The thing hanging around your screen right now - it's more than just an arrow. Your cursor is what enables you to surf the net, play games, chat with your friends & family. Your cursor acts as your guide - helping you navigate and find your way around the digital world.
So how come (when it comes to game design) the cursor is often left out? Most games developed by professionals and indies alike have their own unique UI that has been completely customized and specifically designed to suit that game's needs.
However, when it comes to custom cursors, there seems to be two schools of thought: the "dont fix something that isn't broken" philosophy, and the "let's make it even better" mentality.
Don't Fix it if it Ain't Broken
To start, let's delve into some of the reasons and beliefs that might make devs not want to customize the cursors in their games:
It's incredibly easy to make an overly large or distractingly gaudy cursor
Custom cursors can cause problems such flickering and bad attaching to objects
Potential issues with visibility / players being able to clearly see where their cursor is
The pointer is a tool that should blend in and not detract from the game - less is more.
A custom cursor can break immersion & be distracting to players
Let's Make it Even Better
On the flip side, there are a number of reasons and beliefs that might make devs actually want to customize their games' cursors:
A default cursor won't match the aesthetic of their game
A default cursor can get lost in the game and is very bland - customizing the cursor can help remind players that they are in a different world or interacting with a specific game. This can be nice too because players will see something different than the cursor they see when they browse the net or write an email.
Potential issues with visibility / players being able to clearly see where their cursor is
A custom cursor can help immersion by matching the game's aesthetic, tone, and feel
The mouse is a part of the UI - it should be cohesive with the rest of the game's art & UI
Wait, why does game user interface even matter?
Before we dig deeper into cursors, I'd like to take a step back and look at why game UI is even important in the first place.
Luna Chai Li, fellow game maker, sums up why user interface design is so important in her blog post on UI Design Tips for Visual Novels:
"Most players or non-designers consider user interface to just be a series of images or functional displayables that perform certain actions. And that’s all, folks. That’s all there is. For example: Buttons are buttons. You click on a Save button to save. You click on a Load button to load. You change tabs to change views. You create folders to organize."
"This may be true for software… but as I’ve learned, this is a different story for games.
Games and entertainment media have a different purpose. Unlike software or hardware, their sole purpose is not efficiency and function. They are an art. They are meant to draw the players into an experience—another world, another story, another set of characters that is apart from reality.
This means that in addition to function, your user interface is directly contributing to your players’ experience of the world.
User experience is an art form. Every motion, every image, every color that is implemented—all of it contributes directly to your atmosphere, your storyline, and the player’s immersion. It’s part and portion of your game, and just as important as your art assets or your music or your writing.
A good user interface crafts a story, just like your game."
And because the user interface directly contributes to player's experiences - you should absolutely take the cursor design into consideration when you are working on creating a custom UI. I'm not saying you absolutely *must* go all out and completely pimp out your cursor. I feel like a lot of the time when devs hear the words "custom cursor" they think of something akin to these:
But there are ways to do a subtle, simple cursor redesign that fits nicely with your game and looks nothing like the examples above. Some developers have also gotten really creative when it comes to their cursor design. Below, I'd like to take a look at a few examples of custom cursors done well.
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Vall-11 Hall-A is an indie bartender simulation video game with visual novel elements and cyberpunk and anime-inspired graphics. The game uses retro visuals, charming characters, catchy music, and delightful dialogue to create a world so fun I wish I could visit.
The UI Design is top-notch. Everything is intentional and feels intuitive, despite the fact that this game breaks the mold and has a UI that is quite different than a more traditional visual novel.
Along with a killer UI, the designers opted to create a custom cursor to match the rest of their game. And it makes the game even more immersive and fun. It didn't distract or detract at all and made for a cohesive and streamlined experience.
World of Warcraft
When I was a geeky loner in highschool, playing World of Warcraft (a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMO) after school was one of the things I looked forward to most. In World of Warcraft, I could escape to a world with magic, mythical beasts, and amazing places to explore. In fact, I bonded with my then-boyfriend-and-now-fiance by playing WoW with him. I would actually have these vivid and amazing dreams about traversing through a vast jungle with my guildmates on horseback, and being able to shoot fireballs from my hands.
So Blizzard's decision to make the cursor (shown above around the center/slightly to the right) is absolutely genius! World of Warcraft is a game of never-ending choices. As a new player, you get to completely customize your character. First, you have to choose between joining one of two warring factions (Alliance or Horde). Each faction has their own sets of races (ranging from human to orc to undead and elves, aliens, and pandas - oh my). You get to choose your class and abilities - and even which quests to partake in, where in the world you want to quest, and so on. So in a game all about playing as a character in this world, the gauntlet cursor makes a lot of sense - it fits within the fantasy/medieval theme of the game, and it sort of helped to make me feel like I was my character making these decisions.
Overwatch
Another Blizzard Game - Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game. But unlike most shooters which tend to be gritty and gory, Overwatch is clean, bright, colorful, and cartoon-like.
So it's no surprise that Blizzard opted for a bright, bold, slightly-oversized cursor to match the larger-than-life feeling you get from the characters in the game. Honestly, I think their cursor design here is spot on. I think a regular cursor would get lost in these menus and could potentially be hard to spot.
And that's it in a nutshell! These aren't the only games that have well-designed custom cursors - but these are some of my favorites. I hope that they inspired you, or made you consider custom cursors and custom UI design in games!
Thank you for reading! If you agree or disagree that custom cursors are awesome, I would love to hear your thoughts on this as well! Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and experiences below :)