iPhone game to iPad – User interface considerations

I recently began porting my iPhone game SpringFling to iPad. The most time consuming part so far has been working with the art assets to make them work on the new screen size. I had stupidly designed most of the UI for the game at native resolution (480 x 320 px) which forces me to now re-do much of the art at 1024×768. Instead of just re-creating the exact menus at a higher resolution, I’m taking this chance to re-design certain areas of the menus.

I’ve noticed an issue with some iPad games that have been ported from the iPhone version. It seems the developer, in an attempt to reuse the same art assets, keeps HUD and UI elements the same size but ends up with huge areas of empty space and useless padding. Contexts with very little info end up taking the whole screen, making the overall composition feel lonely and awkward, like sparsely placed townspeople in a model train set.

By forcing myself to re-design certain areas, it will (hopefully) help ensure a smooth and appropriate user experience on the iPad.

Here is my progress so far:

And no, I haven’t gotten around to fixing the in-game HUD imagery yet. I’ll get to it soon, nagging Nancy.

[B.U.G.] Boston Unity Group – Unity Day!

I’m excited to announce the start of a new bi-monthly game developer meetup in the Boston-area. Elliott Mitchell and I are kicking off a group catered specifically for Unity developers called B.U.G. (Boston Unity Group).

Boston has an amazingly vibrant developer community, many of which have recently gotten involved with this relatively new game engine technology. We aim to bring these developers together to share experience, tips, and war stories as well as provide a venue to learn about the tool and how it can be used to create better interactive experiences.

You may be thinking:

What is Unity?
Unity is a multiplatform 3d game engine where the developer experience and ease of use are paramount. Similar in some ways to Flash, Unity is flexible and can be used in many different ways, from gaming applications to different types of 2d or 3d interactive media. Unity’s deployment pipeline allows users to code once and deploy to multiple targets such as desktop (web, PC, Mac) , mobile (iPhone, iPad), and console (Wii). With support for Android, Xbox360, and PS3 slated for release in the near future, Unity is leading the way in advanced engine technology for anyone from the hobbyist level to the AAA developer. It’s also very affordable and licensed on a per-seat basis when developing for desktop and mobile platforms.

When is the first meeting?
The first meeting of the Unity User Group will be held on June 12th and will be an extra special kick off event. Tom Higgins, community manager at Unity Technologies, will be speaking and holding an all-day workshop dubbed ‘Unity Day’. You can sign up for this *free* event using the signup link below.

Do I need to be a Unity expert to attend the meetings?
No way! Our first meeting will include an introductory workshop intended to teach the ins and outs of Unity to those with medium to low domain knowledge. Bring your laptop!

Check out the event poster below for more info or jump straight to the signup page!

Sign me up!