Pause Eelke Folmer The player needs to interrupt the game quickly because of an external event and wants to continue it later. Players don't want to have to play part of the game over and over again when they die. Players do not want their game to be interrupted. Players may want to change settings during the game Real time action games. Games being played on devices which can be interrupted by external events, such as mobile phones or PDA's. Something may happen in the player’s surroundings that requires interrupting the game such as in incoming phone call. The player may also want to pause as he wants to do something such as change settings, make a save game or screenshot. Allow the player to pause the game When the pause button is pressed all: sounds music vibrations/output devices other animations Should be stopped at any stage during the game (even cutscenes). The game should minimize the the amount of resources being used while it is open in the background as it may negatively affect the performance of other multitasking applications that are open (not valid for consoles). There are several ways to present the pause feature: Have a separate pause menu. This is recommended for more complex games, e.g. also changing settings etc should be. Combine the main game menu and pause menu into a single menu, recommended for simple games. Have a time control widget with a pause button (||) in the main screen. This is common in simulation games, which also allow you to fast forward the gameplay. The default action (possibly highlighted) in a pause menu should be resume. E.g. when the player presses a key the game should resume immediately. Provide feedback that the game is paused, so the player is aware of it. On non-multitasking game systems (such as some mobile phones) one could implement pause by autosaving the game and quitting the game. When the player decides to play the game one should offer the option to resume the last game. If the player would not be able to pause the game the player has to play on which it might not be able to resulting in errors, the player might have to start over. Pause hence increases efficiency and reliability. It also increases satisfaction. Grand Theft Auto Vice City - This 3rd person shooter / driving game allows you one a console to pause the game using the start button. It shows several options in the pause menu (e.g. resume, quit, options etc). At The Core Of Mobile Game Usability: The Pause Menu, Nokia Research