Crafting UI concepts and art direction for Ubisoft’s sea-faring video game
Read MoreSet sail and explore the far reaches of the globe – ‘Skull and Bones™’ lets players experience a pirate fantasy inspired by the golden age of piracy in the Indian Ocean. We designed and directed distinctive user interfaces and map concepts for Ubisoft’s open-world adventure, helping build an authentic contemporary experience.
Central to the game’s mechanics is the player’s ‘logbook’, a menu system detailing quests, inventory, and navigation. Ubisoft needed a concept that looked and operated like a real logbook or map of the era, something that fans or cosplayers could recreate in real life. At the same time, the weathered, ink-blotted pages needed to be integrated with a functional user interface built with fluid game mechanics.
From real 17th and 18th-century maps and compasses, all the way up to modern interpretations of pirate navigation in Hollywood, we used a deep selection of reference material to inspire our concept designs. Taking into account player functionality, we provided these designs to Ubisoft to inform the final in-game interfaces.
Ubisoft wanted individual transitions and icons displayed in the logbook to accurately translate in-game prompts, such as the location of mining resources, clues, settlements, and much more. Staying true to the stylistic references from the past, we delivered a suite of icon concepts and animated transitions that covered every possible game mechanic.
This included ‘warning’ game mechanics providing players with information on locations bearing heightened danger. We went through 100s of transition variations for every single design to guarantee a balance of authenticity and functionality.
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