Cash Force
My Role: Systems and UI/UX Design
Unreal Engine VR
Team Size: 14 people
Dates: January 2020 - May 2020
Working on Cash Force, a 70's themed VR getaway shooter, my job was to design simple and effective diagetic user interface that fit with the established vision for the game.
UI/UX for Cash Force: The Sling
The first challenge I was faced with on Cash Force was the player inventory. In a VR shooter, inventory management is a great opportunity for interaction and player customization, as well as creating immersion. When we set out on creating a player inventory we knew there were three things that would determine its success:
-Ease of use:
For any User Interface, ease of use is critical to a successful experience, so we knew we needed to get players engaged with their inventory.
-Keep players in the action:
The system this was being designed to replace involved players having to turn away from incoming enemies to reload and purchase weapons, this slowed gameplay down, and we knew we didn't want that from this system.
-Diegetic:
While developing in VR, I quickly learned that many traditional FPS UI pieces simply did not look good in VR and broke player immersion. What worked instead was the integration of User Interface into intractable objects in the game world. This system was a situation where diegetic was a must.
VDD used in concepting what the sling could look like from the first person perspective
Footage of the sling system in use, it was greatly simplified for ease of use.