Mental Models

New Game

Unfortunately, I had to switch to a new game this week because I had trouble getting access to the previous game. Since I'm using the shared library of my brother on Steam, every time he wants to play, I get kicked out. It was frustrating so I decided to go look for something else and I found Monument Valley. 

Monument Valley is a mobile game where you guide a silent princess, Ida, through a series of surreal, architectural landscapes. It has optical illusions and impossible geometries. Players manipulate the environment to solve puzzles and help Ida navigate through the world.

 

1. The Gap of Mental Models

In Monument Valley, a mental model gap between developers and players could be understanding which elements can be moved or interacted with. Developers design levels with hidden mechanics (platforms, paths, and levers) that they know are interactive, but players often struggle to identify them without clear visual cues, especially when elements are new. This can create confusion and can lead to trial-and-error gameplay, where users randomly tap around to see what works. The lack of obvious indicators can make players feel lost, breaking the intended smooth flow of the game.

2. Game Metaphors

UI:

The game's UI is super minimalistic and stays out of your way. No clutter of buttons, health bars, or scores. Just pure, immersive gameplay. It fits with the look and feel of the game which is relaxing but interesting at the same time. The game mechanics are also very simple and thus it would be unnecessary to have additional elements on the display.

Interactions:

Your interactions are simple, too. Through tapping, sliding, and rotating elements in the game world you can manipulate the environment and create optical illusions that help the princess advance. Sometimes you tap on figures to talk to them, but the majority of the time it is only about moving elements in different directions and ways. It reflects the idea that by changing how we look at things, we can overcome obstacles that seemed impossible.

Communication:

The game mostly communicates through visuals and environmental cues instead of dialogue or text. Text is only shown at the very beginning for a very basic tutorial and sometimes throughout the levels when someone is talking. Every text is used very sparingly and is only as long as it absolutely has to be. The feelings and the story is communicated mostly through the environment or visual sequences.

3. UX improvement

As I laid out in 1. the user's model would be clearer if the elements which can be interacted with would be made visible for a short amount of time, so the user knows where he can click. Otherwise sometimes you get stuck but you don't know how to get out of that situation. A little help-button would be one way of implementing this idea. That way the mystery is preserved but the user can get a little hint where to tap next if he feels like he needs help.