INDEPENDENT PROJECT   |   GAME DESIGN   |    2020

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp UI Redesign

Taking notes from New Horizons to enhance the mobile UI.

UI screens splash image

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Nintendo or Animal Crossing in any way. This redesign reflects my own opinions and choices and is intended only as an exercise.

I’ve been a frequent player of the latest Animal Crossing release, New Horizons, so when I downloaded and began playing the mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (released in 2017) I was excited to have access to the Animal Crossing experience on my phone. However, I found it a little difficult to get into the game. While I enjoyed the gameplay, I felt overwhelmed by the interface. From the start, there were so many things calling for my attention and I had no idea what to do about many of them.

The difference in design choices between AC: PC and AC: NH can be seen when you look at the splash and loading screens.

Comparison of splash screen and title screen in AC:PC and AC:NH

AC: NH
Splash screen - title overlaid on game visuals
Loading screen - black screen with a floating island in the corner

AC: PC
Splash screen - title overlaid on image with scattered game characters and items
Loading screen - game tips with relevant screenshots

The Pocket Camp screens feel crowded to me. They cram as much information as possible into the small space of a phone display, and not in a way that is easy to process. This is emblematic of my overall issues with the game's interface. It feels overwhelming. There are redundant interface elements, and often multiple things are calling for attention at once. Some of the alerts feel disruptive and difficult to ignore, even when they aren't urgent. This feeling is in opposition to the actual game of Animal Crossing, which is beloved for its sense of calm and escapism.

I chose to take inspiration from New Horizons in this redesign because it sets a clear example of conveying all the information the player needs, not only in limited screen space but with a fairly minimalistic aesthetic to boot. Although the Switch can be played docked and connected to your TV, I most often find myself playing in handheld mode, on a screen that's between the size of a small tablet and a large phone.

The one major difference here that I would like to note is that some interactions in New Horizons are accessed by going to locations rather than being available through the UI at all times. This means actions such as crafting and paying off loans don't clutter up the screen, at the cost of being slightly more tedious to access. Even so, I think there are more actions overall in AC: NH, and I believe that the UI has to convey just as much information in the end.

Comparison of original vs redesigned main interface

Upon entering the game, there are several subsections of the interface.

  • Bottom bar & inventory
  • Bottom right pop-out menu
  • Top right actions
  • Top bar HUD
  • Top left actions

I wanted to condense these on-screen elements into one area. I weighed using the bottom bar or the pop-out menu. The pop-out menu was appealing because it resembles the NookPhone interface in AC:NH, but I chose the bottom bar because it can show several options without forcing the user to tap through to each option.

Elements the game needs to convey:

  • Map
  • Inventory
  • Crafting
  • Design
  • Friends
  • Animals
  • Mailbox
  • Goals
  • Events
  • Pocket Camp Club
  • Settings

My new groupings:

Social:
Covering both friends and game characters, this includes campers, contacts, and market boxes.

Actions:
These are frequently used actions that need to be accessed quickly - Map, Mailbox, Goals, Notices, and Events.

Create:
These are fairly frequent actions, but with fewer alerts or scheduled events - Inventory, Crafting, and Design.

Infrequent interactions that are not a part of gameplay, such as Misc. (containing customer support, privacy policy, etc.), subscription status, and My Nintendo will be accessible through settings. I left the top bar mostly as is but created space on the sides for the camera and settings.

With the new groupings I created, the bottom bar options (previously Craft, Map, and Social) became Create, Actions, and Social. All three retain elements of their old design. Create and Social both take the user to a screen where they may use tabs to switch between the elements under that category. Because the Actions options are frequently used, the Actions button pops out the three options rather than taking the user to a separate screen each time. These are Mailbox, Travel (renamed from Map to fit the “actions” theme), and Planner (which is Events, Notices, and Goals condensed into one place).

Mockup of the Create subset of screens

The inventory and craft screens both feature larger icons and utilize more screen space. Items that are currently being crafted (which can take from minutes to days) can be viewed in a pop-up rather than taking up space at all times. The Design screen is accessible alongside these other two menus because it is closely related (inventory/crafted items may be used for camp design).

Both animals and human friends are under the Social category, and animal campers can be managed here as well. Previously all three of these options were in separate locations.

Mockup of the Social subset of screens

Overall I feel that I accomplished my goals for this redesign. I was able to organize many different elements within the interface in a way that didn’t crowd the main screen quite so much. My design obviously has its flaws and could be improved upon, and I still believe a lot of individual screens could be made less crowded. In the future, I still want to address managing alerts within the game in a way that is less disruptive to the player.

Some final notes:

One of the things I appreciate about the AC: PC UI is that it exits the frame during certain interactions, i.e. fishing and catching bugs, freeing up a good chunk of the screen so that you can feel more immersed in the activity.

I enjoy the way that the nature-related tasks -- catching bugs or fish, picking fruit -- correspond to different locations, meaning that instead of equipping a fishing rod, you go to the creek and you simply have your fishing rod. I think it's a clever way of dealing with it (especially on the mobile platform) and allows the player to focus on gameplay rather than repetitive UI interactions.

One of my main issues is how the game alerts you to tasks and events. If I had not been a fan of Animal Crossing beforehand, I might've given up on the game solely because of the intrusive notifications. While I've learned to mentally tune it out over time, I still believe this could be handled better. Things like animal requests in your camp (every time you stand still, a large pop-up appears in the center of your screen) or badges on icons (I usually open the game to find badges in seven different places, often for things that don't actually require my immediate attention) feel strangely urgent and stressful for such a friendly franchise.

Regardless, I recommend checking out Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (as well as New Horizons). It's a great game, and I've continued playing past my initial impression of it.