Building immersive ux in games

•  UI Artist/UI Designer/Interaction Designer/UX Designer/Senior UX Designer •  NHL 2003-2005 (EA) •  NBA 2006 (EA) •  March Madness 2007 (EA) •  FIFA PC and Fifa Online 2 (EA) •  Ghost Recon Phantoms (Ubisoft) Competitive/Tactical/F2P/RPG/MMO/FPS/

TPS •  Undisclosed project (Ubisoft) •  Various failed or unreleased projects

Who am I?

Michael Thompson

Immersion is not just being emotionally involved. It is to temporarily experience a mental ‘space’ as real, and the real world as, in some way, virtual. If this impacts human behaviour in a visible way, then it is measurable. Therefore it can be something any designer, of any discipline or area of expertise, can strive for.

Immersa-what?

What is immersion, anyway?

GET ARMED

•  Acquisition •  Retention •  Monetization

a.r.m

Acquisition

Acquisition  1  image  

Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs. It is key to driving sales in the AAA game market.

•  More immersive = more fun = more better!

•  I paid X and I received Xx10 fun! #winning

metacritic

Acquisition

Acquisition

RETENTIon

•  Retention means the user, which we call players, wants to play again and again and again.

•  Very important in a Free to Play (F2P) micro-transaction model.

Keep them coming back!

RETENTIon

Destiny  central  city  image  

Making that money

•  Boxed package purchase – Call of Duty •  Boxed package with subscription – Guild Wars •  Subscription - Wow •  Free to play micro-transaction – Ghost Recon Phantoms •  Freemium – various mobile •  DLC – various console games

monetization

Ghost  Recon  Phantoms  store  image  

Making that money

SO HOW DO WE DO IT?

Linear paths Single destination

Super mario bros.- 1985

Metal gear solid - 1987

tomb raider - 1996

Tomb  raider  image  

It looks open, but…

Many paths one destination

halo- 2001

Ac brotherhood - 2010

Open world

Do what you want When you want A game or an experience(s)

World of warcraft – 1994 - 2014

Elder scrolls v: skyrim - 2011

Combo power!

Many games today are using an integrated system that is sometimes: •  Fully Scripted •  Open World •  Linear •  Systemic •  PvE •  PvP •  Competitive •  Co-op •  Social •  Casual or hardcore

•  Released August 1, 2007

•  Racing MMORPG

•  4 large cities

•  Hundreds of side quests

•  Highly customizable

DRIFT CITY

Drift city

•  200+ PvE missions •  Large and complex back story •  Constant audio and visual feedback

You vs the machine

Battle Zones •  Multiplayer PvP, Coop competition •  Showing off

Conclaves •  4 cities x 40 maps per city •  Up to 9v9 battles •  Level restrictions on battle participation •  Created matches or matchmaking

Clans/Guilds/Crews •  Social/competitive groups •  Member’s GC and Crew Points increase rank •  4 Crew Ranks

Big pimpin’

I own my experience

Self ownership •  Not just a car, but my car

•  Not just my character, it’s me

What now?

The player needs somewhere to play

Best practices

#1 – be diegetic as much as possible

Best practices

#2 – be spacial when you can

#3 – be meta when you have to

Best practices

#4 – AVOID Non-diegetic mostly

Best practices

Question time