Episode 43: What Can Games Teach Us About UI Design? With Felix Park (Part 2)

November 23, 2020Enjoy the Vue

Welcome back to Enjoy the Vue with special guest, game designer, Felix Park. This episode continues the discussion about game design and what it can teach us about UI design. Part 1 concluded with a discussion about game flow and guiding the user with affordances and, in Part 2, the panel discusses user testing games and maintaining work-life balance. Felix shares why he believes he number one fallacy of designers in any field is that they extend their personal viewpoint on their design being universal, and how testing extends to both formal and informal settings, as well as how he personally maintains his work-life balance. He also shares his picks, as do the rest of the panel, and this week’s picks include everything from a YouTube channel called Noclip, to two different game engines, and some practical advice. Tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

Felix starts with an example of designing a bench explosion and its unpredictable variables.
Where to include heavy-handed guidance in a game is usually borne of player testing.
Felix believes the number one fallacy of designers in any field is that they extend their personal viewpoint on their design being universal.
Focus testing and A/B testing are ways to create accessible experiences in mobile games.
Testing doesn’t have to be formal – it can be as informal as asking a friend for feedback.
Crunch time and work-life balance: How Felix manages it by keeping to his hours strictly.
Part of Felix’s decision to go into internal tools programming was less of an emphasis on meeting very strict deadlines.
Onto picks, Ari’s is a little more abstract this week – quit a job you’re unhappy at.
Ringo’s pick is the YouTube channel Noclip, which presents various game documentaries.
Felix’s picks are cooking meatballs or a non-meat alternative, and learning the open source game engine, Godot.
Felix talks about the resurgence of disc versus digital when it comes to installing games.
Tessa’s picks are all games: Minna no Gorufu or Hot Shots Golf, The 3rd Birthday, Resident Evil 6, and the Ct.js game editor.

Tweetables:

“I think the number one fallacy of designers in any field is that the design they've made is understandable and parsable to everyone. They extend their own personal viewpoint on that design as being universal.” — @uhfelix [0:02:52]
“When I say testing, I don't explicitly mean like A/B testing or focus testing. It can also be something as informal as like just asking someone else, a co-worker, a friend, family, to just sit down and play your game and have them give their honest feedback. That’s it.” — @uhfelix [0:06:58]
“I try to keep to my hours very strictly. It’s a lot of discipline to be able to do that and [it takes] a in your employer to recognize that you do have the boundaries and limits you're setting, and they need to respect that. I don't think I would work for any company that would overemphasize the need to stay at work over actual production.” — @uhfelix [0:08:29]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Special Guests: Felix Park and Ringo Kim.

Audio Player