Create personas, journey maps,
game documents,
and low fidelity prototypes.
Video.
After you review the examples below, and the key terms:
Make slides to cover
Game Loop
User Flow Diagram
Using UX Standard Symbols
add the slides to your existing presentation
submit to D2L
Determining your Game Loop will help you to decide what needs to be accomplished by the team. If you are working on a slice of a project you may just do one game loop.
See Game Loop Examples from Popular Games (external link).
See Lexi's Game Loop in their slides (external link)
Consider using the standards determined in the UX community for symbols for starting, decision points and end points. Find the UX User Flow Diagram Symbols here.
Gameplay includes watching animations, analyzing charts, discussion, and an interactive quiz
Click the down arrow inside the gray circle to expand the example.
Gameplay includes interacting with non-player-characters, cooking, and earning ratings
Click the down arrow inside the gray circle to expand the example.
Gameplay includes interacting with guessing answers and learning through trial and error.
Click the down arrow inside the gray circle to expand the example.
Gameplay includes interacting with character-building, battling, collecting loot, and exploring
Click the down arrow inside the gray circle to expand the example.
Game Document : GDD or GD has gone from a big word doc to an agile doc.
A Game Doc Includes: (Others creating the game and most of the following)
Game Description (Genre, Audience, It's a game like ....this.....)
Elevator Pitch
Pillars (3-4 things most important about the game)
Genre - (RPG or deck builder? etc)
Objective (How to Win)
Key Features - (critical and why)
Obstacles
Strategy
Rewards
Mechanics
Aesthetics
Experience
Levels - how they are achieved, points needed or trigger to new level
Assets (Game Elements)
Timeline
People
Ability to change the document with version history later
Game Loops: The game loop describes the more repetitive activities that a gamer will take part in. The main mechanics that the player is introduced to upon booting up a game. Games loops are incredibly varied.
User Flow Diagram: Games are sequential. Screens appear one at a time, information and interactions appear depending on the context (inputs, game states, level design progression, etc.)
A user flow diagram tracks the path a user takes to accomplish their goals within the app or website. It converts the journey map information into functionality. Key events tracked include:
Entry and endpoints
Process or action steps
User choice or decision points
Connections between elements or the flow’s direction
Use any diagramming software you wish. Note: Google Slides and Google Drawings have all of the flowchart symbols as does most UX/UI prototyping tools like Figma, and Sketch
Strive for the fewest number of steps needed to accomplish goals or tasks
Action prompts should be clearly stated and follow conventions, such as 'login' 'enter' 'view' 'select' , etc.
Feedback loops are important, such as 'submitted' 'saved' ''review' and other confirmations.
Recovery options are critical, such as 'reset' 'reenter' 'select different' and 'back'.
Lozenges: signify entry and endpoints
Rectangles: indicate process or action steps
Diamonds: signal user choice or decision points
Rectangle inside a rectangle: subroutine
Arrows: denote connections between elements or the flow’s direction
User Flow Diagrams can be created with any charting software, including the drawing tools in Google Slides.
In addition to the basic symbols above, advanced user UX designers collaborating on complex application will sometimes use an expanded symbol set.
On how to design a video game with a Game Document:
"Facing commercial example, the proposal offers completeness: game objectives, game justification, initial scope, game balance, experience, constraints and assumptions, and document information." - Mario Gonzalez Salazar