Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Artist Talks Candidly About Redesigning Samus’ HUD

By James On Jul 12, 2024

After five years of relative silence, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally made its debut during this summer’s Nintendo Direct. The gorgeous trailer set the tone with atmospheric music, hostile new settings, and plenty of Space Pirates for intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran to blast into oblivion. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Retro Studios’ lead UI artist Jon Wofford on Thursday detailed the process behind the modernized redesign of Samus’ HUD — the image the player sees through her visor for much of the game.

“Metroid Prime 4 has been a dream project, and my favorite part was designing, creating, and animating Samus’ HUD,” Wofford wrote. “I learned a lot during MPR (Metroid Prime Remastered), and I hope it shows. Check out my artstation for a deeper dive!” Wofford’s post ends with a link to the aforementioned ArtStationwith lots of screenshots and short descriptions from the artist about the process behind each UI decision, and shout-outs from Wofford to his colleagues “Jordan Johnson, whose UI technology makes all this possible, and to Nina Morris, for her amazing work on scans,” plus his “wonderful art director, Jhony Ljungstedt, for his clear vision and leadership.”

In an ArtStation caption accompanying a screenshot of the HUD screen from the trailer, Wofford explained that his “goal was to create a modern update to the visor that honors the legacy of Metroid Prime.” The result is a more minimalist, line-art-like look compared to how the HUD looked in Metroid Prime Remastered (although it was a remaster, so an update of the appearance of the HUD that did not change the technical layout).

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1720821598 734 Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Artist Talks Candidly About Redesigning Samus

A comparison between Samus’ HUD in Metroid Prime Remastered (left) and Metroid Prime 4 (right)

Image: Retro Studios/Nintendo and Image: Retro Studios/Nintendo

Of course, the best UI elements fit seamlessly into a world and aren’t even noticeable, as Wofford noted in an answer to his post on X: “I think the trailer also shows really well that the HUD doesn’t have to worry about the incredible environments, characters, lighting, animation, VFX… I’m constantly impressed by the talent on this team.”

Wofford’s UI design work at Retro includes not only the screen in Samus’ visor, but also the in-fiction UI that appears on various computers used by the characters in Metroid Prime 4. “They’re pretty small in this shot (embedded below), but one of my other fun tasks on this project was conceptualizing and art directing all of the UI that appears on the screens in this area,” Wofford wrote. “The actual in-game assets were built by Kenneth Kozan, one of our incredible Environment Artists.”

An aerial view of a large room full of computers and technological equipment being overrun by space pirates

It’s pretty wild to think that every part of a game has a designer behind it – or several – working to stitch each piece together into a cohesive picture of what, in this case, is a new entry in a long-running, sprawling sci-fi setting. Wofford describes his colleagues at his art station as “real wizards,” which, to be fair, is fair.