Research the play, not the screenshots
We play your build the way a new player would, on the platforms you ship to. We record where we hesitate, misread, or reach for a control that isn't there.
Game interface audit · Online, worldwide
Your game is good. The interface is where players hesitate.
Interfold reviews the parts of your game most teams stop looking at — the HUD, the menus, the inventory, the first ten minutes. You get a written audit, annotated screens, and a ranked list of what to change and in what order.
What we look at
Four surfaces where players quietly give up
Every audit walks the same four surfaces, in the order a player meets them. Nothing is graded on taste — only on whether it slows the player down.
01
HUD & combat readouts In-play
Health, ammo, cooldowns, objective markers. We check what the player can read at a glance while their hands are busy, and what they only notice after they die.
02
Menus & settings Between play
Pause flow, options depth, save/load, remapping. Where the structure hides a common action three taps deep, or asks the player to confirm something they never meant to change.
03
Inventory & economy Systems
Grids, loadouts, crafting, currencies. Whether a player can compare two items without leaving the screen, and whether the numbers mean anything the moment they read them.
04
Onboarding & first session First 10 min
Tutorials, prompts, empty states, the very first choice. Where new players stall, re-read, or quit before the game has shown them why to stay.
How the audit runs
Four steps, one written verdict
No workshops, no vague deck. We play the build, mark it up, test the friction, and hand back something your team can act on the same afternoon.
Prototype the fix in place
For every serious problem we sketch a corrected version — a rearranged HUD, a flattened menu, a clearer first prompt — so the recommendation is a picture, not a paragraph.
Test against heuristics
Each surface is checked against a fixed set of interface heuristics: readability at speed, reversibility, feedback, consistency, and load on the player's memory.
Deliver a ranked report
You receive a written report, annotated screens, and a priority list — quick wins, structural fixes, and the two or three changes worth a sprint of their own.
Before / after
What a fixed surface looks like next to the one we started with
A pause menu that stopped losing players
Third-person action · PC & console
Before
Original pause flow
Resume, save and settings sat on the same level as eleven other options. Players scanned the whole column every time just to quit.
After
Rebuilt pause flow
Three actions players actually use were promoted; everything else moved one layer down. Resume is now the default focus on every controller.
−41%time to resume
3taps removed from quit
2 weeksto ship the change
An inventory players could finally read
Survival crafting · PC
Before
Original loadout grid
Item stats appeared only on hover, in a tooltip that covered the item next to it. Comparing two weapons meant memorising numbers.
After
Rebuilt loadout grid
A fixed detail rail shows the selected item beside a persistent compare slot. Numbers changed to plain deltas — plus and minus, not raw values.
+27%items equipped per session
0tooltips covering the grid
10 daysaudit to redesign brief
What lands in your inbox
Everything is written down, nothing is left to a meeting
Deliverable 01
The written audit
A plain-language report, surface by surface, that names each problem, why it costs you players, and how severe it is. Written to be read by a designer and a producer alike.
Deliverable 02
Annotated screens
Your own screens, marked up with numbered pins and measurement lines — the same annotation you see on this page — so every note points at an exact pixel, not a general feeling.
Deliverable 03
A prioritized redesign plan
A ranked list that separates quick wins from structural work, with a rough effort estimate on each, so you can slot fixes into a sprint you already have.
Deliverable 04
A read-through call
One recorded walk-through with your team once the report lands, to answer questions and agree on what ships first. Notes from the call are added to the document.
Engagements
Two ways to work with the Guild
Start with the audit. If you'd rather we carry the fixes through, the sprint picks up where the report ends. Prices are fixed in USD; scope and payment are arranged after you send the form.
UI Audit
$1,200 · fixed
A full heuristic review of all four surfaces, delivered as a written report you keep.
- Review of HUD, menus, inventory & onboarding
- Written audit, surface by surface
- Annotated screens with numbered pins
- Prioritized redesign directions
- One recorded read-through call
- Follow-up redesign work
Audit + Redesign Sprint
$4,700 · fixed
The audit, plus a focused sprint where we redesign the surfaces that need it most.
- Everything in the UI Audit
- A two-week redesign sprint after the report
- Reworked layouts for the top-priority surfaces
- Handoff-ready specs & component notes
- Review of your team's implementation
- A second read-through once fixes land
Field Lab
Notes from reviewing interfaces
Longer write-ups on the patterns we see most often — the small interface decisions that decide whether a player stays.
HUD design
Designing game HUDs players don't have to think about
Why the best readouts disappear, and how to design a HUD that a player reads without ever looking straight at it.
Read the note →
Menu UX
Menu UX in games: the patterns that quietly frustrate players
The menu mistakes that never show up in a review score but cost you the players who bounce in the first session.
Read the note →
Onboarding
Onboarding without tutorials: teaching a game through its interface
How to let the interface itself do the teaching, so new players learn by playing instead of by reading a wall of text.
Read the note →Questions
Before you book
What exactly do you need from us to start? +
A playable build (or a stable branch) on the platforms you care about, plus access to the screens you'd like reviewed. If part of the game is still grey-box, tell us — we'll audit what's real and flag what's a placeholder.
How long does an audit take? +
About ten working days from kickoff to the written report. The redesign sprint, if you add it, runs for two weeks after that. We'll confirm exact dates when we scope the work.
Do you redesign, or only point out problems? +
The audit includes corrected sketches for the serious problems, so you're never left with only a list. If you want us to carry those through into handoff-ready designs, that's the Audit + Redesign Sprint.
Will you sign an NDA? +
Yes. We work under NDA as standard and treat every build as confidential. Send yours with the enquiry, or use ours — either is fine.
What genres do you work on? +
Interface heuristics travel across genres. We've reviewed action, survival, strategy and simulation interfaces. The surfaces stay the same even when the game doesn't.
Start here
Book a UI audit
Tell us about the game and which engagement fits. We reply within one working day with next steps, a scheduling window and a short scope note. Payment is arranged after that — we never take card details in this form.
Studio Online, worldwide
Email [email protected]
Reply We reply within one working day