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## Designing the Interface

So far, the game design machinery has been focused on semantics. The other part of the game design defines how it actually appears to the players. This part of the design can be more loosely designed, which is good, because you cannot guarantee that your game design will only ever be run with a particular interface, and there is a wide variety of interfaces. You could, for instance, define an elaborate set of color graphical icons and patterns, only to find that most of your players only have black-and-white displays. Xconq itself will always be able to cope with your omissions, but it will be forced to synthesize inferior substitutes.

Game designs have three general categories of interface elements that they can specify: text, graphics, and animations. Text elements are just strings describing objects and events in a readable form, while graphics consist of small icons and patterns primarily representing units and terrain. Animations are used to illustrate events as they happen, and may include sounds.

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