Event Title: “Exploring the UX Dimensions of GameDesign”Date: 29th of August 2008Speaker: Jason aventCompany: BlackRock StudioTopic: “PURE and the demands of a mass-market audience”

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*The contents of this slideshow was presented at a Use8 event and reflects the views of the presenting parties..

Event DescriptionThe Games industry has created a whole series of challenges for games developers and designers. Games narratives, structures and controls have got to a level of complexity that offers new ground for inventing and developing different methods of interacting with games.

To be successful, in such a crowded and competitive industry, games developers must consider the context of experience.

Unlike traditional software, where more traditional performance metrics can be applied, measuring experiential dimensions such as 'fun' and 'playability' becomes a daunting task. Games are a tremendously varied set of applications, defying a one-size-fits-all approach. Even a broad and relevant concept such as flow falls short of capturing all classes of game experience.

'Play' will go beyond simple usability issues exploring different dimensions of User Experience that make games enjoyable.

*The contents of this slideshow was presented at a Use8 event and reflects the views of the presenting parties..

Black Rock Studio

Jason Avent – Game Director

History• 9 years• 20 games• Independent until 2006• Now Disney Owned• No usability outside of team pre 2006• Some contact with MS usability• Limited Market Research – often

confused with usability.

Pure Intro Video

Why Now?

• Stability and funding

• Focus

• Time

• Quality over short term profit

Product Lifecycle• Prototype – April 07• First Playable – June 07• Pre-production – Sep 07• Vertical Slice – Nov 07• Production phase• Pre-Alpha - January• Alpha - March• Beta - June

What do we test?• Blind Testing

– Free flow– Narrow specific– Broad specific

• Group Testing– Difficulty Curve– Is it fun?– Volume of data/consensus– Shared experience

How do we test?

• Space

• Recruitment

• Setting the scene and shut up

How do we test• Data Logging (Restarts, Lap times, best result)

• Think out loud

• Pause for questions

• Supervision

• Focus-group style discussion

Benefits• Usability Blockers

• Helps to win arguments (or lose when you’re supposed to!)

• Qualification

• Intelligent helper system

• Learning Curve

What about the future?

• More scientific

• Start Earlier

• Better setup

• Get help

Thank you!

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*The contents of this slideshow was presented at a Use8 event and reflects the views of the presenting parties..