A Usability Primer

If usability issues can be present in all stages of a game as we have seen, how does that happen? Designers do not deliberately add unintended friction to their designs, so what is it that contributes to usability issues ending up in games?

• Familiarity. As games are typically made over a long period of time, its creators become familiar with exactly how it works, and it’s not possible to view the game as a new player any more. The designers become blind to usability problems, which can create the illusion that there are far fewer usability issues than there are in reality.
• Focus. When developers play their own game, they are often not looking for usability problems, but instead may be focussing on factors relating to their own discipline. For example, UI artists may target their attention on interface elements and player feedback and programmers may be looking to see if systems are functioning correctly.

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• You are not the audience. Your target audience will have a wide range of prior experiences and abilities that are very different from those of the development team. Your team will not be able to predict which usability issues players may experience with your game, the only way to find these issues is to do usability testing with the target audience.

Assumptions on how a feature or system will be understood or used is an inherent part of design, however assumptions need to be evaluated.

Key takeaway

Usability issues exist because in games as the people who develop the game will have different abilities, prior experiences, and expectations from the people who might play it. We are all different.

Next: 14. Playtesting - The Different Types