How to Design a One-Level Game Interface and Navigation Tools (HUD, Menus and Maps)

September 26, 2026 Aven BrisailLeave a comment

A one-level interface is the complete set of screens and on-screen elements a player needs to play a single level of a game: a way to start, a heads-up display (HUD) during play, a pause option, and a clear end screen for winning or losing. Navigational tools are the parts of the interface that help players find their way – both through the menus (buttons, tabs, back arrows, level select) and through the game world (maps, mini-maps, compasses, waypoints and signposts). Both are forms of graphic design: arranging type, icons, colour and space so information is quick to read.

This is a hands-on lesson that puts earlier theory to work. Review The Game UI Design Process and How to Tell Good UI From Bad UI and How to Wireframe a Game User Interface before you start.

Part 1: Designing a one-level interface

Treat one level as a mini-game with a beginning, middle and end. Plan these screens and states:

Screen or state	What it needs	Graphic design tips
Title / start	Game title, “Play” button, optional settings and credits.	One dominant button; the title uses the game’s key colours and font.
Level intro	Level name and goal (“Collect 20 shells before sunset”).	Short text plus an icon; fade out after 2–3 seconds or on a tap.
Gameplay HUD	Only essential information: lives or health, score or progress, timer, pause button.	Place at the edges and corners; use icons with numbers; consistent colours.
Pause menu	Resume, restart, settings, quit.	Darken the game behind the menu; “Resume” selected by default.
Win screen	Celebration, score, stars or rewards, “Next” or “Replay”.	Animated reward, big readable score, clear next step.
Lose screen	Encouraging message, reason for losing, “Try again”.	Friendly tone; show how close the player got.

Graphic design basics for game interfaces

Typography: use one display font for titles and one very readable font for everything else. Keep text short and large enough for the platform.
Icons: draw simple, bold icons with the same line thickness and style. Test that each is recognisable at small sizes.
Grid and alignment: line elements up on an invisible grid and keep equal margins around the screen edges (a “safe area”, important on TVs and phones with notches).
Colour and contrast: use the game’s palette, but make sure text and important icons have strong contrast with the background.
Theme: the frames, buttons and fonts should look like they belong to the game world – driftwood buttons for a beach game, glowing panels for a space game.

Part 2: Designing navigational tools

Menu navigation

Keep menus shallow: players should reach any option in two or three steps.
Always provide a Back button in the same place, and support the controller’s back button or the Escape key.
Show the current selection clearly with a highlight, outline or animation.
Use breadcrumbs or titles (“Settings › Audio”) so players know where they are.
Make it work with every input the game supports: touch, mouse, keyboard and controller.

In-world navigation

Maps and mini-maps show the player’s position, goals and explored areas.
Compass bars and waypoints point towards objectives.
Environmental signposting guides without any HUD: lights, paths, colour, open doors and landmarks draw players forward.
Breadcrumb trails – coins or collectables placed along the intended route – quietly show the way.

Blue map of connected rectangular rooms and corridors drawn on a light background — Figure 2 – An automap from the free game *Meritous*. Explored rooms are drawn automatically as the player moves, helping them navigate a large maze. Image: Lancer-X/ASCEAI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Game director Masahiro Sakurai explains why menus should express the personality of your game world, not just list options:

Example

For a single beach level called Shell Seeker, a student designs: a title screen with a driftwood “Play” button; a level intro card (“Find 20 shells before the tide comes in”); a HUD with a shell counter (top-left), a tide timer drawn as a rising wave (top-right) and a pause button; a pause menu on a wooden sign; a win screen with up to three starfish for speed; and a lose screen saying “The tide won this time – you found 16 shells!”. For navigation she adds a small mini-map in the bottom-right corner showing shell locations the player has already spotted, and places seagulls that circle above hidden shells as in-world signposts.

Exercise

Choose a level idea and list every screen and HUD element it needs, using the table above.
Draw the full one-level interface: title, level intro, HUD, pause, win and lose screens. Apply at least three graphic design tips.
Design a menu flow with a Back button and breadcrumbs, and one in-world navigational tool (mini-map, compass or signposting).
Build the screens in Scratch, Construct or any tool (or as linked slides) and ask someone to navigate them without help. Record where they got stuck.

Next: Designing Game Characters for Different Genres: Life Drawing, Skeleton, Muscles and Facial Expressions

Syllabus link: This post is relevant to the CAPE® Animation and Game Design Syllabus, Unit 2: Interactive Design and Game Development, Module 3: Animation for Games – Specific Objective 1 (“design a one level interface”); Specific Objective 2 (“design navigational tools”).

Attributions to media used in this post:

SuperTuxKart kart selection screen 2018.png – QwertyChouskie – CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Meritous-automap.png – Lancer-X/ASCEAI – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Game Design Terms, Careers and the Types of Design in Games (World, System, Content, Level, UI)

September 26, 2026 Aven BrisailLeave a comment

Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game that is fun, challenging and meaningful to play. A game designer decides the rules, goals, challenges and experiences, while a whole team of game development professionals turns those decisions into a finished product. To work in that team you need its shared vocabulary, an understanding of its careers, and a clear idea of the different types of design that go into a game.

For an overview of the wider industry, see Jobs in Animation and Game Design. This post zooms in on the game development team and the design disciplines inside it.

Common game design terms

Term	Meaning
Mechanics	The rules of a game: what players can do and what happens as a result.
System	A collection of mechanics that work together to produce a result, such as an economy or a combat system.
Avatar	The icon or figure that represents the player in the game.
Engine	The core software that runs the game: graphics, physics, sound, input (for example Unity, Unreal, Godot).
Platform	The console, device or system a game runs on (PC, phone, console, web, VR).
Prototype	An early playable version of a game or part of a game, made to test an idea.
Rapid prototyping	Techniques for making quick, rough prototypes so ideas can be tested early.
Playtest	Testing a game with real players to find problems, bugs and unclear design.
Bugs	Errors in the design, code, art, sound or writing of a game.
Milestone	A point in the schedule where something significant must be finished.
Alpha	A stage where the main features are in the game but it is incomplete and buggy.
Beta	A more stable version, often tested by outside players to find remaining bugs.
Gold	The final version, ready to be released to the public.
Feature list	A list of the game’s key features, often its selling points.
Game jam	An event where developers plan, design and build a game in a short time, often 48 hours.
Zero-sum / positive-sum	In a zero-sum game one player’s gain is another’s loss; in a positive-sum game everyone can gain.

Careers in game design and development

Career	What they do
Programmer	Writes the code for gameplay, graphics, physics, AI, tools and online features.
Artist	Creates concept art, characters, environments, textures, animation, visual effects and UI graphics.
Designer	Designs rules, levels, systems and player experiences; writes design documents and balances the game.
Producer	Manages the schedule, budget and team; keeps everyone on track and communicates with publishers.
Tester (QA)	Plays the game systematically to find and report bugs and usability problems.
Composer	Writes the music that sets the mood and reacts to gameplay.
Sound designer	Records and creates sound effects, ambient sound and audio feedback, and places them in the game.
Writer	Writes story, dialogue, character backgrounds, quest text and UI wording.

In small indie teams, one person may play several roles. Watch these professionals describe their paths into game-related jobs:

Types of design in games

World design

World design creates the big picture: the setting, history, geography, cultures and rules of the game world. A world designer decides whether the game happens on a floating island, in a future city or inside a computer, and makes sure everything in that world feels consistent.

System design

System design creates the rules and mathematics behind the game: how damage is calculated, how much items cost, how experience points work, how fast enemies spawn. System designers use spreadsheets to balance the game so it is fair and interesting.

Content design

Content design creates the individual things the player meets: characters, items, quests, puzzles, vehicles and missions. If system design says “weapons have power and speed”, content design invents the specific tools, each with its own numbers and personality.

Game writing

Game writing covers story, dialogue, character backgrounds and all the text in the game, including tutorials and item descriptions. Game writers must write for choices, repetition and different player paths (see Story Arcs, Game Scripts and Storyboards for Interactive Games).

Level design

Level design builds the spaces where play happens: layouts, obstacles, enemy placement, puzzles and the pacing of challenges. We practised this in Level Design: Planning the First Three Levels.

Screenshot of a tile map editor showing a grass and water terrain being painted with tiles — Figure 2 – The free Tiled map editor, used by level designers to build 2D levels from reusable tiles. Image: Thorbjørn Lindeijer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

User interface (UI) design

User interface design plans the menus, HUD, icons and controls that let players understand and control the game. It draws on the interaction design ideas in Module 1 and is explored further later in this module.

Example

Imagine a small team making a farming game set on a Caribbean island:

The world designer creates the island’s villages, seasons, market days and folklore.
The system designer sets how fast crops grow, their selling prices and how rain affects them.
The content designer invents 20 crops, 10 tools and the villagers’ requests.
The writer gives each villager a personality and writes their dialogue.
The level designer lays out the farm, the market and the forest path.
The UI designer designs the inventory, calendar and money display.
The programmer, artist, composer, sound designer, tester and producer bring it all to life and on schedule.

Exercise

Create a glossary card for ten game design terms from this post, each with a definition and an example from a game you know.
Make an infographic of the eight game careers, showing one skill and one tool for each.
Choose a game and describe one decision from each of the six types of design.
Which career or type of design interests you most? Write a short paragraph explaining why and how you could start practising it now.

Next: The 10 Core Dynamics of Games Explained (With Examples)

Syllabus link: This post is relevant to the CAPE® Animation and Game Design Syllabus, Unit 2: Interactive Design and Game Development, Module 2: Game Design and Development – Specific Objective 1 (“define the common terms associated with game design”); Specific Objective 2 (“state the types of careers in game design”); Specific Objective 3 (“state the types of design associated with games”); Specific Objective 4 (“explain the different types of design”).

Attributions to media used in this post:

Drawing Cats on Wacom Intuos3 A5 graphics tablet – Global Game Jam Berlin 2014.jpg – Iwan Gabovitch – CC BY 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Tiled-screenshot-terrain.png – Thorbjørn Lindeijer – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

GGJ LA 2015.JPG – Kevin Wong – CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

What Is a Level in Game Design? Structuring Gameplay and Outlining Your First Three Levels

September 26, 2026 Aven BrisailLeave a comment

In game design, a level is a section of a game with its own space, challenges and goal. The player must complete one level to move on to the next. Level design is the job of planning each level: its layout, obstacles, enemies, rewards and difficulty, so that the game gets more interesting as the player improves.

What is a level?

A level usually has:

A start and an end (or goal), such as reaching a door, collecting all the coins or defeating a boss.
An environment – the place where the level happens, such as a beach, a cave or a space station.
Challenges – enemies, gaps, puzzles or time limits.
Rewards – points, new abilities, story scenes or simply the next level.

Sample 2D platformer level with platforms, ladders and spikes — Figure 1 – A sample platform game level made with free (CC0) game assets. You can see platforms, hazards and collectables arranged into a path.

Structuring the gameplay

Good levels are carefully ordered. Designers think about:

Teaching – introduce one new idea (a mechanic) at a time, in a safe place, so the player can learn it without being punished.
Difficulty curve – make each level a little harder than the last, with some easier moments to rest.
Pacing – mix fast, exciting moments with slower moments of exploring.
Guiding the player – use light, colour, paths and collectables to show where to go.
Checkpoints – places where progress is saved, so a mistake does not send the player all the way back.
Variety – change the setting, music, enemies or type of challenge from level to level so the game does not feel repetitive.

Many designers first sketch a level on paper or build a quick blockout in a level editor, then playtest it and improve it.

Screenshot of the Tiled map editor with a tile-based terrain map — Figure 2 – The free, open-source Tiled map editor, one of many tools used to lay out 2D game levels from tiles.

Ways of dividing a game

Not every game calls its sections “levels”. Common terms include:

Term	Meaning	Where you might see it
Level	A single stage with a start, challenges and a goal.	Platform and puzzle games
Mission	A task with specific objectives, often with a briefing before it.	Action, strategy and racing games
Quest	A task given by a character, often with a story reason. Games can have a main quest and side quests.	Role-playing and adventure games
Episode	A part of the game released or played as one instalment, like a TV episode.	Story-driven and episodic games
World	A group of levels that share a theme or setting, such as an ice world.	Platform games
Chapter	A section of the story, like a chapter in a book.	Story and adventure games

Outlining the first three levels

The first three levels are especially important because they teach the player how to play and convince them to keep going. A simple outline for each level should state the setting, the goal, the new mechanic or challenge and how it ends.

Example

Game idea: Reef Rescue, a 2D game where a young turtle cleans plastic from a coral reef.

Level 1 – Shallow Lagoon (tutorial): Goal: collect 10 pieces of plastic. New mechanic: swimming and collecting. No enemies. Ends when the turtle reaches the reef gate.
Level 2 – Seagrass Maze: Goal: collect 20 pieces and find the exit. New challenge: slow-moving jellyfish to avoid, and a checkpoint halfway.
Level 3 – Coral Canyon: Goal: free three trapped fish from nets. New mechanic: a dash move to break nets. Combines everything learned, then ends with a mini-boss: a runaway fishing net.

Together these three levels could form World 1 of the game. Try the Scratch project below, a scrolling platformer with three levels. Notice what changes from one level to the next:

View it at scratch.mit.edu

Watch the video below to see how one famous series introduces and develops a new idea in every level:

Exercise

In your own words, define a level in game design.
Explain the difference between a mission, a quest and a world.
Choose a game idea of your own. Outline its first three levels, giving the setting, goal, new mechanic or challenge, and ending for each.
Sketch a top-down or side-view map of Level 1 on paper. Mark the start, the goal, one checkpoint and the place where the new mechanic is taught.

Next: Folklore, Culture and Heritage in Animation and Game Design (With Caribbean Examples)

Syllabus link: This post is relevant to the CAPE® Animation and Game Design Syllabus, Unit 1: Fundamentals of Animation and Game Design, Module 2: Drawing and Layout – Specific Objective 5 (“define the concept of a level in game design”); Specific Objective 6 (“outline the first three levels of a game”).

Attributions to media used in this post:

1-bit platformer sample.png – Kenney (kenney.nl) – CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Tiled-screenshot-terrain.png – Thorbjørn Lindeijer – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Island Class

Learning in the Caribbean

Tag: level design

How to Design a One-Level Game Interface and Navigation Tools (HUD, Menus and Maps)

Part 1: Designing a one-level interface

Graphic design basics for game interfaces

Part 2: Designing navigational tools

Menu navigation

In-world navigation

Example

Exercise

Attributions to media used in this post:

Game Design Terms, Careers and the Types of Design in Games (World, System, Content, Level, UI)

Common game design terms

Careers in game design and development

Types of design in games

World design

System design

Content design

Game writing

Level design

User interface (UI) design

Example

Exercise

Attributions to media used in this post:

What Is a Level in Game Design? Structuring Gameplay and Outlining Your First Three Levels

What is a level?

Structuring the gameplay

Ways of dividing a game

Outlining the first three levels

Example

Exercise

Attributions to media used in this post: