BOOK ONE / SOLO FIELD GUIDE

Three screens.
Three player decisions.

What did the interface show you? What did that make it possible to do, understand or enjoy? Bring both answers from the same moment.

Why these three screens?

The estate asks where you want to go. The Collection lets you inspect several options, weigh their differences and decide whether to change your six. Battle asks whose turn it is and what you can do while the state changes. Each screen lets you test a different kind of understanding.

Use pause as a return test on any of the three. Making it one of the three would leave less room to study comparison and commitment. Use a dedicated creator session for detailed appearance controls and a separate two-computer session to establish what a network clock does.

FIELD SCREEN 1 / 3

Estate home

When I enter the estate, can I settle into the place and still leave for the activity I want?

A stable destination can give me the freedom to look around. A striking room can feel inviting or make the route feel like something I have to hunt for. A quick arrival still leaves that question open.

Read this screen in the textbook ↗
Welcome home

The estate asks for a destination beside the lit serpent. A small diamond marks Campaign.

R32-Release · 2026-11-02

What can you point to?

R32, 2 November 2026, 1600 × 900. The gold serpent occupies the room and a diamond sits beside Campaign. Battle is a destination in the column. The image records the position of the marker. Its cause could depend on focus or hover.

What was the experience?

Capture the initial marked row, first intended destination, first actual activation and Back landing. Describe the first moment the room felt like home, felt unfamiliar, or prompted no particular feeling. Record how long only if it matters and was measured.

Try one change

Choose the thing you actually came to do. On a settled screen, predict the destination, take the route on your usual input, return after the next screen settles, and name where you landed. Then linger by choice and describe what held your attention. If comparing two paper treatments, vary only the prominence of the destination cue.

Read the result and choose what to test next

If you can name the route and return without retracing yet enjoy looking around, preserve the discretionary pause. If you know where you want to go but the marker takes you elsewhere, investigate focus before brightening the art. If the screen is easy to operate but emotionally blank, changing row position answers a different question.

Vero Vanden Abeele, Katta Spiel, Lennart Nacke, Daniel Johnson and Kathrin Gerling (2020). Development and validation of the player experience inventory: A scale to measure player experiences at the level of functional and psychosocial consequences. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 135, 102370. ↗

Leah Findlater and Joanna McGrenere (2004). A Comparison of Static, Adaptive, and Adaptable Menus. CHI, pp. 89–96. ↗

Microsoft Xbox Accessibility Guideline 112, UI navigation. ↗

Will Byles, creative director of Until Dawn, interviewed by François Bliss de la Boissière (3 September 2015). Will Byles/Until Dawn: Appointment with deaths 1/2. ↗

Compare nearby states

Estate Options

The settings page pairs current values with their labels. Display is a destination one level deeper.

R32-Final · 2026-11-02
FROM THE 28-STUDY SYLLABUS

UIX-01 · Predict a press

Estate

Predict the destination behind Battle before activating it.

Collection

Predict whether choosing Hem changes the detail panel or the prepared six.

Battle

Predict what Attack can do during the opponent’s pending roll.

Your solo observation

Name the clue behind each prediction and how confident you felt.

Study gallery or research brief → · Answer in your workbook →
COMPARATIVE PLATES / Estate

Ten references for finding a destination

Ranked for how clearly the pictured screen helps you study this decision. The three marked picks are starting references for Snake Eyes. Production scale describes the project. Each caption names the feature that earned its place.

#01 · Publisher-led · SNAKE EYES PICK

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

PC compilation · contemporary publisher gallery, including later collection features

The gold frame marks Opening inside Episode 2 while other episodes remain visible. Can you tell which chapter you would enter and which control changes the episode?

Image credit and scope

Capcom · publisher-supplied PC compilation screenshots

Capcom develops and publishes the compilation. Its listing does not establish the production budget of these particular UI features.

#02 · Indie · SNAKE EYES PICK

Into the Breach

PC · publisher gallery, including Advanced Edition content

Back and Start sit apart from Edit Squad beneath the mech list. Could someone who only wants to change their Pack spot the editing route before starting a match?

Image credit and scope

Subset Games · publisher-supplied PC screenshots

A developer interview identifies the small team behind the game. The design award recognizes the game.

2019 Game Developers Choice Awards · Best Design ↗
#03 · Publisher-led · SNAKE EYES PICK

Portal 2

PC · publisher chamber screenshots

A running figure marks the exit door and a dotted line leads to a cyan X beside it. Which destination could someone recognize in the estate before reading a menu?

Image credit and scope

Valve · publisher-supplied PC screenshots

Valve’s store page credits the developer and publisher, with separate single-player and co-operative experiences. The screenshots do not disclose team size or budget.

#04 · AAA

Gran Turismo 7

PS4 / PS5 · Polyphony Digital online manual illustrations

National B stays highlighted above test cards labeled B-1 through B-5. Can you name your current section and distinguish a completed lesson from the next one?

Image credit and scope

Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment · official manual screenshots

The official product page identifies this PlayStation Studios release and developer. The scale bracket is editorial.

The Game Awards 2022 · Best Sports / Racing, for the game ↗
#05 · Publisher-led

The Secret of Monkey Island

1990 original represented in the 2009 Special Edition · classic and updated renderings as identified

The tavern keeps the pirate in view while Walk to pirate and Talk to name distinct actions. How would an estate visitor tell approaching a person from starting a conversation?

Image credit and scope

LucasArts / Lucasfilm Games · publisher-supplied Special Edition screenshots

Lucasfilm credits the original team and dates both editions. A modern budget tier would obscure the difference between these productions.

#06 · AAA

God of War Ragnarök

PlayStation · Santa Monica Studio accessibility guide

The four preset headings name player needs, and the highlighted Vision row has its own explanation. Would someone looking for motion settings know which row to open?

Image credit and scope

Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment · official accessibility-guide screenshots

GAconf awarded the title AAA Excellence for 2022.

GAconf Awards 2022 · Best Deaf/HoH accessibility ↗
#07 · AA

Frostpunk

PC · original game, publisher gallery

The Book of Laws keeps the branching map visible while the selected law’s panel reads Signed. What would tell a returning visitor which estate destination they have already used?

Image credit and scope

11 bit studios · publisher-supplied PC screenshots

Mid-scale teaching comparison. The studio’s 2017 consolidated report describes almost 50 in-house contributors and external support. “AA” is the gallery’s production-scale inference.

#08 · AAA

Street Fighter 6

PS5 · Capcom web manual, Practice and Recording Settings

Edit Character stays highlighted above Ryu while Control Type shows Classic in the selected row. Can you name both the current section and the exact setting that would change?

Image credit and scope

Capcom · official Street Fighter 6 web manual screenshots

Capcom identifies its worldwide multiplatform fighting release. GAconf identifies the Modern and Dynamic controls in its mobility award.

GAconf Awards 2023 · Best physical/mobility accessibility, citing Modern and Dynamic control options ↗
#09 · Indie

Her Story

2015 PC game · developer-supplied gallery and Sam Barlow’s account

The police database leaves the MURDER search and result thumbnails behind the open clip. Would you know how previewing one result relates to the larger place you were browsing?

Image credit and scope

Sam Barlow · developer-supplied screenshot of the PC game.

The developer site identifies Barlow and the support of the Indie Fund.

2016 Independent Games Festival · Seumas McNally Grand Prize, for the game ↗
#10 · Indie

Unpacking

PC · original game, publisher gallery

A bed icon at one edge and a refrigerator icon at the other offer room changes around the bathroom. Would those icons alone tell a first-time visitor where each leads?

Image credit and scope

Witch Beam / Humble Games · publisher-supplied PC screenshots

Witch Beam’s site credits the team and describes the independent production.

2022 BAFTA Games Awards · Narrative, for the game ↗

Additional visual fieldwork

English 1.13.11+dev figure distributed in the version 1.18.0 manual

A main menu can keep the world in view

Campaigns and Multiplayer have separate named rows. The small Previous and Next buttons belong to a tip within another panel.

Try it. From the estate, what destination do you expect Battle to open?

The image contains no button press, restored focus or matchmaking result. It is a historical development-version figure.

Original figure and credit ↗

The Battle for Wesnoth Project · manual figure added by Jyrki Vesterinen, 3 March 2018.
Source image and reuse terms

GNU GPL v2 or later, the project’s default for visual assets without a separate notice. Credit the project and link the full original figure and license. The WebP is resized from the project image.

Original image ↗ Publisher’s terms ↗ License ↗
English 1.13.11+dev figure distributed in the version 1.18.0 manual

One destination can open another choice

Several distinct routes appear after Multiplayer. The manual explains this relationship. The two pictures illustrate separate states in the manual.

Try it. What would you tell someone who expects choosing Battle to start a match?

Two manual figures do not prove the timing of the transition, how the Back action restores focus, or which row had focus when the screenshots were made.

Original figure and credit ↗

The Battle for Wesnoth Project · manual figure added by Jyrki Vesterinen, 3 March 2018.
Source image and reuse terms

GNU GPL v2 or later, the project’s default for visual assets without a separate notice. Credit the project and link the full original figure and license. The WebP is resized from the project image.

Original image ↗ Publisher’s terms ↗ License ↗
A RETURN TEST / UNTIL DAWN

What do you bring back from a pause?

Compare the field with its battle menu open and closed. Before reading the captions, name what you were doing and which control you would use to continue. Then say what you wanted the interruption to feel like.

Your turn with the tray closed

The same R32 Final tour records the local Classic opening before the camera and menu review. It shows the same turn owner, pending action and health totals as the open tray.

R32-Final · 2026-11-02
Battle menu over the field

A Battle menu sits over the local Classic board. The turn owner and the pending roll stay visible.

R32-Final · 2026-11-02

Back to field closes the tray. Return to Battle leaves the local match for the format picker. Both captures show a local R32 Final walkthrough at 1280 × 720. Other camera and inspection steps occurred between them. A picture of the tray cannot establish that the simulation, the CPU or a live opponent’s clock stopped.

Try a different kind of interruption in display settings
Display options in Borderless mode

The centered Display dialog explains Borderless mode over the dimmed estate Options screen.

VoiceAuditR31-Verified · 2026-11-02

Before touching either choice, predict which one retains the new display and what waiting will do. Record the actual result only if you try the confirmation on a recoverable setup.

Original PS4 release · MAT’s launch-week capture

An original PS4 status screen brings the character back into view

The screenshot identifies the character and current objective while retaining a visually prominent portrait. Butterfly Effect and The Twins are adjacent tabs.

Try it. On returning to a Snake Eyes activity, what two facts would let you pick up where you left off?

Character Info is the Status & Collectibles surface in this capture. The PS4 controls distinguish R1 status from the Options pause route. Neither the still nor a facial expression proves dynamic mood, a saved checkpoint or multiplayer pausing.

View the original image ↗ · Open the picture ↗

Game by Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment. Gameplay capture by MAT, MobyGames, 29 August 2015.
Original PS4 release · MAT’s launch-week capture

A past decision and a later consequence stay linked

An event record gives the player evidence of both a former choice and an outcome in this save.

Try it. After you return, which part of the last public battle event should still be inspectable?

This is another screen and a different point in the story. It cannot establish when the game first disclosed the consequence or prove that a future consequence is known.

View the original image ↗ · Open the picture ↗

Game by Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment. Gameplay capture by MAT, MobyGames, 29 August 2015.
Ballistic Moon’s 2024 rebuild · PC keyboard prompts visible, capture patch unspecified

The rebuilt PC status screen, at the same named objective

The 2015 and rebuilt frames share a character and an objective. Tabs, rendering, colors and bar values differ.

Try it. Which information should survive when you change how an inspection screen looks?

These are two different captures from different releases. Matching objective text does not identify the same save state, numerical relationship values or control mapping.

View the original image ↗ · Open the picture ↗

Game by Ballistic Moon / Sony Interactive Entertainment. Uploaded by 0Abstruse to the Until Dawn Wiki, 1 March 2025.
Windows PC rebuild · Video options in the version reviewed on 15 October 2024

Video settings in the 2024 PC rebuild

A literal options screen distinguishes changing a setting from backing out. The PC benchmark readout is an overlay added by the reviewer.

Try it. After visiting options, what task should Back return you to?

This is Video settings on PC in 2024. It does not show an Options button being pressed in the original game, the parent panel, or what happens when the player returns.

View the original image ↗ · Open the picture ↗

Ballistic Moon / Sony Interactive Entertainment. PC capture by John Papadopoulos, DSOGaming.

Watch the interruption and the return

Watch a few seconds on each side of the transition. Which cue brings the situation back to mind?

Open the original status view, then return to play

A figure is in a snowy exterior at 0:01–0:02. The view changes at 0:03 and Mike’s Character Info appears at 0:04. The recording then visits evidence and Totems. At 1:39 the Totems index is still visible. At 1:41–1:44 the exterior returns.

The source title uses Pause Menu. The interface first shown is Character Info; the physical button is not visible. The return does not establish exact input focus, simulation clock behavior or a multiplayer pause. Game Dev References · Pause Menu: Until Dawn, 17 October 2016. Game by Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment.

Walk through the rebuilt PS5 settings

The review shows the General tab around 2:45 and Accessibility around 3:45, with rows, values and contextual descriptions.

An edited PS5 review checks settings structure. It does not demonstrate the original PS4 controls or continuous travel from a live encounter to the outer Options menu. Laura Kate Dale / Access-Ability, 11 October 2024. Game by Ballistic Moon / Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Original director Will Byles described moving from a wide idle shot to a face to move fear into the character. The 2024 team separately documented changes to Matt’s expression in the pause menu and to two menu descriptions. These are two different production decisions. Which detail would you keep if the portrait disappeared when you needed space to read?

2015 director interview ↗ · 2024 developer patch notes ↗ · Textbook exercise ↗

Make a note the Architect can use

Before

Name the screen and dated build or frame, your normal input and display, what you already know, and a real goal. Finish one prediction before acting. Use a genuine break only if resumption is the question. Record its duration and what you were doing when it started.

During

Try one route at your ordinary pace. If time is being compared, leave the first attempt uninterrupted. Record input, first visible response, the state when you stopped and any detour. A still allows a reading and a prediction. Leave input, persistence and elapsed-time fields untested on a still.

After

First give your immediate words about one moment. Then, if you have a recording, point to the event and add what you now think it meant. Keep those two accounts. Ask what you wanted to feel, what helped or interfered, and what other explanation fits. Preserve humor, curiosity, suspense or neutral feelings when those are your words.

Repeat one genuine task with one reversible difference. Name what stayed fixed and the order. Optionally choose a personal scale before both attempts, such as from reluctant to willing to try a swap, and reuse the same anchors. Keep the actual state and action beside the rating. A personal scale is a diary aid.

For the Architect give the build, state and input, one observable fact, one first-person feeling, one rival explanation and one condition that would change the decision. Distinguish a preference, a proposed test, an explicit decision and verified behavior. Other players’ first encounters belong in Part 2.

Research behind the exercises

The sources below distinguish a finding, a designer’s account or platform guidance from the next question to try in Snake Eyes.

Vero Vanden Abeele, Katta Spiel, Lennart Nacke, Daniel Johnson and Kathrin Gerling (2020). Development and validation of the player experience inventory: A scale to measure player experiences at the level of functional and psychosocial consequences. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 135, 102370.

Two development rounds involved 64 games research experts. Five validation and evaluation studies together involved 529 participants.

Ease of control, progress feedback and audiovisual appeal are different questions from autonomy, curiosity, immersion, mastery and meaning. Success at the task alone cannot tell a designer which of those the experience supported.

Limit. The paper validates an instrument. It does not establish which emotion a particular camera, color or row will produce. The authors explicitly say that reworded or shortened items lose the original validation. Use ordinary first-person language for the local exercise and keep it out of PXI benchmarks.

Read the original ↗
Leah Findlater and Joanna McGrenere (2004). A Comparison of Static, Adaptive, and Adaptable Menus. CHI, pp. 89–96.

Twenty-seven people used three desktop split menus. Their top four items stayed fixed, changed according to recent and frequent use, or could be set by the participant.

The fixed menu was faster than the automatically adapting menu. Most people preferred the one they could arrange themselves. A familiar route and a sense of control can both matter and can yield different evidence.

Limit. Desktop item selection does not establish an ideal ordering for the estate or how a room should feel. Keep the estate row order fixed when testing a change to the setting around it.

Read the original ↗
Bryan J. Matlen, Dedre Gentner and Steven L. Franconeri (2020). Spatial alignment facilitates visual comparison. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 46(5), 443–457.

Four experiments used same-or-different judgments of shape or color patterns. In Experiment 1, 16 adults were enrolled and 14 completed. The same elements were arranged so corresponding parts aligned directly, diagonally or along a line that made correspondence harder.

Matching was faster with direct alignment. For vertical triplets the means were 732 ms directly aligned and 942 ms in the impeded arrangement. Experiment 2 showed that another competing pattern could interfere more than a solid block.

Limit. Those times concern simple visual comparisons. They do not predict a time saving, working-memory capacity, best card count, or best Remnant. In Collection, test whether following the Health or Move row preserves both the number and its owner.

Read the original ↗
Alexander Chernev (2003). When More Is Less and Less Is More: The Role of Ideal Point Availability and Assortment in Consumer Choice. Journal of Consumer Research 30(2), 170–183.

Eighty-eight Northwestern students chose from 4 or 16 chocolates. One group first stated its ideal attributes and ranked them. Participants could subsequently exchange the selection for a popular alternative.

Among participants without that prior exercise, 9% switched after choosing from four and 38% after choosing from sixteen. For those who stated their ideal, the difference went the other way and was not statistically significant. The interaction was significant.

Limit. Switching a chocolate is a measure of choice strength in that experiment. The result supplies no roster limit. Distinguish browsing to discover a preference from filling a numbered Pack slot under a specific tactical constraint.

Read the original ↗
Margaree Peacocke, Robert J. Teather, Jacques Carette, I. Scott MacKenzie and Victoria McArthur (2018). An empirical comparison of first-person shooter information displays: HUDs, diegetic displays, and spatial representations. Entertainment Computing 26, 41–58.

Four controlled experiments isolated four FPS tasks. In the health experiment, 24 regular players were asked to escape at 20% health or below while enemies fired, using different health displays.

Health monitoring favored HUD treatments. Numeric options gave the highest trial success, while players preferred the HUD bar. Ammunition monitoring favored the world-space number, and an indicated world-space route worked well for navigation. Accuracy, preference and the job at hand can point to different design decisions.

Limit. This was a custom shooter and a threshold decision under fire. Its timing cannot settle whether turn-based Snake Eyes needs a permanently visible stat. Retain actor, pending result and information source as separate observations.

Read the original ↗
J. Gregory Trafton, Erik M. Altmann and Derek P. Brock (2005). Huh, What Was I Doing? How People Use Environmental Cues after an Interruption. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 49(3).

Forty-four students trained on a tank resource-allocation simulation. On return from a different task, they saw a red arrow at their previous action, a cursor there, or no cue.

The explicit cue accelerated resumption relative to the other conditions. Leaving the cursor at the old location offered no observed advantage over the no-cue condition.

Limit. This simulated task put the person back into the same work. A changing battle can make an old marker obsolete. Ask which public state exists now and whether the old plan still applies. An immediate repeat is practice, while a genuine interruption needs its own description and duration.

Read the original ↗
Falko Weigert Petersen, Line Ebdrup Thomsen, Pejman Mirza-Babaei and Anders Drachen (2017). Evaluating the Onboarding Phase of Free-to-Play Mobile Games: A Mixed-Method Approach. CHI PLAY.

Twenty-eight participants played three mobile games for roughly seven minutes each in counterbalanced order. They drew their experience over time, reviewed recordings, discussed moments, and drew it again. Researchers also used questionnaires and physiological measures.

Nineteen people described annoyance while waiting through automatic battles in WinterForts. Physiological arousal alone did not identify whether a moment was pleasant. In interviews, people could also describe positive contributions such as music.

Limit. A recollection can change after seeing a replay. Record the immediate words first and put a later explanation beside them. Several minutes of automatic mobile battles do not tell us how a short dice wait will feel.

Read the original ↗
Carman Neustaedter and Phoebe Sengers (2012). Autobiographical Design in HCI Research: Designing and Learning through Use-It-Yourself. Designing Interactive Systems.

The authors reflected on their own projects and conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 HCI experts involved in self-use. They describe the interviews as expert discussion.

A designer who actually wants to do something can discover constraints and values that a pretend assignment misses. Their method concerns sustained, genuine use.

Limit. One evening's worksheet is an early first-person observation. Knowing the source code or an earlier answer changes what Isaiah will notice. A genuine first-time player's experience and another person's access setup remain questions for Part 2.

Read the original ↗
Justin Ma of Subset Games, interviewed by Joel Couture (23 February 2018). Road to the IGF: Subset Games' Into the Breach.

Firsthand account of why the designers chose to expose enemy attacks and leave the player to reconcile competing priorities.

Ma describes wanting clear rules and less randomness than FTL. Foreknowledge gave the player a problem to solve, including occasions when protecting one thing meant losing another.

Limit. Analogy only. Snake Eyes can clearly announce who acts, what a legal choice would do and when the roll is released while preserving actual dice, opponent privacy and suspense.

Read the original ↗
Will Byles, creative director of Until Dawn, interviewed by François Bliss de la Boissière (3 September 2015). Will Byles/Until Dawn: Appointment with deaths 1/2.

Firsthand account of the original PS4 game and an earlier no-interface prototype.

Byles describes an idle wide shot as inviting the viewer to look for danger in the space and the face close-up as bringing the fear inward. In the nearly interface-free prototype, some people did not realize alternative story paths existed. Optional access to status let interested players inspect without requiring everyone to do so.

Limit. His camera explanation concerns idling. He did not establish that opening the Pause menu caused that camera behavior or that every player felt the intended emotion.

Read the original ↗
Ballistic Moon (5 November 2024, PC availability update 8 November). Until Dawn – Patch 1.06, official developer announcement.

Shipped-change record for the 2024 PS5/PC rebuild.

The team tuned the intensity of Matt's frightened expression during the pause menu and corrected descriptions for two practical pause-menu destinations. Character performance and utility both received production attention on that surface.

Limit. The notes do not give a player outcome or establish why Isaiah liked the example. The 2024 record and Byles's 2015 account concern different editions and different events. No Until Dawn frame should stand in for a Snake Eyes capture.

Read the original ↗
Microsoft Xbox Accessibility Guideline 112, UI navigation.

Predictable navigation order and a discoverable return path let someone use a familiar control to recover their place. The illustrated Sea of Thieves example keeps Select and Back in a consistent area.

Limit. Platform design guidance. An archival picture can show a Back label. Testing where an actual controller lands requires the running build.

Read the original ↗
Microsoft Xbox Accessibility Guideline 103, Additional channels for visual and audio cues.

Critical visual or audio information should be available through additional channels. The Forza Horizon 4 example combines color and lettering to identify new events.

Limit. A sound-off solo pass can establish which information Isaiah could still recover on his own setup. It cannot establish accessibility for other players.

Read the original ↗
Epic Games. Input Fundamentals for CommonUI. Unreal Engine 5.8 documentation.

Engine documentation for input routing when an activatable widget opens or closes.

An active widget can request an input configuration. When closed, the configuration for the previous active widget can be restored. Record the input owner and actual focus on both sides of a menu transition.

Limit. An input configuration governs input handling. It does not establish a network clock or prove that Snake Eyes already uses a particular widget class.

Read the original ↗
Microsoft. Xbox Accessibility Guideline 116, Time limits.

Platform guidance on time to perceive and act.

Offer time to read, interpret and act. The guideline distinguishes pausing local play from real-time multiplayer, where the rest of the match can continue.

Limit. A design recommendation is separate from a verified rule about a particular match. Test a local pause and a network interruption separately.

Read the original ↗

Return to the workbook →