Ask what problem a short explanation on focus would solve at arrival.
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.
Classic battle HUD
Does waiting here feel like tension I chose to sit with, or uncertainty about whether the game heard me?
Knowing who acts and which event is pending can make uncertainty about the outcome enjoyable. Repeating a press because nothing acknowledged the first one produces another kind of suspense. Inspecting a piece can be a purposeful way to spend an opponent turn.
Read this screen in the textbook ↗The CPU owns the opening turn. The center names the actor and pending roll. The dice area repeats the pending action.
R32-Release · 2026-11-02What can you point to?
R32 Classic, Turn 1, 2 November 2026, 1600 × 900. Opponent’s turn and Awaiting the roll are visible, along with Hem and Move, Attack, Inspect. No public dice result has been issued in this frame. The source trace identifies the action labels as tray-opening tabs.
What was the experience?
State the exact cue you read, what you supplied from knowing the rules, any repeat press, and the moment the experience changed. Read a released outcome in a later identified state before reporting the result. A real-world interruption and deliberate information inspection deserve separate entries.
Try one change
Look away from the fixed frame, return and name the actor, the public pending event and what you would do next. If you later test in a local running build, predict one Inspect or Attack-tab press, record its first visible effect and separate opening a tray from a committed action. If the CPU moves on, date the state change and start a new observation.
Read the result and choose what to test next
If you correctly read the state and choose to wait, retain the suspense and investigate what sustains it. If only the dice artwork suggested a result, test clearer pending language. If a public outcome disappears before you can recover it, try a persistent public receipt. An unreleased roll and an opponent’s undisclosed information remain outside the preview.
Microsoft Xbox Accessibility Guideline 103, Additional channels for visual and audio cues. ↗
Compare nearby states
This separate captured state says “Your turn.” A Roll dice control appears under two dice, while Hem’s compact control group stays near the board. Use it to compare turn ownership and visual emphasis across states.
R32-Release · 2026-11-02The local review explicitly records Victory, Surrender and a saved-history message, with new options under a completed round. The capture comes from a staged surrender typography test.
R32-Release · 2026-11-02UIX-03 · Transfer a studio decision
Test whether a shared row makes two candidate values easier to compare.
Try the same public fact beside Hem and one inspection step away.
Name one condition that would make you reject the borrowed design.
Transfer a decision
Extended critique · about 64–84 minutes for this studio exercise
Chapters, transcript and source
Separate a documented design intention from a test of whether the mechanism fits Snake Eyes.
A studio might group several settings to reduce first-time setup. That is a problem you can study without copying the menu.
Separate what appears on screen from what the team says it intended. Keep an unanswered player question visible in the margin.
Pick one local condition that would make you reject the borrowed idea. Predict your response, then begin the worksheet from its stated start.
Animated teaching diagrams are illustrative. Original study narration, synthesized locally.Read this study in the textbook ↗ · Compare the visual references →
Open the course screening room →Ten references for reading a live turn
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.
BATTLETECH
2018 PC game, publisher gallery · Backer Beta Manual page 11 and 2016 design diary are labeled separatelyYour Turn, Round 3, the highlighted initiative phase and Behemoth’s portrait identify different things. Can you name the acting side, the phase and the selected unit without confusing them?
Image credit and scope
Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive · publisher-supplied PC gameplay and page 11 of the Backer Beta Manual.
Editorial mid-scale estimate. Paradox documents the crowdfunding campaign, independent studio and publishing partnership. A production budget was not disclosed.
Into the Breach
Original design · PC storefront capture and Netflix iPhone listing for the later mobile editionThreat marks sit on the affected cells, and a Chasm Tile tooltip explains what a push would do. Can you point to the threatened space and describe the projected consequence?
Image credit and scope
Subset Games · developer-supplied PC gallery. Mobile capture supplied by Netflix on Apple’s App Store.
Cofounders Justin Ma and Matthew Davis describe the small team, its full-time collaborators and the mobile adaptation.
2019 Game Developers Choice Awards · Best Design, for the game ↗Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Publisher’s PC gallery · lead designer’s October 2022 account and UI engineer’s GDC 2023 slide 125The raised Knee Strike card, orange target marker and remaining card plays share the field. Can you name the proposed action and the resources still available before committing?
Image credit and scope
Firaxis Games / 2K / Marvel. PC gameplay supplied by the publisher. Engineering slide by Joel Gonzales, GDC 2023.
The lead designer describes a Firaxis and Marvel collaboration. The UI engineer separately describes the breadth of the production.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
PC · original 2012 game, publisher galleryThe Fire panel puts an 83% hit chance beside up to 7 damage, with OK below. Can you distinguish a possible outcome from damage already dealt?
Image credit and scope
Firaxis Games / 2K · publisher-supplied PC screenshots
Large-publisher production comparison. Take-Two identifies the Firaxis team, publishing relationship and multiplatform release. The label is an editorial scale bracket.
2013 BAFTA Games Awards · Strategy ↗Tactical Breach Wizards
PC · developer store exhibit with an Outcome Seen previewOutcome Seen appears between Rewind and End Turn, with ghosted positions on the map. Which outcome has been previewed, and which control makes it final in this puzzle?
Image credit and scope
Suspicious Developments · developer-supplied PC screenshot
The developer’s official catalogue and store description identify the studio and its game about reversible experimentation.
Balatro
PC · publisher galleryMust play 5 cards appears above faded Play Hand and Discard controls while Rank and Suit stay bright. Could a Snake Eyes player explain why a command is unavailable?
Image credit and scope
LocalThunk / Playstack · publisher-supplied PC screenshots
The publisher credits a solo developer and the Game Developers Choice Awards identify LocalThunk and Playstack.
2025 Game Developers Choice Awards · Best Design ↗Battlefield 2042
Conquest · 12 November 2021 early access, 19 January 2022 proposal, 8 March 2022 update 3.3The 2021 Conquest overlay separates team tickets at upper left from the player’s kills and assists at upper right. Could you answer a shared-state question without reading personal totals?
Image credit and scope
DICE / Electronic Arts. November gameplay captured by Morgan Park for PC Gamer. January and March illustrations issued by Battlefield.
DICE and EA identify the studio and large-publisher release. The bracket describes production context.
Slay the Spire
PC · original game, publisher galleryA lightning strike and a floating 7 sit over one enemy, whose health bar reads 30/50. Can you distinguish the visible damage event from the target’s remaining health?
Image credit and scope
Mega Crit · publisher-supplied PC screenshots
Mega Crit describes the studio’s origins and the small team that built its first game.
Dead Space
2008 original · EA’s gallery for the original PC product, capture hardware and patch unspecifiedIsaac’s lit spine segments stay on his suit while the opponent occupies the other side of the shot. Would an equivalent health cue remain readable in Snake Eyes’ wider camera?
Image credit and scope
EA Redwood Shores / Electronic Arts · publisher gallery for the 2008 original.
The original senior producer describes EA’s team and its production of the integrated interface.
2009 BAFTA Games Awards · Use of Audio, a separate craft from the pictured HUD ↗Street Fighter 6
PS5 · Capcom web manual, Practice and Recording SettingsKimberly’s training view adds a two-hit count and input history beside the fight. Which information would help explain a missed command, and which belongs only in a private practice view?
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 ↗Additional visual fieldwork
Read two sides at the point of contact
Both visible figures have adjacent numbers and distinct placement. A separate shield mark sits over the cover.
Try it. If you glance away during a turn, which public value can you still assign to each side?
This press image does not identify whose input is legal, whether a shot was made, or the meaning of an unshown die. A still cannot verify the duration of this overlay.© 2024 Thunderful, All rights reserved. SteamWorld Heist II Reveal Press Kit.Source image and reuse terms
The publisher’s Authorisation of Usage expressly permits electronic reproduction, display and publication of this kit. The copyright remains with its owner.
Original image ↗ Publisher’s terms ↗Separate a unit readout from the next command
A named unit’s state remains visible beside the action that would advance play.
Try it. Can you identify the unit you are reading without confusing it with the person allowed to act?
The panel identifies the unit it describes. Exact selection rules and whether pressing End Turn would succeed are not demonstrated by the still.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 ↗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.
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 · 2026-11-02A Battle menu sits over the local Classic board. The turn owner and the pending roll stay visible.
R32-Final · 2026-11-02Back 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
The centered Display dialog explains Borderless mode over the dimmed estate Options screen.
VoiceAuditR31-Verified · 2026-11-02Before 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.
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.Game by Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment. Gameplay capture by MAT, MobyGames, 29 August 2015.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.Game by Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment. Gameplay capture by MAT, MobyGames, 29 August 2015.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.Game by Ballistic Moon / Sony Interactive Entertainment. Uploaded by 0Abstruse to the Until Dawn Wiki, 1 March 2025.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.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 ↗