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From PAD to PHD
So I was noodling around with the PAD design last night, and it occurred to me that with the increased probability that you’ll encounter an action-oriented situation in Phoenix, having a device that blocks the view of the entire screen when it’s running is a rather bad idea. So, bowing to design requirements and hoping I don’t get attacked legally for stealing the KI concept for my own purposes, I turned the PAD into a holographic device called the PHD (Personal Holographic Device), which the in-game company that “makes” them nicknamed “The Doc”. It’s provided me with new opportunities for better functionality than a static, fixed-size screen-in-a-screen design would have allowed, but it also presents new challenges in terms of how to display stuff or activate tools/functions without confusing the user or requiring a lot of work.
The new device, which is about the size of a CD were you to have one in your hands, is a circular object with a large screen on it, displaying much the same information it did in the PAD design. The device sits at the lower-left corner of the screen, partially obscured on the left and bottom to reduce wasted space. A small nub extends from the top-right portion with a photograph button on it, and two other buttons on the top and right activate the chat and contact list holographic screens, which are the only holographic elements that cannot be moved.
My goal was to enable the game to provide better HUD capabilities without resorting to lots of random screens and windows that were on your screen with no explanation as to how you’re seeing them. Some stuff, like inventory management and the like, will still play this role, but most of it should be done through an in-game device if it’s stuff you’re interacting with in-game, IMO. Removing the need to totally stop your movement through the game whenever you want to fully utilize the tech interface is the primary motivation behind revising the PAD design, and in doing so, it enables me to design new elements of the now-PHD to enable better interaction with things on missions, like a code-cracking app you have to download and then use to get into a secure facility. Not requiring an app to take up the full size of the PAD screen also enables apps to be more space-conservative, and lets you have more than one app open at a time, which is a good thing.
Over the next few days I’ll be hammering out the details of the design and probably putting up a few design mock-ups from Photoshop, so stay tuned. This’ll be fun. 