In this GDC 2016 talk, educator Christina Wodtke explores the core principles of user experience design philosophy, and how it can help create games that are elegant and complete experiences.
Wodtke references Don Norman’s book The Design Of Everyday Things, which is considered pivotal reading for game developers– and as games reach a wider audience, it’s critical that developers make the medium accessible to more players.
She also discusses how great user experiences anticipates the user’s needs and then go beyond that in order to provide good feedback. User experience designers have evolved a variety of approaches and tools to assure that a product is “a joy to own, a joy to use.”
It was an informative talk that’s definitely still worth watching, so developers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to do so now that it’s freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
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