The Allure of Game Design

The terms interactive and user experience design can be used to describe applications, websites, user interfaces or games. But each of them can be very different beasts to design, requiring varying levels of balance in user experience to be successful.

When designing a tool like a word processor, the key is to enhance usability. While the user experience is important, the success of the product rides on whether the tool does the task it is meant to efficiently.

In game design we are able to shed the usability requirement and exchange it for ‘playability’. But the importance of a games playability is overshadowed if the user does not have a great experience.

That is the allure of game design over any other type interactive design. The success of your game is completely dependent on the user having a satisfying experience. The user (your customer/client) is
spending their hard earned dollars trusting that your game can allow them to have such an experience. If your game does not deliver on this front, you won’t be delivering a successful product. And remember, your game is not the experience, it only allows the player to have the experience.

So how do we ensure a positive experience for our players? That is a much longer post, and the essence of game design. A good place to start is many iterations and much testing.

I find many similarities between game design and cooking. I get the same excitement from watching someone play with a game or mechanic I made that I do when I cook them a meal. I love to see that look of enjoyment on people’s faces when biting into a delicious meal. And if it’s not perfect, I can’t wait to pick apart the reasons why and how the recipe can be improved.

What is it about game design that keeps you coming back for more?

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