The forest (analysis)
The Forest
Few months ago, I have played a survival game with my friends.
It was really fun, the game was good in various aspects, but the UI was terrible, especially for the end game…
Bad UI ( User interface )
I think intradiegetic UI is a good thing, particularly in survival games.
In this one, they have taken the decision to mix extra and intradiegetic UI and it’s sufficiently clear for beginners, but...
Main Menu
To begin, the main menu have 1 issue that can be annoying for player.
You can easily miss click and quit the game accidentally.
If you press “Back” in “Options” and make unintentionaly an additional click, you take the risk to click on “Exit to windows” and lose all your progression.
Main Menu Solution
I add a validation request to quit the game.
And I move the "Back" button where it can't overlap with another button.
UI In-game & HUD
UI "in-game"
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This is what you see when you can interact with objects.
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Information area, like tutorial and item needed for craft ( I have nothing because it’s the beginning of the game ^^ )
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The most important : Health, Stamina, Fatigue, Hunger and Thirst
This screenshot is interesting, the UI is almost good, but there 2 things that disturb me.
The first one is this lock icon :
There is a lot of suitcase in the game, and all of these have this little icon to explain one thing :
It’s locked.
But, in The Forest you can open it with your axe.
It’s not good but it can make sense, and this is the first thing you find after you pick the axe.
But…
The locked door in the yacht
Here, there is a door that is locked and it is indicated with exactly the same lock icon, but this one can’t be opened with your axe. You need a magnetic card to enter.
The second one is the lack of precision about the system of Energy and Stamina.
The blue line at the right is your Stamina gauge and the other one is the Energy gauge.
These gauges can’t work separately but they have split them however.
To explain how it’s work, the Energy gauge can’t cast above the Stamina gauge, that’s it.
UI In-game & HUD Solution
I have include the Energy gauge in the Stamina and change the locked icon ( because the suitcase is obviously closed ) by a punch icon.
Building
Also, in this game, you can build a lot of thing like house and storage.
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What and how much you need to craft the object ( transparent blue )
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Switch between the small and big version of this storage
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Cancel the building
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What and how much you need for all build.
The number 1, 3 and 4 are totally clear but the number 2 is not.
In all objects you can craft in the game ( a lot ), there is only 2 objects that must be changed in a bigger version by this way, all others can be chosen in the build menu.
Building Solution
I suggest to include all size in the book directly and remove this switch mode ( the ‘R’ key ).
I have add on the right page the big version of these 2 objects and add a 4th page in the “Storage” category.
Book ( Menu )
In the book, we can also find some lack of ergonomics and it’s a problem because it provide important informations like stats of your character.
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Too much tabs
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“Stats” and “Objectives” too hard to find
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Random position of pages
The first page of the book
The 28th page of the book... ( or the 11st tab )
It’s a big issue here.
Stats are obviously important, especially the “conditions” part that reveal if your character is seek, injured, etc… And the first page is useful only for the first minutes of the game.
I have made a montage to show the amount of page in the book.
41 pages at all
And that’s organized like this :
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Main Index : A summary of all tabs
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Guide to survive : Explain how to build and what to eat.
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Building list : To choose what you want to build
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Objectives : A list of optional objectives you have to do, it’s useful to know if you have finished to visit a cave.
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Stats : Character’s stats
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Tutorial Crafting : A tutorial to craft object in the bag
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List flora & fauna : A list that show what you have seen
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Documents about the lore : All item you have picked that help you to understand the story
I think this model has been chosen to be easier for beginners.
To finish with the book, the animation that the player do to open and close this one is annoying, especially when you have to build a house, bulwark and his reinforcement and all other stuff you want in this house. ( it take like 1 second open/close for each part of building )
Book ( Menu ) Solution
To improve the ergonomic for a larger scale of player, I propose something like this :
The book is good, but the organisation of tabs are not efficient.
I’ve kept all the “wasted” space that allow the player to see if an enemy come to him, I change the tab order to separate clearly
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The tutorial part
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Stats and Objectives
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Lore & Wildlife
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The building part
It’s not a big deal because the game save the last page you’ve been watching.
Also, I change the color of the Stats tabs to draw attention from player.
Bag ( Inventory )
The bag has 2 issues that make interactions more difficult than expected.
The first one is very obvious :
A beginner's bag
A end-game bag, not full
It’s really hard to find something in this bag, even if you have played 50 hours at the game.
In addition to that, the bag takes lights and shadows of the environment.
The second issue is when you want to create a shortcut for something or to give an object to someone.
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In the first case, you have to combine the object with your bag to choose a shortcut for this one.
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In the second case, you have to combine the object with a plate and equip it to allow other players to take the item.
Bag ( Inventory ) Solution
I can’t propose a visual solution for this one because The Forest has already taken me too much time and this is only some parts of his bad UI design ^^
For the first issue, I propose to pull away the camera and group all small objects ( watches, battery, drugs, etc…) to be easy to locate and use to craft.
I don’t know why they haven’t done that because leaves are already packed together.
Also, put a light overhead to deny shadows that are really annoying.
The second issue…
I’m not sure if combine an object in a plate is immersive but I’m sure that’s very VERY annoying.
You have to use the mouse in the bag menu, so I propose to put these options ( Shortcut and share ) in a right click menu.
The Last of Us
Metro : Last Light