Control - ALTERNATIVE UI DIRECTION

Here, I explore what Control’s UI could have looked like with a more diegetic, era-appropriate direction. Inside the Oldest House, modern technology doesn’t function, so this direction takes inspiration from microfiche readers, American 19th- and 20th-century newspapers, and the visual design of Severance’s mysterious office.

KEYWORDS

• Well-used

• Retro

• Atmospheric lighting

• Clinical

• Alien / Unusual

• Archived

Goals

• Connect the UI more closely to the Bureau’s technology.

• Make the player feel like a detective while exploring the menu.

• Fill the screens with nods to the game’s universe.

• Highlight how the Bureau has embedded itself into all aspects of society through the newspaper aesthetic.

Main Menu

This screen gives some hints to the overall tone of the game, as well as the UI’s microfiche inspirations, without spoiling the aesthetic of the primary menus to come.

Overall Direction

These screens are full of moire textures, newspaper-style headings, and era-appropriate photography effects.

The Countermeasures screen takes heavy inspiration from newspaper adverts from the early 1900s, bringing the influence of the Board directly into the UI.

Expeditions

Accessing the randomised Expeditions requires interacting with a supernatural Jukebox. A great opportunity to bring the established direction into a new space with patterns, colours and shapes pulled from the Jukebox’s in-world model.

Each difficulty is now represented by a record, packed with hints and references to the Jukebox’s backstory.

Once the player selects their difficulty, the randomised Modifiers for that run are revealed, and the music begins!