console style versus pc style menus..

[zoombapup]

Hey guys.. Design question for you.

I'm trying to put together some nicer menu structure for Air Ace. Right now its kind of semi-console-friendly. Big images and simple left/right/select usage.

However, for PC it seems very clunky and it sort of feels clunky for a console style feel too.

What I'm thinking about, is moving towards a more "traditional" pc style "choose everything in one page" layout. Essentially once the player joins a game, they need to choose plane, country, spawn point etc.

I'm considering moving this into a single interface, so that its quicker for PC users. But it irks me because I always liked console interfaces. The "bink bink bink boink" as Jeff T puts it :)

Do you think a mainly online PC game should move more towards a PC friendly interface? It requires a mouse, but at least it will be on one screen. However there are parts that can be disabled. I dont know if thats a good thing in terms of menu layout.

[Brandon-Apok]

I've always felt that one of the better in-game menu layouts for a game was the one in Diablo II.

I've always liked the "all on one page" layout for the pre-game menu too, because it keeps you from spending too much time searching for tabs and looking around to find what you want.

It's less likely to distract or frustrate the player as well. I'd say go with the one page layout.

[soniCron]

If your game supports a mouse, the menu should support a mouse. As for making things complex just for the sake of making them complex...? If the console-style is simpler and more intuitive, then use that. Otherwise, go for the PC-style. Also, consider how frequently players will go through the menu system when constructing it. There's nothing I hate more than going through 12 menus that could have been accomplished with 2. It's a tradeoff game. :)

[zoombapup]

Well, the point is that the console style menu's are deliberately simple (i.e. choosing one thing rather than multiple things at once).

But it feels clunky on a PC to have to do

Plane Select -> Team Select -> Spawn Select etc..

[Drake]

How about console style, but with the option to set "always pick this" where appropriate? If the player knows they are always going to make certain choices, then they can eliminate some menus from the menu chain. You have to give them some deeper menu somewhere to let them undo those "always pick" actions, of course.