I have had a couple of idea about this - one is that games are not type centered for the most part - they are explosion centered or something similar. So type takes a back seat. Another is that games are about instant gratification and type that supports a feeling/sensibility rather than the needs of legibility is going to win out. Yet another is that your complaint might be about any one or more of several possible type “problems” I have seen in games. So... I am not sure which one or more you might be referring to. In fact, I hesitated to even post at all because of the vague nature of your statement. So ... you tell me: What (specifically) is appalling?
There is also the issue that text in games tends to be bitmaps, rather than a ’live’ font. Since games are often running at non-native resolutions, this means that the text is frequently distorted and blurry.
Most game designers are concerned with style, rather than legibility, as Eben said. They view type as a way to emphasize the setting or atmosphere of the game, and less as a data source. This is ironic, of course, as gamers depend on the HUD to give them instant-access information that is directly tied to their performance in the game world. Valve Software does a good job with Half-Life 2, using DIN throughout the HUDs of the three chapters out so far, as well as a legible screen font for small type (not sure which, offhand. Probably Verdana.) They have a keen eye for graphic design along with an incredible game design sense. Kind of like Pixar in many ways.
John’s also hit another issue on the nose, particularly with PC games (vs console). The advent of HD has also lead some developers to typeset info that is completely illegible on SD TVs. So lame.
If I had the free time, I’d love to write a paper on HUD/interface design in games.
No kidding it’s frequently distorted and blurrrry.
The games I’ve seen on my wife’s DS, tend to have a lot of text. Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy both have involved story lines, all of which is conveyed in text. There is quite a bit of reading to do to get through games, and the text is in crummy looking dot matrix fonts or worse. My sons’ X-Box games are sometimes practically unreadable, with fonts that seem to have been chosen with no thought as to how they’d render on screen. The graphics seem like they should support decently rendered legible typography.
My eyesight is not bad for my age, but my eyes do tend to get tired quickly if I have to struggle to read something because the type is NFG. I’ll just put it aside. It occurred to me that perhaps one of the reasons I hate playing video and computer games is the lousy typography.
It’s probably equal parts minimizing data size and your being unused to the medium
Minimizing data? It’s just type. My kids and my wife think they could minimize data by cutting useless bits of story-line they prefer to skip.
and your being unused to the medium
It’s me sqinting at the screen saying “Holy crap! Who do they expect the read that??” :o) For the money that goes into developing these things, you’d think they could do some decent (readable) typography!
BTW, I think Oblivion did a pretty good job, with it’s hundreds of in-game books. The letters could’ve been a bit less fuzzy, but overall, the text was pretty legible and well set (for a video game).
_____________________________________________
Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov www.ivangdesign.com
I haven’t found the text to be that bad in the recent games I’ve played, but the image that oprion posted is a large part of the reason of the current trends, I think.
Basically, if a gamer thinks of a “hard-core” gaming text style, they’ll thinking back to the video classics. Once a lot of games moved from 8 bit to 16 bit and on, they kept a similar style. Newer series couldn’t break too much.
RPGs of course have more text than most, and even though it’s often bitmap, it’s not that tiring. Also age could play a factor. Mario is designed to be played by a generally younger crowd (or at least enabled to be played by them) while Halo 3 is for older people who probably have HDTVs and sit right next to the screen and can use the itty bitty tiny text.
«El futuro es una línea tan fina que apenas nos damos cuenta de pintarla nosotros mismos». (La Luz Oscura, por Javier Guerrero)
Some games that I have seen recently, such as the latest Need for Speed offering (in Australia.. so it has possibly been succeeded by multiple new versions in the US...) actually have really great typefaces and type treatment in-game on the PC.
I often think it must be pretty hard to configure type behaviour in games like World of Warcraft, where each player has their name bobbing above their heads, and the size of the type changes every millisecond depending on your perspective and distance from it as you run between and among up to hundreds of people. It never seems to look too hideous at all.
Who's Online:
There are currently 15 users and 104 guests online.
User login
New to Typophile? Accounts are free, and easy to set up.
24.Feb.2008 10.50am
I have had a couple of idea about this - one is that games are not type centered for the most part - they are explosion centered or something similar. So type takes a back seat. Another is that games are about instant gratification and type that supports a feeling/sensibility rather than the needs of legibility is going to win out. Yet another is that your complaint might be about any one or more of several possible type “problems” I have seen in games. So... I am not sure which one or more you might be referring to. In fact, I hesitated to even post at all because of the vague nature of your statement. So ... you tell me: What (specifically) is appalling?
24.Feb.2008 11.37am
There is also the issue that text in games tends to be bitmaps, rather than a ’live’ font. Since games are often running at non-native resolutions, this means that the text is frequently distorted and blurry.
24.Feb.2008 1.55pm
Most game designers are concerned with style, rather than legibility, as Eben said. They view type as a way to emphasize the setting or atmosphere of the game, and less as a data source. This is ironic, of course, as gamers depend on the HUD to give them instant-access information that is directly tied to their performance in the game world. Valve Software does a good job with Half-Life 2, using DIN throughout the HUDs of the three chapters out so far, as well as a legible screen font for small type (not sure which, offhand. Probably Verdana.) They have a keen eye for graphic design along with an incredible game design sense. Kind of like Pixar in many ways.
John’s also hit another issue on the nose, particularly with PC games (vs console). The advent of HD has also lead some developers to typeset info that is completely illegible on SD TVs. So lame.
If I had the free time, I’d love to write a paper on HUD/interface design in games.
24.Feb.2008 2.01pm
No kidding it’s frequently distorted and blurrrry.
The games I’ve seen on my wife’s DS, tend to have a lot of text. Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy both have involved story lines, all of which is conveyed in text. There is quite a bit of reading to do to get through games, and the text is in crummy looking dot matrix fonts or worse. My sons’ X-Box games are sometimes practically unreadable, with fonts that seem to have been chosen with no thought as to how they’d render on screen. The graphics seem like they should support decently rendered legible typography.
My eyesight is not bad for my age, but my eyes do tend to get tired quickly if I have to struggle to read something because the type is NFG. I’ll just put it aside. It occurred to me that perhaps one of the reasons I hate playing video and computer games is the lousy typography.
-=®=-
24.Feb.2008 3.21pm
It’s probably equal parts minimizing data size and your being unused to the medium (my dad gets dizzy watching me play)
6.Mar.2008 3.36pm
It’s probably equal parts minimizing data size and your being unused to the medium
Minimizing data? It’s just type. My kids and my wife think they could minimize data by cutting useless bits of story-line they prefer to skip.
and your being unused to the medium
It’s me sqinting at the screen saying “Holy crap! Who do they expect the read that??” :o) For the money that goes into developing these things, you’d think they could do some decent (readable) typography!
[/curmudgeonly rant]
-=®=-
6.Mar.2008 4.45pm
This is what killed text adventures!
BTW, I think Oblivion did a pretty good job, with it’s hundreds of in-game books. The letters could’ve been a bit less fuzzy, but overall, the text was pretty legible and well set (for a video game).
_____________________________________________
Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov
www.ivangdesign.com
6.Mar.2008 4.48pm
I haven’t found the text to be that bad in the recent games I’ve played, but the image that oprion posted is a large part of the reason of the current trends, I think.
Basically, if a gamer thinks of a “hard-core” gaming text style, they’ll thinking back to the video classics. Once a lot of games moved from 8 bit to 16 bit and on, they kept a similar style. Newer series couldn’t break too much.
RPGs of course have more text than most, and even though it’s often bitmap, it’s not that tiring. Also age could play a factor. Mario is designed to be played by a generally younger crowd (or at least enabled to be played by them) while Halo 3 is for older people who probably have HDTVs and sit right next to the screen and can use the itty bitty tiny text.
«El futuro es una línea tan fina que apenas nos damos cuenta de pintarla nosotros mismos». (La Luz Oscura, por Javier Guerrero)
6.Mar.2008 6.58pm
Some games that I have seen recently, such as the latest Need for Speed offering (in Australia.. so it has possibly been succeeded by multiple new versions in the US...) actually have really great typefaces and type treatment in-game on the PC.
I often think it must be pretty hard to configure type behaviour in games like World of Warcraft, where each player has their name bobbing above their heads, and the size of the type changes every millisecond depending on your perspective and distance from it as you run between and among up to hundreds of people. It never seems to look too hideous at all.