Mobile game icon: Improves the first impression of fingertip size

Mobile game icon: Improves the first impression of fingertip size

Every month, 6000 to 7000 apps are released in iTunes, competing for users' attention, time, and mobile phone space. This is especially difficult for games because the ecosystem is filled with various free models.

Developers and Publishers need their own products to make a deep first impression. That's why they all work so hard on chart icons at their fingertips.

Refer:The emotional aspect of video games: sustainable development, healing, and love.

Chillingo is an increasingly sophisticated mobile game company. Managing Director Ed Rumley said that to ensure that the icons of each game are exquisite and perfect, this means that there will be 100 to 200 different draft schemes before finalization.

Chillingo, as a mobile game publisher, has been operating for 10 years and is earlier than App Store. Rumley said that although the company now belongs to EA, they will operate independently and often search for resources based on EA tags. The main job of Chillingo is, collect and publish mobile games from hundreds of different mobile phone Studios. Large companies also have small studio independent developers, regardless of large teams or small workshops.

When their games are involved in the App Store, this means the creativity and experience brought by the producers. Rumley said that the internal graphic design team led by Lucy Blundell helped design game graphics, and this team could help programmers achieve creativity and ultimately develop the final idea of finished products, to create the final work.

Rumley said, "the icon can quickly convey information. Rumley said, "Is there an unknown element necessary for this game? The icon can quickly obtain this information. This means that everyone wants to click it. Is it an icon that every player wants to click? This icon is like the product packaging you see at Walmart and Tesco. This is why we are obsessed with details, because you will not package bad products in the store"

Mashable blog) The report asks Chillingo to introduce the design of three different game creation icons that we have introduced. In the App Store, to show how they reach from idea creativity to the app store.

 

Death Pixel

Death pixel is a weird, 8-bit endless game. It's weird when the developer About Fun submitted interesting icon idea icons and creative ideas for "Death pixel" to Chillingo, eight endless games. To Chillingo's company, Rumley said the team had received many excellent ideas. This team had a lot of great ideas and only needed to make some adjustments.

What makes death pixel unique is its semi-retro artistic style and Its gameplay. one pixel keeps falling in the colored sky. Rumley said the team spent a lot of time trying to figure out the icons in the design that both convey those ideas and express them at the same time.

One of Chillingo's graphic design teams is used to increase one of their design decision-making skills, the trick to help them design decisions is to place a potential game icon in a simulated app store with a candidate chart, compare them with other top game icons if they can see if they stand out. As a result, the final idea of "result death pixel" looks like this:

The team found that two ideas were put in two ideas: the square face seemed to better highlight the icon and speed line. They found that 45 degrees of rotation on the surface gave the icon the illusion of speed, and added the rainbow trails to make it remind people of the classic Yali box art.

The last icon also has a background color. Rumley thinks that it is important to update the game. Because Apple iOS now allows apps to automatically update and upgrade themselves, there is a way to let players know what new content is updated in their games. A tiny update upgrade, such as a background color, allows Chillingo to convey game update information to players without losing any symbolic elements that make a symbolic icon.

Modern commands

To cater to Chillingo, the eighth-layer studio for the military strategy game modern Directive, on their icons, the eighth-layer studio brings up several different ideas and theme icons to meet Chillingo's needs. Although Rumley said their design was excellent, he pointed out that some areas lack experience in mobile game design, designers may not be aware that less experienced mobile phone design game resources may not be aware that they are too messy and will be messy when they are in a smaller size.

"When you look at these icons on a 24-inch display, but you scale your thumbs down to an hour on your iPhone, it is incredibly different from the other. This is an incredible different story, "Rumley said.

Image: CHILLINGO/eighth-layer Studio

Therefore, the Team reworked and paid attention to the theme of missiles and tanks, complying with the main elements of the modern Directive. Although examples that lead to more promising icons are designed to show more promising icon samples, Rumley says he is worried that icons do not match other product materials for game creation, it does not match the background of other materials of the product, just like an edited title bar.

 

The Team continues to modify icons to focus on the strategic elements of the game. Rumley said that this was done when they decided to bring the missile back to the player and make it look like they were in charge of being controlled. Breakthrough.

In an image, we are trying to create stories about what the game is about, "Rumley said.

In addition, they decided on the final color scheme of the icons-Yellow-when they noticed how many blue and green game icons in the App Store were occupied, they finally decided that the main color of the icon should be yellow.

Monkey IQ test

As Rumley told it, the monkey IQ test is a difficult game that is hard to explain on an image.

 

Abstract geometric jigsaw puzzle: "It immediately attracts a 70-year-old mother and a hardcore player." It's hard to write down an idea and tell a story.

The team's team at the bull's eye studio is also very resolute. They once believed that the icons they designed will be used in the App Store, therefore, the Chillingo team must create different things that look better and create different things, so they will have a better look and persuade them to change the icons. (The right side of the game's original icon is shown above .)

"We think this is a fairly ambiguous idea in the game. The idea of the game is rather unclear," Rumley said. "We think this will narrow down the market. Once people play a game, they will understand this intention, but this icon does not enable gamers to open their favorites with the desire to click ."

 

The above example shows that the graphic team tries to consider modern art shapes and bulk patterns, as well as the grid similar to the matrix of the hacker and the favorite snacks that any monkey would like to play with: a banana. Rumley says they are still looking for a cohesive topic, especially when you add additional graphic elements to be created.

"You cannot have something that looks different from the selected banner of your editor, because it looks like you're competing with yourself," he said.

 

The true spirit is that when a team in the bull's eye brings new trailer eyes back to Chillingo's new trailer, the unique graphic image of "monkey IQ test" is a unique graphic boo with four interfaces. Rumley said all of them immediately fell in love with it.

"This is actually a great trailer. You can redesign the title and icons and review the banners and icons, I think they are actually integrated together. It has many different shapes and angles. it's good to use a monkey. You can also use a monkey to add some subtle details, such as the geometric shapes reflected on his face, details on his face, "Rumley said.

Final Test

Although the team may like an icon, it is still not static until the first small market research is conducted for the first time. Chillingo uses it and EA's advertising network to conduct A/B testing of the new game "presented to tens of thousands of online players.

Rumley explained: players may still see icons in the game. If they click the icon, they will be shown as "coming soon ", the icon is still under development. Page, explained by Rumley. However, these click and response measurements can be used to determine which icon receives the best response.

"We're Trying To turn creating icons into a science," he said. "Sometimes consumers do not think so, sometimes consumers say, otherwise, no matter how much experience you have ."

Rumley said that the entire icon creation process can start several months before the game was launched, sometimes even one year ago.

"In the end, they just wanted to create a perfect icon and just wanted to say 'Install me '."

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Original article: GRG game Research Group