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Mastering UI Development with Unity

Mastering UI Development with Unity

By : Dr. Ashley Godbold
5 (4)
Buy this Book
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Mastering UI Development with Unity

Mastering UI Development with Unity

5 (4)
By: Dr. Ashley Godbold
Buy this Book

Overview of this book

Mastering UI Development with Unity covers the creation of captivating, functional UIs for player interaction and engagement. Learn design considerations, animation, particle effects, and UI optimization for various genres and platforms. Implement UIs using Unity's UI systems and input systems, creating visually engaging elements like HUDs, menus, and progress bars. Discover how to develop and implement UIs across multiple platforms and resolutions with practical examples. By the end, you'll confidently develop game UIs with technical and aesthetic considerations using Unity's versatile UI elements.
Table of Contents (28 chapters)
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Preface
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Preface
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Who this book is for
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What this book covers
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To get the most out of this book
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Download the example code files
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Conventions used
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Get in touch
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Share Your Thoughts
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Download a free PDF copy of this book
1
Part 1: Designing User Interfaces
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Part 1: Designing User Interfaces
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2
Chapter 1: Designing User Interfaces
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Chapter 1: Designing User Interfaces
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Technical requirements
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Defining UI and GUI
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The four game interface types
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Laying out the UI elements
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Resolution and aspect ratio
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Summary
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Chapter 2: Designing Mobile User Interfaces
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Chapter 2: Designing Mobile User Interfaces
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Technical requirements
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Setting the resolution, aspect ratio, and orientation
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Recommended button sizes
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Full screen/screen portion taps
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The thumb zone
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Other mobile inputs
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Device-specific resources
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Summary
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Chapter 3: Designing VR, MR, and AR UI
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Chapter 3: Designing VR, MR, and AR UI
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What are XR, VR, MR, and AR?
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Designing UI for VR
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Designing UI for MR
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Designing UI for AR
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Summary
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Further reading
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Chapter 4: Universal Design and Accessibility for UI
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Chapter 4: Universal Design and Accessibility for UI
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What are universal design and accessible design?
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Universal design principles
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Accessibility design
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Additional resources
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Summary
6
Chapter 5: User Interface and Input Systems in Unity
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Chapter 5: User Interface and Input Systems in Unity
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The three UI systems
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The two input systems
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Summary
7
Part 2: Unity UI Basics
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Part 2: Unity UI Basics
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Chapter 6: Canvases, Panels, and Basic Layouts
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Chapter 6: Canvases, Panels, and Basic Layouts
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Technical requirements
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UI Canvas
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UI Panel
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Rect Transform
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Anchor and Pivot Points
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Canvas Group component
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Introducing UI Text and Image
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 7: Exploring Automatic Layouts
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Chapter 7: Exploring Automatic Layouts
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Technical requirements
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Types of automatic layout groups
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Layout Element
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Fitters
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 8: The Event System and Programming for UI
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Chapter 8: The Event System and Programming for UI
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Technical requirements
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Accessing UI elements in code
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The Event System
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Input Manager
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Input functions for buttons and key presses
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Input Modules
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Input for multi-touch
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Input for accelerometer and gyroscope
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Event Trigger
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Event inputs
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Raycasters
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Examples
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Summary
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Part 3: The Interactable Unity UI Components
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Part 3: The Interactable Unity UI Components
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Chapter 9: The UI Button Component
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Chapter 9: The UI Button Component
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Technical requirements
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UI Button
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Invisible button zones
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 10: UI Text and TextMeshPro
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Chapter 10: UI Text and TextMeshPro
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Technical requirements
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UI Text GameObject
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Text-TextMeshPro
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Working with fonts
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Exploring the markup format
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Using style sheets
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Translating text
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 11: UI Images and Effects
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Chapter 11: UI Images and Effects
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Technical requirements
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UI Image component properties
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UI effect components
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 12: Using Masks, Scrollbars, and Scroll Views
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Chapter 12: Using Masks, Scrollbars, and Scroll Views
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Technical requirements
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Using masks
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Implementing UI Scrollbars
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Implementing UI Scroll View
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 13: Other Interactable UI Components
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Chapter 13: Other Interactable UI Components
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Technical requirements
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Using UI Toggle
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UI Slider
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UI Dropdown and Dropdown – TextMeshPro
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UI Input Field
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Input Field - TextMeshPro
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Examples
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Summary
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Part 4: Unity UI Advanced Topics
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Part 4: Unity UI Advanced Topics
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Chapter 14: Animating UI Elements
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Chapter 14: Animating UI Elements
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Technical requirements
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Animation Clips
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Animator Controller
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Summary
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Chapter 15: Particles in the UI
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Chapter 15: Particles in the UI
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Technical requirements
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Particles in the UI
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 16: Utilizing World Space UI
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Chapter 16: Utilizing World Space UI
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Technical requirements
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When to use World Space UI
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Appropriately scaling text in the Canvas
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Other considerations when working in World Space
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 17: Optimizing Unity UI
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Chapter 17: Optimizing Unity UI
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Optimization basics
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Tools for determining performance
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Basic Unity UI Optimization Strategies
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Summary
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Further reading
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Part 5: Other UI and Input Systems
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Part 5: Other UI and Input Systems
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Chapter 18: Getting Started with UI Toolkit
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Chapter 18: Getting Started with UI Toolkit
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Technical requirements
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Overview of UI Toolkit
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Installing the UI Toolkit package
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Parts of the UI Toolkit system
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Visual Elements and UI Hierarchy
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Creating UI with the UI Builder
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Using the UI Document component
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Making The UI interactable with C#
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Examples
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Resources
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Summary
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Chapter 19: Working with IMGUI
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Chapter 19: Working with IMGUI
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Technical requirements
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IMGUI overview
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IMGUI Controls
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IMGUI in the Inspector
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Examples
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Summary
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Chapter 20: The New Input System
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Chapter 20: The New Input System
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Technical requirements
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Installing the Input System
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Polling vs subscribing
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Input System elements
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Connecting Actions to code
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Summary
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Index
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Index
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Why subscribe?
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Other Books You May Enjoy
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Other Books You May Enjoy
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Share Your Thoughts
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Download a free PDF copy of this book

The thumb zone

When designing a mobile game, it’s important to consider how the player will hold the device. You don’t want to put your UI in areas that will be difficult for the player to reach. Players tend to prefer to hold and play with one hand. Not all games allow for this, but if possible, you want to allow your players to do so. How do you know whether your UI is in an area that’s reachable by the thumb? Put the UI in the thumb zone! Essentially, the thumb zone is the area of the phone that is comfortable for the player to reach when holding the phone with one hand. You can find the thumb zone on your particular phone by holding the phone and easily moving your thumb around without having to move your hand.

The following blog post offers a really great explanation of the thumb zone, along with a handy (no pun intended) template for finding the thumb zone on various devices: https://www.scotthurff.com/posts/how-to-design-for-thumbs-in-the-era-of-huge...

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