<p>Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/user-interface-in-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-431caf9a3ed0?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Melody Sabouri </p>
<p>I have been obsessed with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild since it came out on the Nintendo Switch. This game is extremely fun to play because there are so many things to explore and do. Since I have spent so much of my time playing this game, I have come to notice a few things that could be tweaked to enhance the user experience during game play.</p>
<h4>Dead-end when reaching maximum items to be stored</h4>
<p>One of the first things that comes to mind is the inventory of items, weapons, and food that Link carries with him. When you start the game, you only have 8 slots of available inventory to fill up with weapons. What happens when you already have 8 weapons and come across a new, stronger weapon? You are displayed with this message:</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*BqVb4JK208IIJJ_bysEiag.jpeg"></p>
<p>While this message does get the point across to the user that they can’t add any new weapons, it doesn’t give them any options of <strong>where to go next. </strong>Instead, the user must close the notification, go into their inventory separately, and find the weapon they wish to get rid of in order to collect this new one. That’s about <strong>3 extra steps</strong> that could be eliminated if the notification allowed the user to quickly go into their inventory and drop the least powerful weapon.</p>
<h4><strong>Sorting items in your inventory</strong></h4>
<p>Another detail that could be improved in the inventory in this game is how the items are sorted. I collected many different objects and they were just scattered in my inventory, until I discovered that you could “sort” the items in your inventory by pushing “Y.”</p>
<p>It doesn’t say how it sorts your items, but from the looks of it, they sorted my items by type; fruit, mushrooms, herbs, meat, seasonings, etc. I also couldn’t find the option to turn back to my unsorted mess if I wanted to. It would be nice if there were options listed here on how to sort the items, perhaps by the ones I had the most of?</p>
<h4><strong>Ingredients</strong></h4>
<p>A big part of this game is cooking the ingredients you find around the world to make recipes that will help you during battle. I think that could be why the only way to sort your items is by type, so that it’s easy to grab a fruit, mushroom, and a seasoning item to cook up.</p>
<h4><strong>Armor and Weapons</strong></h4>
<p>For the other areas of the inventory, like armor, weapons, and bows &amp; arrows, the sorting doesn’t help me at all. It’s a <strong>very random sort</strong> and it has no reasoning behind it. A good fix would be to sort it by how powerful it is, based on the number that is displayed under the weapon.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*I9lH66vBqgGbLoxomrVsvA.jpeg">This is the sorted weapons inventory, but how is it sorted? It’s pretty unclear…</p>
<h4>Choosing which buttons command Link to jump and run</h4>
<p>The last interesting tidbit, which I learned from my friend who is also playing Zelda nonstop, is that you actually have the option to change the location of the jump button on the controller on the Nintendo Switch. As a default, the jump button is the “X” button on the controller and “B” is the button to run or climb faster. Some people find it easier to switch those two buttons so that the “X” becomes run and “B” is to jump.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*HVyjQy907qnqQxWgA5HK8g.jpeg"></p>
<p>I tried this new version, but it was more difficult for me because when I used my thumb to run with the new “X” button, my thumb was too far away from the button that controls which direction the camera moves so I can see where to go next. I prefer that the run button be closer to the camera control button so I can easily move back and forth between the two.</p>
<p>My friend and I both had very different preferences with the button switch so it’s great that Nintendo has provided this setting as an option to it’s users. It keeps the user’s needs in mind because other gaming systems use a different arrangement of buttons so having this option <strong>caters to a much larger audience.</strong></p>
<h4>My Takeaways</h4>
<p>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a visually stunning game and it will keep you entertained for hours and hours(trust me). One of the main improvements I think they need to focus on is the <strong>possible dead-ends that users might face</strong>, and offer a more positive error message.</p>
<p>If I had the power to change the copy of this main error message, instead of saying,“You can’t carry any more Melee weapons,” I would say, “Your inventory is currently full, please swap one of your weapons for this one.” With this revised message, <strong>users won’t feel as discouraged</strong> when reading it, and they will be able to <strong>take immediate action</strong> with it.</p>
<p>They should also offer a more <strong>organized way of sorting the inventory</strong> because it will help users save a lot of time during gameplay when they are searching for a specific type of fruit, or a certain weapon that they need to use.</p>
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<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/user-interface-in-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-431caf9a3ed0">User Interface in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>


User Interface in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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