By Art Director John “The Wingless” Burnett. Industry leader in Game UI Education.
User Interface Game Design Course & Resource for public education.
Tags: Game Industry, Figma, Game UI Artist
Introduction.
No, you don’t need to know Figma.
Thanks so much for visiting John Burnett’s site on all things Game UI Design related, I really appreciate it!
-No, but seriously, the question is nuanced enough that we should have a formal breakdown of the answer.
Figma is an industry standard tool in generic UI UX circles – apps, web, the whathaveyous. But games? Well, games operate on an entirely different set of rules and challenges.
And that means a unique Game Design-driven perspective on that same tool. So let’s really dig into the answer of Do I really need to know Figma?
…because the answer is still no.
Figma is not Industry Standard for Games
If I had to pick one tool that has endured for decades on end as the industry standard in Games, it’s Photoshop – far and away. You can plan, create assets and edit with that one tool – a literal one-stop shop for everything a UI Artist and UX Designer could need.
Are there better tools for each stage of production? You bet. But as a matter of raw capacity, Photoshop wins and is the spinal chord of UI UX game production.
Figma, on the other hand, is ideally used for planning and wireframing – but see, that assumes the stakeholders allow for planning at all!
The Planning Stages are a Mess
One of the most shocking things people learn about the Game Industry is just how *sloppy* it is, regardless (sometimes because of) the millions of dollars in runway. Art directors and Creative Directors are only vaguely aware of a UI Designer’s craft – and as such, they might be forgiven for wanting only finished art assets (editor’s note: UNFORGIVABLE).
If the Big Guys want finished art, a Junior UI Artist will probably give a big salute and jump into the art pass without hesitation – big mistake.
The point is, Figma’s real usefulness for Games is in the planning stages, and you would be shocked how many juniors don’t plan and how many stakeholders don’t mind. But let’s assume you’re in a setup that allows for early and thorough wireframes…
Game UX Flow and Interactivity aren’t that complicated
Figma allows you to “wire-up” screens to simulate button presses and modal changes, which is a very nifty trick. The problem is most games are – by their very nature – very streamlined in their flow from screen to screen. If it requires complicated strategy, it’s too complicated for the average player.
As a specific example, a Shell Menu design allows you to get from any one part of the menu to another: perks, inventory, map, etc. It’s one step for 5 different menus. What’s left to plot?
Now if we’re being honest, it’s the UI Engineers that have to worry about flow and screen-to-screen mapping. Unless you’re also doing implementation, in which case, my sympathies. But typically – not only is video game UX flow a simplistic affair, it’s also largely out of your hands.
Tool Pipeline Realities & Game UX Architecture
While Figma has captured web and SaaS product design, game development relies on a drastically different technical pipeline. Understanding why Photoshop remains the production backbone—and where UI engineering takes over UX flow—helps you position your skills around how game studios actually ship menus.
Tool Stack & Production Pipeline Offshoots
Raster vs. Vector Production: Managing raster-based UI assets, layer comps, and high-DPI texture exports in Photoshop versus vector-only layout tools.
UI Asset Optimization: Exporting texture atlases, sprite sheets, and sliced UI elements optimized for real-time engine rendering performance.
UI Middleware & Authoring Tools: Software that bridges design to engine code, including Rive, NoesisGUI, and specialized UI plugins.
Rapid Asset Iteration: Utilizing non-destructive smart objects, batch actions, and art-pass overrides during fast-paced game development sprints.
Game UX Architecture & Engine Handoff Offshoots
HUD vs. Diegetic Interface Systems: Distinguishing between traditional 2D screen overlays, spatial HUDs, and immersive in-world menu systems.
UI State Machine Logic: Mapping screen-stack navigation, modal overlays, pause menus, and controller focus-state hierarchies.
Engine UI Implementation Frameworks: Building interface layouts inside engine suites like Unreal Engine UMG (Unreal Motion Graphics) or Unity UI Toolkit.
UI/Engineer Handoff Protocols: Documenting layout anchors, safe zones, gamepad input mapping, and UI sound effect (SFX) trigger points.
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Figma is intimidating (to the Team)
Believe it or not, for the people who don’t regularly use Figma, the screen can look as complicated as Maya does to a non-modler or a web of nodes to a non-programmer.
Your primary job is to inspire conversations and guide strategy. If people look at your screen and feel too intimidated to speak, your job just became infinitely harder.
This may seem like a minor or even far-fetched warning, but I urge you to give it a minute to marinate. You need the team to jump in, point out problems, jog memories that an approach was already proposed, or inspire a new direction. When the team doesn’t speak, you lose that crucial element of refinement. No refinement – no polish. Forever crummy work. Thanks, Figma!
What I use Instead.
I like Miro a lot and use it exclusively in my class. It may not be the most robust for pure UI UX design but that’s actually a feature. Miro looks incredibly simple to jump into.
This has the opposite effect of Figma: it doesn’t look like a kaleidoscopic Deathstar schematic, it looks like an easy tool to jump into. So the team jumps in, drops in jpegs to quickly illustrate their mental imagery, writes important notes in the margins, and everybody paints over the work.
In effect, my tool makes my job easier socially. And since I’m appealing to up-to 5 different stakeholders every meeting, easy socializing is paramount.
Use what you feel comfortable with.
In my Game UI Design Mentorship, I have a lot of refugees from Product Design coming my way. They live in a neat and tidy world of style guides, components and – of course – Figma.
They are shocked how sloppy and rough-n-tumble Game Design is by comparison. Sometimes I’m surprised games ever get shipped at all. I suppose at the end of the day, that is the final appraisal of your skill: did you guys ship?
So use whatever you can, whenever you can. Figma, Miro, Photoshop, a cocktail napkin. If it gets what’s in your head inside of their head with as little a loss in translation as possible… how could that not be a success?
Use Figma as much as you want. I ain’t no cop.
Cross-Discipline Collaboration, Whiteboarding & Production Realities
Navigating game studio dynamics means choosing tools that foster open team feedback over technical rigidity. Understanding how to bridge the gap between traditional Product Design practices and the chaotic realities of shipping a game ensures your ideas actually survive pre-production and make it into the final build.
Collaborative Ideation & Whiteboarding Mechanics
Infinite Canvas Brainstorming: Leveraging spatial layouts for rapid visual reference gathering, moodboards, and multi-department design sprints.
Low-Fidelity Friction Reduction: Lowering the technical entry barrier for producers, art directors, and programmers to leave direct visual feedback.
Asynchronous Design Review Loops: Utilizing sticky notes, markup tools, and visual comment threads to maintain momentum without formal meetings.
Rapid Speculative Concepting: Mocking up disposable UI variations early in pre-production before committing resources to high-fidelity art passes.
Product vs. Game UI & Production Pragmatism
Product vs. Game UI Mentalities: Transitioning from standardized SaaS component libraries to bespoke, highly stylized game interface systems.
Scope Management & UI Feature Cuts: Prioritizing core HUD and menu functionality when production schedules force rapid pipeline compromises.
The “Shipped Title” Standard: Balancing perfect design documentation against the practical realities of hitting engine delivery milestones.
Cross-Department Design Translation: Converting abstract game mechanics and narrative design documents into concrete, playable user interfaces.
Let’s Sum Up
Photoshop Remains the True Industry Backbone: While Figma dominates web and product design, Photoshop has endured for decades as the unmatched, end-to-end standard for creating, editing, and exporting high-fidelity game UI assets.
Expect Messy Pre-Production Workflows: Game development is notoriously chaotic. Stakeholders and Creative Directors frequently bypass formal wireframing phases to demand finished art passes immediately—making rigid SaaS design pipelines impractical.
Game UX Flow is Simplistic (and Engineer-Led): Unlike dense enterprise software, game menu architecture (like shell menus) is designed to be as streamlined as possible for the player—and screen-to-screen state logic is usually handled by UI Engineers.
Avoid Intimidating Non-Design Stakeholders: Dense, node-heavy Figma files look like complex schematics to programmers and producers. If your presentation tool frightens your team into silence, you kill the open feedback required to polish the work.
Prioritize Low-Friction Collaboration: Lightweight whiteboarding platforms like Miro encourage cross-discipline buy-in. They allow Art Directors and producers to quickly drop reference images, scribble notes, and paint over concepts without technical barriers.
Focus on Communication Over Tool Dogma: Transitioning from product design requires letting go of pristine component libraries and rigid style guides. The ultimate evaluation of your toolstack isn’t how neat your Figma file is—it’s whether it helps your team ship a game.
Authority Resources & Tooling Frameworks
To optimize your UI production pipeline and evaluate visual collaboration tools across game studios, reference these standard industry platforms:
- Thejohnburnett.com – My professional site with a treasure trove of UI Game Design Blogs.
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud – The core industry standard for high-fidelity 2D asset creation, UI texture rasterization, and digital painting for games.
Miro Visual Collaboration Platform – Access real-time whiteboarding, moodboarding, and cross-department ideation suites designed for frictionless team reviews.
Game UI Database – Study real-world shipped interface designs across genres to analyze how leading titles structure menus, HUDs, and screen transitions.
GDC Vault (Game Developers Conference) – Explore peer-reviewed presentations and technical talks on game UI pipelines, cross-discipline communication, and engine implementation strategies.
