Clarity vs. Style [UI]

UI—short for user interface. In this category, I'll be talking about the on-screen elements of UI in games, such as menus and other display information.

Clarity alone doesn't necessarily make for good UI, and today, I'll explore that concept in more detail.

[julianarchy]

I like how Sakurai doesn't necessarilly try and tell us HOW to implement something into a game, but rather asks us to CONSIDER why and how you implement it.

[thatonespacenerd]

I love how proud Mr. Sakurai looks when he says his games are packed with features. Seeing creators who are that proud of their work always makes me happy!

[Mishamallow]

I approve of how Sakurai sets up his Minecraft hotbar

[metazoxan]

I love how he points out how overwhelming Persona 5's UI can be but also points out that's kind of the point and a more readable and simple UI would kill the enjoyment.

[quailron]

Man, this channel is going to be a treasure trove for new game devs.

[tabris]

I also think it's important that the UI match the tone and aesthetic of your game. If I'm playing a mech piloting game, I want the UI to feel futuristic, sleek, cold, and sterile. If I'm playing a party game, I want vibrant colors, bold font, and everything to pop. This helps with immersion and communicates to the player what they should be feeling

[grunkleg.]

Fun UI fact: In original versions of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for PlayStation / Xbox Live Arcade, the simplistic UI for the pause menu was actually an oversight on the part of the developers. The menu in question was just a simple thing they threw together for the sake of having something functional, and in the rush to get the game out on time, they just sorta forgot to give the pause menu any sort of special design. Because of this, every game IGA has made since has had especially fancy menus, which actually doesn't extend to rereleases of SotN, I had misremembered

[MeteorFalcon]

I LOVED that Persona 5 is the example of crisp Style when it comes to games, nails it perfectly.

[rexedous]

UI is such an essential aspect of every game we play. Every player will interact with it, and we only tend to notice when it's poor. I'd love to see a designers perspective on what makes various UI good, and what can make them better!

[SuperWiiBros]

Idk why I got so excited when I saw what's possibly Sakurai's Minecraft world

[chinesecabbagefarmer]

This man hasn't aged in 20 years.

[awesomejumpkick]

Another awesome video. This gigachad just releases informative bangers without any ads. Massive respect for you, Sakurai. Keep being awesome.

[gabrielmeyer]

I just wanted to say thank you for making these videos Mr. Sakurai. It's really nice to see a new upload every couple of days from you just talking about what you love!

[suskebier]

Vids are so simple and short. Makes it ez for everyone to understand. Thnx mr.Sakurai

[AlizarinRed]

As a UI artist, I'm excited to see more UI related videos. I've always loved making them and always take inspirations from other games and try to do my own spin and take while thinking about why the developers decided to go that route.
Really been loving this channel as a whole and can't wait to learn new things along the way as usual! 💖

[Angwiser-zkvk]

2:20 id love a 2-3 hr stream where it's just sakurai showing us his minecraft world for the entire duration

[IconicCROSS]

Such a tough choice I never thought about it clashing with the games design

[Queen_of_Catastrophe]

Being on a Graphic Design major in my university, it feels good that many concepts from design are one way or another explained by Sakurai in his channel with examples and wording that people outside our field could understand, mostly using videogame terms that are not exactly the way to refer to them, but are clear to get the grasp of it. But it all comes down to terms like composition, hierarchy, contrast, saturation, typography, Gestalt laws, color psychology, UI, UX, animation, frames, perception and many more.

[JLMetak]

The Smash series, Kirby Air Ride and Kid icarus Uprising are some of the few games where I have fun just going through menus: partly because of the amount of content available, but mostly because of how expressive each submenus and options are.

[DigitalKingyo]

It's kinda obvious but this channel is gonna be complete treasure as the number of contents increases. Imagine hundreds of concise tips dedicated to specific categories.