Icons, icons, and more icons

I really like my iPhone, and I tend to enjoy games that involve real-time physics. A particular favorite is the excellent Jelly Car 2 (and the original Jelly Car). The playability of the PC-based version isn’t great, but with the iPhone’s gyro integration it is excellent. But I digress.

I saw a similar game called Chalkboard Stunts that was available for free and immediately “bought” it. Normally I wouldn’t be so quick to bash a free game, but this game usually costs money, it was just available for free for a “limited time.” Maybe like how a furniture store is constantly “going out of business.”

The first screen I saw after launching the app was this. I’ve taken the liberty of annotating it with my initial thoughts.

So here’s what I know so far. I’m playing the game I bought. I have three choices, and I can only assume one of them means “play the game”. It’s like the Monty Hall problem… Hopefully I don’t pick a goat.

I decided to follow the arrow, which I think was the correct choice, but I’m still not sure because here is the next screen I got.

So I immediately lock my application because like any good internet citizen I’m concerned about security. Then I spend some time having fun raising and lowering globes, and finally I make faces back at the ascii-art-guy. Finally I press the helmet and I can start racing. Well not quite yet.

I love the iPhone-styled “iframe” window inside this app. It’s like they got lazy and said “meh, just throw something in there.”

Selecting a level from the list just highlights it. From there, you have to figure out what to do. I got mad enough that I felt like flinging a CD, so I pressed that button. Turns out it’s supposed to be a wheel spinning (meaning “drive” or “go”) or something.

The moral of this story? Well, I don’t even think I need to say it, do I? Apparently I do because this game still ended up on my phone in this state. Put some freaking text in your UI to describe the actions to take. Don’t assume an icon is enough. PLEASE.