[game_edu] Game interface design class?

[Jose P. Zagal]

Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas!

I am familiar with the "usual" HCI and UX sources, so I was looking to 
complement those with game-related ones. It will take me some time to 
digest all your recommendations!


Jose

On 6/15/2011 8:17 PM, Adam Parker wrote:

> Hi all,

>

> I was an interaction designer focusing on UI for web and kiosks in a

> past life. I don't lecture in this area at present, but when asked about

> my professional practice by students designing game UIs I tend to start

> them with two clear spines...

>

>     *  From a human-computer interaction (HCI) perspective - Ben

>       Shneiderman, Designing the User Interface

>       <http://www.amazon.com/Designing-User-Interface-Human-Computer-Interaction/dp/0321537351/ref=dp_ob_title_bk>,

>       fifth edition. The 8 Golden Rules of HCI, and 50 years of progress

>       along computer science, cognitive science and ergonomic principles.

>

>     *  From an interaction design (IxD) perspective, I agree with Kim -

>       Preece, Rogers and Sharp, Interaction design: Beyond

>       Human-Computer Interaction

>       <http://www.amazon.com/Interaction-Design-Beyond-Human-Computer/dp/0470665769/ref=dp_ob_title_bk>,

>       now in its third editon. This book has changed markedly over the

>       years since the edition Kim is talking about, so get a recent one

>       at all costs. A condensation of the more recent trend in the last

>       2 decades towards investigation based on qualitative social

>       science methods.

>

> The UI field can be seen as being structured by the tectonics of these

> two major disciplinary tendencies - one tending towards engineering, the

> other tending towards "product" design.

>

> For those who have to teach this area to non-designers, an oldie but goodie

>

>     * Mullet and Sano, Designing Visual Interfaces

>       <http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Visual-Interfaces-Communication-Techniques/dp/0133033899>.

>       Back in 1994 this saved my professional bacon when thrown in the

>       deep end designing UI on a major project with no experience. I owe

>       them beer. many examples out of date (MacOS 6!!!), but the

>       principles are timeless.

>

> Also consider:

>

>     * Krug, Don't make me think!

>       <http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=pd_sim_b_4>.

>       Web oriented, but witty and readable.

>

> Now, some thoughts for gratuitous effect ;^) (Gets on his old feller

> soapbox...)

>

> I'd issue a word of caution that we should not assume that HCI and IxD

> knowledges are immediately transferrable to game design in general.

> Assessment is required. Practitioners in those disciplines often operate

> under ideologies of efficiency and productivity that often run counter

> to notions of play.

>

> There is also much to be said for knowledges and practices devised in

> light of the opportunities arising from the area's unique processes,

> some of which could better inform UI as practiced in traditional HCI and

> IxD.

>

> I really like the look of David Farrell's curriculum, as it puts

> emphasis on pragmatic user evaluation techniques and analysis methods.

>

> All that being said, I've a personal interest in the effectiveness of

> transferring traditional IxD knowledge to game design in general where

> appropriate, so please let me know how things are going for you if you

> are trying to do this as well.

>

> Cheers

> Adam

>

> On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 8:12 PM, Kim Blake <kblake at blitzgamesstudios.com

> <mailto:kblake at blitzgamesstudios.com>> wrote:

>

>     Hi,

>

>     One of our designers is super-keen on the importance of UI design

>     and he recommends this from his (not very distant) uni days:

>

>     Preece, Rogers and Sharp (2002) – Interaction Design

>

>     It’s got some great stuff in it, but I guess if you were buying it

>     specifically I’d probably say get a cheapo copy since it has

>     enormous swathes dedicated to various different ways of identifying

>     your users needs, the principal of which is great, but the long long

>     explanations of how to do them are not worth your up-to-date pennies.

>

>     Kim

>

>     *From:*game_edu-bounces at igda.org <mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org>

>     [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org

>     <mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org>] *On Behalf Of *David Farrell

>     *Sent:* 15 June 2011 10:38

>

>     *To:* IGDA Game Education Listserv

>     *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] Game interface design class?

>

>     Hi,

>

>     Here at Glasgow Caledonian, I teach a class on game UI. I put all my

>     slides up on slideshare

>     <http://www.slideshare.net/unthank/presentations> (anything tagged

>     comu346) and you can download my coursework specification somewhere

>     on the course blog ( http://comu346.com )

>

>     We had a similar problem in finding good resources online. We ended

>     up mixing in some non-game-specific UI stuff (traditional UI + some

>     design focus from Norman's Design of Everyday Things

>     <http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0385267746>,

>     Duarte's Slideology

>     <http://www.amazon.co.uk/slide-Science-Creating-Presentations-Presentation/dp/0596522347>

>     and Tufte's work

>     <http://www.amazon.com/Envisioning-Information-Edward-R-Tufte/dp/0961392118/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308130427&sr=1-2>

>     amongst other stuff) alongside the gamey stuff. I couldn't find a

>     single great resource for the game stuff and so ended up using

>     traditional UI teachings and hunting for examples from games myself

>     that used the technique in question.

>

>     The class goes a bit beyond game UI in the traditional sense and

>     talks about data visualisation with the aim of promoting better ways

>     of presenting data to players.

>

>     The course syllabus this year covered:

>

>         * Menus (using Brent Fox's book

>           <http://www.amazon.co.uk/Interface-Design-Premier-Press-Development/dp/1592005934>'s

>           approach to flowcharts)

>         * UI components (including using Krystian Majewski's excellent

>           Mass Effect UI

>           <http://gamedesignreviews.com/reviews/mass-effect-interface-fail/>

>           breakdown alongside traditional 'here is what a radio button

>           is good for' stuff)

>         * Use of text (fonts etc)

>         * Use of Colour (mixing game examples, some colourblind stuff

>           and Tufte's work on this )

>         * Use of layering and separation (Tufte's techniques mapped onto

>           games)

>         * Micro and Macro design (Tufte again)

>         * Immersion through UI (heavily based on Fagerhold's brilliant

>           Masters Thesis

>           <http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CDIQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpublications.lib.chalmers.se%2Frecords%2Ffulltext%2F111921.pdf&ei=3nr4TbWlLIW2hAfYnqjyCw&usg=AFQjCNEX0-OnTKT_zHSML1z3MfuDaEwIkg>

>           on diegetic UI - as mentioned in this gamasutra article

>           <http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4286/game_ui_discoveries_what_players_.php?print=1>)

>         * Semiotics and Icon Design

>         * Prototyping Techniques (wireframes / card-sorting / digital

>           prototypes)

>         * UI evaluation techniques (heuristic evaluation / cognitive

>           walkthrough / think aloud protocol)

>         * Platform constraints (use the iPhone HIG document - I tried to

>           get a hold of the guideline docs for XBox and Playstation but

>           couldn't)

>

>     The coursework assignment last year was to redesign the Dwarf

>     Fortress UI for XBox and this year the assignment was to redesign

>     the UI for Solium Infernum for the iPad. Both of these PC games have

>     oodles of data and game verbs that the game struggles to present

>     without resorting to endless menus.

>

>     We use Flash for the technical component of the class and the

>     student digital prototypes are a mixture of working Flash UI and

>     static game screenshots.

>

>     If Jose (or anyone else here) has any ideas on how to improve this

>     (beyond the links already shared) please share them.

>

>     HTH

>

>     David

>

>     On 14 June 2011 22:12, Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com

>     <mailto:ai864 at yahoo.com>> wrote:

>

>     Thanks for the callout! I also addressed the topic in my online

>     course from 2009 based on the book:

>     http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/level-17-user-interfaces/

>

>     The primary focus in that blog post is on the UI of nondigital

>     games, not video games, but I think there are a number of

>     overlapping concepts between the two.

>

>     - Ian

>

>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

>     *From:*Dan <danc at narrativedesigns.com

>     <mailto:danc at narrativedesigns.com>>

>     *To:* IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org

>     <mailto:game_edu at igda.org>>

>     *Sent:* Tue, June 14, 2011 3:52:31 PM

>     *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] Game interface design class?

>

>

>     While not a book focused on UI, Brathwaite & Schreiber's "Challenges for

>     Game Designers" has a chapter on it. They write some excellent

>     exercises in

>     their book and the ones on UI are definitely worth looking at.

>

>     That's the only resource that sprang to mind.

>

>     --Dan Carreker

>

>

>     -----Original Message-----

>     From: Jose P. Zagal [mailto:jzagal at cdm.depaul.edu

>     <mailto:jzagal at cdm.depaul.edu>]

>     Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 12:30 PM

>     To: IGDA Game Education Listserv

>     Subject: [game_edu] Game interface design class?

>

>     Hi,

>

>     I'm currently developing a 10-week course on game interface design

>     and I

>     was wondering if anyone on the list wouldn't mind sharing

>     resources/syllabi/assignments/etc. I'm surprised by the lack of

>     resources I've found online...

>

>     thanks,

>

>

>     Jose

>

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>

>

> --

> Adam Parker

> Senior Lecturer, Games Design

> Qantm College

>

> Qantm College Melbourne Campus

> 235 Normanby Rd

> South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia

>

> +61 (0) 3 8632 3400 | Phone

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