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I am James Sweatman and I work on RuneScape. I’m the designer behind the New Interface System, so come AM(a)A about NIS, other areas of RuneScape and general game design.



I’ve been at Jagex Game Studios for the last 3 years and on RuneScape for over a year. Working as Senior Game Designer up until June I was responsible for game UX and the New Interface. I’m now Player Experience Manager and handle the early parts of the game as well as general user experience. You can ask me (almost) anything about RuneScape, NIS, me, game design or even about getting into the games industry.

*Direct link to the AMAA on Reddit: click here .


Q: What's your favourite aspect of working at Jagex?

A: Sounds cheesy but it has to be the people. Such a great collection of friends and colleagues at the studio. Some incredibly talented people too, plus the perks aren’t bad

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Q: Why are the party hats so damn expensive?

A: Its all about supply and demand. Small supply, high demand they become expensive. Gotta love those hats

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Q: Did you play the game before you came to Jagex?

A: I didn't but I knew of its popularity and starting playing once I joined the studio.

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Q: Are there new woodcutting trees on the way!?

A: One must not speak of the trees, the trees are listening.

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Q: Whenever the game hides certain interfaces (such as during cutscenes, God Statues, the Dungeoneering "winterface" or using the Ring of Stone) the game forgets all of your interface customisations, putting the chatbox into a square in the corner and the NPC dialogue window into the middle of the screen. Is this intended, and are there any plans to change it? More details at http://services.runescape.com/m=forum/c=qCu3-8mmoUY/sl=0/forums.ws?15,16,771,65082956.

A: Good question. It is intended, for two reasons. We want to allow you access to chat during certain cutscenes so you can chat to your friends and ask for help if you need it. But we also had to make sure that you could see everything in the cutscene, which is why we rearrange the windows so you don’t have to.

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Q: Hey Mod Thatjim! I have worked on an idea to rework the right-click menu: http://i41.tinypic.com/qxl4qd.png what do you think of it? Don't mind the colors and quality.. it's just a quick idea to give you an idea of the shape and the idea behind this. This layout for the right click menu is a bit more modern and can also be used on the tablet versions. This menu is made in mind of thinking about the right click menu of a gargoyle. The sword resembles the attack option, ? = Examine and the rock hammer is the smash option. At the top the t is for easy targeting with tablets in mind. For tablets this will be the left click (as obviously touch doesn't have a right click).. which will work also in a save way. (as you can only left click they are forced to give in right click menu for touching. For other things like taking dropped objects the button should open an menu like now with as title “15 steel bars” for an example. Take 1, 5, 10, 15, all and x. (a bit based upon the take system in the bank)

A: Nice. We’re currently working on different ideas for the right click menu for our new tablet project (which I can’t talk about), I think the guys would find this interesting.

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Q: Hi there Mod Thatjim! Great to see you over on Reddit!
Looking back at the NIS development process throughout the entire Beta, I'm so incredibly impressed on how it turned out! One of my questions is, If you had no budget limitations, what other sorts of things would you and the NIS team have tried to fit into it?
Also, I notice you now mention the early part of the game. Recently, I've been spending a lot of time examining that early part of the game, just out of curiosity, and noticed a lot of issues, including a few I went ahead and posted on the RSOF found here. I hope this could perhaps be helpful... But into the question - What sorts of things are you working on with the early parts of the game? Are you working on reworking aforementioned tutorial, messing with early quests, training areas, or is it something different? I admit I'm very curious about it.
Finally, what is your favorite aspect of RuneScape in its current form?
Thanks so much for doing this AMA, it's really great to have the chance to ask questions!
-Amascut (RS name )

A: That is a great question. Wow. There was a huge list of awesome features we wanted to include, but for me it would of lots of animation. Windows wizzing on and off screen, minimizing and lots of cool little touches. These will come in time though.
We are currently working on a new tutorial and tidying up some of our earlier quests.
My favourite aspect of RuneScape is the Grand Exchange, I love hanging out while invisible as a mod and listening to all the crazy conversations. Bit creepy.

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Q: Is there anything about the NIS that you would change, or is it all how you imagined it to be?

A: Nice question. It's tough making such a big change to a game that everyone loves, so I think I would have made sure we had a couple more of the features you enjoyed from the old system (they are coming!). But I'm still really proud of what we've achieved and really impressed with what our developers have achieved.

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Q: What happened to the Grand Exchange button you showed with Mod Z in the first NIS announcement bts vid?

A: This is coming. We had to cut it for the launch of RS3 to work on other things but it is coming, its a very cool feature, only possible with NIS.

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Q: What was the greatest issue you faced creating the NIS?
Is there anything you'd liked to have done but thus far haven't been able to?

A: Oooo tough one. It was probably some of the design decisions that would affect the community. Changing something that hundreds of thousands of people use and enjoy each day is a massive challenge.
For the developers they have had to create a customizable interface system in a 12 year old game which is a really difficult task, amazing effort from the team.
I would have more cats, not enough cats.

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Q: What updates to the NIS out of these are likely to make it into the game:
more custom slots, sharing interface setups, ability to set different transparency levels for different windows, split private chat, more then just a 2 second flash for new chat-feed messages (perhaps remain highlighted)

A: All of them one day, except maybe different transparency levels.

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Q: how long will it aprox. take for the next announced NIS updates to come out and will they be announced in Mod Mark's monthly BTS like the past eoc batches?

A: I'll be announcing the next batch in the next week or so, I've already posted on the forums what the key things we're working on. You can expect new features during the week of the August 19th. Not sure what day, but that is when our sprint ends.

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Q: How did you wind up joining Jagex?

A: I joined after one of my coworkers at my old studio recommended it after I got back to the UK (I used to work in Canada).

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Q: do you think that the community has helped you guys well? and did you want to do some other things in the nis what was not possible?

A: The community has been a huge influence on what we've been doing. It may not seem so to everyone, but we have integrated as much feedback as we can into NIS.
There were a few things that weren't possible, but we designed around them

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Q: Will we be able to split our private chat like in the past?

A: Yep We're working on a solution.

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Q: Hi, Thanks for doing the IAMAA.
Could you answer any of these please
1 - Could we see anything near the future of PVP Worlds?
2 - Could we ever see dual Ability bars?
3 - Possible to have more than 5 sets of action bars?
4 - Could we ever see an extended action bar?
5 - Could there ever be a 'share' button? so we could share our interface layouts?

A:
1 - Hmmm, not in the near future but we're playing around with some ideas like this. I don't want to spoil anything though
2 - Oh now this is interesting. We know there is a lot of support from this in the community so we are looking into the possibility of this. NIS makes it possible, but I'm not promising anything.
3 - No promises, but we've discussed it
4 - See above

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Q: I've found my only real issue with the New Interface System to be the lack of what I would call full customization. Certain things such as my master tool-bar, my emotes tab, and the size of my ability bar must remain the same.
Would you like to see even more customization and editing tools added to the NIS? Can we expect the ability to share interface set-ups with our friends any time soon?

A: This is just the beginning. We made certain decisions on the ability and menu bar for the launch of RS3, but that doesn't mean things wont change as we continue evolve it. Full customisation is the goal, it just takes time to get there.
Sharing is coming, not sure when, but the system supports it we just need to make it awesome

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Q: Mod ThatJim, with the new interface system came many new and useful functions.
My question is will there be a way to toggle show/hide on the entire GUI interface in the future? This would greatly assist players who wish to make cinematics and youtube videos (without having to use the orb of oculus or having to get tons of help from others).
As for a side question, it has been mentioned there are plans to allow the community to submit their layouts for a public layout database. There is also an activity feed still unavailable.. Are there any hints as to when we might see either of those?
Thanks!
Sincerely, Alarius

A: Ah, 'Cinema mode'. This was on our original list of features, but was cut to work on other things. It will come back eventually, we have the ability to do it, we just have to make sure more important features are working really well first.
Not firm timeline on the social feed, but its on our hitlist.
A public layout database would be very cool, I'm stealing that. Haha!

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Q: If I bake Jagex a cake, can I get to be a player mod?

A: Absolutely.

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Q: What is your opinion of OSRS and what direction do you think Jagex will take it in the future?

A: I think OSRS is a really interesting concept and is something that I've always wanted on some of the other games I've played so it was really cool seeing the guys pull it off for RuneScape.
I think its future is down to the players, we're leaning on you guys to define the direction of OS.

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Q:
1 - What are some things developers are able to do with NIS in future content that were impossible under the old system?
2 - When I change the size of my browser window so I can watch Sesame Street and lectures on Abstract Algebra while training Sailing and Divination, the interface jumbles up. The old interface didn't have this problem because everything was so rigid. My solution is creating a setup specifically for a smaller window size. Will we be able to switch layouts without having to open the options menu? (like at the press of a keystroke) Or better yet, will the interfaces stop bunching up?
3 - Will we able to have alternate skins for the interfaces?
4 - In the old system, the adrenaline bar was a big focal point, and it was easy to use my peripheral vision to tell when I was able to use an ultimate ability. Now the adrenaline bar is much smaller and shares its space with 3 other status bars, making it harder to tell at a glance what abilities you can use. Thoughts?
5 - Will Runescape ever evolve from a tile based grid map?
6 - Are there definite plans for more "fundamental gameplay changes" like NIS and the Evolution of Combat? (Besides HTML5)
7 - When we click the equipment button on the bank screen, will we be able to equip things without the bank closing?

A: This is a biggie...
1 - The old system was full. It could take no more captain (Scotty - Star Trek). We could continue putting features into the game because the interface just couldn't handle anymore content, without becoming a plate of spaghetti based screens.
2 - The new interface pushes bigger content into larger interfaces so we can deliver more. Stuff like a portable GE, on the go ports access and friends streams are just examples of stuff we can now do in the system.
3 - Alternate skins are coming. We know people enjoy brown
4 - We're looking into Ability bar customization and specifically the adrenaline bar, no promises on a time frame for this.
5 - Tile based grid? It kind of already is, but it is hidden underneath the graphics.
6 - We don't have anymore large gameplay changes like EoC or NIS this year.
7 - Yes. That is a bug and we'll get that sorted.

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Q: hi jim is there any plan to add a interface similar to pre rs3 I preferred when I could see my lifepoints, prayer points at a glance in the right hand corner without too much interruption to my game playing,also access to talking to a friend was a one game tick manoeuvre since doubled unless I want countless screens opens,if not why can it not be added as an option?

A: Simply put, there won't be a reversal to the old interface. What we are doing is making sure the new system offers you all the same conveniences the old system did.
The NIS gives us as developers and you as players many more choices and opportunities for exploration. But we can and will be doing more.
We'll be looking into different ways for you to choose where your health points sit, and the chat is going to change in the next couple of weeks

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Q: Do you take player suggestions seriously even if they do not have that much support? Of course updates like OSRS had massive amounts of player support, but have you ever seen a post on the forums with just a few posts that you liked and implemented in some way?

A: Always. We take a mix of suggestions that either have a lot of community weight, or are just really cool and would bring a lot to the game.

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Q: With the release of the NIS, the navbar has been removed from the game - what was the reason for this?

A: We removed it to give you all more of the screen for RuneScape. That bar ate into the game client by a good 50pixels, that's 50pixels you could use to play the game. We figured it would be better to have more screen for the game than for links.
I know it made logging into the forums quicker, but we'll being improving this in NIS.

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Q: Is there plans to fix the scaling issues with the NIS. Take for example you get your perfect interface set up in full screen, and then when you make the runescape window 25% of the normal size, the interfaces take up almost all of the screen since they don't get smaller.

A: Good question. At present the NIS attempts to keep your interfaces as close to your original layout as possible without making the interfaces smaller. Maybe this is something we should change. We'll be evolving this as we go on.

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Q: Great work on the NIS, love it. I've been mining a lot sense the RS3 release and noticed that the function where you hold down a hotkey to drop multiple items is gone. You now have to hit it as many times as you want to drop. Was this intended and will it be fixed? Also, the number pad no longer works for numbers, going to be fixed? And lastly, would it be possible to make it so to cast spells like High Alchemy and SuperHeat where your next click is in your inventory that you could put that second click on a hotkey and just click hotkeys back and forth?

A: Thanks blushes
That wasn't intended, I'll get the guys to look into that. Have you tried using the new Quick Inventory?
The numpad is something we had to drop for the time being to get keyboard customization in. We're working on a larger keyboard update that will be bring back this functionality.
Hmmm good idea, I'll pass that on.

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Q: What's your favorite quest in Runescape? And your favorite skill?

A: The World Wakes and Agility (I don't like walking).

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Q: Hi! i have a few more questions if that's okay?
1 - Would we ever be able to look at the world map and talk in chat at same times?
2 - Will there ever be themes? like We got the blue now, but maybe wooden brown or I dunno.. gold or something
3 - How soon until more abilities?
4 - Any plans on being able to minimise everything on screen?

A:
1 - Yes.
2 - Yes.
3 - Very Soon.
4 - Oh Yes.

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Q: Please make more than 1 line for tabs (place with inventory, stats etc), otherwise playing on fixed screen is quite hard to access everything you need since no one changes his whole setup for every situation.

A: We're looking at an evolved menu bar that will hopefully solve these issues and do much more. I can't talk too much about it because we only just started prototyping.

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Q: In future updates of NIS, are we going to be able to click through interfaces again?

A: Yes. The week of the 19th of August, not sure which day.

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Q: Will there be other batches of updates to the NIS after the next coming (19th aug) batch?
How many batches can we expect?

A: We work in bi-weekly sprints which will mean updates and improvements every 2 and a half weeks, depending on upload day.

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Q: I think the NIS has a lot of great features and functionality that has long needed to be added into the game. I want to thank you for your hard work towards this project and the outcome.
Enough praise though, don't want to spoil you guys. Just a some quick questions on the subject.
Are you wholeheartedly happy with the outcome of the NIS? Are there any fan-related ideas that have come out as a great future implementation? If so, what were they?

A: Much appropriated.
Designers are never wholeheartedly happy, everything has to be perfect, and we know its not perfect. Yet It will get there, but we firmly believe it is a big step up from the old system and offers so much more going forward.
The big future thing we're looking it, just looking into (don't quote me yet), is probably multiple action bars. We know this is a big one people would like so we'd like to make this a reality one day.

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Q: This is coming from someone about to start college in central USA, but looking into majoring in Computer Science. Getting into the gaming industry would be really enjoyable to me, but as mentioned before, I'm in central USA, and it seems there really aren't many options for me in this industry in the future. What would be your suggestion for me (or anyone) getting into this field in my position, and "getting your foot in the door"? It just seems so hard because a lot of companies seem to be on the coast, or at least not close to the state of Missouri! Haha. Regardless, thanks for the AMA and your contributions to the game, have been a proud Runescaper since 2004!

A: I completely understand. I come from a city called Norwich in the east of England and there are no game studios there, I always knew I would need to move away to get into the industry.
This is true of almost everyone I know in games. If you want to be a part of this amazing community you have to make some tough decisions and moving away from home is usually the first one.
My first Job in the industry was 2000 miles away on a different continent (I moved to Canada), but I knew it was what I needed to do in order to live the gaming dream.
Think hard about how much you want it, if working in games is what you want then moving won't seem so bad.
Trust me, it's worth it and you get to meet some amazing people and do awesome things.

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Q: How much fun is working at Jagex, I suppose it must feel pretty good to shape a game that has defined many a youth, including mine. Are the mods really as enthousiastic as they come across in the BTS videos?
and can you maybe give us any more hints as to Divination?

A: A lot. Honestly. It is a great laugh, there are some hilarious people and we get to do some fantastic things. Just last week we all went out to a big field for a special Jagex fun fair. Rides, prizes, food and drink just for Jagex. Great fun for all. obviously we work really hard, but we play hard too.
Divination is awesome and it is coming very soon.

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Q: I'm very curious to know what your UI would look like (on a normal account that is). Would you set it up by means of looks, efficiency, or just plaster anything anywhere?

A: Mine is very clean and really precisely placed. It is probably not what most players would have. Big mini-map, it's all about the big mini-map.

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Q: Will split private chat ever return?

A: Yes, it'll be back soon.

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Q: Welcome Mod Thatjim!
I have an awesome NIS suggestion. =) What do you think? QFC: 330-331-43-65094314 Imgur link: http://i.imgur.com/W4cAXGo.png

A: I have something similar in the pipeline, I'll share more once we've okayed the prototype. Thanks for the image by the way.

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Q:
1 - Will split private chat be re-implemented?
2 - Will we be getting an option to be able to click through the chat box again?
3 - What's up with the private chat color selection not working?
4 - What fixes are currently the top priority?
I'm really enjoying the NIS overall, it has a good balance of old and new. Great work.

A:
1 - Yup.
2 - Yeppers.
3 - That's a bug.
4 - The Bugs.
Thanks!

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Q: What sort of improvements are planned for NIS in the future?

A: A lot of our efforts are going on ensuring the system is smooth and bug free, but were also working on some important community driven features. the main ones being split private chat, click through windows and customizable F keys. All coming very soon.

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Q: Did you have any opinions on Runescape before you began to work on/play it?
Have they changed since?

A: Honestly when I first saw the game I thought, being in a browser, it would be pretty shallow. It wasn't until I got to know it and explore more that the enormity and quality became apparent. Anything, game or otherwise, that has been around for this long deserves a lot of respect.

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Q: You worked at Jagex for three years and are already a Senior Game Designer? What happened to the other guys?

A: Haha, I cheated. Nah, I have been in the games industry for over 5 years now I used to work in another studio before Jagex.

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Q: Why is the Dungeoneering ring of kinship interface in a minigame interface? Can you please look at it and fix this? The system also has no real NIS close button but an old brown one outside the header bar.

A: It is on the list, the list is just quite long. It isn't until you really start breaking down the game you see how absolutely massive it is. We'll get there, hopefully soon.

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Q: Hi James,
First of all, I'd like to commend you on the new NIS. You and your team have done exceptionally well to produce it.
My question is do you have any other big updates in motion? (I know you probably can't go into specifics, that doesn't matter.)

A: Thanks, very kind.
We (The RuneScape Team) have a collection of massive updates coming, some have already been mentioned, like the new skills. Some haven't, but these will really add a new level to RuneScape. The NIS team and I are working on a collection of great new additions to the system, most of which are based directly on community feedback.

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Q: 'Jim, would you like to fight a horse-sized interface or thousand window-sized horses?'

A: A thousand window-sized horses that I have resized to be tiny. *Only possible in NIS

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Q: What was the "scales" button in the NIS beta for? Will it ever be implemented?

A: The scales button is the Portable GE. That is coming but we had to cut it for the launch of RS3 for other content. Not sure on a ETA, we want to focus on community feedback first.

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Q: Two Questions:
I'm currently a Mechanical Engineering student, often working with 3D-Design software. Would any of that knowledge apply to game design, and what specific areas should I look in to?
Is there ever plans to implement flying mounts into RuneScape?

A: I actually met a Mechanical Engineering graduate at a conference a few years ago who was working as a game designer. It doesn't matter your background, anyone can design games, you don't need a degree in it to do it. As long as you have a strong game design ethos and have actually made games in your spare time, you are a game designer.
I'd love a flying mount, but that is up to mod_mark

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Q: Would moving from Missouri, USA to the UK be worth it to work at Jagex?

A: Apply first but it is always moving to work in the games industry. I am biased though.

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Q: I ask this question of all game developers.
any chance the game will come to console? especially with the next gen consoles being more like PC.
and yes I doubt it as doesn't runescape use java? I can't remember, I played a LOOONG time ago.

A: If the consoles were to relax there restrictions on the way games can be updated and paid for then I don't see why not. At the moment the moment the way RuneScape is updated every week wouldn't be allowed on a console or would cost too much for Jagex to keep up. We wouldn't want to deprive the players of frequent updates to get onto consoles.
I'd still love to see it one day.

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Q: Why didn't you guys add the skilling and combat preset interface the from NIS Beta?
Will we be able to remove any interface, like a little X on the top right on all the interfaces to close them?

A: We decided on a different approach before launch, specifically to reduce the amount of windows on screen at one time. We felt it would be better to give you the chance to add them if you wanted to rather than having people think that you needed lots of windows on screen in order to get the best of the system.
We'll have all interface hiding eventually, we just haven't decided on the best of delivering it yet. It may be some time away.

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Q:
[–]SpeedrunsRS 1 point 16 minutes ago* (1|0)
Hello Thatjim, thank you for doing this AM(a)A!
* Is there any working of "Familiar BoB" interface be available so players can just click on the item to take it from their familiar?
* Could there possibly be a way so players could re-order their Skills in an order they like?

A: The BoB and general summoning interfaces are on our list, they aren't great at the moment and we think improving their usability we greatly improve Summoning as a skill. It takes time though and we want to make it right so I wouldn't expect anything for at least a couple of months.

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Q: Hi James,
What/who inspired you to completely overhaul the interface? I think you've done a great job and I'm glad to hear you will keep fine tuning it to be the best it can be.
Also, I know you made some transparency changes but do you think would it be possible to have an option for bank transparency? I'm not so keen on the blue colour of the bank,
Thanks for doing this AMA, your open nature to the public hasn't gone unnoticed.

A: We do a lot of playtesting with new players to see how the game fairs for a new audience. One of the things that was apparent was that a lot of our content was hidden away or shoehorned into different interfaces that weren't easy to get to. We knew small changes were enough so something larger was needed.
This feedback was coupled with our personal desire to allow the development team more freedom to add to the interface, which meant a new way of interacting with RuneScape was the way to go.
But, most of all we wanted to give more freedom to the current players. Freedom to play the game your way and increase upon the efficiency loops we know are so important.
We're almost there with the NIS in RS3, but we still have work to do to make the NIS great for players new and old alike.
we have a separate and highly important project prepared for the bank that will bring much more than just transparency.
Thanks for you feedback, much appreciated.

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Q: Do you think Runescape has improved, or worsened over the last couple of years?

A: Most definitely improved. We're not deaf to the community and we know some updates haven't gone down well for certain players but the majority can see the efforts we're making to bring the game up to date and ensure that we're here chatting again in another 2, 5 or 10 years.

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Q: Hi James, I first played Runescape many, many years ago and have seen a lot of changes. With the most recent update, I feel the game is a little less fluid, but I can see that partially coming from me not fully used to the amount of changes you guys were able to bring in. Anyways, so my question is do you have any plans about the fluidity of the game? And I also couldn't help but wonder if the platform/controls of RS will always remain the same...

A: Fluidity is a great word and something I think we're keeping at the heart of the system improvements for the NIS in particular. We know it is still a little rough around the edges, but we have a collection of key improvements to boost the fluidity found in the game. Fluidity also comes with experience and we're confident that once the community has learned the little nooks and crannies of the NIS they'll find it more fluid and faster than the old interface.

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Q: Hello, thanks for making this AMA
1 - What was the hardest part in designing the UI?
2 - In what part of the UI you had to ditch user-friendlines for functionality sake.
3 - What part of your work are you dislike the most?
4 - What is your favourite asset that did not make it into the final product?
5 - Are there any people in the team you have to work with that you dislike? Who and why (if it is not too much).

A:
1 - Predicting player behaviour and expectation management.
2 - Click through chat (which is coming back)
3 - The free tea bags, they're not very good
4 - A redesigned Quest Log (which will come)
5 - No, not at all. The people are the best thing about Jagex.

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Q: WHEN THE ... IS DIVINATION COMMING JIM!!!! CMON BRO IM PUMPED

A: Wow Brosef! I like that PUMP! We be bringing the DIVINATION smack down when it is awesomesaucey enough.

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Q: Hello James, thanks for doing this
Just the one question if I may, it's a confirmed bug that public chat is not appearing above peoples head for a lot of players, currently the last response we got was a fix was in QA, how long till it hits us?
It's practically unplayable in a lot of regards when you can't see who is talking.
Thanks

A: I'm not 100% on the bug but if someone has said that it is in QA it'll be out in the next update.

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Q: You guys were my childhood. And half of my teenage years. Thanks for that. It was fun.
My question is that I heard Jagex was trying to put Runescape on a console in the near future...is that true?

A: No console plans at the moment, but we are aiming for Tablets and mobile devices sometime in the future.