More than bleeps and bloops: UX lessons from game design

@cattsmall – @cattsmall@mastodon.social
More than bleeps and bloops
UX lessons from game design
Design It; Build it 2017 – Catt Small

@cattsmall – @cattsmall@mastodon.social@cattsmall – @cattsmall@mastodon.social
UX, game design, and ways to
integrate game design concepts into
the user experience design process.
Today we’ll discuss:

But first...

Five Stages

Breakup Squad

SweetXheart

SweetXheart (WIP)

UX design

UX vs. game design

Similar

Interaction

Process

Ideation

Prototyping

Testing

Different

1 2 3 4
1 2B 3 4B
2A 4A
4C
UX
Games

Caryn Vainio, UX designer for games
The design of a game – its rules, its
fun factor, its balance – is different
than the design of the navigation
into and throughout a game.

Game design elements
Mechanics – Ways a player can interact with the game.
Rules – Systems that determine what the player can or can’t do in a game.
Characters – Beings with which players interact.
Goals – What the player must do to finish the game.
Narrative – Atmosphere that drives the game’s goal, mechanics, and rules.

Useful
Meaningful

What UX can learn

Swarm, © Foursquare

Lesson 1:
Document everything.

Design document

Change logs

Historical reference

Document as you go

Clockwise from left: InVision, Google Drive, and Basecamp

Lesson 2:
Simple isn’t always best.

Balance
Complexity Value

Richard Garfield, designer for Magic: the Gathering
Game designs have a complexity
budget. You can only have a
certain amount of complexity and
you have to figure whether it’s
worth spending.

Five Stages, © Asia Hoe, Catt Small & Chris Algoo

Spelunky © Mossmouth LLC

Super Smash Bros © Nintendo

Accomplishment

SHIP AT
LAUNCH
Required
feature
Feature goal
SHIP LATER
Nice-to-have
feature 1
SHIP LATER
Nice-to-have
feature 2

Lesson 3:
Connect through personality.

Easter eggs

Memes
Borderlands 2, © Gearbox Software

Hacks
Sonic Mania, © SEGA

Culture
SweetXheart

Google search

Google Maps

Coca Cola

Facebook Messenger

Lesson 4:
Focus on emotions.

Fun
Memorable

MailChimp

Journey map

Lesson 5:
Give feedback.

Steve Swink
The sensation of controlling a digital
object is one of the most powerful –
and overlooked – phenomena ever to
emerge from the intersection of
people and computers.

Facebook

Twitter

Medium

Users want to feel valued

Wrap up

◇ Both center around how people interact
with interfaces
◇ Both involve ideation, prototyping, testing,
& documentation
◇ UX is about removing roadblocks
◇ Game design is about challenging players
UX & game design

◇ Create references with documentation
◇ Ensure that complexity has value
◇ Connect with users through personality
◇ Focus on emotions and memorability
◇ Give interaction feedback
Beyond gamification

◇ Prune (iOS)
◇ Spelltower (Android, iOS, Mac)
◇ TwoDots (Android, iOS)
◇ Beglitched (Mac, Windows)
◇ Ghosts of Miami (Mac, Windows)
Games to check out

◇ Gamasutra gamasutra.com
◇ That Game’s UX thatgamesux.com
◇ The Indie Gaming Source tigsource.com
◇ Sirlin on Game Design sirlin.net
Websites

Thank you.
Questions?
Tweet @cattsmall
Toot @cattsmall@mastodon.social
Email catt@cattsmall.com / cattsmall@etsy.com

More than bleeps and bloops: UX lessons from game design

More than bleeps and bloops: UX lessons from game design

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