11.17 - ux in games

As User Experience/User Interface design and research is one of my interests and potential career paths, the video on incorporating UX into board games was very insightful. And I have taken the role of creating the game board for our final project once again, making watching the how-to-play videos pretty inspiring. Our board game is based on the Northern Regalia cartridge art. The idea is that you play as a group of siblings who are trying to escape the castle and collect some cool stuff along the way. Ideally, we’d like to incorporate opportunities for players to collaborate and be competitive. 

I watched the video on Sniper Elite: The Board Game. This game’s board makes use of a top-down, blueprint perspective, which is similar to what I was hoping to do with our game as well. Interestingly, this game uses spaces that aren’t all equal in size. We discussed our game having lots of different hidden passageways and spaces, so seeing it somewhat actualized is confirmation that we can make it happen. One thing that isn’t intuitive about Sniper Elite is its use of line of sight. The line of sight doesn’t align with the positioning of the players themselves, but rather if you can trace the space perimeters to reach the other player. 

If I were one of the designers for this game, this is a “sucky” element that I would modify or make more straightforward. Removing the suck is a principle mentioned by Jason Schklar at DGC 2019. From a UX/UI perspective, decreasing/eliminating the time it takes for players to figure out how a game works, or at least the sucky parts of time makes for a better game. This can come in many forms like design or instructions, and is commonly revealed when first exposed to a game. If something doesn’t feel intuitive, there is an opportunity to make it better.