LOADING SCREEN STUDY

What is Loading?

Loading... a simple word that almost everyone hates seeing. Whether if your Google search, video game, or even this blog post, all things must load.

So what is loading? Without getting technical, loading is when the application is trying to get stuff from somewhere and put it where it belongs. Most of the time this stuff is hi-rez art but all the information comes in as 0s and 1s. Sometimes the application is getting the info from the internet. Other times it's getting the info from a special hidden file in your computer. Either way, just like it takes time for you to move from your kitchen table to work, it takes time to move the Apple Texture to the Apple Model.

What makes a good Loading Screen?

Everyone knows what a loading screen looks like and some people have even sat through bad ones. But what makes one good and one bad? Now-a-days, everyone knows to have some sort of information on the screen to tell you that it's loading and if it froze.

Last month, we talked about Transitions and how they can be used to give context to a player's experience. This month, we'll be looking at all the moving bits on 15 different loading screens and see if we can break them down.

Simple Loading

Simple Loading is the most common type of loading in video games. With Simple Loading, there's very few moving parts on the screen. There's often just enough to tell you if the game's frozen but sometimes it doesn't even tell you that. This type of loading uses art and/or gameplay tips to keep you engaged long enough so you won't notice that you've been sitting there for a few minutes now.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

Divinity Original Sin 2 is a fantastic game. Larian Studios goes the route of simple loading bar and some bad ass art to show off their diverse cast of characters. There's even a nice shine that flows through the loading bar to let you know that it's still doing something. What's a little funky about this loading screen is the 2nd load. After the loading bar fills up it disappears and is replaced with a spinner. The spinner is actually my favorite part of this loading screen (aside from The Red Prince!). After the spinner disappears there's a gentle fade in/out and we are in the game.

Bioshock: Infinite

Bioshock Infinite's Loading Screen is extremely flavorful to the story they're trying to tell. The loading screen is piece of art that tells you all sorts of background information on Booker and Elizabeth. The only constantly moving part on the screen is the spinning sky hook. It'll tell you a little blurb about where you're going next and then literally drop you in the game. It seems like at the very end the loading screen fades into the game. Like they just turned the opacity down and called it good. I probably would've done a fade-to-black and then fade in but it's not super noticeable in-game.

World of Warcraft

A classic load screen (but not WoW Classic!). The video above shows me loading into Pandaria. Each loading screen has different artwork depending on the continent you're loading into. WoW uses tips to keep the player engaged. Sometimes you'll even get a tip saying "Thanks for playing" or something along those lines. Overall really simple, nothing fancy, and no moving parts other than the loading bar. It is worth noting, however, that WoW continues to load after the loading screen has ended. They want to load bare minimum first and then load the pretty art after the player is in the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild does a great job of making a simple loading screen with a twist. The loading bar is hidden within the logo and they call out your progression with little moving Divine Beasts once you defeat them. In case that wasn't enough they put a little icon in the bottom left corner to further reinforce that the game is doing stuff. I also really like that you can control the tip switching in case you're a slow reader or you already saw the tip.

This War of Mine

Simple as simple can be. This War of Mine pulls out a loading screen without art and without bars or spinners but still manages to tell you something's happening through the subtle flashing of the text. I actually really like the simplicity of it. I especially like the gentle fades. Definitely gives a sense of the hardships you have ahead.

Dishonored 2

When I first thought about including Dishonored 2 on this list I put it in the next section, Animated Loading. Turns out the loading screen isn't animated! They just do a really good job of suggesting movement and depth with their panels and artwork! Definitely does a good job of keeping you entertained for the first load in each area but after that it can get a little repetitive. The only moving part on the screen is my brain playing tricks on me and the loading bar.

Animated Loading

Animated loading takes simple loading to the next level (literally!). Animated loading screens sacrifice a bit of load time for style. They usually give flavor to the world and keep the player engaged with fancy art. Animated loading screens are not separate from simple loading screens and usually have similar elements. Loading bars, spinners, gameplay tips, lore facts, and stuff like that.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

The Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of my all-time favorite loading screens. When I was playing through this game I was always happy to see that topographic map animate in. There's something really satisfying with how everything unfolds into position and then the map blinks in. Like you're starting up your GPS Tracker and getting ready to go out into the world. The loading screen also has a little spinner above the logo to have something on the screen at all times. And Tomb Raider wanted to put gameplay tips on the loading screen as well.

Dead Island

Dead Island does a really nice parallax effect when loading. The movement from left to right in addition to the flakes of debris in the foreground give you a sense of running (or more like a quick side-step). Dead Island adds your loading destination to the top right corner and a gameplay tip on the bottom of the screen. The transition out of the loading screen is a little abrupt though with a quick cut-to-black and a fade-in. It would've been nice to see a fade-to-black instead of a cut.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Everyone has probably played Skyrim at this point. It's loading screens are really simple but I would still consider this one an animated loading screen. The game shows off the 3D Model by slowly rotating it and zooming the camera in. If the loading screen takes longer than normal the zooming and spinning slows to a crawl eventually being barely perceptible. The tip on the loading screen usually has to do with the 3D model that's being presented too.

Hidden loading

Hidden loading takes a loading screen and twists it a bit so the player might not even know it happened. Sometimes this is done through asynchronous loading while you're walking down a long corridor or riding an elevator. Other times developers like to hide the loading behind cinematics. Either way, the goal of Hidden Loading is to keep the player immersed in the game.

Resident Evil

Whenever Resident Evil needed to load into a new area they used a door opening animation. The video above is from the remade version but even with the advancements in technology they wanted to keep the door opening animations. The camera fades into the door, it zooms closer to hint that you're walking towards it, you see the door handle rotate, and the door swings open! From here they want you to get back into the game as quickly as possible so they rush the camera forward and quickly start to fade-to-black.

Luigi's Mansion

Although the little animation when checking locked doors or opening doors with a new key, I would still consider Luigi's Mansion to have Hidden Loading in it. You can tell it loads between rooms because there's a little animation of Luigi opening the door, stepping through, and the old room fades out while the new room fades in. Hardly noticeable but I bet the game doesn't keep unused rooms loaded at all times.

Portal

Portal probably wasn't the first game to use elevators to load the next area but it is for sure a classic example of hidden loading. The player keeps full autonomy while the elevator unloads the previous area and loads the new area. This is interesting because if you stand still while the game loads you don't really know if the game froze or not. You can always check by moving the camera though. Also in this example a popup appeared that said Loading. I'm not sure if that's done with every elevator or just this one.

'input' Loading

Input Loading is kind of like hidden loading except while hidden loading tries to keep you immersed, input loading tries to keep you engaged. They're not afraid to take you to a new screen as long as you don't quit the game. Due to a copyright law on "Loading Screen Minigames", there's not a whole lot of loading screens like these on the market. The copyright ended in 2005 so maybe in the future we'll see more input loading screens.

Bayonetta

Bayonetta's loading screen acts as a little training room for you to practice combos. What better way to keep the player engaged in a hack and slash game then to let the player mash buttons in the most boring parts?! I think the color choice to make the area a maroon/blood color is interesting and I'd like to understand why they did that. Kind of makes it look like the inside of someone especially with the strands of DNA floating into the sky.

Rayman Origins

Rayman Origins gives you a little infinite runner level that you can jump and run through to your hearts content. I like that they silhouette Rayman against the background too. Gives me a sense that Rayman is returning home at sunset after a hard day's work. I also really like the transitions here. Instead of a fade the devs decided to stick with the silly Rayman theme and have a spiral graphic shoot towards the screen. The graphic isn't that high-resolution but it happens so quickly you don't really notice.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem: Three Houses uses the JoyCon's gyro controls to move the little Byleth left and right on the screen. You can also jump by pressing a button in case that wasn't enough for you. The idle animation of the Byleth sprite acts in a similar fashion to a spinner. Just a little indication that the game hasn't froze. The main focal point of the screen is the gameplay tips and late in the game they become pretty dull and repetitive. 

closing thoughts

Here are some key take-aways from this small exploration on Loading Screens:

• Loading screens need to give some indication that loading is happening in the background and tell the player if the game's froze.
• Loading screens should try to keep the players attention with fun animations, minigames, or tips.
• Input Loading is useful if you want to keep the player engaged but fails on holding immersion.
• Hidden Loading is difficult to pull off but is really good at holding immersion within the game.
• Animated Loading can help give good flavor or background to the game.
• There's nothing wrong with a black screen that says "Loading" as long as it doesn't last too long and there's some sort of constant movement.

Also, thank you for voluntarily sitting through loading screens with me!

Credits:

​1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild capture from Krow's Graveyard on YouTube. HERE
2. Resident Evil capture from SHN Survival Horror Network on YouTube. HERE
3. Luigi's Mansion capture from Prosafia Gaming on YouTube. HERE
4. Portal capture from giedmich on YouTube. HERE
5. Rayman Origins capture from OdebGaming on YouTube. HERE
6. Fire Emblem Heroes capture from XCageGame on YouTube. HERE