Loading screen

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A loading screen is a screen shown by a computer program, very often a video game, while the program is loading (moving program data from the disk to RAM) or initializing.

A loading screen is a user interface element that appears while a computer program, application or video game completes background process or system initialization. Its purpose is to inform users that their system is still working and to provide feedback during delay. Loading screens may display animated graphics, rotating symbols or other indicators while complex calculations takes place in the background. As the internet became more accessible, two common types of loading indicators became widely used: the throbber, an animated icon that signifies ongoing activity, and the progress bar, a linear visual element that estimates the completion status and remaining loading time.^[1]

In early video games, the loading screen was also a chance for graphic artists to be creative without the technical limitations often required for the in-game graphics.^[2] Drawing utilities were also limited during this period. Melbourne Draw, one of the few 8-bit screen utilities with a zoom function, was one program of choice for artists.^[3]

While loading screens remain commonplace in video games, background loading is now used in many games, especially open world titles, to eliminate loading screens while traversing normally through the game, making them appear only when "teleporting" further than the load distance (e.g. using warps or fast travel) or moving faster than the game can load.

Loading times

Loading screens that disguise the length of time a program takes to load were common when computer games were loaded from a cassette tape, a process which could take five minutes or more.^[2] Nowadays, most games are downloaded digitally, and therefore loaded off the hard drive meaning faster load times. However, some games are also loaded off of an optical disc, quicker than previous magnetic media, but still include loading screens to disguise the amount of time taken to initialize the game in RAM.

Since the loading screen data itself needs to be read from the media, it actually can increase the overall loading time. For example, with a ZX Spectrum game, the screen data takes up 6 kilobytes, representing an increase in loading time of about 13% over the same game without a loading screen.^[2] Recently, however, more powerful hardware has significantly diminished this effect.

Variations

The loading screen does not need to be a static picture. Some loading screens display a progress bar or a timer countdown to show how much data has actually loaded. Others, recently, are not even a picture at all, and are a small video or have parts animated in real time.

Variations such as the progress bar are sometimes programmed to inaccurately reflect the passage of time or extended during loading; opting instead for artificial pauses or stutters. This can be done in games for a multitude of reasons which includes encouraging players to engage with exposition during time away from gameplay and providing the player with an immersive transition between scenes. One notable example of this practice being used is for the real-time strategy game Age of Empires, where programmer Greg Street describes his method of timing visual loading queues with appropriate script queues when loading a randomly generated map.^[4][5] Other developers describe the necessity of an artificial loading timer despite technical advancement making modern loading times near-instantaneous to allow the player a smooth transition between gameplay segments.^[4] This technique has grounds in the perceived perception of performance denoted by loading times. This perception of loading times can be altered by factors such as the movement of a progress bar.^[6]

Other loading screens double as briefing screens, providing the user with information to read. This information may only be there for storytelling and/or entertainment or it can give the user information that is usable when the loading is complete, such as mission goals or useful gameplay tips. In fighting games, the loading screen is often a versus screen, which shows the fighters who will take part in the match.

See also

• Splash screen
• Title screen

References