DayZ Standalone. UI/UX Design [Concept]
While being on a freelance Feb-Mar 2014 I've played DayZ Standlaone and noticed a lot of UI/UX pitchfalls all over the interface. The game and its interface was in alpha/beta at that time. So, I thought it could be a good example for me to practice in UI/UX design. I've designed several screens and tried to took into account most of the aspects that were poorly designed or those aspects I had a trouble to play with. I tried to add visual feedback into interface for better expirience so player has better understanding on how he affects the game with available mechanics and how the game is changing.
Fresh fish (кепка) interface overview
This screen shows 3 common ui panels. Player see these 3 panels like this (almost empty) after he first appear on the island. Left panel shows the surroundings or Vicinity — it's empty right now, because there's nothing nearby. Middle screen is for character overview, it has 2 states: Appearance and Equipment. Right panel stands for inventory or anything that character carries with him.
Small panel with hands under character overview is for showing of what character holds in both hands, it can be anything: gun, brick, ammo box, or fry pan. Player can drag'n'drop anything from Inventory or Vicinity panels into hands panels.
Group of ten cells at the bottom is a quick panel. Player can put there anything.
Initial inventory (appearance window) overview. Almost all slots are empty.
Initial inventory (equipment window) overview.
3-days of play in game UI Overview
These screen shows how 3-ingame-days of play may looks like in terms of item collection. Screens shows that player already collected some firearms, has already worn out trousers to several unavailable slots. Also player is using some slots of quick panel.
3-day inventory (appearance window) overview.
3-day inventory (equipment window)
UI/UX detailed description
I described most of the aspects below. Vicinity/Inventory panel on the right is a near area or different character item list. This panel appears only if player near objects he can interact with, dead bodies of enemies or even opened furniture. In other cases player see only 2 of his own panels.
Vicinity panel variations
Vicinity panel can be used not only to loot nearest items but also to interact with objects. Like, for example, to cook or open/close backpacks.
Different types of Vicinity panel
Belt and Hands slot use variations
Belt and Hands slots can be dynamically changed depends on the used item.
General interaction with slot flow
Here's a general item manipulations shown on example of a flashlight and a battery combination. Most of the item manipulation is working the same way.
[Oct 2020 Update] I updated the project with images of better quality and added description to clarify some things that might not being clear. After 5 years DayZ being released but the UI/UX is still poor designed and feels as unfinished rough mockup. The version I did is not cover all the things and not answer some game experience questions the players may have while their play. However I thinks it's good base to start from with further UI/UX design improvement and polishing.
March 2014
