Choosing fonts, deciding between legibility and aesthetic.

[KawaiiKid]

So recently I posted a question about my font, asking the community if it was readable or if the font hindered in favor of its aesthetic. As suggested by some other forum members, I'm making a poll to determine which font would be best used in game. I've chose 3 fonts that I like and was wondering if you all could help me decide.

Font 1 High aesthetic with lower legibility.

Font 2 Medium aesthetic with medium legibility

Font 3 Low aesthetic, high legibility

 

[LionessPaladin]

Font 3 is the most readable while still retaining some style. I think it's way more important to have text be readable than look pretty even if it breaks your style a little bit. Which is why I'll take a basic san serif font in a fantasy RPG regardless if it clashes with the aesthetic.

 

[Shaz]

Legibility always trumps aesthetic.

I paid $20 for a game a few weeks ago that used a very pretty, but almost unreadable font. Even worse, the dialogues didn't wait for a click - they appeared during the loading screen and often disappeared before I'd read them, because I was reading so slowly because of the font. It was incredibly frustrating, and were it not part of a series that I enjoy so much I would have asked for a refund.

 

[AquaEcho]

Legibility for the main text. The fancy stuff should only be for one off events like discovering an ancient scroll.

 

[HOLYMOTHER]

I find the first font to be perfectly legible. I've worked extensively with letters, and I can tell you that even if you did pick an "illegible" font, like medieval gothic blackletter or whatever, it would eventually become legible to you (or anyone) over time spent reading it.

It's like how metal fans can read names in those t-shirt graphics that just look like paint splatters to regular people.

Allow me also to say that here the opposite of esthetic isn't legibility, but genericity. If I were to just find your game and start to play, and I saw the first font in use, I'd say, "How strange and idiosyncratic! The creator obviously has an artistic vision for this game, one they didn't compromise."

But if I were to play it and see the third font, I wouldn't even notice, because it's normal and boring.

 

[Milennin]

Either 2 or 3 are fine for me, but when in doubt, always go for the more eligible font. A hard to read font is one of the most frustrating reasons to quit playing a game over.

 

[Ami]

3 are easy to read, alongside with 2

 

[ZombieKidzRule]

I really like the look of 1, but I would go with 2 as the middle road. I like it more than the plainer look of 3. But 3 is still better than the default, I think.

I think you should also consider your audience too, which could be difficult with game making. For a native user of the language, fancier might not be a problem. For folks who are not native to the language, it could add an additional layer of difficulty in reading.

Some of which can be mitigated by other design choices.

Having text that disappears on its own creates issues.

Now, what I think would be really cool, is if you could give the player a choice at the beginning of the game with the primary options. Then the player could pick which font they like the best.

I have no idea how complicated that would be, what you would have to plan for in setting up your dialog and written stuff, or whatnot.

But I have always found choices like that to increase my appreciation for a game.