Outline of a class room lecture and board game exercise I did for a summer camp.

1. Game User Experience
Not everyone is a talented
programmer, artist, or designer…

2. Why do YOU want to make games?

3. People should have FUN playing it
• How do you know if people enjoy it?
• When will you find this out?
• What can you do to make sure it’s fun?

4. User Experience
• How do we ensure people figure out how to
play the game
• How do we reduce things like boredom,
confusion, and frustration
• How do we keep the game interesting,
challenging, and coming back for more
• How do we make the game fun
• Give me examples of games that
succeeded/failed in your opinion…

5. Board Game Exercise
• Arrange in groups with players + 1 observer
• Players:
– Try at first WITHOUT instructions (5 mins)
– Then try with instructions
• Observers note:
– How they learned how to play
– What problems/difficulties they had
– What was boring/frustrating/confusing
– What was fun
• Everyone:
– How can you make it more fun to learn how to play?

6. User Experience: As a profession
• Product developers have a vision, an experience they want players
to have
• User Experience experts help:
– UX Design: Translate that desired experience into an actual experience
(UI, Game Board & Objects, Controls, Feedback, Tutorial Design,
Challenge Ramp)
– UX Research: Validate that the UX design actually accomplishes its
goals with users; Discover cool things you’d never have guessed
• Videos
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DTSbey8ZyY
– http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/24/3538296/data-entry-risk-management-
and-tacos-inside-halo-4s-playtest-labs
• What are pros and cons of each

7. Case Study: Catan for Xbox Live
• Work that I did a few years ago
• http://www.slideshare.net/jackalshorns/failin
g-gracefully-lessons-learned-from-catan-for-xbla

8. UX Risk Assessment
• What risks for your project?
– Novelty
– Complexity
– Challenge
• How would you go about mitigating the risk?
– UX Design Goals
– UX Research Plan