The most important qualities for the interfaces were simplicity and visual design. The UI had to be as stripped back and to the point as the gameplay. Visually, it also had to evoke the feeling of both Special Forces missions and sites typically found in the Rio region.

No sketching was required for this project, as Greg already had low-fi layouts of some of the menus he wanted. When necessary and with his permission, I deviated from Greg’s plans on occasion if a couple of his ideas weren’t fully fleshed out, such as the initial plan for the “Level Select” menu, where there was debate as to whether the screen should be text heavy or rely mostly on images. Hoping to capture as much of the game’s intended feel as possible, I decided to do a healthy balance of both.

In many “Tom Clancy” and “Battlefield” games, the menus often involve a colored rectangular bar highlighting a piece of text, which moves to a different one when moving from one selection to another. This same concept was applied here. The major difference between the menus for this and “Tom Clancy”/”Battlefield” games is simplicity. Those other games had very complex types of menus for a much more nuanced form of gameplay. Our UI had to be intuitive and easily navigable to reflect the simplicity of “Project Rapid Strike’s” gameplay.

Additionally, a mood board was created which featured imagery and colors of US Special Forces as well as the natural and man-made landscapes of the Rio region. Muted grays and browns were inspired by the games’ military themes, while heavy oranges derived from the colors of various favela neighborhoods and stunning vistas that can be seen from landmarks like the Sugarloaf Mountain at sunset.

The first main menu screen was made with one of Greg’s low-fi wireframes in mind. It required easy access to 6 of the most important navigations in the entire game over a piece of concept art. These navigations were Single Player, Local Multiplayer, Level Select, Leaderboard, Key Bindings, and Quit. With all of them in one place, players can get right to the desired location with minimal interaction required. For the single and multiplayer modes, players type in their names and pick a level in only two screens.

For exhibition matches found in the Level Select menu, it only takes one screen to get to the action. Another way to simplify the menus was by presenting the Leaderboards, Key Bindings, and Quit menus as overlays on the very first screen. This way, the leaderboards and key bindings can be accessed with the push of one button, and quitting the game is even quicker than starting it. To achieve this minimalism, I also took inspiration from the UIs of “Alien Rage”, “Bioshock: Infinite”, and “Call of Duty: Black Ops” (2010), whose UIs use the fewest menus and interactions possible.

Most of the screens have small amounts of text over concept art that fits the required color scheme of deep oranges and muted undertones. Some menus have concept art that is blurred so as to not distract the player from the menu selections. The images used for the Level Select screen have increased midtone saturation to achieve the desired effect of capturing the local beauty and color scheme. Additionally, I created a black and white load screen as a visual palate cleanser, and superimposed a black loading bar over the text to imitate the process of classifying government documents in intelligence agencies, a concept influenced by the teaser trailer for “Zero Dark Thirty”, a film about Seal Team Six.