Valeria Petruzzelli
Valeria Petruzzelli
Game Designer
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
UI Redesign Proposal
The project below is a redesign proposal of one of my favourite games of all time. I have always been a huge fan of the original Spyro trilogy but I can tell the Spyro 2: Ripto's rage is the weakest of all three in terms of UX. The following section is focused on some improvements that, in my personal opinion, would make the player's experience much more enjoyable.
Loading Screen
Analysis
The screen sacrifices useful info. The use of the screen space is uneven, prioritising aesthetic over User Experience and the screen's main functionalities.
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Looping video are great for aesthetic but it takes up too much screen space
Very small on screen, dispite importance. The text at the bottom is not very readable
Save slot shows latest level and game percentage but it doesn't show collectables.
Solutions
The overall layout can be rearranged to better exploit the available space. The main attention should be on the save preview, along with the saves' key info.
Pause Menu
Analysis
The icon sizing is too large and unnecessary. The use of the screen space should be more focused on the Pause Menu options and synthesise the level's info in a much smaller and compact space.
Player info: Number of lives, Collected gems and orbs
Simple Pause Menu with selected element highlighted.
Options and Sound shouldn't be separate.
Level's info: Collected talismans, gems and orbs along with number of defeated enemies.
Paused game in the background. Keeps players aware of which part of the game they currently are in and makes it easy to resume.
Solutions
Apply opacity to Pause Menu, giving more room to the menu options while still showing the game in the background. Simplify the level's info section and combine 'Options' and 'Sounds' screens.
Analysis
Options
Some of the screens also have different ways of returning to the Pause Menu ('Done' button and use the 'triangle' button on the controller).
Options and Sounds should be unified.
Solutions
Unify Options and Sound into one page. Remove the 'Done' button and only use 'triangle' on the controller to go back to the previous screen. There is also no need to have the level's info while being in the options menu.
Guide Book
Analysis
The Guidebook is divided into two separate screens.
The controls explanation and the sub-level's info take too much space.
Sub-level name
List of the sub-levels and percentage of player's progress.
Sub-level Collectibles
Main World Preview
Controls Explanation
Solutions
Combine the two pages into one. Also, resizing and repositioning the elements will improve spacing.
Analysis
Level Selection
Solution
There is no level selection: to enter a level, the player must fly to the main world that contains the sub-level, find it and enter it.
In the Guidebook, the 'X' button can be set as immediate access to the chosen world.
Analysis
Maps
Solution
The Maps are not exactly easy to access (Pause Menu > Options > Maps).
The colour palette used to define the areas in the maps is too different from the one used everywhere else in the game.
Have the map always visible on the screen.
Use only one colour per level, possibly resembling the level overall colour palette.
Loading Screens
Analysis
There are two different loading screens in game.
Solution
Only keep the dynamic loading screen. Discard the second loading screen.
UX Flow
