Chapter 2. Ergonomics

A good game should not only have a great idea, plot, graphics, and characters, but also good ergonomics. Games are not ordinary applications, they are like racing cars; they work in extreme conditions, they are fast and powerful, and have state of the art programming. Ordinary cars are made for human beings, not for aliens from outer space featuring dozens of tentacles (they can be useful for playing very complex puzzle games!). So a figure of a real human, a player, stays at the forefront when you are planning and developing a game, all his physical characteristics and needs should be taken into consideration.

Portraying the player

Portraying the player

To create a handy game, you need to draw an imaginary portrait of your future player. You can watch your own behavior and observe how your friends and other people play various types of games. Of course, it will be very subjective and an inaccurate image, but the main tendencies can be noticed. Try to only watch the game, never ask to perform playing on purpose, because in such cases people behave very unnaturally trying to be either too critical inventing insignificant claims or too polite sparing their feelings.

It is easy to see that there are two types of game sessions. The first type is about intentional desire to play a specific title: a person plays a game sitting at home in his armchair or sofa. The time spent on the game is pretty long, there are only a few pauses, and the player plays very enthusiastically. A device can be held by hands or be put on a tabletop, or a special stand, since more fingers can be used to control the game. The second type is more higgledy-piggledy: a person is trying to kill some time, mostly in public spaces. For instance, while using public transportation systems (namely buses, subways, trains, and so on), waiting in queues, waiting for somebody in a cafe or restaurant or lounges, and so on. The main goal of the player is to fill out a forced pause. The conditions are not always comfortable enough; for instance, there could be a lot of people around, high level of noise, artificial lighting of different kinds, and so on. He is distracted from time to time. So the game sessions are short, the player often pauses the game. He can mostly operate only with one hand, so the game controls should be very simple.

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