“David is a talented developer and a genuinely good person to work with. He cared about the quality of what he shipped and about the players using it. I'd happily work with him again.”
Fitting RuneScape's Desktop Interface onto a Phone
Before founding Ocean View Games, David spent over two years at Jagex as a Technical Developer, building the touch interface for RuneScape Mobile.
Summary
- The challenge
- RuneScape's desktop interface had almost two decades of panels, ability bars and pop-ups built for a mouse and a large monitor.
- David's role
- As a Technical Developer on the mobile team, David built the interface players see for almost the whole session and converted more than 40 legacy interfaces.
- The result
- One ability bar instead of five or more, rarely used interfaces moved into sub-menus, and around 5fps gained on a Samsung Galaxy S9 from the minimap toggle alone.
In brief
Overview
- Timeline
- 2018 to 2019
- Platform
- iOS, Android
- Public record
- Mod Edge on the RuneScape Wiki, opens in a new tab
- Genre
- Mobile UI/UX
- Engagement
- Mobile Porting
Built with
- Perforce
RuneScape had almost two decades of desktop interface behind it when Jagex set out to bring the full game to iOS and Android. Every screen had been designed for a mouse cursor and a large monitor: dozens of panels, ability bars and pop-up interfaces, all built to be clicked with pixel precision.
David joined the RuneScape Mobile team in 2018 as a Technical Developer, after a year on the live game. The team started with three developers and two producers, and grew to around five developers, three quality assurance testers and three producers.
David's job was the part players touch every second: the interface. That meant converting legacy interfaces onto a new mobile layer, designing the main mobile heads-up display (HUD) and making a desktop game's dialogue and menus work under a thumb. He worked on the project through development and the early alpha and beta testing, before leaving Jagex in 2019. RuneScape Mobile fully launched in 2021.
Each Jagex staff member has a public "Mod" name; David's was Mod Edge.
| Area | Desktop | Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Ability bars | Players could show 5 or more at once | Limited to 1 on screen |
| Less frequently used interfaces | Visible or one click away | Moved into sub-menus |
| Minigame and boss HUD overlays | Always shown | Selected overlays hidden on mobile |
| Minimap | Always on screen | Player toggle, with the backpack and equipment filling the space |
| Non-player character (NPC) and player dialogue | Desktop chat box | Custom full-screen dialogue with larger touch targets |
| Instructional text | "Click" throughout | "Tap" across quests, dialogue and interfaces |
| Legacy interfaces | Desktop only | 40+ converted onto the new mobile layer |
Before Mobile: Learning the Live Game
David spent his first year at Jagex working on live RuneScape updates, learning how the game and its interfaces were built.
Ninja Team
David worked on the small team that ships quality-of-life updates and fixes based on player feedback, including the Aura Management interface, Quick Prayers and a rework of the in-game poll system.
Mining and Smithing Rework
On one of RuneScape's largest skill overhauls, David converted every monster drop in the game to the new salvage system and introduced new divination mining nodes for the higher tiers.
Interfaces and Visuals
He also took on interface reworks and the graphical rework of the Earth altar and Gemstone Mine. This was hands-on experience with the legacy user interface (UI) that later had to work on mobile.
Deciding What Stays on Screen
A phone cannot show everything a desktop monitor can. Every interface came down to one question: does the player need this visible at all times?
One Ability Bar
On desktop, players could show five or more ability bars at once. On mobile, David limited the screen to one, keeping combat readable and the game world visible.
Sub-Menus for the Rest
Interfaces players use less often, such as emotes, moved into sub-menus, so the essentials stay one tap away without crowding the screen.
Context-Specific HUDs
Minigames and boss fights bring their own HUD overlays. David reviewed these and hid the ones that cost more screen space than they were worth on a phone.
Building the Mobile Interface
The aim was simple to state and hard to deliver: everything a player needs, within reach of their thumbs, without digging through menus.
The Mobile HUD
David built the mobile top-level interface, the HUD players see for almost the whole session. Key actions were placed where thumbs and fingers naturally reach.
40+ Legacy Interfaces Converted
Many older interfaces had never moved to RuneScape's newer UI system. David converted more than 40 of them, giving them the new system's appearance and the mobile layer on top.
Full-Screen Dialogue
The desktop chat system's click targets were too small for fingers. David built a custom full-screen dialogue interface for NPC and player conversations that is easier to use and more immersive.
Performance and Polish
A mobile version has to run well on the phones players actually own, and read as if it was made for them.
Minimap Toggle
Players can hide the minimap and side panel with a single tap, letting the backpack and equipment fill the space. On a Samsung Galaxy S9, this gained around 5fps.
UI-Level Performance Work
David delivered performance improvements through the gameplay and UI systems, reducing what the game had to draw and update on screen.
“Click” to “Tap”
Instructional text across quests, dialogue and interfaces was updated for touch, so the game never told a mobile player to click.
The Results
40+ Interfaces Brought to Mobile
Legacy desktop interfaces were converted onto the new mobile layer, rather than left as desktop screens squeezed onto a phone.
A Screen Built Around Thumbs
One ability bar instead of five or more, rarely used interfaces in sub-menus and a HUD designed for touch reach.
Measurable Performance Gains
The minimap toggle alone gained around 5fps on a Samsung Galaxy S9, alongside wider UI-level performance work.
From Former Colleagues
David brings the same approach to Ocean View Games' mobile porting work: audit every interface, decide what earns its place on a small screen, and design for thumbs rather than cursors. If your game was built for desktop, see our mobile porting service.
Lessons from this work also shaped our own open-source Unity Mobile Performance Architecture toolkit.
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