A Player-Centric Design Philosophy
Over the past few weeks, our team has been deeply engaged in the design and prototyping phase of our project, "Under Choices". A key principle guiding our work is the concept of Player-Centric Design (PCD). We are committed to creating an experience that is intuitive, engaging, and satisfying for our players. This means anticipating how players will interact with our game and ensuring that every aspect of the design is aligned with their needs and expectations.
Inspired by the Brazilian and Russian constructivist movement and the Bauhaus design school, we are striving to create a user interface (UI) that is simple yet effective. Our goal is to communicate information clearly and efficiently, using solid and straightforward forms that echo the principles of these influential design movements.
Consistency: The Key to a Cohesive Experience
Consistency is a cornerstone of our design approach. From the outset, we have established a clear and consistent art direction, which includes style guidelines, colour palettes, and iconography. This consistency will be maintained throughout the game, providing a cohesive and immersive experience for our players.
Simplifying the Complex
In our quest for simplicity, we are working to distill our icons, indices, and symbols to their most essential forms. We believe that by eliminating irrelevant information, we can streamline the player experience and reduce cognitive load. This approach ensures that players can focus on the most important aspects of the game without being overwhelmed by extraneous details.
Minimizing Mental Effort
We are also committed to minimizing the mental effort required to play our game. We understand that excessive cognitive load can lead to inefficiency and errors. Therefore, we are designing our game to be intuitive and easy to learn. We are also ensuring that instructions for using our interface are clear and easily accessible.
Feedback: A Crucial Component of Player Experience
Feedback is a crucial component of any interactive system. In our game, we will use changes in colour, shape, and sound to provide immediate feedback on short processes. For longer operations, we will use indicators to show that the process is underway and provide final feedback upon completion.
Prioritizing Player Experience
Ultimately, our goal is to create a game that provides a pleasant and immersive experience for our players. We believe that the best UI is one that goes unnoticed, seamlessly facilitating interaction between the player and the game. To this end, we have chosen to use a diegetic interface, which integrates the UI elements into the game world itself, enhancing player immersion.
In conclusion, our design philosophy for "Under Choices" is deeply rooted in the principles of Player-Centered Design. By prioritizing the needs and expectations of our players, we aim to create a game that is engaging, intuitive, and satisfying to play. We look forward to sharing more about our design process in future devlogs. Stay tuned!
Until next time,
Zizo Mass
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