Good Practice

After meeting with Gregor and discussing my research on LinkedIn I've come to the decision not to focus on mobile games but to instead look for good practice menu design and how it can be created in order to improve the players FTUE.

I've come a cross a few good menu designs for console games as a results, the latest of which is the upcoming ''Trine 2'' which allows players to control their character on screen before starting and just generally get to grips with the controls and have fun.

The screen changes between night and day for aesthetic appeal. The player can also move, jump, attack and swing their character around the screen there are objects to destroy and the player can also gain an achievement within it. The idea is to let the player have fun from the get go. 

Pressing start however brings up a traditional menu.

"If something exists, it exists to a certain amount, if it exists to an amount, it can be measured"

I've been forwarded an interesting video regarding methods of testing as discussed by Bill Fulton , Mike Ambinder from Valve & John Hopson of Bungie.

http://vimeo.com/26733185

Lack of reference material

After some initial research there seems to be very little out there which currently utilises an in-game menu system. While many games enable the player to control the character to select a level, very few do so to selct game options.

The original Playstation titles Crash Bandicoot and Abe's Odyssey allow the player to use certain game control when selecting menu items and levels. The former sees the player navigate an environment and learn the controls in order to select a level. The downloadable title Braid does a similar thing whereby player navigate an environment and walk through doors to select levels.

Abes Odyssey lets players learn the different dialogues within the menu, not massively revolutionary its just nice that the player is given feedback when slecting an option, rather than being shown what it will do.

Abes Oddysee

With regards to mobile titles, the most popular App store releases such as Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and DoodleJump all use a similar button system. No characters are utilised and the intention is to get players playing the game as quickly as possible.

The intention for my research is that while i recognise within mobile apps players want to start playing quickly, if one can make an enjoyable menu system they may not wish to.

Mario Paint

Mario Paint, released for the SNES in 1992  enables player to mess a round and have fun with the title screen, using some of the in-game mechanics. The section almost forms a game in itself, which is the intention of this research as to get gamers to have fun and enjoy themselves before they play the game will ultimately achieve my goal.

Fables UX Disasters

Disclaimer: I've played and completed Fable 1 (Xbox) and Fable 2(X360) but not played Fable 3 (X360) my knowledge is restricted to that I know the player is king of Albion, Peter Molyneux acknowledged it wasn't the best and my friends who did play it, weren't keen.

Beginning my research into User experience within menu systems brought me upon an article regarding Fable 3's UX failures (http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/learning-from-fable-iiis-ux-mistakes/). I'm going to summarise and discuss the points brought up, if anything for my own knowledge and future reference.

The 3 primary issues are:

1. Misuse of metaphor
2. Over simplification
3. Lack of user control

Misuse of metaphor

Description 

Within fable 3 when players press start, rather than a 2D pause screen popping up, players are taken to a 3D room within the game whereby they can interact with different objects to view different information. 

Pros

Keeps the player immersed, players have a real understanding of where they are in the world and it keeps them feeling like they're a character rather than a godlike person with easy access and control over everything. 

Provides space away from the action. In keeping with a pause feature it enables players to have a breather from the action, 

Cons

• Requires an initial understanding of where certain information is. This means players are gonna have to spend some time familiarising themselves with the various places within the room, not forgetting players are likely to forget over time.
• Info can't be accessed quickly. Perhaps at first its a great feature, but come a few hours into the game if all the player wants is a map. Having to navigate a room for it may be a pain.
• Too many clicks A golden rule of an interface is to try to minimise the number of actions players need to do in order to gain their needed info. fable takes far too long, apparently

Main points

Pause and menu screens are there so players can get access to something quickly while also providing a breather away from the action. Fable manages the latter but not the former, it keeps the player immersed but at their expense not their benefit.

Remedies

In my opinion, while I like the idea of keeping the player immersed, it is a video game and at the end of the day the player wants a specific bit of info, and they want it fast.

Instead, as d-pads aren't as vital as they once were, why not do something similar to Fallout or LA Noire? Press 'Right' and perhaps the player reaches in their pocket for a map, 'Left' may bring up a piece of paper with quests on it. As long as its dynamic and happens on screen then immersion can be sustained while giving the player what they want.

Lack of user control

Once King, players have a specific number of days to carry out tasks How fast those days progress is not made clear to the player

In a game which tries to hand over control of a kingdom and its people to the player, fable 3 certainly makes it difficult. Much in the same way Dead Rising used real world time for players to complete tasks, then pushed them back if they didn't, Fable 2 impedes players and hides information

Over simplification

In a game which gives choice to the player, the amount is fairly restricted. deciding whether to keep an economy up or not only has 2 choices, much like many decisions within the game. the truth of the matter is, life is complicated and no decision is right, wrong or simple. fable confused accessibility with simplification. Players want to be challenged, people arent stupid and this isn't FarmVille. Players want to be challenged (see Mass Effect sales) so don't make it too simple and mundane.

The same is said of combat, balancing classes is vital in any video game and is not a new concept, so when magic becomes the dominant power late in the game (which can easily happen to any game) then why would someone persist with melee. Either gives players choice and balance them, or centre the game around one aspect and make it amazing Simple case of trying to please everyone and pleasing no-one

Steve Jobs - Innovator, CEO and great presenter

While many point to the late Steve Jobs as a great inventor, innovator, business man and CEO. Presenter is another title which suits him well

Apple keynote presentations create a buzz unlike any other, not just because of the pre-speech build up but also due to his on stage demeanour and presentation technique.

I've had a look around and found some interesting points regarding what makes a great presentation, the Steve Jobs way:

1. Setting the theme
2. Outlining
3. Emphasis
4. The 'unforgettable moment'
5. Images>Text
6. Ignore minor mishaps
7. Benefits to the user rather than the product
8. Practice

Many of these points were re affirmed in a lecture today: 

1. One idea per slide
2. Reinforce the core message
3. Create a thread throughout (Much like a comedian)
4. Images>Text
5. An introduction should be strategic and not technical
6. Keep track of time, have a timer in view
7. Rehears and repeat, goes without saying but not often done
8. Answer questions succinctly and don't deviate (unless a politician)
9. Concluding is not summarising

Innovate rather than replicate

With the intention of looking at innovation, the focus of my project should be focused on creating new ways of showing players game mechanics, rather than identifying the best existing one.

My colleague Paul pointed me in the direction of Zack Hiwillers depiction of Mario if developed in 2011 http://www.hiwiller.com/2010/04/29/if-mario-was-designed-in-2010/. During Mark Zuckerberg's speech at F8 this year he talked of how while being able to share achievements and content is what makes 2011 so great to be in, but doing so intrusively at the annoyance of the player is an unfortunate repercussion of  its popularity.

I believe this is how players feel about many mobile game tutorials/introductions. Rather than helping payer they're seen as a hindrance, one to be skipped past if possible. While there's no doubt some games require a reasonable amount of tutorial (such as 'GameDevStory'-which while fun often feels like one big tutorial) others would benefit from more exciting methods.

My aims then are as follows:

1. To identify current methods of introducing game mechanics and controls within mobile games.
2. To determine which ones work well and which don't based on: 
1. Time taken to get into gameplay from booting the game
2. Whether players get frustrated by the game
3. Level of enjoyment experienced by players
3. To identify any demographic trends

My general objective is to research and carry out experiments into how introducing mechanics and controls can be done either without the player feeling like their hand is being held or wasting their time.

To do this I will first observe and test using human player subjects playing a variety of existing mobile games for the first time.

During testing I'll have to use games the subjects haven't played before, possibly negating the use of such games as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.

How best to introduce controls and mechanics

As part of a research proposal my initial idea stems from understanding a few key questions:

When playing mobile games, what's the best way to explain the controls and game mechanic to the player without annoying or boring them?

There seems to be a progressive acceptance that mobile game players don’t read or pay attention to tutorials, certainly not to the degree a console gamer will.

While my Honours looked at the feasibility, methodology and impact of usability testing. Id like to focus more on the tutorial aspect rather than the overall game design, specifically how best to implement tutorials so that players enjoy the tutorial process or even dont realise its happening.

This should be done without the player wanting to skip the process.

Things to look at

• User interface, how can mechanics be used early ?
• Introductory video
• In-game
•  Introductory video
• §  Dependant on quality and time (skippable and un-skippable)
• Splash screens
• In-game tutorial

• 
  

How to go about it

·         Show various mobile games to players

o   Varying degrees of complexity

o   See how long it takes them to understand the controls

·         Create different types of tutorial systems for a game

Ill be likely using the game built during my honours project and designing different types of ways to introduce the controls and mechanics.

Notes

• Not all mobile games centre of one mechanic but not necessarily one control
• Players will always touch screen from interest (how can this be used?

Innovation In Game Design - Usability & User Experience

My Honours degree spurned a great deal of interest in the subject of usability and user experience testing towards improving how functional and enjoyable a game design can be.

One of the core difficulties I had last year was distinguishing between the two, while i lazily often refered to user experience as usability testing what I should have made clearer was that testing how efficient, functional and clear a game design is, falls within usability. While testing how enjoyable and fun a game is sits within user experience camp.

I intentionally picked two optional modules during my masters which focus on this specialisation, Usable Interaction & Pschology within security & technology Both looking at the end user of an interactive product. I'm going to integrate my knowledge and findings into my project management as much as possible while continuing to research new ideas and knowledge on the subject.

Grant Clarke, one of the course supervisors did make a good point though that while it may be better to use independent testers, within this project there is no reason not to use fellow developers.

Alternative Price Model

I was discussing some price models with some friends on the masters and I pitched an idea ive been thinking of for a while.

Piracy is a problem, plain and simple. Disney attempted to get around the issue by only showing Alice in Wonderland in the cinemas for a shorter amount of time, enabling them to get it to DVD quicker and reducing the "piracy gap"

This caused tension with Odeon and Cineworld whereby one of the refused to show the film. What if instead though a film is released at the cinema alongside the DVD, which is half price at the cinema as long as it's being shown.

MProf

I've begun the masters in professional games development at Abertay during the last week.

So far so good, I'm project managing two teams while designing for one, there were some issues at first with regards to the team make-up as a programmer left the course, however after some discussion it's worked out quite well.

Of the two team's I'm managing we've a few ideas we are banding around. One team (the newer team) are fairly set on one particular idea, at first I felt it was far too ambitious for the time and resources we have however after discussion its been scaled down and focused. The team worked in dare to be Digital this year and would like to try something more ambitious as a result, which is understandable if not slightly adventurous. With a lot of design and planning they should have a decent game come the end of the 13 weeks though as the current design is coming along very nicely. credit to them

The other team which I'm designing for have 3 concrete ideas, one about a worm and a mole, another a Rubik's cube and the third underground geysers.  The last week we spent designing, concepting and prototyping. As it stands due to the single programmer, whom hasn't used the technology before and isn't up to speed entirely with the programming language, I'm anxious about going with the worm idea. From an artist perspective it would provide an appropriate amount of work however the geyser could be polished very well and is far less risky considering time and resources.

I'm also taking a usable interaction module this year due to my honours project sparking a keen interest in the subject. I'd like to specialise in the area in future as I feel its massively underestimated within the industry and will likely become an integral part of design process in the future.

PS4 3D Virtual Reality to become a reality?

Only a few days ago was I supporting the idea that i suspect Sony have one eye on virtual reality with their next generation console. Much in the same way they've introduced 3D two thirds into the PS3's life cycle I suspect we'll be seeing head-tracking virtual reality as a key selling point of the PS4.

During CES of this year Sony showed off  a new headset which they along with critics, were highly proud and impressed by. Now according to a develop article http://www.develop-online.net/news/38244/Sony-Were-testing-3D-virtual-reality-games Sony is continuing R&D using head-tracking.

Now considering the biggest problem with Kinect is the difficulty in player navigation, should Sony combine Playstation Eye, Move and Head we cold be seeing a truly revolutionary way of playing games. How long will this take though is the issue. Its 2011 now and we're only just seeing 3D barely take off. However, considering the likelihood of a next Xbox reveal at E3 2012 with a release in 2013, the PS4 is likely to be shown off in 2013 (to take some glitz away from the next Xbox) ready for 2014. So that's 4 years to get this technology ready, that's of they use it at launch, more than enough considering they've already started.

Do people want to wear headsets considering the resistance to 3D glasses, I'm not so sure however the issue with 3D, unlike High definition, is that it' not "better" just different. Virtual reality could technically improve and create new forms of gameplay which players are likely to be more receptive to.

It's a long way off but nice to know the games industry ca continue to evolve and improve.

Mobile Pricing

Apple tyesterday increased its baseline App store prices from 59p to 69p. It comes as my girlfriend is asked to pay £4 for Plants vs Zombies on her WP7 compared to 59p on my iPhone. I was contemplating the price and value of apps recently after Nintendo talked up the idea of games as ‘disposable content’

I think the crux of the issue is that in my opinion the vast majority of games available for 59p are worth more than that, maybe not the inflated prices on WP7 but PVZ for instance is most definitely worth the £4 she paid, and she agrees.

What I’ve noticed a lot is publisher backed titles are pricing their games at 99p and £1.79 (now to be £1.99) while Indie titles sit at 59p. It’s an intriguing idea which I think could and should work and one I think we’ll see more of as mobile games increase in graphic fidelity ad power and the difference in quality becomes more apparent. I don’t however think we’ll be seeing a £40 for quite some time though, when we do I think it’ll be tablet oriented purely because once the packaging and retailer is stripped away, games won’t sit at that price anyway. 

Free to Play

Reading Trip Hawkins comments this morning that "any segment of the games industry on any platform - if you make it free-to-play with virtual goods it'll be better, financially," on GamesIndustry.biz, straight after reading that free to play makes up 65% of the App store revenue (again courtesy of GI.biz) got me thinking. II purchased the new Guardian app last night for free, then paid £3 for 6 months subscription. The process enabled me to evaluate the quality of the app first and then make a decision based on how long ill likely use it for, as i may not have my iphone after September I decided not to pay the extra for the 12 months. The same can be said of games, allowing players to dictate how much they are willing to pay based on their usage is a far better monetisation than the usual standard set price, just ask Zynga.


It also got me thinking about something Peter Molyneux once said, instead of demos, why not release the first 30 mins of a game in full and then require the player to pay to continue playing. The different monetisation strategies developing within the industry is really interesting and should hopefully allow for cheaper games, happier players and more prosperous developers.


On a side note I had a phone interview earlier, the job sounds fantastic and exactly what I'm looking for, unfortunately I talk way too fast on the phone which hopefully hasn't dented my chances.

Graduation

Academic achievement often feels anti-climatic. We spend months working and revising towards our GCSEs, A-Levels and degrees only to then wait months for our results. When they finally come we often without anything other than a bit of paper the process feels oddly disappointing. I remember receiving my A-Levels the day before my birthday and feeling very odd, maybe it yet when I received confirmation of my First class degree I couldn't have been happier. I finally got the bit of paper confirming it yesterday at graduation, a lengthy and slightly boring process, yet my family came up and it was a great day yet also very draining.

I've been meeting with the Grim team and working towards releasing the game. Craig's new artwork is looking good, everything is being converted using Illustrator, new levels and better understandable walls are also being created. Once done its a case of database, balancing, level design and new enemies. I see no reason as to why it wont be on the marketplace at August. Below is a new urban environment, considering its unlockable later on in the game player's will be aware of how the walls work and so we can have more fun with them. So it'll be set between skyscrapers using windows as breakable walls.

The job hunt also continues, I've a phone interview with a development studio in England. The role looks absolutely fantastic and looking at their history I'd be working with some very experienced developers. Fingers crossed.

Grim Vacation & Sunshine

Now that post undergraduate life is starting to settle in and I recuperate from hospital, at least until my potential masters begins, It's time to pick up development of the game "Grim Vacation".

Today I met with my artist Craig Payne for the first time since uni to discuss where we are and where we need to go with the project. While the game is at a fairly respectable state it still lacks a few necessities such as final character animation, enemies and the database work,  among other things. I'm planning on it being released towards the end of July though which considering what needs doing should most definitely be feasible.

Its interesting developing Grim compared to Icarus from a perspective of looking to release the game as opposed to producing a game prototype. For instance ensuring all the levels are unlockable has to be included while on a prototype its simply a proof of concept, all obvious but not considered before.

I also discussed with Craig the development of the game Sunshine (working title). While it was originally planned for Xbox I'm now looking at re-designing it for mobile and tablet. While id like to develop for iPhone considering the lack of fragmentation, licence fees and no longer owning a Mac has probably put paid to it. So we will continue with development on Android. Id like to produce a 3D version for tablets down the line, however initially we will focus purely on Android smartphones.

My biggest task at the moment is going to be working out dimensions, briefs and control scheme. I'm looking at whether the accelerometer will work and potentially producing 2 alternate prototypes.

We discussed bringing in another artist however I don't think it'll be necessary (unless Craig gets a job) as we're looking at working full time on the project. I'll be producing some concepts of my own over the next few weeks though to help my team understand the idea.

Buying Pre-Owned

I'm not one to horde games. While my film collection may be bigger than my bed I've for around the last 6-7 yars I've oly kept games which are either online or those which i just can't sell, such as Kotor. as such I think the last game i purchased full price would have been Fifa, at a Tesco knock down of £25. So when I went into gamestation to pick up StarCraft 2 as I'll be bed rideen for a while I ended up spending the £30 on 3 PS3 games instead (Arkam Asylum, Ratchet & Clank and Dead Rising 2) All games I've wanted to play for some time just never got around to it.

When I was chatting to the consultant there he pressed on me trading games in to get them even cheaper. Now consiering the damage it does to the games industry Im stuck somewhere within my moral compass staring at the empty abyss which is my wallet. While I take full advantage of stores pressing on pre-owned I don't expect it to last forever. While digital distribution may be the norm for mobile and smaller titles on PSN/XBLA, for larger titles I don't foresee an immediate future whereby we'll all be downloading them. Lack of broadband speeds, HDD space and most significantly a lack of competition. As EA opens its Origin store its an odd marketplace to be entering. Rarely do people complain that Steam is over priced, quite the opposite. So while I would argue any boxed product game on PSN is generally too expensive I do see a great deal of value in the smaller titles, such as the PixelJunk series. This is because I agree with their pricing, I don't agree that games should be a standard £39.99 regardless of content. I also don't buy into the idea that if its online only there will be a lack of competition its just there isn't any right now, if anything such as seen in the App store as competition increases among products prices will fall.

We're now seeing Origin compete with Steam and Amazons Android store will likely be among many competing with the native client. Regardless of anything if consumers don't feel something is worth the money, they won't buy it. Just give it time, during which I'll be fighting the Joker.

Passing the time with iOS

As university recently finished Ive spent some time rlaxing, both through holiday and hospitalisation. During this time I've had a large amount of time to explore the vast number of games available on the pp store. I recebtly realied that i neithe rpla enough mobile games or of a large enough variety. I've notied many of my friends and collegues all have the same usual gaes on their smartphones, namely Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and Tiny Wings. Surely there must be more out there considering the 250k apps  often quoted.

My initial aim was to continue with what I had, so Ive been steadily competing levels on Cut the Rope and Anrgy Birds, while no means complete I'm a fair bit further into them than I was some 1 month ago. Other than that though I've been playing the following games:

Game Dev Story
A game ive heard of for a while but one which id been apprhenisve about starting. Silly me because its hard to put down. By no means anything ive not come across before, but the timing f completing a game project and starting a new one is so fine that i literally couldnt stop while in hospital. Just a shame it ended after 20 years id keep going and going. In saying that I did feel that while its perhaps my own knowledge of the games industry which meant i succeeded, rarely did I run into too many issues. The weighting of success over failure was quite large and id probably appreciate a bit more difficulty.

Feed me Oil
Reminds me of World of Goo just not as good, while excellent from a development point of view I feel its very much trial and error and the accessibility of hints pretty much means im constantly being walked through the experience 

Stylish Sprint
I was hoping for something a bit more than cannonbalt, while it is prettier and does have more depth its still the same game at its core and as such Im not reaching for my 3GS every 5 minutes to play

Storm in a Tea Cup
What an interesting game. On the one hand the control system is abysmal, the menu system confusing and yet i keep playing it and I beleive thats down to the level design. Its superbly made and comes fom a local studio. Ive contemplayted how the controls could be improved and to to be fair to Cobra Mobile its not as easy task. The difficulty is high and i appreciate that, to a certain extent. In general though one cant complain if one keeps coming back to play. Great title.

Siege Hero
Theyve used pretty much the exact sae layout as Angry irds while the experience isnt anywhere near as difficult. And yet as it so closely resemble AB i completed it with great enoyment, Ill look forward to further levels being released. 

Hard Lines
An interesting take on Nokia's Snake however quite confusing. lenty of games modes just difficult to know what each one does. Do i move into an enemy to kill them or do they die if they hit me? Ill need to play it further but generally i can see potential.

World of Goo
Goo on the iPhone, what's not to like.

To-Fu
ointin your charger in the direction i want to shoot him, rather than backwards like a slingshot is odd bt understandable. Enjoyable and nice to look at Ill definetly keep playing

Sticky
recomended by a friend its similar to To-Fu, ill need to keep playing though as like Pinball i think my phone is killing it

Poultry Pinball
A friends game which is suffereing from framerate issues. Im gonna pass judgment once ive freed up some space on my phone as im fairly certain its killing the game. Poor 3GS

How did i find them? Its an interesting question and one which I explored during my honours project, just how and why do people play certain games. From my own experience ive found my initial source for information is not the top 25 games but instead weekly round ups of top iOS games on sites like eurogamer and kotaku. The importance of marketing and word of moth is becoming very clear to me. One mention of a game and im already on the App store. From there ill take a look at the reviewes but to be honest, for me to even be there requires it to be iven a decent rating oneline. so its rare than im not pressing buy now.

Ive also noiced the more i play, the more i recognise developers and publishers. While its seemingly common knowledge that a publisher like Chillingo (teacup, Feed me Oil, Cut the rope and Angry Birds) gives the game gravitas. If i notice a game was developed by somebody i know im more iclined to check it out, suh as Spilt Milk's Hard Lines. Ensuring that indie developers arent hidden behind publishers should be treasured.

My next stop, to free up some space on my phone so i can play SuperBrothers: Sword and Sworcery (did they spell it wrong intentionally?), that and continue my recovery from hospital. Gonna be a while but with 250k apps to play with, should make it easier.

Portfolio

I'm going to kick off this new blog with my current job/uni situation. As i await my final year grades I'm looking at any and all available design or production jobs within the games industry. If I like many in the job market fail to procure any work, I'll be doing the MProf at Abertay next year. While I don't have any qualms about the masters, the program looks very good as Ill be working with industry professionals, I would however, like many, prefer actual games industry experience.

While I've been applying for jobs I've realised that my online presence isn't up to scratch, and so instead of waiting for my web developer to fix my website I've created this blog and I'm creating a written and online portfolio.

I'm using Youtube to upload videos of my current work although that's difficult as some are protected by NDA (non-disclosure agreements) and I cannot seem to find my 2nd year group project, "Chameleon", annoyingly my half broken P.C may contain the treasure I seek though.

The difficulty I'm finding is that while I have experience an knowledge of both design and production, industry doesn't allow for people to generally hold both roles, understandably As my skills lean towards design that's what Im focusing on.