My Thoughts on Design
I've given several public lectures and classes user interface and design, at places like Paris Games Week, the Puget Sound SIGCHI, and Microsoft Design Day, two of my most recent appearances have been recorded and published to wider audiences. The talk I did at GDC 2016 and the 2017 Game UX summit appear below.
Tenacious Design and the Interface of Destiny
User Interface for a game like Destiny faces a unique challenge; how do you make it inviting and easy to digest to the newbie player, while providing power, depth, and ease of access to the most seasoned veteran? At Bungie, there is a long history of UI that questions established conventions in order to deliver the best user experience to the player.
In this session you will learn about the challenges faced, designs explored, and ultimately, what led the team to the decisions they made to create the game UI that the internet has been buzzing about. Specific topics include the free cursor, time gated interactions, localization valves in production, the visual direction, the icon creation pipeline, and designing the Director.
We'll Fix it in UI
When developing games, it can be easy to fall into a trap to lean heavily on UI to solve design issues. While UI can be used to make the experience better for the player, when used improperly it can become a crutch that degrades the quality and pace of the game. This talk discusses ways to avoid the pitfalls of using UI as a design crutch, and instead, using UI as a tool to elevate the player’s experience.