixing problems that I identified in older Assassin's Creed games to Assassin's Creed Valhalla that was announced in April 2020. I had started work on this project on June 24th, 2020 so this project was started before any UI had been shown in later Ubisoft forwards. However, I was not necessarily focusing on predicting what the specific UI art would look like exactly nor what mechanics would be implemented. I was more trying to address certain issues that existed in previous titles and correcting them for the future to make the Character Menu more user-friendly based on assumptions of what features may be in the new game.
Here is a video demo of the prototype before I get into the details.
The button below will take you to a different page where you can interact with the prototype outlined above. It is difficult to simulate the functionality of a fully interactive game in Figma so some of the mechanics are simply visual mockups of how the UI might function.
The Problem
There are a few button uses and user flows that could be changed to improve efficiency of the interface. Furthermore there was a certain lack of character connection that could be improved upon through little details that would more firmly establish the character for the player.
Problem Statement: Players need a system to more easily modify and feel connected to the character through customization.
Who is this for: People who play assassin's creed games whether new or old. Video game players that are drawn to similar genre of games.
What: A character gear and customization menu that is intuitive and deepens the player's connection to the character. Needs to not change drastically from previous titles to keep with usability principles and not confuse veteran players.
Where: Digital (Console or PC game)
Why: Make the experience of the character menu seamless with the rest of the game.
The Goals
The idea would be to create a character menu that is both intuitive and immersive through details so as to make it seem like a natural part of game play and possibly create a model by which other similar titles emulate character/gear customization.
Competitive Analysis/Research
Similar titles that were evaluated for their menu systems included:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
God of War (2018)
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
other previous Assassin's Creed titles
What God of War did well:
-
Descriptive meaningful names for enhancements.
-
Close up looks of how the armor looks.
-
Symbols and easily findable information.
-
Clearly identifiable selections.
Some things I thought it could have done better:
-
Spread out information could have been condensed.
-
Lots of in your face statistics make the game feel like it's got a higher learning curve.
-
Passive character stances that don't establish the character as well.
-
Little to no environment that doesn't contribute to establishing the characters.
What Skyrim did well:
-
Lots of armor options.
-
Simple stats.
-
Simple but meaningful explanations.
Some things I thought it could have done better:
-
Too many nested menus.
-
Covered up other selection options with overlays.
-
Passive stances.
What Odyssey did well:
-
Simple yet informative display of options.
-
Deeper stats available for more information.
-
More active stances for better visualization of gear in the appropriate settings.
-
Cultural symbology and environment help establish the character better.
Some things I thought it could have done better:
-
It is not immediately apparent as to why resources at the top of screen are useful in this menu and appear as extraneous at first. Could have been moved to a different menu.
-
No D-pad navigation on the console is an accessibility issue.
-
Some navigation buttons on the console appear to be chosen for aesthetics rather than logical use.
Wire Frames of Main Gameplay Screens
After analyzing the flow from Odyssey I came up with some basic wireframes. Nothing changes drastically. I thought a few button choice changes were necessary because while the choices of buttons made the UI look symmetrical they ultimately were somewhat illogical. The left-right orientation stays the same. (Pardon the stick figures)
Here are some closer up individual frames.
Captures of high fidelity prototypes
One of my first prototypes was to try and create a more natural setting to show how the character might actually interact with gear. On top of a background of a boat and environmental details such as snow and the Aurora Borealis, I tried to display gear in racks to emulate a Viking longboat gearing station. However, after getting some feedback that this didn't really have an Assassin's Creed feel I moved on to a more traditional approach that didn't stray as far from the systems from previous games.
This ended up being the direction I went with where gear had specifically identifiable "slots" as can be seen in most gear menus and the set up is very much like Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Details that I focused on were the environment, symbology from Viking culture, and selection of buttons use.
I thought it was important to have a specific location for information on selections that didn't cover up items.
I tried to emulate the active stance of how weapons would look when held by the character Eivor. However, I didn't have quite the right source images nor the artistic acumen to create my own images of how Eivor would hold each weapon in a real situation which I feel Assassin's Creed Odyssey did fairly well.
While being cognizant that Ubisoft is not trying to directly compete with God of War in its portrayal of mythologies, I thought one of the problems with Odyssey was that it didn't capitalize on deity affiliations of the engravings used on gear.
I thought very specifically oriented names for engravings and enhancements would be appropriate and additive to the establishment of Eivor in his/her culture.
I also updated the page to include a list of gear so the player didn't have to navigate to each piece individually, thereby removing the number of menus they would have to navigate through. This is also why I included the engravings as a specific button combo option at the bottom of the screen.
