For my first college research project I plan to explain reasons why programmers should use 'industry standards' when it comes to GUI's. I also plan to show examples of bad things to do, such as not using a common picture or color scheme or using different sizes for things, etc. It is a CS1400 class, the only requirement is that is has to do with something related to computer science. Since I am into games, and game programming, I figured this would give me a chance to learn something myself, as well as provide an interesting topic. So, does any of you have any advice on where to go to research this topic? Should I just google everything, or does anyone know of any books I could look at, or sites that may already have some examples of this topic?

BUnzaga,

Did you mean CS140? Or is your school really offering classes at the 1400 level?[smile]

The questions you're asking have to do with the user interface. This is an entire degree's worth of material in and of itself. There are whole books on the subject of the user interface and user experience. There are actually several different degree programs I can think of off the top of my head that cover this - graphic design, human computer interactions, etc.

In short, it is a HUGE topic.

Limiting this conversation to just video games will limit your information. During your discovery phase you need to expand your coverage to UI in general (most of the info you'll come across will be about web pages in general) and only limit the information to game design come documentation time. All of the principles are the same no matter what the focus is (with very few unique points), web pages, computer interfaces, video game interfaces. It's all the same topic.

Start at www.webpagesthatsuck.com to get an idea of the kinds of things you're looking for; where do you go to get the information you need, poor graphics or mismatched graphics, themes that don't carry throughout the user's experience, poorly designed controls (think Gothic, great game and story line, horrible horrible controls). Yeah, the list goes on and on.

When you're done, post your findings here. This is info I think we all can use.

- Goishin

Quote:Original post by Goishin

Did you mean CS140? Or is your school really offering classes at the 1400 level?[smile]

- Goishin

Quite a few states use 4 digits to represent classes. Florida does.. 1000-level is freshman, 2000 - sophomore, etc.

Really? I didn't know that. When I first looked at it I was thinking that that class was waaaay beyond the doctorate level. I think UW only goes up to the 800's, but if you're taking an 800 level class, you're pretty much done with all the schooling you'll ever have to take. I'm only at the 300 level myself.

- Goishin

Whoa, that's really really weird. Do the teachers like that? Or do they gripe about it?

- Goishin