This week in game design we focused on creating UX in game design and how it helps gamers understand and play complex games. Without UX games such as League of Legends would be an unplayable mess of menu screens and buttons. UX is what holds games together and so it was inevitable that we spend a full week to barely scratch the surface at what UX techniques can do for a game. In order to explore UX we started by taking a screen shot of a website we often use. We then were tasked for recreating this website's UI (user interface) to target different audiences. Here's my initial page: As you can see this website already has good UI. The buttons are clear and the key information on the page is highlighted. You can tell that it is targeted at a specialized audience because of the use of symbols instead of words on the buttons used to navigate around the site. This is my take on the website for a more minimalist audience: As you can see I first took out the background to make the buttons easier to see. I then made an easy to navigate sorting menu at the bottom of the page where it can be easily accessed. By keeping everything on one screen, users are always only a mouse click away from anything in the site and can always see their full list of sorting choices. I also added in a forum links page which promotes community building; a thing the original site leaves out.
•Weekly review •Why UX is important to game design •My approach to re-designing a website
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This past week we worked on learning about the international side of the game market. To do this everyone in my class each focused on a different country to learn about and at the end of the week present an infographic on (see the infographic on my portfolio page!). The country I decided to focus on was China and what I learned surprised me.
I knew China had censored content, but I didn't know that until July 2015 foreign consoles were banned in China. Further than that, I had no idea what a big effect this had on China's gaming industry and how much of China's gaming market is still effected by this long-time ban. Without consoles from large companies like Nintindo and X-Box, the PC has reigned supreme in China. This means that even now with the ban lifted many companies are having a hard time getting console-specific games to sell in China. The PC's supremacy in China is also seen in the rise of MMORPG's like Fantasy Westward Journey. These games are backed by the popularity of net-cafes in China. These two trends back each other by giving bonuses to playing online games in net-cafes such as more experience. This is a tactic rarely seen in American game marketing. All in all China has been deeply affected by its console ban years after its been lifted. This makes it a huge growing market for the international gaming industry. And likewise a very hard to reach market for companies that base their games off consoles. The most recent addition to the Pokémon saga may be the weirdest game in the series yet. But does that make it worse than the previous games? I'll be honest: when I first saw this game I thought it was the death of the series. The weird cast of Hawaiian characters and increased hand holding just didn't click with me and for the first time in a while I found myself wondering if I'd actually buy the game at all.
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AuthorSamuel Henry is a Senior at DSA in NC. He has 3 years of prior experience in the game design pathway and he's looking forward to becoming a great game designer. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools Categories
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