Dev Blog: OSRS Mobile TLI

[Sharkbrew Helper Bot]

 

Dev Blog: OSRS Mobile

We said we'd keep you updated on the progress of Old School Mobile, and this new developer's blog represents our commitment to providing you with all the information you desire. The emphasis in this blog is on the TLI, or Top Level Interface. To catch up on other information you may have missed, visit the FAQ transcript from July's Mobile Q&A and read the first of our Mobile Dev Blogs in which we covered a number of our key considerations.

With work continuing on Old School Mobile, it’s time to start looking at the TLI (Top Level Interface). Having the game run correctly on a mobile device is by far the most important thing to perfect, but not far behind is the interface – the thing you actually use.

It’s certainly a challenge to take a very compact and button-heavy interface such as the one for Old School and create a mobile-friendly adaptation, especially when it needs to be fully functional on a 5” display! In this post, we’ll go over an example concept as well as an explanation of the thought process surrounding it.

 

Kicking things off is a screenshot of Old School Mobile in its current state. The buttons are small, cramped, and prone to fat-fingering. The chatbox is way too small and hard to read with no background. To a new player this is in no way intuitive. Basically - we need to fix this.

 

Here is the current UI (user interface) as described in the above section.

 

Firstly, we need to figure out what needs to be displayed perpetually. This includes the information and interface elements which need to be immediately available to the player at a glance. For example, the minimap is absolutely integral to the RuneScape experience and needs to always be available to the player. It isn't something that can be hidden behind a menu. With this in mind we can start to compile a list of elements that we need to have on-screen at all times:

 

Minimap & compass

World map button

Chat filter buttons

Tabs:

Inventory

Stats

Combat

Spellbook

Prayers

Quests

Equipment

Settings

Social

Logout/World switcher

 

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