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Animal Crossing Crafting UI

Just me!

This assignment was a part of a UX class I took at DigiPen Institute of Technology. As an exercise, we were tasked with analyzing an existing UI in a video game of our choice and improving it in some way. I decided to take a closer look at Animal Crossing: New Horizons, specifically its crafting system. 

October 2024

Animal Crossing's Crafting System

Screenshot 2024-10-02 221155.png

Step 1: Research

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  • 5 User Interviews through a survey​

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  • 1 more detailed Interview with a "Stakeholder" (someone very experienced in the game in this case)

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  • Highlighter Code

    • Yellow = Negative Feelings

    • Green = Positive Feelings

    • Pink = Specific comments about possible solutions

Problem Statement
The average player needs to craft an item several times in a normal play session.

Currently, there is no way to bulk craft, making the process repetitive and tedious.

Step 2: Proposal

  • Add a “Quantity” Button to allow for bulk crafting.

  • Remove steps that might get tedious

    • Open the crafting menu without a confirmation dialogue 

    • Remove the “Keep Crafting” option 

Step 3: Changes

Current Cycle

Current Cycle.png

Proposed Cycle

My Cycle.png
Change.png

I added a quantity button in the same style as the rest of Animal Crossing's UI. I also updated the needed materials ​to make sure larger numbers would fit the current format.

Extra Change.png

I also added some extra details to further visualize the changes. I added the quantity to the craft pop-up, and I added the "next" dialogue arrow to the finished crafting screen.

Step 4: Pivot!

As an added challenge, the next assignment required us to come up with a pivot to our current design. We were meant to ​simulate a studio rolling out some kind of new requirement that would require changes to our plans. 

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For my project, I decided that a high standard for accessibility was required for UI. So I created a second problem statement and took another look at my proposal.

Second Problem Statement
UI does not meet the new required level of accessibility.

This is adding more cognitive load to the player when trying to navigate menus.
Added Proposal Items

  • Double-check the contrast ratios for text color

  • Any other quality of life improvements that may help with clarity

Step 5: Pivot Changes

Pivot.png

I mostly focused on making sure the contrast ratio of the text was as readable as possible. I created a solid background on top of the animated lines to avoid too much visual noise.  I also moved the "Have/Need" to the right side for easy reference. Lastly, I changed the "1.0 x 1.0 tiles" to "1 x 1 tiles" to make it more readable at a glance. 

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Reflection: 

This assignment was a really interesting way to approach the process of making changes to UI. I had to consider the style that was already implemented and the audience that was already invested in the crafting system. 

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Honestly, I'm pretty proud of what I ended up with in the end. I think that the simple solution to a larger problem was a good route for this project. In the future, I'll also be more aware of accessibility. I was shocked at how easy it was to have a low contrast ratio for text. 

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