Splatoon 3's interface design
20 March 2023
Earlier this year I purchased Splatoon 3 and I’ve have been completely obsessed with it ever since. The combination of quick-fix multiplayer games, diversity of game modes and the overall fun and quirky energy has me hooked.
Something about Splatoon 3 that’s especially caught my eye has been its interaction and visual design. The game menu mostly takes place in a virtual town square, Splatsville, where the player can enter different shops and buildings to start various game modes. Once in one of these shops or buildings the interface is usually an overlay that the player can easily jumping in and out of. I’m saving some of my favourites here for future inspiration and appreciation for the designers behind them.
Loading states
The core game mechanic is shooting and swimming through ink, so it makes sense to illustrate loading as swirls of ink.
Splatsville
The player can enter different shops and buildings to start various game modes.
Pre-game
Game mode selection takes place in a mobile phone-like navigation that players can tap up-and-down through. The neon focus indicator matches the visual style of the shop fronts in Splatsville. Current maps and rules are displayed in a cardboard punch-out card.
Previous matches are saved in a history tab, and the player can see a picture of the map, ink colours used in the match as well their team’s score represented in a flowing lozenge of ink.
Rules are always accessible and displayed as a stack of scrapbook like cards, using images, and minimal text.
In-game
The in-game HUD is lean, showing your team, remaining time and score. Ink level can be monitored by viewing the backpack on the in-game character. In the bottom left the player can see their two ways to communicate with their team: by saying ‘This way!’ or ‘Booyah!’ - phrases which are surprisingly adequate.
The player can open a mini-map at any time, to see their team’s progress in splatting the map, or even to jump to a team-mates location after respawning.
Post-game
Points are tallied in a flowing lozenge of ink, accompanied with the labels of ‘Good Guys’ and ‘Bad Guys’. When the ‘Good Guys’ win, the screen breaks into celebration, with rock music, confetti and a range of in-season stickers dropping down and framing the map and score.
Bonus
As players progress, they unlock additional gear and items from the season’s Catalog. The Catalog is represented as a magazine that players can page through to see seasonal content.
The use of skeuomorphism continues in the Alterna story mode, where players create a scrapbook of things they learn as the story progresses. These scraps range from post-it notes, to stickers, magazine cut-outs and pencil scribbles, all adding context to the Splatoon world and lore.
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