Book description
Computers used to be for geeks. And geeks were fine with dealing with a difficult and finicky interface--they liked this--it was even a sort of badge of honor (e.g. the Unix geeks). But making the interface really intuitive and useful--think about the first Macintosh computers--took computers far far beyond the geek crowd. The Mac made HCI (human c
Table of contents
- Preliminaries
- Foreword
- Part I: What is Usability and Why Should I Care?
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Part II: Usability Techniques 101
- Chapter Three: Interview with Tobi Saulnier, Founder and CEO of 1st Playable Productions
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Chapter Four: Games User Research (GUR) : Our Experience with and Evolution of Four Methods
- 4.1 Objectives in the Chapter
- 4.2 The Opportunity and Challenge of Games Research
- 4.3 Researching Play in the First Hour: Playtest
- 4.4 Researching Social/Party Games
- 4.5 Researching Play in the "Real-World": Beta
- 4.6 The Importance of First lmpressions:Trials and Demos
- 4.7 Conclusion
- 4.8 Acknowledgments
- 4.9 References
- Chapter Five: Let the Game Tester Do the Talking: Think Aloud and Interviewing to Learn About the Game Experience
- Chapter Six: Heuristic Evaluation of Games
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Chapter Seven: Usability and Playability Expert Evaluation
- 7.1 Introduction
- 7.2 What Is Being Evaluated
- 7.3 How the Evaluation Is Done
- 7.4 When to Evaluate
- 7.5 Process
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7.6 Heuristics
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7.6.1 Usability Heuristics
- Consistency
- Provide feedback
- Use easy-to-understand terminology
- Minimize player's memory load
- Avoid errors
- Provide help
- Simple and clear menus
- Device user interface and game user interface are used for their own purposes
- Screen layout is efficient and visually pleasing
- Audiovisual representation supports the game
- Game controls are convenient and flexible
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7.6.2 Gameplay Heuristics
- The game provides clear goals or supports player-created goals
- The player sees the progress in the game and can compare the results
- The player is rewarded and rewards are meaningful
- The player is in control
- Challenge, strategy, and pace are balanced
- The first-time experience is encouraging
- The game story supports the gameplay and is meaningful
- There are no repetitive or boring tasks
- The game supports different playing styles
- The game does not stagnate
- The game is consistent
- The game uses orthogonal unit differentiation
- The player does not lose any hard-won possessions
- The players can express themselves
- 7.6.3 Heuristics Specific to the Platform and Game Type
- 7.6.4 Previous Experience and Knowledge of Good Design Practices
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7.6.1 Usability Heuristics
- 7.7 Summary
- 7.8 References
- Chapter Eight: Interview with Eric Schaffer, Ph.D., CEO of Human Factors International
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Chapter Nine: Master Metrics: The Science Behind the Art of Game Design
- 9.1 Overview
- 9.2 Background
- 9.3 The Techniques
- 9.4 Feature Design: Listen to Metacritic but don't be a Slave to Metacritic Source: Multiple Companies
- 9.5 Take-Aways
- 9.6 Feature Design: Morphological Analysis is Analytical Creativity in Action Source: Don Arey, David Perry, Others
- 9.7 Take-Aways
- 9.8 Mechanics Design—Quantify Types of Emotions Evoked—Offer Three or More Source: Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign
- 9.9 Take-Aways
- 9.10 Level Design—Use "Heat Maps" to Track and Quantify User Experience Source: Microsoft User Research Group
- 9.11 Take-Aways
- 9.12 Level Design—Craft a Balanced Mix of Activities Using "Time Spent" Reports Source: BioWare Corp.
- 9.13 Take-Away
- 9.14 Level Design—Track Engagement with Bio-sensors to Quantify Player Experience Source: EmSense, Inc.
- 9.15 Take-Aways
- 9.16 Control Design—Simplify Controls through Measured Complexity Models Source: Activision Central Design and 21st Century Game Design
- 9.17 Take-Aways
- 9.18 Experience Design—Integrate Playcentric Design throughout Development Source: Game Design Workshop
- 9.19 Take-Aways
- 9.20 References
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Part III: Focus on Special Contexts and Types of Players
- Chapter Ten: The Strange Case of the Casual Gamer
- Chapter Eleven: Interviews about User Testing Practices at PlayFirst®
- Chapter Twelve: Interview with Roppyaku Tsurumi, Roppyaku Design
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Part IV: Advanced Tactics
- Chapter Thirteen: Using Biometric Measurement to Help Develop Emotionally Compelling Games
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Chapter Fourteen: Physiological Measures for Game Evaluation*
- 14.1 Introduction
- 14.2 Comparison to other evaluation techniques
- 14.3 Which Sensors to Choose
- 14.4 Considerations for Collecting Physiological Data
- 14.5 How to Analyze Physiological Data
- 14.6 Advanced Uses of Physiological Data
- 14.7 Conclusions
- 14.8 Acknowledgements
- 14.9 References
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Chapter Fifteen: TRUE Instrumentation: Tracking Real-Time User Experience in Games
- Objectives in the Chapter
- Abstract
- 15.1 The Genesis
- 15.2 Putting it Together: TRUE Instrumentation
- 15.3 Forza 2: Production and Polishing
- 15.4 Shadowrun—Beta
- 15.5 Crackdown: Demo
- 15.6 Next Steps and Resources
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15.7 Lessons Learned
- 15.7.1 Lesson 1: Plan for instrumentation early, make sure there is time for iteration
- 15.7.2 Lesson 2: Start with your research questions
- 15.7.3 Lesson 3: Keep the number of variables you are tracking to an absolute minimum
- 15.7.4 Lesson 4: Build sample reports BEFORE you set your hooks
- 15.7.5 Lesson 5: Represent the data visually
- 15.7.6 Lesson 6: If possible, have Design specify their design intent so we can compare actual with intended performance
- 15.7.7 Lesson 7: Test to make sure your instrumentation is recording data reliably
- 15.7.8 Lesson 8: Integrate into the source tree so you always have an instrumented build
- 15.7.9 Lesson 9: Instrumentation does not replace other forms of getting feedback
- 15.8 References
- Chapter Sixteen: Interview with Georgios Yannakakis, Assistant Professor at the Center for Computer Games Research, IT-University of Copenhagen
- Chapter Seventeen (A): Usability for Game Feel
- Chapter Seventeen (B): Further Thoughts from Steve Swink on Game Usability
- Chapter Eighteen: Interview about Prototyping and Usability with Jenova Chen
- Chapter Nineteen: Social Psychology and User Research
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Chapter Twenty: The Four Fun Keys
- 20.1 Forget Usability! What Makes Games Fun?
- 20.2 Emotion and Engagement in Player Experiences
- 20.3 Hard Fun
- 20.4 Hard Fun Mechanics
- 20.5 How Hard Fun Mechanics Work Together to Create Mastery
- 20.6 Easy Fun
- 20.7 Easy Fun Mechanics
- 20.8 How Easy Fun Mechanics Work Together to Inspire Imagination
- 20.9 Serious Fun
- 20.10 Serious Fun Emotions
- 20.11 Serious Fun Mechanics
- 20.12 How Serious Fun Mechanics Work Together to Express and Create Value
- 20.13 People Fun
- 20.14 A Few Suggestions for Applying the Four Fun Keys
- 20.15 References
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Part V: Putting it All Together and Where Things are Going
- Chapter Twenty-One: Matrix of Issues and Tools
- Chapter Twenty-Two: Interview with Don Norman, Principal in the Nielsen-Norman Group, and Professor, Northwestern University
- Chapter Twenty-Three: “Gamenics” and its Potential—Interview with Akihiro Saitō*, Professor, Ritsumeikan University, College of Image Arts and Sciences; Director, Bmat Japan
Product information
- Title: Game Usability
- Author(s):
- Release date: August 2008
- Publisher(s): CRC Press
- ISBN: 9781498759571
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