3 years+
CLIENT
DELIVERABLES
- UX / UI design
- Marketing strategy
- Marketing research
- Email automation
- Email templates
BUDGET vs QUALITY
- Undisclosed
SCOPE
The problem: SpaceEngine is a realistic virtual universe you explore on your computer, from star to star and galaxy to galaxy, down to the surface of any planet, moon or asteroid. Its interface sat on internals that were eight years old. The problem: the first seconds of a launch and the main menu felt unfinished, and every change was laborious.
The fix: We redesigned the splash screen with a progress animation, drew the main menu in many variations, and started from lo-fi concepts and a storyboard. The most necessary features shipped first, the rest was left for the next iteration.
- Client
- SpaceEngine.org
- Role
- UX/UI design
- Working together
- 3 years+
- Delivered
- Splash screen, main menu, concepts
Game UI Design Starts With the Loading Screen
SpaceEngine prepares a lot of data before launch, so the player waits. Our intention was to fill the first 5-20 seconds, when the user is bored, with variety and relevant information instead of an empty bar. The splash screen has its own progress animation.
Main Menu Variations on an Old Codebase
The main menu and the overall interface update were not an easy walk in the park. The internals of SpaceEngine are eight years old, and every change needs laborious updates. So we implemented the most necessary features first and iterated on them later.
Before any of that we drew many variations as lo-fi concepts and a storyboard. A wireframe is cheaper to throw away than a build.
Before and After
Drag the slider below to compare the old interface with the new one. The lo-fi concepts and the wireframe link follow after it.
What We Cannot Show
We have no player metrics for the new menu, so this page shows the design only. The marketing side of the same project, with its numbers, is in the indie game marketing case study.
Tips From This Project
- Use the launch wait for something useful instead of a blank bar.
- Draw menu variations as lo-fi concepts before you commit pixels.
- With an old codebase, ship the most necessary features first and iterate.
- Keep the storyboard next to the concepts so the team sees the flow.
Space Engine
User Interface
Re-Design
Drag the slider below to see the difference
The Splash Screen
Progress Animation
Space Engine prepares a lot of data before launch. Our intention was to deliver as much variety and relevant info on first 5-20 seconds or more when the user is bored.
The Main Menu
Variations
The main menu and overall interface update was not an easy walk in the park.
Internals of Space Engine is very old (8 years!) and they require a lot of laborious updates. Because of that, we’ve decided to implement the most necessary features first and iterate them later.
Main Menu Concept
And Story Board
Updated Main Menu
Many Variations
Scope & Amount
of Work
Read Next
- SpaceEngine: indie game marketing Research, email automation and the KPI results.
- Thredz: mobile app UI design 33+ wireframes and 35+ screens.
- Price calculator See what a project like this costs.
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