Final Product
As mentioned before when referring to the ideas of Human Perception and the principles of motivation, the idea is to use a minimalistic art style that propels the puzzles to the forefront, a simple mechanic that makes the interaction and manipulation of in game elements easy and finally, the level design that motivates the user to play through different levels.
This resulted in a game that is similar in terms of its theme to popular Sci-fi First Person Puzzlers. Yet, the narrative, the puzzles and the mechanics are unique enough to stand out.
The game also has a character model for the user. This ensures that there's no disconnect in the interaction and the feedback. This keeps the immersion from being broken and maintains the user's state of mind called flow.
The tuning of user experience is vital in such games. As a game designer, I might say that the user has to go from point A to B while doing X,Y and Z. I might even adjust the difficulty of this task. But as a UX Designer, I have to ensure that the experience of this task is seamless. There is ample amounts of feedback, the user's guided properly, the user interface is responsive and as mentioned before, the psychological state of flow is maintained.
Initial Research
During my research project “The Big Five”, I came across a method that is widely adapted by the scientific community. This method is referred to as the scientific method.
I have described this method in detail under the work - Intestonauts.
Furthermore, this method spurred me onto different theories and principles of Human motivation and perception. For example, in the excellent research paper "The Motivational Pull of Video Games: A Self-Determination Theory Approach", which is co- authored by Richard M. Ryan, C. Scott Rigby, Andrew Przybylski, talks about several motivational aspects that can be applied when fine tuning the user experience of a game.
Theories of Human Perception include the use of negative space, contrasting objects which the user can use to differentiate different elements of the level and finally grouping objects with similar colour and in similar lighting to establish a pattern for easy retention by the
The Solution and The Reasoning
Spectrum
Roles: Level Design, UX/UI Design, Prototyping and Scripting
"The game was judged by the esteemed panel of officials from BAFTA and was given great praise."
The Challenge
Design a game demo for a First person puzzler, set in a sci-fi themed world. The game will be played by the officials from BAFTA who are also the clients for this project. The pitch came with a prototype, wherein the First Person Puzzler had plenty of ideas which were proposed to be in the game. So, the idea was to take this prototype and create a fully fleshed out demo. The game is to be played on the PC Platform.
Time to break it down (Inner Monologue Time)
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The requirement is of a demo.
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A good demo consists of a tutorial and just enough to establish a hook for the user to get the full game.
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Sci-Fi Theme and Narrative
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Pre-Existing game mechanics and puzzle Ideas
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Since the game had plenty of ideas already, The team I was part of, agreed on the idea of having a unique puzzle design and game mechanics that team came up with to add their own spin to it while sticking to the original design.
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Case Study
Now, few of the most highly played first person puzzlers according to Steam are Portal, Portal 2, Antichamber, Q.U.B.E.
The thing that all these games have in common are a minimalist Sci-Fi themed are style and very simple mechanics that are easy to pick up and play.
The reason for using a minimalist art style seems to be a very smart way to guide the user towards whats important and drown out all the rest. In this case the Puzzle seems to be the most important obstacle for the user. This art style has proven to work in many critically acclaimed puzzle games and the simple mechanic that lets user interact with the world just keeps the flow.
Now, apart from the art style and simple mechanics, each level in any of these puzzle games range from 10-15 minutes depending on the difficulty of the level. Therefore, these games are a great example to follow.
Also, according to a lot of users, the aspect of seeing your hands while you use them in the game like its done in Q.U.B.E., makes for a more seamless feel of interaction.
The Features
Minimalistic UI
Staying true to the theme of Sci-fi and the rest of the art style the menu has been fine tuned to be an excellent part of the game. This minimalistic style also stays out of the user's way in his pursuit to get to the game.
Minimalistic Art Style
As mentioned before this art style the benefits of having an art style such as this lends itself well to a puzzle game. It acts like a blank canvas and the bright colours act as a guiding point for human perception and creates curiosity to keep the user motivated.
The Hand
The hand as mentioned before provides a seamless input and feedback. It also acts as a HUD UI for the user as it shows what colour the user is currently in possession with. Clicking on the red cube exchanges the white with red on the hand and the cube with while.
Narrative Device
According to the narrative, the user is a test subject held against his or her will by a very powerful corporation. What the user's in game character is seeing is a virtual simulation. These terminals like the one above in the picture act as conduits for the narrative. They also act as breadcrumbs to lead the user to the end of the story and keep the motivation at an optimum level.
Diegetic UI
The game features a Diegetic UI. Its user interface that is presented as part of the game world. It appears in context to the visual element right next to it. This and The Hand make having a traditional HUD UI redundant. Also, a lack of HUD UI also ensures that there's nothing static and distracting between the user and
Guiding Lights
These lights act as a diegetic HUD UI element that guides the user from the entrance of the level to its exit. The light flows in the direction of entrance to exit. Therefore, the user always knows where to go.