How game developers create great user experiences
The UX design process has been the core focus of video game development since its inception. UX design is continually explored and improved upon during the entire game development life cycle.
User experience design seeks to understand the qualitative experience a user has while interacting with a product. User interests and behaviour are tested and studied to understand and evaluate the psychological impact a product has on them.
A designer needs take in account the bias brought with every user’s mental model and how that will determine how your product is perceived. If a function works differently to a user’s expectation, then it can have a negative impact on the user experience.
Case Study: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
You stir from a restless sleep, awakened abruptly by a man shouting incoherently at you, while a fierce battle rages on the edge of your still fuzzy brain. Looking around it appears you are located in the crew quarters aboard a spaceship, a barrage of red and green lights flash by the port window. You gaze at the man as the ground around you shudders from the grinding of hardened steel being crushed together as a result of the apparent explosions occurring many floors below your still rigid legs. Shaking off the remnants of your dream, or was it a vision, you look back at the man in front of you.
You have awoken in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) a roleplaying game (RPG) set 4000 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire in the original Star Wars movie trilogy. KotOR was initially developed by the team at BioWare and was released in Spring of 2003 for the Xbox. The game was released on PC in the Summer of 2003, which ultimately led to a daring but highly successful port to the iPad in May of 2013, and eventually to Android in December of 2014.
KotOR set a precedent for story driven RPG’s by creating an immersive experience that forged a semi action-turn based RPG classic which opened up the Star Wars Extended Universe to numerous books, games and fan fiction.
Video Game Usability and the User Experience
The anticipated use of a system must either function as expected or have clear indicators as to why it functions differently, with a seamless transition into this new function. If the back button is located on the top left of a browser, so too should your back button. If the universal button to interact is a left mouse click, then yours should be the same. It is the role of the UX designer to focus on the user’s journey to solve a problem. A UX designer may work closely with a User Interface (UI) designer, as a well-crafted UI is as important to a product as the UX designers understanding of the needs of the user.
The user experience design process has been the core focus of video game development since their inception. UX design is continually explored and improved upon during the entire game development life cycle. The game development life cycle will typically follow the below processes, but are quite often skipped or skimmed over for reasons such as time and/or budget restraints:
- Concept
A general concept is agreed between two parties (publisher and development studio). - Prototyping
Early stages of development which can see phases tested simultaneously and independently and can include features such as user menus, physics, player control. - Pre-production
The trimming phase in which fundamental mechanics are determined. - Production
A full size scale up test in which the team will typically create a ‘complete’ snippet of the game inclusive of characters, levels, quests, and menus. - Game states (Alpha, Beta, Gold)
Alpha: All content is presented and tested but is not necessarily polished.
Beta: Content and features fairly polished with final adjustments and bug testing being conducted.
Gold: The final copy prepared for manufacturing and distribution.
Note: In video games, unlike in many novels or film, YOU the player are the protagonist. The way the story develops and unfolds, the characters you interact with, and the environment you explore — this experience is deeply personal, and so the user experience must be tailored to this. The player needs to feel they are contributing to and even influencing the story and ultimately the universe they have now become a centre piece of.
KotOR not only gives the player a sense of control over the game they are playing, it gives an almost prophetic sense of accountability over the fate of the entire Star Wars universe.
Part 1: Development
Understanding the Users (Players)
The initial development proposal was to deliver the game to the Xbox console. The team was small and so a simultaneous cross platform release would have (likely) caused a great deal of issues and pushed back the delivery date of the game. The ability to release on a single system allowed for more thorough testing, planning and progress tracking.
Once BioWare had established which platform they would create the game on they then had to look at their target audience.
- Star Wars fans
- Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gates players
- Roleplaying game enthusiasts
- Dungeons and Dragons players
The team at LucasArts were highly supportive of James Ohlen and the BioWare Team, trusting that they would be able to create a story that had the feeling of the Star Wars universe, without sitting directly in the current storyline.
These four featured concept art pieces form some of the most memorable locations in the final game: Taris, Kashyyk, The Ebon Hawk and Rakata.
Creating the Experience
BioWare wanted a smooth and refined project that didn’t outshine the original trilogy. The characters, the look and feel of the levels (planets included), and the general lore had to carry the themes and feeling of the Star Wars Universe. The story of the game had to hold the same level of power as any of the previous films, while creating a new a unique experience.
While they were delivering a product to video game players, they knew they would have to appeal to the Star Wars fanbase and RPG players with a powerful narrative. In order to do this BioWare spent a great deal of time liaising with the team at LucasArts, to ensure that their writers were building this soon to be iconic story within the boundaries of the Star Wars universe.
A good UX designer will capitalise on successful and unsuccessful projects of a similar theme or design.
Analysing games, movies, novels, or apps that have similar design concepts, modelling, story, or play style is crucial for improving the UX.
Utilising the iconic crawl was a brilliant starting point for the BioWare team, and a great introduction to what was in store for the player.
By utilising projects within the same archetype, it allows game developers to gain a better understanding of:
- what players will need to do to complete a task/ compete in combat
- progress through the game
- process the story and appreciate the overall sequence and flow
As the setting and storyline were hitting a new realm of the Star Wars saga, the team wanted to create a unique experience for the players. Lead writer Drew Karpyshyn wanted a “jaw dropping moment” preceded by a series of subtle twists directed at your own character. The story itself needed to be intriguing, so that if the ‘hints’ never come to fruition, the story is still complete. By drawing a player into the story, and constantly keeping information hidden, they want to learn more and further explore the story. As such the execution and presentation were key in ensuring the story arc and ultimately the ‘big reveal’ were natural yet surprising, not strained or incongruous.
The team used The Sixth Sense and Fight Club’s storylines as templates for their story arc. The foreshadowing alerts focused viewers (players) by dropping hints at critical path junctures and then referring to them after the big reveal (the visions, the battles, the commandment of the force).
The broad collection of archetypal Star Wars characters, as well as the rich and diverse planets, were included to give a large and expansive Star Wars Universe feel. The creation of a multitude of Jedi and Sith among the other iconic Star Wars species and races paved the way for a level of interaction and dialogue that would exist on a grand scale. This introduction to a large-scale force using society would give the player a feeling of the state of the Universe 4000 before Star Wars: A New Hope. This included 9 playable characters ranging from soldiers to droids to Wookies and even other Jedi.
Dialogue and influence within the game formed part of the story development. Your treatment of NPC’s (non-playable characters), engagement in conversation and choice to kill/ engage in combat influences your alignment to the force. Talking to an NPC can at times give the player a choice in the conversation which can alter the gameplay experience. This is generally outlined below.
Results of the conversation:
“Being nice” or “being evil” can impact what questions become available
- Choices continually alter how NPC’s ‘perceive’ you throughout the game
- Can earn either light and/ or dark side points from a conversation
- Can choose to help or not help someone
- Can choose to turn an NPC against you and automatically engage in combat
The UI and game menu help the player manage their character’s skill and itinerary while most importantly tracking their force alignment (how good or evil they are).
Usability, Gameplay and The User Interface:
Creating a seamless user experience is crucial in UX design. Building a great UI is crucial to creating a seamless gaming experience. The use of visuals, colour contrast and other methods draw a player’s attention to certain buttons or areas of interest, creating a visual hierarchy. Just like great website information architecture, an easy to navigate, but informative UI is a powerful tool in game design.
Compelling gameplay with good feedback (think flow-state or cognitive flow) is just as important as a good UI and requires:
- Concrete goals with manageable rules
- Clear and timely feedback (tactile functions, added animations to enhance core gameplay such as red screens when being shot, beeps on successfully hitting a target, or an aura to indicate an interactable item.
Dialogue and the Art of Conversation
The team’s ability to interweave such rich and varied dialogue allowed players to interact with Star Wars universe in a way they had never been able to do before.
The sheer number of cast members for the voice overs, the huge depth of spoken dialogue and the expanse of the planets made KotOR a standout game for interactivity. The level of depth in interactivity the team provided with NPC’s helped to solidify that immersive feeling of the game.
The team’s ability to interweave such rich and varied dialogue allowed players to interact with Star Wars universe in a way they had never been able to do before.
The sheer number of cast members for the voice overs, the huge depth of spoken dialogue and the expanse of the planets made KotOR a standout game for interactivity. The level of depth in interactivity the team provided with NPC’s helped to solidify that immersive feeling of the game.
The character creation stage provides the player with the opportunity to build their character. There are 3 classes and 2 sexes to choose from. The classes vary in abilities and skill sets, and the choice of sex influences certain interactions throughout the game. The player has the choice to completely modify their skills, feats, and attributes if they so choose. This creation sets the precedence for the sense of control that exists within the game.
Later in the game the player has the ability to customise their own lightsaber, a weapon synonymous with the franchise. The freedom to choose the colour, design and function of your own lightsaber was a powerful tool in immersing the player in the game.
The Combat System
Capitalising on previous works, and mistakes, the BioWare team produced KOTOR in the Odyssey Engine, which was an adapted version of the Aurora Engine, and added 3D backgrounds and character facial emotions.
The team realised during development that it would not be feasible to implement a real time system and instead changed their design to a pause-and-play, with tweaks and tests to allow for smooth travelling whilst also giving the player the “multi-party” combat scenarios as shown below. Visible in the foreground of the UI, the player could easily switch between characters during and outside of combat.
The team at BioWare wanted to focus on content creation for the game, which is why they chose to adapt the Neverwinter project and game engine as a logical start point. The play style that was eventually released allowed for a great deal of creative freedom in how their character would look, how they would interact with NPC’s, and how they would approach combat. There was no fixed approach, even when the player learnt the skills and abilities of a Jedi they could still choose to fight with guns and avoid using force powers altogether if they so choose.
Testing and Polishing
Development projects should allocate at least 10% of a project’s budget on usability activities — Nielsen and Norman. The more people use a design, the bigger the usability return on investment (ROI). Usability is measured in increased use, more efficient use, or higher satisfaction. All 3 are crucial in game development.
Good game design follows a similar approach, embedding UX researchers within product teams at both feature design levels AND at higher levels of the complete game. This method allows an in house to more closely analyse a game throughout it’s development cycle which greatly assist when it comes time to approach external testers.
The creation of observation rooms with controlled conditions, or the ability to “observe” gameplay directly or through remote access is highly useful in analysing player behaviour to optimise, better tailor, or better market a game. This type of user testing is highly valuable and can be utilised in video games where it may not be possible in other fields.
During the testing phase, James Ohlen and the team focused on personal testing/ internal testing and LucasArts feedback to begin polishing the game. Between James and Drew’s teams they began detecting and fixing bugs and spotting and removing inconsistencies in the story. Once the team were comfortable with a build they sent it to Microsoft’s Xbox lab for intensive focus testing.
Sarlaccs and Setbacks: Managing UX Debt
UX designers need to constantly identify, prioritise, and resolve issues based on feedback and user behaviour. UX debt or technical debt refers to the additional time and cost efforts that are associated with band-aid solutions. These ultimately result in issues that impact the user experience and, if left too long, can lead to costly and quite often burdening fixes down the line.
Fixing a UX problem after the fact, rather than before launch requires redesigning, re-coding, and re-familiarising the team with the core processes of the game. Above all your failures will be imprinted in the minds of your players and, more importantly, plastered all over the internet.
The development process of KotOR was not all smooth flying. The BioWare team had to cut an entire planet from the final product of the game. The planet would have been a gladiatorial style world run by alien gangster called ‘Hutts’. The team knew that they were running on a tight deadline and couldn’t afford to incorporate another planet within the deadline. The team chose to remove this planet from the final product to avoid what they believed would have brought a high level of UX debt.
“Not to worry, we are still flying half a ship.” — Obi-Wan Kenobi
James Ohlen describes the process of game development just as that. Due to time and financial constraints, games are often shipped incomplete or full of bugs. While KotOR had a generous timeline for development and production, the team at BioWare still had to scrap some of their game content before launch.
Part 2: Porting to Mobile
Aspyr Media took on the role of porting KotOR to iPad and it was eventually released in May of 2013. Porting a game to mobile typically involves:
- Initial market research
- Cost effective porting service based on latest gaming trends
- Code optimisation to fit platform’s requirements
- Development of additional functionality of the game
- Extensive testing of ported games across ported platforms
Transferring to a new platform also leaves the game subject to rules of the new platform. Console and PC titles have broad freedom of content and monetisation, but App store content falls under more stringent rules which may require changes to content and payment features.
Elizabeth Howard, Vice President of Publishing at Aspyr, and the development team had one goal. To bring one of the greatest RPG’s of all time to Apple and Android with no compromises and with a control interface that felt native.
see case study Apple vs Fortnite (Epic Games)
KotOR was originally written in NWSCript (based on C) and was created for Xbox (which was then ported to PC and the PC port was used to develop the mobile version). The Game had to originally be developed for weaker mobile devices and squeezed into a 2gb file size and so extensive testing needed to be performed in order to accommodate this.
Aspyr’s gameplay and control design was done exceptionally well. To accommodate for the lack of a joystick, instead of creating a virtual joystick, the mobile port of KotOR allows the player to touch the screen to move the character and to select interactive objects in the game.
The clip below shows an example of the player moving their character around the room and engaging in combat using the touch screen on their phone.
The two key takeaways from the Aspyr project are:
- The game itself functions just as the original Xbox release did, only with touch screen control optimisation
- The benefits of games on mobile — the comfort and freedom give a more personal and convenient experience for players new to, or revisiting the experience
KotOR has a rating of just under 4.5/5 stars on both the Apple App store and the Google Play store.
“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” — Don Corleone
BioWare did possibly the best thing a developer could do to create this game. They capitalised on the role playing element of the game, and the lore and fan following in Star Wars, and together with James Ohlen and Drew Karpyshyn and the writing team they create an epic story that overshadowed any bugs, glitches, or research and development that the game might have been lacking.
The team knew that creating a unique story with depth and variety, as they did with the alien races, voice acting, and dialogue, would allow them to produce a game that would stand out as a timeless classic and would hold it’s own within the ever expanding Star Wars Expanded Universe.
The story of Revan and KotOR has survived in the minds of many gamers and fans where plenty of tales have disappeared into the ether, including many Star Wars tales. The game is a testament to what a good UX team can do when they are passionate about a project and understand the desires of their target audience (with some scoundrels luck in there too).
Knights of the Old Republic is available through the following links:
Check out the original trailer for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic below.
