This is going to be the first of a three journal series designed to give you some insight into what goes into developing a game like Pandemic: American Swine. This first journal will be primarily covering the topic of graphic user interface (GUI) design. The next journal will be covering game design and will be available on the day the game is released. The third and final journal will be a post-release wrap up and will be released roughly two weeks after the game has been released.

Before I speak about the GUI, I want to give you a quick description about the game. Pandemic: American Swine is unlike any of the previous Pandemic games due to the fact that you are no longer operating as the disease. This time around you are working as the United States government and are tasked with saving the country from the impending doom of the Swine Flu. The game takes place entirely within the United States and features an immensely detailed map. Instead of evolving a disease you will now be deploying quarantines, road blocks, military support and more.

I knew going into this game that the GUI would be far different than any previous Pandemic game. The GUI would have to work for the player more than ever since the player was going to be required to manage so many different things at once and often on different sides of the map. Meticulous planning and testing was required to ensure that players wouldn't become overwhelmed later into the game when there is a lot of activity going on. Below is a screenshot taken very early into game development where I'm doing a rough design for the main GUI.

Once the primary GUI was established it was time to start adding the other GUI elements that would give the player the necessary tools to eradicate the Swine Flu from the United States. Naturally the most important window in the game was the first on my to-do list. In order to keep the player focused on the game rather than flipping through menus, it was essential to group all related information in one location that was easy to access. The Nation Window is (surprisingly) where all nation related information can be found. The overview screen displays the country's population information, vaccine related information and allows the player to launch new national operations. Through the Nation Window the player can also find detailed information on the Western, Central or Eastern states. Below is a screenshot of the development of the overview tab of the Nation Window. The left side is an image of the window while it was still early in development. The right side is the finished version of the overview screen.

After completing the Nation Window I decided to relax a little and get to work on one of the game's five trophies that can be unlocked. In Pandemic: American Swine, trophies are actually fairly important since three of them unlock actual game content. The "Under-Achiever" trophy should likely be the first one you unlock while playing the game and also happens to be visually the simplest of the five trophies. The next image summarizes the design of the trophy in a three stage process.

All five Pandemic: American Swine trophies are shown below. The "Under-Achiever", "Inoculation" and "Patriot" trophies are the three trophies that unlock content. For dedicated players there is the "Operation Iceberg" trophy which is going to be especially difficult to unlock.

After completing work on the trophies I decided it was best to get back on track and tackle the Finance Window. Since money management is such a crucial aspect of the game, the Finance Window had to be exceptionally clear while still being extremely detailed. I decide it was best to reuse the basic layout of the Nation Window once more in order to stay consistent and provide players with an easy to remember GUI scheme. Once again the overview screen displays all finance information on a national scale. For those interested there is a graph which displays the latest information on revenue, recurring expenses and onetime expenses. Below the graph, revenue and recurring expenses are thoroughly described to give the player what he or she needs to ensure a balanced budget is maintained. The player can also view detailed financial information on the Western, Central or Eastern states through the Finance Window.

That concludes both my first journal, and the first of the three Pandemic: American Swine journals. It touched upon just a few portions of the GUI but it should give you a good overall idea of what goes during the development of a GUI. I hope you enjoyed reading it and cannot wait to give you the opportunity to play the game. Pandemic: American Swine is stated to be released late this June.