1
00:00:00,070 --> 00:00:02,500
The following content is
provided under a Creative

2
00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:04,019
Commons license.

3
00:00:04,019 --> 00:00:06,360
Your support will help
MIT OpenCourseWare

4
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:10,730
continue to offer high quality
educational resources for free.

5
00:00:10,730 --> 00:00:13,330
To make a donation or
view additional materials

6
00:00:13,330 --> 00:00:17,236
from hundreds of MIT courses,
visit MIT OpenCourseWare

7
00:00:17,236 --> 00:00:17,861
at ocw.mit.edu.

8
00:00:26,310 --> 00:00:28,812
PROFESSOR: So
before class today,

9
00:00:28,812 --> 00:00:30,770
you should have turned
in your vision statement

10
00:00:30,770 --> 00:00:33,280
and your product backlogs.

11
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,660
Wednesday, you should be turning
in a copy of the sprint task

12
00:00:37,660 --> 00:00:40,270
list, and you should
have a prototype

13
00:00:40,270 --> 00:00:43,607
ready for testing in class.

14
00:00:43,607 --> 00:00:45,190
Remember that while
we're offering you

15
00:00:45,190 --> 00:00:47,540
one in-class testing
session for this project,

16
00:00:47,540 --> 00:00:52,230
you need to do at least one more
testing session out of class

17
00:00:52,230 --> 00:00:55,404
for the two focus tests that
are required for project three.

18
00:00:55,404 --> 00:00:57,320
And when we look over
your focus test reports,

19
00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,240
we're not going to be
impressed with focus tests that

20
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,030
were done so late you clearly
couldn't respond to them.

21
00:01:03,030 --> 00:01:05,030
So the project is due Wednesday.

22
00:01:05,030 --> 00:01:06,470
Don't do a focus
test on Tuesday,

23
00:01:06,470 --> 00:01:09,220
because we know you couldn't do
anything with that information.

24
00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:12,005
So sort of plan out when you
need a focus test accordingly.

25
00:01:14,570 --> 00:01:17,320
So today is class,
we're going to open

26
00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:19,030
with just a very
quick two minute

27
00:01:19,030 --> 00:01:23,005
presentation from
each of the groups.

28
00:01:23,005 --> 00:01:24,880
Since you've turned in
your product backlogs,

29
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,171
and hopefully you have
finalized your vision statement,

30
00:01:27,171 --> 00:01:29,670
you can come and tell us,
what is the goal of the game

31
00:01:29,670 --> 00:01:33,290
you're now going to make and
what its major features are.

32
00:01:33,290 --> 00:01:35,630
That's all you need
to do for that.

33
00:01:35,630 --> 00:01:39,230
Then we'll have a fairly brief
project management check-in.

34
00:01:39,230 --> 00:01:41,022
We'll sit down,
I'll stand up here,

35
00:01:41,022 --> 00:01:42,730
and we'll just do a
little bit of talking

36
00:01:42,730 --> 00:01:45,840
about what is your team
doing for project management.

37
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:47,200
Is it working?

38
00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,150
Should you change something?

39
00:01:50,150 --> 00:01:53,730
Then Philip will be giving
the usability lecture.

40
00:01:53,730 --> 00:01:55,500
And after that,
we'll take a break.

41
00:01:55,500 --> 00:01:58,850
If anybody has something that
they would like play-tested,

42
00:01:58,850 --> 00:02:01,200
after the break, we'll come
back and have an opportunity

43
00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,010
for some play-testing
and working

44
00:02:04,010 --> 00:02:05,690
on your projects in class.

45
00:02:05,690 --> 00:02:09,120
If you don't have something
to play test, that's OK.

46
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,490
This is sort of a hey, if you
actually had your act together,

47
00:02:12,490 --> 00:02:14,380
get a little extra
play-testing in.

48
00:02:14,380 --> 00:02:16,540
Wednesday's the day you
have to have something

49
00:02:16,540 --> 00:02:19,720
that can be play-tested.

50
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,590
Any questions?

51
00:02:22,590 --> 00:02:23,710
All right, then.

52
00:02:23,710 --> 00:02:26,860
Let's move on to presentations.

53
00:02:29,380 --> 00:02:30,470
Actually up there?

54
00:02:30,470 --> 00:02:30,510
Yay.

55
00:02:30,510 --> 00:02:31,010
It is.

56
00:02:33,700 --> 00:02:37,600
First up we have
Hardcore Dragon.

57
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,380
PRESENTER 1: OK, so I'm on
the team for Hardcore Dragon.

58
00:02:40,380 --> 00:02:43,980
We've changed from Dragon's
Lair to Hardcore Dragon.

59
00:02:43,980 --> 00:02:46,475
And the point of the
change in the name

60
00:02:46,475 --> 00:02:50,211
is to reflect the slight change
in the direction of the game.

61
00:02:50,211 --> 00:02:52,460
One of the new elements we've
added as a win condition

62
00:02:52,460 --> 00:02:55,830
is collecting an entire
set of hardcore armor

63
00:02:55,830 --> 00:02:59,010
to be the hardcore-est
dragon in the land.

64
00:02:59,010 --> 00:03:01,950
And so we're intending
on adding a little bit

65
00:03:01,950 --> 00:03:03,620
of a cheeky, funny,
dialogue flair

66
00:03:03,620 --> 00:03:05,495
to the game to make it
a little less serious.

67
00:03:08,110 --> 00:03:10,170
Outside of that, the
main concept of our game

68
00:03:10,170 --> 00:03:13,200
is that you're a dragon,
and you have a horde of gold

69
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,780
that you are protecting
and also trying to grow.

70
00:03:15,780 --> 00:03:19,660
So the player can make decisions
between attacking villagers

71
00:03:19,660 --> 00:03:21,550
to gain more gold
and also staying

72
00:03:21,550 --> 00:03:23,280
on their lair to be protected.

73
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,990
And we're also adding
elements of melee combat

74
00:03:25,990 --> 00:03:28,970
so that the player is not
only making these decisions

75
00:03:28,970 --> 00:03:31,460
cognitively but also
has to act on them

76
00:03:31,460 --> 00:03:34,494
and actually go and perform
those actions, rather

77
00:03:34,494 --> 00:03:36,160
than something that's,
like, just click,

78
00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,430
oh, I want to do this
action, something like that.

79
00:03:38,430 --> 00:03:41,655
So we're introducing elements
of strategy and melee combat

80
00:03:41,655 --> 00:03:46,030
and also collectible
funness of RPGs.

81
00:03:46,030 --> 00:03:48,590
And then elements
of our backlog--

82
00:03:48,590 --> 00:03:51,170
we have the player's desire,
such as the playing wanting

83
00:03:51,170 --> 00:03:57,810
to be able to attack, defend,
and also stay alive to fight,

84
00:03:57,810 --> 00:03:59,560
despite the attacking armies.

85
00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,020
And we also have a
lot of focus on making

86
00:04:02,020 --> 00:04:05,455
our game usable and easy to
understand for the player.

87
00:04:05,455 --> 00:04:06,330
PROFESSOR: Thank you.

88
00:04:10,830 --> 00:04:11,830
DNA.

89
00:04:11,830 --> 00:04:12,717
PRESENTER 2: Hi.

90
00:04:12,717 --> 00:04:14,550
So probably should have
written on the board

91
00:04:14,550 --> 00:04:17,380
the project previously
known as DNA,

92
00:04:17,380 --> 00:04:20,760
because we've completely
reskinned our game.

93
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,000
So it's no longer about
a biology type thing.

94
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,330
It's about exploring space.

95
00:04:26,330 --> 00:04:30,010
So DNA is now the name
of your mothership,

96
00:04:30,010 --> 00:04:35,640
And we're going to put you
as a small spaceship-- RINA,

97
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:37,610
so R-I-N-A, basically.

98
00:04:37,610 --> 00:04:39,140
RNA.

99
00:04:39,140 --> 00:04:41,990
And your goal is to travel
across different planets

100
00:04:41,990 --> 00:04:45,360
and eventually make it
back to your mothership

101
00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,663
before running out
of fuel or exploding

102
00:04:48,663 --> 00:04:50,370
on a bunch of asteroids.

103
00:04:50,370 --> 00:04:52,320
So our game has two
primary mechanics

104
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,780
that we're working on.

105
00:04:53,780 --> 00:04:56,140
First is a menu-type
screen where

106
00:04:56,140 --> 00:04:58,350
you can see different
planets that you

107
00:04:58,350 --> 00:05:01,626
can head towards on your
way back to your mothership.

108
00:05:01,626 --> 00:05:04,250
And each planet would tell you--
if you hover over each planet,

109
00:05:04,250 --> 00:05:08,080
it will tell you, at this
planet you can pick up X fuel,

110
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:12,510
or you can get this
jet boost type thing.

111
00:05:12,510 --> 00:05:17,570
And so the strategy comes from
the planning for which planet

112
00:05:17,570 --> 00:05:20,860
to go to relative to
the other planets.

113
00:05:20,860 --> 00:05:24,050
And the trade-offs also come
with which planet do you go to,

114
00:05:24,050 --> 00:05:27,860
or what do you pick
up at each planet.

115
00:05:27,860 --> 00:05:30,510
And the other mechanic is
actually getting to the planet.

116
00:05:30,510 --> 00:05:33,130
So using a stat boost and/or
fuel that you picked up

117
00:05:33,130 --> 00:05:38,490
from each planet, you have to
navigate through a platform,

118
00:05:38,490 --> 00:05:39,675
or not really a platform.

119
00:05:39,675 --> 00:05:43,430
More like Flappy Bird
or a Copter type level,

120
00:05:43,430 --> 00:05:46,960
where your stats
increase, like how fast

121
00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,320
you go through the level
or how maneuverable you are

122
00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:52,097
and how you can avoid obstacles.

123
00:05:52,097 --> 00:05:53,805
So our game has two
mechanics, and that's

124
00:05:53,805 --> 00:05:55,660
what we're kind of
working on right now.

125
00:05:55,660 --> 00:06:00,480
We have the moving from one
level to the next motion part

126
00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,940
down, so now we're working
mainly on balancing the game

127
00:06:03,940 --> 00:06:06,750
and seeing what should
the stat caps be,

128
00:06:06,750 --> 00:06:08,280
or what should the
starting caps be,

129
00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:10,010
so it's not too boring
at the beginning,

130
00:06:10,010 --> 00:06:13,970
but it's also not too
hard at the very end.

131
00:06:13,970 --> 00:06:16,945
And our backlog
has a lot of art.

132
00:06:16,945 --> 00:06:17,820
PROFESSOR: Thank you.

133
00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,010
Ghost Maze.

134
00:06:25,010 --> 00:06:27,790
PRESENTER 3: So for Ghost
Maze, our design for the game

135
00:06:27,790 --> 00:06:28,870
hasn't changed much.

136
00:06:28,870 --> 00:06:31,190
We solidified our
original idea, is

137
00:06:31,190 --> 00:06:36,700
that you're going to start off
in the middle of a dark maze

138
00:06:36,700 --> 00:06:39,270
and you have very
limited visibility.

139
00:06:39,270 --> 00:06:41,720
You're going to explore
the graph, or the maze,

140
00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,580
and basically find the
exit that leads you out

141
00:06:45,580 --> 00:06:47,940
of this dark scary place.

142
00:06:47,940 --> 00:06:51,040
You have a sanity
bar that goes down

143
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:52,770
the more you are in the dark.

144
00:06:52,770 --> 00:06:57,409
And you have the
ability to increase

145
00:06:57,409 --> 00:06:58,950
the brightness of
your lantern, which

146
00:06:58,950 --> 00:07:02,300
would give you a higher radius
of visibility or decrease it,

147
00:07:02,300 --> 00:07:03,510
which would make it lower.

148
00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:06,710
But the higher it
is, the less slowly

149
00:07:06,710 --> 00:07:10,080
your sanity goes out, but the
faster that your battery dies.

150
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:12,730
So you want to
optimize for that--

151
00:07:12,730 --> 00:07:17,730
how fast can I explore this
maze versus how slowly do

152
00:07:17,730 --> 00:07:19,900
I need my sanity to drop.

153
00:07:19,900 --> 00:07:22,491
And you can completely
have it off if you want,

154
00:07:22,491 --> 00:07:23,490
because they're battery.

155
00:07:23,490 --> 00:07:28,590
But that would be chipping away
from your sanity much faster.

156
00:07:28,590 --> 00:07:33,200
There's ghosts in the
maze, so you can't just

157
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,775
do the bug around strategy,
which would always guarantee

158
00:07:37,775 --> 00:07:39,240
you to get out of a maze.

159
00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:44,060
But there's going to be ghosts
at strategic, random positions.

160
00:07:44,060 --> 00:07:46,490
These ghosts were
originally intended

161
00:07:46,490 --> 00:07:50,160
to have AI that would have
them find you or attack you

162
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:51,070
or whatever.

163
00:07:51,070 --> 00:07:52,790
But we changed it
so that they're just

164
00:07:52,790 --> 00:07:56,030
patrolling in a
predetermined pattern

165
00:07:56,030 --> 00:08:01,402
so that you can focus on the
one mechanic of the game, which

166
00:08:01,402 --> 00:08:03,110
is moving around and
finding a good path,

167
00:08:03,110 --> 00:08:08,040
as opposed to escaping
from things chasing you.

168
00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,830
The one change we made, the
biggest change we made so far

169
00:08:10,830 --> 00:08:13,980
is we switched from
Flixel to Unity 2D

170
00:08:13,980 --> 00:08:16,420
because we couldn't
get Flixel running

171
00:08:16,420 --> 00:08:20,080
on most of the computers
we had, and it just

172
00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:21,500
brought so many complications.

173
00:08:21,500 --> 00:08:24,747
So we ended up
switching to Unity 2D.

174
00:08:24,747 --> 00:08:25,622
PROFESSOR: Thank you.

175
00:08:29,665 --> 00:08:30,270
Score High.

176
00:08:33,819 --> 00:08:35,929
PRESENTER 4: So
Score High focused

177
00:08:35,929 --> 00:08:37,734
on simplifying our game.

178
00:08:37,734 --> 00:08:39,900
We realized we were probably
overextending ourselves

179
00:08:39,900 --> 00:08:41,630
with the number of
features we wanted.

180
00:08:41,630 --> 00:08:44,214
So even though our
goal stayed the same,

181
00:08:44,214 --> 00:08:45,630
we kind of simplified
it, and I'll

182
00:08:45,630 --> 00:08:46,850
talk about that in a minute.

183
00:08:46,850 --> 00:08:50,910
So Score High's goal is to
survive the week of school.

184
00:08:50,910 --> 00:08:53,416
If you can do well, even better.

185
00:08:53,416 --> 00:08:55,570
And that becomes difficult
because as a player,

186
00:08:55,570 --> 00:08:57,360
you have your stats to maintain.

187
00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,540
You need sleep,
and you need food.

188
00:08:59,540 --> 00:09:01,680
But you also need to
not fail your classes

189
00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:04,260
and get kicked out, so
you need to do your work.

190
00:09:04,260 --> 00:09:08,240
So the main features of the
game are you play your stats,

191
00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:10,715
so how are you doing as
a person, your schedule,

192
00:09:10,715 --> 00:09:13,720
which is going to list your
classes and what PSETs are due

193
00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:16,210
and when they're due,
and then also the map.

194
00:09:16,210 --> 00:09:18,310
You, as a character,
go around the map,

195
00:09:18,310 --> 00:09:21,590
and you have to go to certain
buildings to do your work.

196
00:09:21,590 --> 00:09:25,530
And as I said, the trade-offs
are managing you internally,

197
00:09:25,530 --> 00:09:27,520
so you have to go to
your dorm to sleep,

198
00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,940
but your PSET might
be due in two minutes,

199
00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:31,900
and if you don't
run across campus,

200
00:09:31,900 --> 00:09:35,406
will you be able to get it
done and pass your class?

201
00:09:35,406 --> 00:09:38,559
In terms of updates, I
think that's about it.

202
00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:40,056
Thank you.

203
00:09:40,056 --> 00:09:43,530
PROFESSOR: Thank you.

204
00:09:43,530 --> 00:09:45,050
Build a Space Car.

205
00:09:45,050 --> 00:09:47,650
PRESENTER 5: So originally
we were Build a Car,

206
00:09:47,650 --> 00:09:50,080
but we decided that the game
would be better in space,

207
00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:51,530
so now it's Build a Space Car.

208
00:09:51,530 --> 00:09:53,960
The idea is that you have
some kind of spaceship

209
00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:55,480
that you need to
add components to,

210
00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:57,237
and then you send
it out on a mission.

211
00:09:57,237 --> 00:09:59,320
Out on this mission, it'll
run into random events,

212
00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,304
and you'll get a report
of what happened.

213
00:10:01,304 --> 00:10:03,290
And then it'll come
back and you need

214
00:10:03,290 --> 00:10:04,998
to iterate, add more
components to either

215
00:10:04,998 --> 00:10:07,390
make it faster or stronger
or have more attack.

216
00:10:07,390 --> 00:10:10,950
And then that way, you'll be
able to succeed on missions.

217
00:10:10,950 --> 00:10:13,875
The trade-offs come into
what components do you add,

218
00:10:13,875 --> 00:10:16,722
and what effect does that have
on the stats of your spaceship,

219
00:10:16,722 --> 00:10:18,430
and the fact that the
more components you

220
00:10:18,430 --> 00:10:20,110
add to your spaceship,
the more it costs

221
00:10:20,110 --> 00:10:21,735
and the less money
you're going to make

222
00:10:21,735 --> 00:10:23,430
from going out on that mission.

223
00:10:23,430 --> 00:10:26,710
The main product
backlog features

224
00:10:26,710 --> 00:10:30,380
that we have are the things
like adding components to ships,

225
00:10:30,380 --> 00:10:33,102
coming up with stats for
all of the components

226
00:10:33,102 --> 00:10:36,600
that we have in the game,
and designing a system where

227
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,190
the ship will go
out on missions,

228
00:10:39,190 --> 00:10:40,730
get some results
from all of that,

229
00:10:40,730 --> 00:10:44,679
and then loop back into
this initial building phase.

230
00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:45,665
PROFESSOR: Thank you.

231
00:10:48,623 --> 00:10:51,950
And MIT Sim.

232
00:10:51,950 --> 00:10:54,520
PRESENTER 6: All right.

233
00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,740
So the idea of our game is
we play as an unnamed dean

234
00:10:57,740 --> 00:10:59,560
for student life at MIT.

235
00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:02,642
And you make and manage
the decisions at MIT,

236
00:11:02,642 --> 00:11:04,975
and you have to trade-off all
of these various resources

237
00:11:04,975 --> 00:11:07,060
that you have, like student
happiness and the endowment

238
00:11:07,060 --> 00:11:07,560
and whatnot.

239
00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:10,050
And you have to please the
MIT president above you

240
00:11:10,050 --> 00:11:13,000
and the MIT
corporation above them.

241
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,260
And then you also have to
please the parents of students

242
00:11:16,260 --> 00:11:18,235
who might hear of some
crazy things happening

243
00:11:18,235 --> 00:11:20,410
and you have to respond to them.

244
00:11:20,410 --> 00:11:24,890
So for example, you might make
shoes mandatory on campus.

245
00:11:24,890 --> 00:11:27,810
And suddenly East
Campus revolts.

246
00:11:27,810 --> 00:11:29,330
But maybe it improves
your standing

247
00:11:29,330 --> 00:11:30,816
with the parents or something.

248
00:11:30,816 --> 00:11:33,782
So that's the general
gist for our game, yeah.

249
00:11:42,390 --> 00:11:42,990
PROFESSOR: OK.

250
00:11:42,990 --> 00:11:46,150
So it's good to hear that people
are both refining and changing

251
00:11:46,150 --> 00:11:48,600
and scoping down and
kind of figuring out what

252
00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,420
they're doing with their games.

253
00:11:51,420 --> 00:11:54,100
That's a good start.

254
00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:57,550
The next thing I wanted to
talk about, ever so briefly,

255
00:11:57,550 --> 00:12:03,250
is-- I've been reading
through the project write-ups

256
00:12:03,250 --> 00:12:05,144
from the last project.

257
00:12:05,144 --> 00:12:06,810
Haven't gotten all
the way through them.

258
00:12:06,810 --> 00:12:07,670
None of us have.

259
00:12:07,670 --> 00:12:08,380
We're still working through.

260
00:12:08,380 --> 00:12:09,796
But a lot of people
are like, ugh,

261
00:12:09,796 --> 00:12:13,470
project management got inserted
into the middle of the project,

262
00:12:13,470 --> 00:12:14,555
and it was a really hard.

263
00:12:14,555 --> 00:12:17,180
And it made things
clunky and more painful.

264
00:12:17,180 --> 00:12:19,400
And yeah, I bet it
did, and I apologize.

265
00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:21,660
What I'm wondering,
however, is what

266
00:12:21,660 --> 00:12:25,590
are you doing for project
management on this project,

267
00:12:25,590 --> 00:12:27,900
and is it working better So far?

268
00:12:27,900 --> 00:12:30,110
I realize we're only
partway through,

269
00:12:30,110 --> 00:12:33,280
but I'd kind of like to hear
about how has your team decided

270
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,060
to handle communication.

271
00:12:36,060 --> 00:12:42,490
I know that meetings were
a big problem last time.

272
00:12:42,490 --> 00:12:45,910
Is the product backlog being
a useful thing to sort of help

273
00:12:45,910 --> 00:12:46,960
define your design?

274
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,335
Or are you doing it because
we're making you turn one in?

275
00:12:51,940 --> 00:12:56,040
How are assigning tasks
and sharing work going?

276
00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,870
So I can either do
this as a discussion,

277
00:12:58,870 --> 00:13:02,122
or I can call teams one by one.

278
00:13:02,122 --> 00:13:04,580
Do you guys have an opinion as
to how you'd like to run it,

279
00:13:04,580 --> 00:13:07,201
or should I go ahead and
make an executive decision,

280
00:13:07,201 --> 00:13:07,950
since I'm up here?

281
00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:12,510
All right, I'll call
on people team by team,

282
00:13:12,510 --> 00:13:16,100
and we can just
sort of go through.

283
00:13:16,100 --> 00:13:19,480
I'll start with MIT Sim,
because you went last last time,

284
00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,976
so I guess you can
go first this time.

285
00:13:21,976 --> 00:13:23,350
You don't have to
come down here.

286
00:13:23,350 --> 00:13:24,433
You can stay in the seats.

287
00:13:24,433 --> 00:13:26,180
But OK.

288
00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:27,530
OK, a microphone might help.

289
00:13:27,530 --> 00:13:29,160
I wasn't trying to make
you do an extra report.

290
00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,250
I was hoping this would be sort
of a class discussion where

291
00:13:31,250 --> 00:13:31,500
you're--

292
00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:32,510
PRESENTER 7: Well,
I'm already down here.

293
00:13:32,510 --> 00:13:34,240
PROFESSOR: All right, go ahead.

294
00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,030
PRESENTER 7: So I think one
interesting thing about project

295
00:13:37,030 --> 00:13:39,700
management for our
team as 611 teams

296
00:13:39,700 --> 00:13:44,370
is that the driving difficulties
of working on a team like here

297
00:13:44,370 --> 00:13:47,100
are very different from what
might be in the industry.

298
00:13:47,100 --> 00:13:50,890
So we have to adapt all
these industry methods, which

299
00:13:50,890 --> 00:13:53,230
might work really well
for a game company, where

300
00:13:53,230 --> 00:13:55,930
you have your eight
hours a day of working.

301
00:13:55,930 --> 00:13:59,770
But here it's much
more sparse and not

302
00:13:59,770 --> 00:14:02,800
necessarily-- it's
not always one to one

303
00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:07,760
how you would manage an industry
project versus this project.

304
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:12,250
So I think just figuring out
how to adapt these methods

305
00:14:12,250 --> 00:14:14,890
for students who are
really crunched for time

306
00:14:14,890 --> 00:14:15,530
is a challenge.

307
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,000
PROFESSOR: Have you
made any adaptations?

308
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,010
Has your team made any
adaptations or changes,

309
00:14:22,010 --> 00:14:24,343
or are you just trying to do
as little of it as possible

310
00:14:24,343 --> 00:14:26,860
to help keep things moving?

311
00:14:26,860 --> 00:14:28,917
PRESENTER 7: Probably
the latter, yeah.

312
00:14:28,917 --> 00:14:29,500
PROFESSOR: OK.

313
00:14:32,340 --> 00:14:34,638
If you can think about
the adaptations you're

314
00:14:34,638 --> 00:14:36,846
making that are working for
your team and share them,

315
00:14:36,846 --> 00:14:39,800
that would actually be really
helpful for us to hear,

316
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,370
and for actually
everyone to hear,

317
00:14:41,370 --> 00:14:42,353
because I think
every team is running

318
00:14:42,353 --> 00:14:43,500
into the same problems you are.

319
00:14:43,500 --> 00:14:45,016
But the questions is,
how do you take these,

320
00:14:45,016 --> 00:14:47,700
and how do you make it work
with a team you actually have

321
00:14:47,700 --> 00:14:50,530
and a reality you're actually
working with, as opposed to,

322
00:14:50,530 --> 00:14:52,090
this is the way
your should do it.

323
00:14:52,090 --> 00:14:54,140
That's actually the really
important thing here

324
00:14:54,140 --> 00:14:55,630
to try and figure out.

325
00:14:55,630 --> 00:14:57,560
Thank you.

326
00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,082
OK, Build a Space Car.

327
00:15:00,082 --> 00:15:05,002
Do you have a
sacrificial victim?

328
00:15:05,002 --> 00:15:06,970
Scrums masters
are a good person.

329
00:15:06,970 --> 00:15:08,504
Yeah, it could be
a scrum master.

330
00:15:08,504 --> 00:15:10,457
Could be either way.

331
00:15:10,457 --> 00:15:12,790
PRESENTER 5: Our producer
slash scrum master is actually

332
00:15:12,790 --> 00:15:15,240
out of town, so I
guess I'll handle it.

333
00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,010
But basically coming
off of the last project,

334
00:15:19,010 --> 00:15:21,540
we saw a lot of things
that we weren't happy about

335
00:15:21,540 --> 00:15:23,586
and that we saw a lot
of problems with the way

336
00:15:23,586 --> 00:15:24,780
that we communicated.

337
00:15:24,780 --> 00:15:26,300
So this time we're
trying to make

338
00:15:26,300 --> 00:15:28,880
sure to stay in communication
as much as possible,

339
00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,586
let people know what
we've been working on

340
00:15:31,586 --> 00:15:33,600
and the problems that we see.

341
00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:36,350
PROFESSOR: What tools are you
using to stay in communication?

342
00:15:36,350 --> 00:15:38,690
PRESENTER 5: So we're using
Trello for all of our tasks.

343
00:15:38,690 --> 00:15:39,481
We have them there.

344
00:15:39,481 --> 00:15:43,030
We have them color-coded for
different groups of coding

345
00:15:43,030 --> 00:15:46,240
or UI or testing,
things like that.

346
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,388
And we have a Google Doc
that's sort of all of the ideas

347
00:15:49,388 --> 00:15:51,878
that we had and sort of the
design decisions and things

348
00:15:51,878 --> 00:15:53,380
like that.

349
00:15:53,380 --> 00:15:55,220
We're also all
programmers, which

350
00:15:55,220 --> 00:15:57,940
I think has been helpful
so far, in that we

351
00:15:57,940 --> 00:16:00,240
sort of all understand
what goes into the task

352
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,505
and what's reasonable
and things like that.

353
00:16:02,505 --> 00:16:05,035
Not to say that there isn't a
place for non-coding people,

354
00:16:05,035 --> 00:16:07,660
just that it has
definitely helped on such

355
00:16:07,660 --> 00:16:09,220
a time-constrained team.

356
00:16:09,220 --> 00:16:09,950
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

357
00:16:09,950 --> 00:16:11,700
When you're all talking
the same language,

358
00:16:11,700 --> 00:16:14,830
and you all come to the same
estimate assumptions quickly,

359
00:16:14,830 --> 00:16:16,630
that's beautiful.

360
00:16:16,630 --> 00:16:17,135
Thank you.

361
00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:20,700
Score High.

362
00:16:24,550 --> 00:16:28,100
PRESENTER 4: So I think one
thing we realized right away

363
00:16:28,100 --> 00:16:29,880
was that meeting
outside of class

364
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,240
was pretty much impossible,
especially when you

365
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,980
have seven people with
completely different schedules.

366
00:16:35,980 --> 00:16:39,120
So having the product backlog
and that list of things

367
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:40,750
was really helpful.

368
00:16:40,750 --> 00:16:44,200
But at the same time, a lot of
the other project management

369
00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:46,450
stuff is more just on the side.

370
00:16:46,450 --> 00:16:49,080
So for my team, I've
been taking care of it

371
00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:53,130
and trying to let
everybody else program.

372
00:16:53,130 --> 00:16:55,930
But the product backlog, I
think, is really helpful.

373
00:16:55,930 --> 00:16:59,170
And the vision statement,
having that breakdown

374
00:16:59,170 --> 00:17:02,090
of who's doing what,
has been pretty useful.

375
00:17:02,090 --> 00:17:05,085
We use an email thread, just
to keep everyone in contact.

376
00:17:09,596 --> 00:17:10,970
PROFESSOR: All
right, Ghost Maze.

377
00:17:18,890 --> 00:17:20,370
Two people can come down.

378
00:17:20,370 --> 00:17:20,870
That's fine.

379
00:17:25,070 --> 00:17:25,820
PRESENTER 8: Yeah.

380
00:17:25,820 --> 00:17:28,450
So I guess as other
people were saying,

381
00:17:28,450 --> 00:17:32,790
it's been hard to coordinate
meetings in person.

382
00:17:32,790 --> 00:17:36,339
We tried to have one on
Saturday, but only half of us

383
00:17:36,339 --> 00:17:37,130
could get together.

384
00:17:37,130 --> 00:17:39,260
So definitely we have
to rely a little more

385
00:17:39,260 --> 00:17:41,740
on online
communication and such.

386
00:17:41,740 --> 00:17:44,070
And people are working
on different schedules.

387
00:17:44,070 --> 00:17:49,450
So I think one thing we
realized is you have to budget

388
00:17:49,450 --> 00:17:52,530
how much time people have at
certain points in the project.

389
00:17:52,530 --> 00:17:55,006
So if someone has
a lot more time,

390
00:17:55,006 --> 00:17:56,630
maybe they're more
free on the weekend,

391
00:17:56,630 --> 00:17:58,671
then they could get started
on the earlier stuff,

392
00:17:58,671 --> 00:18:01,890
whereas if someone has
a big project due today,

393
00:18:01,890 --> 00:18:06,090
then we would give them more
stuff for later in the day.

394
00:18:06,090 --> 00:18:08,500
Because when you
develop a game, you

395
00:18:08,500 --> 00:18:10,620
can't do everything right away.

396
00:18:10,620 --> 00:18:12,840
Some other things are
dependent on other things.

397
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:19,820
I've been taking the role of
scrum master, project manager.

398
00:18:19,820 --> 00:18:23,990
So figuring out delegations
and responsibilities.

399
00:18:23,990 --> 00:18:28,810
So I think it helps to have
one or two people plan that.

400
00:18:28,810 --> 00:18:31,558
PROFESSOR: Thank you very much.

401
00:18:31,558 --> 00:18:35,179
OK, and DNA.

402
00:18:35,179 --> 00:18:36,165
In space.

403
00:18:39,123 --> 00:18:42,590
PRESENTER 9: That actually
was the other working title.

404
00:18:42,590 --> 00:18:43,851
It might become Finding DINA.

405
00:18:43,851 --> 00:18:45,350
PROFESSOR: Pretty
much, whenever you

406
00:18:45,350 --> 00:18:47,808
tack "In Space" to something,
it becomes infinitely better.

407
00:18:47,808 --> 00:18:49,501
PRESENTER 9: I'll
do that now then.

408
00:18:49,501 --> 00:18:53,445
So meetings are hard
because people have lives.

409
00:18:53,445 --> 00:18:56,834
But we do little meetings where
we eat lunch with each other,

410
00:18:56,834 --> 00:18:58,375
and only two or
three of us is there.

411
00:18:58,375 --> 00:19:00,240
And the lunch is
tasty, and we talk

412
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,660
about cool stuff like
game design and weird bugs

413
00:19:02,660 --> 00:19:05,134
and what exactly are we
doing with our lives?

414
00:19:05,134 --> 00:19:06,800
As you may be able
to tell from the fact

415
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,040
that things have changed
drastically from the pitch

416
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,650
to now, we kind of basically
scrapped everything

417
00:19:12,650 --> 00:19:14,840
at one point and
said, re-brainstorm.

418
00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:16,312
Shoot out all of the ideas.

419
00:19:16,312 --> 00:19:18,395
But of course, since we
already said the word DNA,

420
00:19:18,395 --> 00:19:21,390
everything kind of ended
up DNA deep down inside

421
00:19:21,390 --> 00:19:23,370
at heart, kind of sort of.

422
00:19:23,370 --> 00:19:25,789
So I feel like we did a lot
of email communication then,

423
00:19:25,789 --> 00:19:27,830
and we still do a lot of
email communication now.

424
00:19:27,830 --> 00:19:30,038
It's just like, spew all of
the things at each other.

425
00:19:30,038 --> 00:19:32,040
And I feel like,
that's kind of nice.

426
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,550
There are times when it's
like, well, I'm really, really,

427
00:19:34,550 --> 00:19:36,730
really busy until Day
X, so until Day X,

428
00:19:36,730 --> 00:19:38,730
I will have nothing to
say if we have a meeting.

429
00:19:38,730 --> 00:19:39,845
And we're like,
OK, then I guess we

430
00:19:39,845 --> 00:19:41,110
won't have a
meeting until Day X.

431
00:19:41,110 --> 00:19:43,484
And it's like, well, Day X is
the day right before Monday

432
00:19:43,484 --> 00:19:44,120
or something.

433
00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:46,590
So was it really the best
idea to put that off,

434
00:19:46,590 --> 00:19:48,430
or should we have
done it anyways

435
00:19:48,430 --> 00:19:50,805
and have you just sit there
and feel lame about yourself?

436
00:19:50,805 --> 00:19:53,966
I don't know, but
we did what we did.

437
00:19:53,966 --> 00:19:55,680
PROFESSOR: OK.

438
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,540
And finally, Hardcore Dragon.

439
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,460
PRESENTER 10: So
looking up at that list,

440
00:20:12,460 --> 00:20:14,660
the first thing on the
list is team communication.

441
00:20:14,660 --> 00:20:19,080
And we actually have quite a
few different things in place.

442
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,880
We're using Trello,
so we do have that.

443
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,612
We're using a
Google Folder, which

444
00:20:24,612 --> 00:20:29,590
is just shared between all of
us and all of the documents.

445
00:20:29,590 --> 00:20:32,320
And we're also
using a chat, which

446
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,402
I assume every single one of us
just has open on our computer

447
00:20:35,402 --> 00:20:37,495
and is just sitting there.

448
00:20:37,495 --> 00:20:40,750
So everyone's looking in
on it once in a while,

449
00:20:40,750 --> 00:20:43,516
people are commenting
on it once in a while.

450
00:20:43,516 --> 00:20:47,960
That's how team
communication is going.

451
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,160
Design, I think, is probably
the most solid point

452
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:51,910
of all the things.

453
00:20:51,910 --> 00:20:52,660
PRESENTER 1: Yeah.

454
00:20:52,660 --> 00:20:56,110
I think we came up with pretty
solid ideas the last time

455
00:20:56,110 --> 00:20:56,992
we met in person.

456
00:20:56,992 --> 00:20:59,200
And since then, we haven't
really deviated from that.

457
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,340
It's been pretty straightforward
that this is our goal.

458
00:21:02,340 --> 00:21:04,180
We might have to
cut-- we'll probably

459
00:21:04,180 --> 00:21:07,220
have to cut features eventually,
but for now, it's pretty solid.

460
00:21:07,220 --> 00:21:09,680
PRESENTER 10: I think we're
fine without cutting features.

461
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:14,340
I think it will actually fit
right in with the time we have.

462
00:21:14,340 --> 00:21:15,950
I don't think we
can add features,

463
00:21:15,950 --> 00:21:20,460
but we-- and I think I know
exactly what the game is

464
00:21:20,460 --> 00:21:21,370
at this point.

465
00:21:21,370 --> 00:21:24,906
And I think that everyone
else is in the same place,

466
00:21:24,906 --> 00:21:26,650
but I don't know.

467
00:21:26,650 --> 00:21:30,350
So I really think that
figuring out what our design is

468
00:21:30,350 --> 00:21:34,300
is completely solid
at this point.

469
00:21:34,300 --> 00:21:39,140
As for assigning
tasks, sharing work,

470
00:21:39,140 --> 00:21:42,600
that stuff is sort of
a work in progress.

471
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,010
PRESENTER 1: So we
have a sprint task list

472
00:21:45,010 --> 00:21:48,270
already that we've been
using to assign estimates

473
00:21:48,270 --> 00:21:50,200
and people to certain things.

474
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,360
So far it's kind of
been a free-for-all.

475
00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:55,840
But from looking at the task
list the last time I saw it,

476
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:57,502
it looks like
everyone's completing

477
00:21:57,502 --> 00:21:58,710
things in a pretty good pace.

478
00:21:58,710 --> 00:22:00,925
So I think that so far
it's worked out nicely.

479
00:22:04,562 --> 00:22:06,020
PROFESSOR: OK, I
guess you're done.

480
00:22:09,470 --> 00:22:10,230
OK, thank you.

481
00:22:12,780 --> 00:22:14,030
I think that's everybody.

482
00:22:14,030 --> 00:22:16,167
And now, Phillip.

483
00:22:16,167 --> 00:22:16,750
PROFESSOR: OK.

484
00:22:16,750 --> 00:22:20,370
So just a reminder that
this is project three,

485
00:22:20,370 --> 00:22:23,080
digital prototype
two, user interface.

486
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,780
So in addition to all of
the project management stuff

487
00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:28,110
that we've just covered
in the past half hour,

488
00:22:28,110 --> 00:22:32,290
there's also the intent
to maximize usability.

489
00:22:32,290 --> 00:22:34,430
And we've already talked
a little bit of usability

490
00:22:34,430 --> 00:22:37,349
when Sarah gave the
last testing lecture.

491
00:22:37,349 --> 00:22:39,140
Now we're going to do
a bit of a deep dive.

492
00:22:39,140 --> 00:22:42,370
So this is going to
take a bit of time,

493
00:22:42,370 --> 00:22:47,610
but I hope you will
follow me through this.

494
00:22:47,610 --> 00:22:51,860
You're supposed to use user
feedback through user testing

495
00:22:51,860 --> 00:22:54,410
on your own, which
means not just relying

496
00:22:54,410 --> 00:22:56,190
on the testing that's
happening in class,

497
00:22:56,190 --> 00:22:57,680
but also doing it outside.

498
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,374
So we're going to talk
a little bit about that.

499
00:23:00,374 --> 00:23:01,790
Before that, I'm
going to walk you

500
00:23:01,790 --> 00:23:06,410
through an exercise about
what's the intent of usability.

501
00:23:06,410 --> 00:23:09,190
The whole point of
testing for usability

502
00:23:09,190 --> 00:23:11,910
and designing for
usability is basically just

503
00:23:11,910 --> 00:23:14,120
to figure out whether
someone can figure out

504
00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:15,440
how to play your game.

505
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,640
Not so much whether they're
having any fun doing it,

506
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,785
although obviously
you don't want them

507
00:23:19,785 --> 00:23:21,920
to be frustrated or confused.

508
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,330
But you actually are
just trying to figure out

509
00:23:24,330 --> 00:23:27,170
whether people can understand
how to interact with your game.

510
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,570
The game could be improved
through play testing

511
00:23:33,570 --> 00:23:35,240
to sort of say, oh,
the challenge level

512
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,320
might not be right for instance.

513
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,190
You can use focus testing
to be able to figure out

514
00:23:40,190 --> 00:23:45,260
specific design issues in
your game, like for instance,

515
00:23:45,260 --> 00:23:49,750
do these armor
upgrades make sense

516
00:23:49,750 --> 00:23:53,090
to somebody who's not
on our design team?

517
00:23:53,090 --> 00:23:55,130
Usability testing is
we have this thing

518
00:23:55,130 --> 00:23:58,230
that we designed with the
intent of having it learnable.

519
00:23:58,230 --> 00:24:02,280
And can people actually
learn how to play this game?

520
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,190
Now, just a straw
poll-- how many of use

521
00:24:04,190 --> 00:24:06,890
speak or read German?

522
00:24:06,890 --> 00:24:08,060
OK.

523
00:24:08,060 --> 00:24:13,280
How many of you have seen
this game, or played this game

524
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:14,690
or have heard of this game?

525
00:24:14,690 --> 00:24:17,250
All right.

526
00:24:17,250 --> 00:24:23,070
So if you do speak
or read German,

527
00:24:23,070 --> 00:24:26,910
just hold your
responses for a second.

528
00:24:26,910 --> 00:24:29,660
And I'm going to start by
just looking at this game.

529
00:24:29,660 --> 00:24:35,110
And this is a game that
you'll find on a shelf,

530
00:24:35,110 --> 00:24:40,840
maybe in a speciality game
store or an Amazon shelf.

531
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,970
And just by looking
at this, what

532
00:24:44,970 --> 00:24:48,740
can you intuit from what
this game is or who it's for

533
00:24:48,740 --> 00:24:51,100
or how it might be played?

534
00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:52,770
Any ideas?

535
00:24:52,770 --> 00:24:54,690
Throw it out?

536
00:24:54,690 --> 00:24:56,130
AUDIENCE: It's for
young-ish kids,

537
00:24:56,130 --> 00:24:58,671
where they stack randomly-shaped
blocks on top of each other.

538
00:24:58,671 --> 00:24:59,410
PROFESSOR: Wow.

539
00:24:59,410 --> 00:25:00,370
How do you figure that?

540
00:25:00,370 --> 00:25:01,625
AUDIENCE: Because it's
bright and colorful

541
00:25:01,625 --> 00:25:03,292
and it has cutesy
cartoon stuff on it.

542
00:25:03,292 --> 00:25:04,750
PROFESSOR: OK,
bright and colorful.

543
00:25:04,750 --> 00:25:05,545
Cutesy color stuff.

544
00:25:05,545 --> 00:25:07,744
AUDIENCE: The animals
are making funny motions,

545
00:25:07,744 --> 00:25:09,618
implying that they are
precariously balanced.

546
00:25:09,618 --> 00:25:11,336
Also, the alligator
isn't eating anyone.

547
00:25:11,336 --> 00:25:13,210
PROFESSOR: The alligator
isn't eating anyone.

548
00:25:13,210 --> 00:25:15,450
It is kind of
nonviolent, bright color.

549
00:25:15,450 --> 00:25:20,190
What else on this
stuff here, assuming

550
00:25:20,190 --> 00:25:24,337
that you don't speak German,
gives you any other clues.

551
00:25:24,337 --> 00:25:25,420
I thought I saw a hand up.

552
00:25:27,991 --> 00:25:28,490
Yeah?

553
00:25:28,490 --> 00:25:31,872
AUDIENCE: The type.

554
00:25:31,872 --> 00:25:33,720
PROFESSOR: The font.

555
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,220
The cartoonish-- yeah.

556
00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:40,620
I think, Matt, you
had your hand up.

557
00:25:40,620 --> 00:25:42,786
AUDIENCE: I was going to
say something, that there's

558
00:25:42,786 --> 00:25:43,750
an exclamation point.

559
00:25:43,750 --> 00:25:45,250
PROFESSOR: Oh, yeah, yeah.

560
00:25:45,250 --> 00:25:47,070
It's like, you can
imagine there's

561
00:25:47,070 --> 00:25:49,190
something zany going on.

562
00:25:49,190 --> 00:25:52,210
Anyone recognize the brand?

563
00:25:52,210 --> 00:25:54,720
Has anyone heard of
this brand before?

564
00:25:54,720 --> 00:26:00,590
No one has four-year-old
toddler relatives or anything?

565
00:26:00,590 --> 00:26:04,440
Because it's a big kids brand.

566
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,930
OK, folks who do speak
German, what's on this box?

567
00:26:08,930 --> 00:26:11,838
What's this box telling you?

568
00:26:11,838 --> 00:26:14,330
AUDIENCE: The title
is Animals on Animals.

569
00:26:14,330 --> 00:26:16,430
PROFESSOR: Animals on Animals.

570
00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:19,180
So yeah, again, you're putting
animals on top of each other.

571
00:26:19,180 --> 00:26:20,721
If you want to open
the box, and I've

572
00:26:20,721 --> 00:26:23,700
actually gotten a
box, just one second.

573
00:26:26,270 --> 00:26:30,640
You see these kinds of pieces,
brightly colored wooden pieces.

574
00:26:34,436 --> 00:26:35,310
There is a crocodile.

575
00:26:38,230 --> 00:26:47,610
But there's also this bright red
die with these symbols on them.

576
00:26:47,610 --> 00:26:50,882
Any clues on how this game
is supposed to be played?

577
00:26:50,882 --> 00:26:52,840
I mean, we already talked
about putting animals

578
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:53,810
on top of each other.

579
00:26:53,810 --> 00:26:54,650
But here are the pieces.

580
00:26:54,650 --> 00:26:56,316
If anybody actually
wants a closer look,

581
00:26:56,316 --> 00:26:58,730
you can come in and have a look.

582
00:26:58,730 --> 00:27:02,450
I'll go back to the previous
slide for you to see.

583
00:27:02,450 --> 00:27:04,810
Any idea how this game
is supposed to be played?

584
00:27:04,810 --> 00:27:09,016
Anything more specific than put
animals on top of each other?

585
00:27:09,016 --> 00:27:11,432
AUDIENCE: I feel like you're
probably going to take turns,

586
00:27:11,432 --> 00:27:13,066
and every turn, you're
going to roll the die

587
00:27:13,066 --> 00:27:14,710
and do something
based on what it says.

588
00:27:14,710 --> 00:27:15,293
PROFESSOR: OK.

589
00:27:15,293 --> 00:27:16,290
And that's based on?

590
00:27:16,290 --> 00:27:19,055
Making that assumption based on?

591
00:27:19,055 --> 00:27:20,680
The fact that there
is a die and you've

592
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:22,660
probably played games
with dice before.

593
00:27:22,660 --> 00:27:25,440
And actually, in the
previous picture,

594
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,960
I think it actually
says players--

595
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:29,140
is that a player number?

596
00:27:29,140 --> 00:27:31,656
I guess it's off in a corner.

597
00:27:31,656 --> 00:27:34,100
It is a multiplayer game.

598
00:27:34,100 --> 00:27:36,040
And if you could
see that corner,

599
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:37,950
you would've assumed,
yeah, taking turns

600
00:27:37,950 --> 00:27:39,702
seems like a normal thing.

601
00:27:39,702 --> 00:27:41,160
That's based on
your own experience

602
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,590
of having played board games.

603
00:27:44,590 --> 00:27:46,094
What else?

604
00:27:46,094 --> 00:27:47,635
Any idea what these
symbols might be?

605
00:27:53,890 --> 00:27:54,390
Yeah?

606
00:27:54,390 --> 00:27:56,810
AUDIENCE: Based on
the hand symbol,

607
00:27:56,810 --> 00:28:00,198
it seems like it
might be restricting

608
00:28:00,198 --> 00:28:04,537
which hand you can use
to place the animal.

609
00:28:04,537 --> 00:28:05,120
PROFESSOR: OK.

610
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:09,840
So you are already assuming that
this is a very dexterous game.

611
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:14,910
It's going to require item
manipulation, a hand connected

612
00:28:14,910 --> 00:28:15,910
to that.

613
00:28:15,910 --> 00:28:17,410
There is a picture
of the crocodile.

614
00:28:17,410 --> 00:28:19,730
There's a question mark.

615
00:28:19,730 --> 00:28:22,400
I'm sort of walking you
through the process of somebody

616
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,120
actually looking at this
box for the first time.

617
00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:27,700
And sometimes when you see
this kind of game in the store,

618
00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:30,340
you don't even get a chance
to look inside the box.

619
00:28:30,340 --> 00:28:33,930
But if you had a
display version,

620
00:28:33,930 --> 00:28:36,430
you'd be trying to figure out
the game based on these things

621
00:28:36,430 --> 00:28:37,370
that you're seeing.

622
00:28:37,370 --> 00:28:40,820
Now, there is a newer
version of this box cover

623
00:28:40,820 --> 00:28:43,640
that makes the stacking
animals on top of each other

624
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,000
really, really obvious.

625
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,030
That's the same cover
that I've got over here.

626
00:28:48,030 --> 00:28:52,190
And this is the English
version, Animal Upon Animal.

627
00:28:52,190 --> 00:28:54,585
But if you wanted to figure
out how to play a game

628
00:28:54,585 --> 00:28:56,960
and you couldn't look inside
a box, what's the next thing

629
00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:01,660
you do after seeing
it on the shelf?

630
00:29:01,660 --> 00:29:03,520
You look at the back of the box.

631
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:07,550
And there, everything
that you've

632
00:29:07,550 --> 00:29:10,260
intuited from just
looking at the components

633
00:29:10,260 --> 00:29:14,340
and looking at the front of the
box is made even more explicit

634
00:29:14,340 --> 00:29:15,510
at the back.

635
00:29:15,510 --> 00:29:17,710
Now, it's in a tiny
little font, but you've

636
00:29:17,710 --> 00:29:23,820
got a picture of two charming
kids who are stacking things.

637
00:29:23,820 --> 00:29:27,360
Notice, they're stacking
everything in one plane.

638
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:29,080
There are some pieces
scattered around,

639
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:30,830
but the only things
that are being stacked

640
00:29:30,830 --> 00:29:35,290
are stacked within this
single plane of the crocodile.

641
00:29:35,290 --> 00:29:37,425
And of course, there
are indications

642
00:29:37,425 --> 00:29:39,050
of how long the game
is supposed to be,

643
00:29:39,050 --> 00:29:41,800
how many players it takes.

644
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,162
And of course, if you were
to actually buy the game,

645
00:29:44,162 --> 00:29:45,870
you would look at a
manual, which happens

646
00:29:45,870 --> 00:29:48,110
to have six languages in it.

647
00:29:48,110 --> 00:29:50,140
And it would explain
things, like what

648
00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:54,520
these icons on the die
are supposed to be.

649
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,287
But ideally you wouldn't
even get to this point.

650
00:29:57,287 --> 00:29:58,870
And the kid is not
going to read this,

651
00:29:58,870 --> 00:30:01,010
because I believe
this was targeted

652
00:30:01,010 --> 00:30:05,750
at kids age four to 99.

653
00:30:05,750 --> 00:30:08,850
So if you're age four, you're
not reading this manual.

654
00:30:08,850 --> 00:30:10,930
A parent is going to
be reading this manual,

655
00:30:10,930 --> 00:30:14,020
or some sort of older
sibling is having

656
00:30:14,020 --> 00:30:16,510
to explain this to the kids.

657
00:30:16,510 --> 00:30:19,800
So this isn't actually
targeted at the target audience

658
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:21,075
of this game.

659
00:30:21,075 --> 00:30:22,950
Maybe it's targeted at
the buyer of the game,

660
00:30:22,950 --> 00:30:25,339
but certainly not
at the people who

661
00:30:25,339 --> 00:30:27,630
are going to have the most
difficulty playing this game

662
00:30:27,630 --> 00:30:29,950
even though the game
is intended for them.

663
00:30:29,950 --> 00:30:31,340
By the way, this
is a great game.

664
00:30:31,340 --> 00:30:35,040
This is a whole lot of
fun to play with family.

665
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:40,970
So a lot of what I'm going
to discuss going forward

666
00:30:40,970 --> 00:30:44,527
is just kind of a theoretical
analysis of that process

667
00:30:44,527 --> 00:30:45,610
that we just went through.

668
00:30:45,610 --> 00:30:48,570
We just used a whole
bunch of different cues,

669
00:30:48,570 --> 00:30:52,090
just looking at the
box and the pieces,

670
00:30:52,090 --> 00:30:57,680
and the text on the box and the
colors and cultural knowledge

671
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,512
to be able to figure out how
it is that you play this game.

672
00:31:00,512 --> 00:31:01,720
Now, this is a game for kids.

673
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:02,928
It's not a very complex game.

674
00:31:02,928 --> 00:31:05,700
If I gave you some sort
of really, really abstract

675
00:31:05,700 --> 00:31:08,120
German board game, where
everything are cubes--

676
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:09,930
and there are many,
many games just

677
00:31:09,930 --> 00:31:11,850
fitting that description--
you'd probably

678
00:31:11,850 --> 00:31:13,420
have to read the
instructions just

679
00:31:13,420 --> 00:31:17,450
to be able to figure out
how to play the game.

680
00:31:17,450 --> 00:31:19,400
But ideally, you'd
want the experience

681
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,479
to be about as
easy as the process

682
00:31:21,479 --> 00:31:23,520
that we just walked through
with this board game.

683
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,170
You look at this game, you're
presented with information

684
00:31:26,170 --> 00:31:29,332
upon launching it or even before
you bought it, and by the time

685
00:31:29,332 --> 00:31:31,040
you've actually started
playing the game,

686
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,870
you already have a sense of
what you're going to expect,

687
00:31:33,870 --> 00:31:38,460
which sets people up to
learn the more complex things

688
00:31:38,460 --> 00:31:41,450
that you need to teach
them along the way.

689
00:31:41,450 --> 00:31:44,442
Now, there's a book-- which I
should have brought upfront.

690
00:31:46,980 --> 00:31:48,980
This book I strongly
recommend, The Design

691
00:31:48,980 --> 00:31:52,570
of Everyday Things, which
was previously titled

692
00:31:52,570 --> 00:31:54,810
The Psychology of
Everyday Things,

693
00:31:54,810 --> 00:31:57,850
because that's really
what this is all about.

694
00:31:57,850 --> 00:32:01,970
Usability, designing for
usability and you are testing

695
00:32:01,970 --> 00:32:04,600
usability, you are
asking questions

696
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:07,050
about the player's psychology.

697
00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:10,220
And you are trying to use
that to your advantage

698
00:32:10,220 --> 00:32:13,240
to be able to help them
understand how to manipulate

699
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,880
your game and how to get the
experience that you want out

700
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:18,165
of it without being confused.

701
00:32:18,165 --> 00:32:21,110
Now, there's this model
that Donald Norman,

702
00:32:21,110 --> 00:32:25,160
the author off this book,
goes into great detail.

703
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:31,070
And it says, there are
goals, there's an intention

704
00:32:31,070 --> 00:32:35,870
that the person using an HCI,
a Human Computer Interaction

705
00:32:35,870 --> 00:32:36,950
system.

706
00:32:36,950 --> 00:32:39,150
And that person has
some sort of goal.

707
00:32:39,150 --> 00:32:40,910
They are using
Excel because they

708
00:32:40,910 --> 00:32:43,560
want to balance their budget
or something like that.

709
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:45,111
They have an intention.

710
00:32:45,111 --> 00:32:47,360
They're going to put numbers
into the spreadsheet that

711
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,740
reflect their actual spending.

712
00:32:50,740 --> 00:32:52,157
They have a plan,
which is they're

713
00:32:52,157 --> 00:32:53,739
going to collect all
of their receipts

714
00:32:53,739 --> 00:32:55,450
together and look at
those bottom lines

715
00:32:55,450 --> 00:32:56,574
and start typing them in.

716
00:32:56,574 --> 00:32:57,990
And then they
actually execute it.

717
00:32:57,990 --> 00:32:59,531
They're actually--
all right, I think

718
00:32:59,531 --> 00:33:01,130
this is the way how it works.

719
00:33:01,130 --> 00:33:03,690
And then the computer
gives them some sort

720
00:33:03,690 --> 00:33:07,120
of feedback-- visual,
audio, vibration,

721
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,390
if you're designing a game.

722
00:33:09,390 --> 00:33:12,780
The person using the system
has to perceive it and then

723
00:33:12,780 --> 00:33:15,930
figure out what that means.

724
00:33:15,930 --> 00:33:19,200
OK, a dialog box
popped up on my screen.

725
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,910
I did something peculiar
and didn't expect that,

726
00:33:21,910 --> 00:33:24,450
and then they have to evaluate,
did that get them any closer

727
00:33:24,450 --> 00:33:26,110
to the goals that they had.

728
00:33:26,110 --> 00:33:28,040
And maybe then the
goal changes to maybe

729
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,320
I should learn Excel before I
try to balance my spreadsheet.

730
00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:36,430
And then now they have a
slightly different goal.

731
00:33:36,430 --> 00:33:40,240
So you can translate
that into games.

732
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:41,530
You start off with the goal.

733
00:33:41,530 --> 00:33:42,550
How do I win this game?

734
00:33:42,550 --> 00:33:43,550
How do I lose this game?

735
00:33:43,550 --> 00:33:46,800
How do I avoid losing, and
how do I win this game,

736
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:48,030
or at least complete it?

737
00:33:48,030 --> 00:33:51,580
And then the player decides,
what do I want to do

738
00:33:51,580 --> 00:33:54,360
and comes up with a
plan, which is how am I

739
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,120
going to do that thing that I
want to do, and then tries it.

740
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,480
The game reacts, gives some
sort of feedback-- audio, sound,

741
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,390
vibration, whatever--
but the player

742
00:34:04,390 --> 00:34:06,110
still has to perceive it.

743
00:34:06,110 --> 00:34:08,739
And this is a big
point right there.

744
00:34:08,739 --> 00:34:11,590
If you give the player
feedback and the player

745
00:34:11,590 --> 00:34:14,540
doesn't perceive that feedback
because they're too distracted

746
00:34:14,540 --> 00:34:16,960
by something else, because
it's the wrong color

747
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,590
or it's off in the
corner of the screen

748
00:34:19,590 --> 00:34:22,530
where the player isn't
looking, the player

749
00:34:22,530 --> 00:34:24,034
doesn't get that feedback.

750
00:34:24,034 --> 00:34:25,659
The player has to
perceive the feedback

751
00:34:25,659 --> 00:34:27,889
and then figure out
what that means.

752
00:34:27,889 --> 00:34:30,020
It's like, oh, a big
giant exclamation mark

753
00:34:30,020 --> 00:34:32,017
appeared on the screen.

754
00:34:32,017 --> 00:34:32,850
What does that mean?

755
00:34:32,850 --> 00:34:35,299
I have no idea.

756
00:34:35,299 --> 00:34:37,340
And even if a player
understands what that means,

757
00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:38,923
they have to figure
out whether that's

758
00:34:38,923 --> 00:34:42,310
getting them any closer or
further away from the goals.

759
00:34:42,310 --> 00:34:47,658
So here's an example, back
to my StarCraft fandom.

760
00:34:47,658 --> 00:34:48,699
You're playing StarCraft.

761
00:34:48,699 --> 00:34:51,550
You wanted a giant army to
roll over your opponent.

762
00:34:51,550 --> 00:34:54,610
And that's the goal.

763
00:34:54,610 --> 00:34:58,080
Actually, the goal is just
to roll over your opponent.

764
00:34:58,080 --> 00:34:59,660
And what do I want to do?

765
00:34:59,660 --> 00:35:02,240
I want to build a giant army
to accomplish that goal.

766
00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:03,510
How do I do that?

767
00:35:03,510 --> 00:35:05,470
I'm going to build
lots of buildings

768
00:35:05,470 --> 00:35:08,590
that is going to create
all of these army units.

769
00:35:08,590 --> 00:35:11,570
And those army units are
going to serve that purpose

770
00:35:11,570 --> 00:35:13,450
that I just described.

771
00:35:13,450 --> 00:35:14,450
All right, let's try it.

772
00:35:14,450 --> 00:35:16,330
Game reacts, and you get this.

773
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,450
What do I see or hear?

774
00:35:20,450 --> 00:35:23,040
The computer is yelling at me,
saying not enough minerals.

775
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:23,890
What does that mean?

776
00:35:23,890 --> 00:35:26,620
I guess I need minerals.

777
00:35:26,620 --> 00:35:29,710
And is that what I want?

778
00:35:29,710 --> 00:35:30,280
I guess.

779
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,430
If I have minerals, then
I can build those things

780
00:35:33,430 --> 00:35:36,370
that will get me the army that
I want to roll over my opponent.

781
00:35:36,370 --> 00:35:39,920
All right, my goal hasn't
changed at these long term,

782
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:41,470
but my short term goal has.

783
00:35:41,470 --> 00:35:46,440
Now I have to figure out
how to get more minerals.

784
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,980
So in The Design
of Everyday Things,

785
00:35:49,980 --> 00:35:54,750
Donald Norman introduces this
concept called affordances.

786
00:35:54,750 --> 00:35:58,470
And the idea is that there are
certain kinds of interfaces,

787
00:35:58,470 --> 00:36:00,990
things around in the world,
among the machines that you

788
00:36:00,990 --> 00:36:03,850
use every day but
also within games,

789
00:36:03,850 --> 00:36:07,920
that encourage you to interact
with them in a certain way.

790
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:14,140
If you see, for
instance, a glass wall,

791
00:36:14,140 --> 00:36:19,510
and your goal is
to vandalize it,

792
00:36:19,510 --> 00:36:22,420
what's the most natural thing
to do to that glass wall?

793
00:36:22,420 --> 00:36:24,030
You smash it.

794
00:36:24,030 --> 00:36:24,570
All right.

795
00:36:24,570 --> 00:36:27,630
What if it was made
out of plywood,

796
00:36:27,630 --> 00:36:30,240
and your goal is
to vandalize it?

797
00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:33,120
You want to write on it.

798
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,490
What else can do
with a plywood wall?

799
00:36:35,490 --> 00:36:36,200
Concrete wall?

800
00:36:39,990 --> 00:36:41,800
You want to break it?

801
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,610
Or spraypaint-- yeah, yeah
because concrete holds

802
00:36:45,610 --> 00:36:47,240
paint pretty well.

803
00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:49,950
So there are these materials
that already suggest things

804
00:36:49,950 --> 00:36:51,680
that you can do with them.

805
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,830
And you can take that concept
further in a more explicitly

806
00:36:54,830 --> 00:36:56,080
designed way.

807
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:58,824
So let's look at door handles.

808
00:36:58,824 --> 00:37:00,490
We've got some door
handles around here.

809
00:37:00,490 --> 00:37:03,150
I guess there is this
kind of crash bar.

810
00:37:03,150 --> 00:37:04,810
You've got this
sort of door handle,

811
00:37:04,810 --> 00:37:07,120
and it's just the right
size for your hand.

812
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:09,500
It's kind of curled
in a pleasant way that

813
00:37:09,500 --> 00:37:13,020
affords gripping, that affords
turning because there is

814
00:37:13,020 --> 00:37:16,550
a hinge on one side, and
there's a sort of a lever action

815
00:37:16,550 --> 00:37:19,210
so you can use less force to
be able to turn this thing.

816
00:37:19,210 --> 00:37:21,025
So you are
immediately encouraged

817
00:37:21,025 --> 00:37:22,410
to gripping this thing.

818
00:37:22,410 --> 00:37:25,450
But what does this door handle
not tell you about the door?

819
00:37:25,450 --> 00:37:28,560
It's very important if
you want to open the door.

820
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:32,630
Yeah, do you push or
do you pull this door?

821
00:37:32,630 --> 00:37:37,470
So let's think of different
kinds of door handles.

822
00:37:37,470 --> 00:37:42,320
This is something that
you could grab and pull.

823
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:48,720
But the designers of these
intended to use this for you

824
00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:50,470
to push, because it's
a lot easier for you

825
00:37:50,470 --> 00:37:54,260
to exert force going
outwards than to exert force

826
00:37:54,260 --> 00:37:57,740
going inwards, using
this kind of bar.

827
00:37:57,740 --> 00:38:01,450
That's why you see these on
doors that open outwards.

828
00:38:01,450 --> 00:38:04,834
However, that's still a problem
because there's a little rod

829
00:38:04,834 --> 00:38:06,250
all the way through,
and your hand

830
00:38:06,250 --> 00:38:08,180
can go all the way around it.

831
00:38:08,180 --> 00:38:11,240
And it's still tempting to just
grab the thing and pull it,

832
00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:14,780
which is a really bad situation
if it's an outward turning

833
00:38:14,780 --> 00:38:16,340
fire escape, for instance.

834
00:38:16,340 --> 00:38:19,092
You don't want people
trying to pull a door open

835
00:38:19,092 --> 00:38:21,550
when they should be pushing it
when they're in an emergency

836
00:38:21,550 --> 00:38:22,390
situation.

837
00:38:22,390 --> 00:38:25,320
You don't want to have them
do that kind of processing.

838
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,810
So that's why they came
up with these crash bards.

839
00:38:28,810 --> 00:38:31,640
And eventually this one,
which is very similar to what

840
00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,130
we have on our door.

841
00:38:34,130 --> 00:38:37,680
They have these very wide
bars that you can push,

842
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,532
and you can put your hand
around it but not comfortably.

843
00:38:40,532 --> 00:38:42,740
It's much easier for you to
use the flat of your hand

844
00:38:42,740 --> 00:38:44,470
to be able to push it outwards.

845
00:38:44,470 --> 00:38:48,350
And the version that we have
on this store over there,

846
00:38:48,350 --> 00:38:51,960
the part that you push is off
to one side, which tells you

847
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,840
where you should be putting
your hands so that you can get

848
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,130
better leverage to open the
door-- which way the door

849
00:38:57,130 --> 00:38:58,730
opens, left or right.

850
00:38:58,730 --> 00:39:00,370
And that's the
kind of thing that

851
00:39:00,370 --> 00:39:02,430
automates this
process of how do I

852
00:39:02,430 --> 00:39:05,170
open this door in an
emergency situation.

853
00:39:05,170 --> 00:39:08,120
These are affordances
of the design itself.

854
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,807
The material is mostly
metal, although I

855
00:39:10,807 --> 00:39:13,390
guess the version that I've got
up here has a rubberized grip.

856
00:39:13,390 --> 00:39:14,870
And the idea of
a rubberized grip

857
00:39:14,870 --> 00:39:17,810
is that, well, maybe you want
to put your hand on the rubber

858
00:39:17,810 --> 00:39:20,620
part, not on the metal part.

859
00:39:20,620 --> 00:39:23,190
So you can design these
things in your games,

860
00:39:23,190 --> 00:39:25,580
these affordances to
sort of encourage people

861
00:39:25,580 --> 00:39:28,110
to, say, click on something.

862
00:39:28,110 --> 00:39:30,180
You can design
something that's meant

863
00:39:30,180 --> 00:39:32,140
to be clicked on to
look like a button,

864
00:39:32,140 --> 00:39:33,790
for instance, that's
slightly raised.

865
00:39:33,790 --> 00:39:36,710
And Apple does this a
lot, especially if you

866
00:39:36,710 --> 00:39:39,200
look at the older iOS design.

867
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:43,730
Every single little icon kind
of had this little glossy bump.

868
00:39:43,730 --> 00:39:46,400
It tried to give you
this impression that this

869
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,016
was something that
was raised off

870
00:39:48,016 --> 00:39:50,390
the screen, even though of
course it was completely flat.

871
00:39:50,390 --> 00:39:52,890
And it tried to encourage you
that this was a thing that you

872
00:39:52,890 --> 00:39:55,310
can tap with your finger.

873
00:39:55,310 --> 00:39:57,242
I'll go into more
examples of this later.

874
00:39:57,242 --> 00:39:58,950
Anyone can think of
something that you've

875
00:39:58,950 --> 00:40:02,140
seen in a computer
interface that encourages

876
00:40:02,140 --> 00:40:04,300
you to use it in that way?

877
00:40:04,300 --> 00:40:05,290
It could be mechanical.

878
00:40:05,290 --> 00:40:08,910
It could be on screen.

879
00:40:08,910 --> 00:40:11,330
Look at your
computers right now.

880
00:40:15,668 --> 00:40:18,506
AUDIENCE: It's not like
this on Mac anymore,

881
00:40:18,506 --> 00:40:20,006
but the scroll
baller has a little--

882
00:40:20,006 --> 00:40:21,934
I don't know what you call it,
the lines that look like you

883
00:40:21,934 --> 00:40:22,975
can grab them and scroll.

884
00:40:22,975 --> 00:40:25,560
PROFESSOR: Yeah,
it had a texture,

885
00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:28,260
sort of three little lines
that sort of gave you

886
00:40:28,260 --> 00:40:31,900
the idea that this was a
raised thing for gripping,

887
00:40:31,900 --> 00:40:34,230
in the same way that a
rubberized grip over a door

888
00:40:34,230 --> 00:40:36,920
handle encourages you
to put your hand on it.

889
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,380
It probably would make more
sense nowadays, actually,

890
00:40:39,380 --> 00:40:43,050
given that so much of it
has gone to touch screens.

891
00:40:43,050 --> 00:40:44,730
The scroll wheel
would be another one.

892
00:40:44,730 --> 00:40:46,730
I just broke my mouse
scroll wheel this morning,

893
00:40:46,730 --> 00:40:48,220
so it's on my mind.

894
00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:53,010
Now, scroll wheels
on mice actually

895
00:40:53,010 --> 00:40:54,010
do two different things.

896
00:40:54,010 --> 00:40:56,080
You can click them, and
you can rotate them.

897
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:58,170
But they're kind of really
designed to be rotated.

898
00:40:58,170 --> 00:40:59,795
And that's why I
broke my scroll wheel,

899
00:40:59,795 --> 00:41:03,160
because I kept clicking it.

900
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,650
You are encouraged to roll
that thing up and down.

901
00:41:05,650 --> 00:41:09,100
They're usually made out of
some sort of rubberized material

902
00:41:09,100 --> 00:41:15,110
and a place right where
your finger has easy reach.

903
00:41:15,110 --> 00:41:19,060
You can flip that around and
make things deliberately hard

904
00:41:19,060 --> 00:41:21,670
when you don't want someone
to be doing something.

905
00:41:21,670 --> 00:41:29,190
Here's a screenshot
of-- what game is this?

906
00:41:29,190 --> 00:41:30,370
Plants vs. Zombies.

907
00:41:30,370 --> 00:41:35,330
There are no zombies on
screen, but it's very popular.

908
00:41:35,330 --> 00:41:40,250
And early in the game, early in
the development of this game,

909
00:41:40,250 --> 00:41:44,665
they had different values
for these early items

910
00:41:44,665 --> 00:41:46,290
that you'll get right
in the beginning.

911
00:41:46,290 --> 00:41:49,940
This is I think the very first
level in the entire game,

912
00:41:49,940 --> 00:41:52,240
and they're just trying to
get you to play this game.

913
00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:54,190
Now, this is a
tower defense game.

914
00:41:54,190 --> 00:41:57,380
You plant plants
that do various kinds

915
00:41:57,380 --> 00:41:58,920
of offensive or
defensive attacks

916
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,090
against zombies who
are invading your lawn

917
00:42:01,090 --> 00:42:05,320
and trying to get
into your house.

918
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:10,310
And there are things like
sunflowers that actually create

919
00:42:10,310 --> 00:42:12,660
the energy that you
need to be able to power

920
00:42:12,660 --> 00:42:15,270
the rest of your plants and
to give you the resources

921
00:42:15,270 --> 00:42:17,890
to be able to put the
rest of your plants down.

922
00:42:17,890 --> 00:42:22,780
But if the game
starts like this,

923
00:42:22,780 --> 00:42:27,350
what is first a first time
player who's encountering

924
00:42:27,350 --> 00:42:28,590
this game likely to do?

925
00:42:32,510 --> 00:42:33,980
AUDIENCE: Put a
plant in the dirt.

926
00:42:33,980 --> 00:42:35,438
PROFESSOR: Put a
plant in the dirt.

927
00:42:35,438 --> 00:42:36,972
Which plant?

928
00:42:36,972 --> 00:42:38,424
AUDIENCE: A sunflower.

929
00:42:38,424 --> 00:42:40,340
PROFESSOR: You think to
put a sunflower first?

930
00:42:44,768 --> 00:42:46,603
AUDIENCE: Or the pea shooter.

931
00:42:46,603 --> 00:42:47,228
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

932
00:42:47,228 --> 00:42:47,970
The one on the left is--

933
00:42:47,970 --> 00:42:49,170
PROFESSOR: The pea shooter.

934
00:42:49,170 --> 00:42:50,170
AUDIENCE: Left to right.

935
00:42:50,170 --> 00:42:50,878
PROFESSOR: Right.

936
00:42:50,878 --> 00:42:52,390
If they read it
from left to right,

937
00:42:52,390 --> 00:42:55,090
then they'll probably start
with the one on the left.

938
00:42:55,090 --> 00:42:56,940
Maybe there's a
50/50 chance at least

939
00:42:56,940 --> 00:42:58,820
that they will put
the pea shooter first,

940
00:42:58,820 --> 00:43:00,530
which is the little green guy.

941
00:43:00,530 --> 00:43:03,230
And that's actually
going to get the player

942
00:43:03,230 --> 00:43:05,680
into a lot of trouble real
fast, because once they

943
00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:09,264
put that plant down,
they can't do anything

944
00:43:09,264 --> 00:43:11,180
for a really, really
long time, by which point

945
00:43:11,180 --> 00:43:12,700
you may have lost the game.

946
00:43:12,700 --> 00:43:14,870
They need to put the
sunflower down first.

947
00:43:14,870 --> 00:43:18,320
So designers recognized,
oh OK, so we could just

948
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:19,550
flip things around.

949
00:43:19,550 --> 00:43:22,319
But again, there's a 50%
chance that they will just

950
00:43:22,319 --> 00:43:22,860
get it wrong.

951
00:43:22,860 --> 00:43:24,360
At it's the first
level of the game.

952
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:28,070
You don't want to turn somebody
off the game that quickly.

953
00:43:28,070 --> 00:43:31,120
So what they did
was they reduced

954
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:35,380
the cost of the sunflower
and started you off

955
00:43:35,380 --> 00:43:37,900
with just enough money to
actually plant that sunflower.

956
00:43:37,900 --> 00:43:39,420
They didn't actually
flip the cards around

957
00:43:39,420 --> 00:43:40,690
because they figured,
that doesn't really

958
00:43:40,690 --> 00:43:41,552
solve the problem.

959
00:43:41,552 --> 00:43:43,010
What they did was
that they made it

960
00:43:43,010 --> 00:43:44,310
so that the only
thing that you can

961
00:43:44,310 --> 00:43:45,726
do at the beginning
of the game is

962
00:43:45,726 --> 00:43:48,480
plant that sunflower,
because that's pretty much

963
00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,700
always the right thing
to do in this game.

964
00:43:51,700 --> 00:43:54,680
Now, the cost reduction
might have been also

965
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:57,120
out of other game
balance considerations.

966
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:59,370
Maybe they decided, wow,
we really overpriced

967
00:43:59,370 --> 00:44:00,169
those sunflowers.

968
00:44:00,169 --> 00:44:02,460
We should make them a little
bit easier for you to get.

969
00:44:02,460 --> 00:44:06,610
But this also serves
a usability system.

970
00:44:06,610 --> 00:44:08,080
They want the people
to understand,

971
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,420
the first thing that you
do on any level, plant

972
00:44:10,420 --> 00:44:11,180
that sunflower.

973
00:44:11,180 --> 00:44:14,510
Now, they could have told you
that, but this is a constraint.

974
00:44:14,510 --> 00:44:16,340
They've made it
impossible for a player

975
00:44:16,340 --> 00:44:18,715
to do the wrong thing right
at the beginning of the game.

976
00:44:21,380 --> 00:44:24,690
However, as the
game goes on, this,

977
00:44:24,690 --> 00:44:26,530
and due to game
balance issues, they

978
00:44:26,530 --> 00:44:28,730
started to come up
with other plants.

979
00:44:28,730 --> 00:44:32,710
This thing is called a walnut,
this brown thing over there.

980
00:44:32,710 --> 00:44:33,600
It makes a wall.

981
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:35,710
It looks like a nut.

982
00:44:35,710 --> 00:44:38,470
And they figured through
game balance, well,

983
00:44:38,470 --> 00:44:41,940
it's pretty much got to
be about 50 solar energy,

984
00:44:41,940 --> 00:44:44,920
so we're going to have to price
it the same as the sunflower.

985
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,160
But we don't want players
putting down walls

986
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:48,368
at the beginning of the game.

987
00:44:48,368 --> 00:44:49,630
They don't actually need to.

988
00:44:49,630 --> 00:44:52,890
They should still be
putting sunflowers.

989
00:44:52,890 --> 00:44:56,599
So the solution
that they had was,

990
00:44:56,599 --> 00:44:59,140
they have these recharge meters
that fill up from the bottom.

991
00:44:59,140 --> 00:45:01,431
You can sort of see that this
is right at the beginning

992
00:45:01,431 --> 00:45:04,010
of the game when you've got a
lot of different kind of plants

993
00:45:04,010 --> 00:45:05,190
that you can plant.

994
00:45:05,190 --> 00:45:07,750
But only the sunflower
is fully charged up,

995
00:45:07,750 --> 00:45:09,520
and it's the only
card that you can use.

996
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,750
The rest of them are slowly
filling up over time.

997
00:45:12,750 --> 00:45:15,231
Right in the first, maybe,
five seconds of the game,

998
00:45:15,231 --> 00:45:16,980
there is no other card
that you can plant,

999
00:45:16,980 --> 00:45:19,800
even though the costs
may imply that you

1000
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:21,360
can afford to plant
the walnut right

1001
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:22,568
at the beginning of the game.

1002
00:45:22,568 --> 00:45:23,170
You can't.

1003
00:45:23,170 --> 00:45:25,410
You have to plant the sunflower.

1004
00:45:25,410 --> 00:45:28,120
So again, they've
made it impossible

1005
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:29,630
for you to do the wrong thing.

1006
00:45:29,630 --> 00:45:32,470
There's also that shovel, but
you can't use the shovel right

1007
00:45:32,470 --> 00:45:33,175
at the beginning of the game.

1008
00:45:33,175 --> 00:45:35,050
The shovel right at the
beginning of the game

1009
00:45:35,050 --> 00:45:38,390
has no effect because you
haven't planted anything.

1010
00:45:38,390 --> 00:45:39,480
So that's a constraint.

1011
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,950
That's preventing someone
from doing the wrong thing.

1012
00:45:42,950 --> 00:45:44,725
Now, if the decision
of whether you

1013
00:45:44,725 --> 00:45:46,100
do the right thing
or wrong thing

1014
00:45:46,100 --> 00:45:49,260
is a major game play
issue and it's something

1015
00:45:49,260 --> 00:45:52,230
that you want people to sort
of agonize and to decide over,

1016
00:45:52,230 --> 00:45:53,730
then you don't want
to constrain it.

1017
00:45:53,730 --> 00:45:57,090
You want to give them the
option of making that mistake.

1018
00:45:57,090 --> 00:46:00,210
But if it's an issue
of learnability,

1019
00:46:00,210 --> 00:46:04,330
if making the wrong decision
makes your game hard to learn

1020
00:46:04,330 --> 00:46:06,410
and hard to figure out
how to even get ahead

1021
00:46:06,410 --> 00:46:08,100
and how to make
progress in the game,

1022
00:46:08,100 --> 00:46:10,410
or even understand
how your game works,

1023
00:46:10,410 --> 00:46:12,890
then that's something that you
should consider doing things

1024
00:46:12,890 --> 00:46:15,790
like constraints and use
affordances to sort of suggest,

1025
00:46:15,790 --> 00:46:19,400
this is what you should do,
constraints to demonstrate

1026
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,522
what you shouldn't do.

1027
00:46:22,522 --> 00:46:24,210
Now, that's affordances
and constraints.

1028
00:46:24,210 --> 00:46:25,187
Any questions so far?

1029
00:46:32,820 --> 00:46:33,600
All right.

1030
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,930
There are other things
that you can do in addition

1031
00:46:35,930 --> 00:46:38,640
to affordances and constraints
that sort of suggest

1032
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:41,000
how something should be used.

1033
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:42,940
So this is from Minecraft.

1034
00:46:42,940 --> 00:46:45,700
And how many of you
have played Minecraft?

1035
00:46:45,700 --> 00:46:50,360
OK, about a quarter
of the class.

1036
00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:54,790
This is something that you see
really early on in the game.

1037
00:46:54,790 --> 00:46:57,070
The way how Minecraft
is played, you

1038
00:46:57,070 --> 00:47:00,230
are dropped off in a sort
of wilderness environment.

1039
00:47:00,230 --> 00:47:02,006
Everything's made up of blocks.

1040
00:47:02,006 --> 00:47:03,880
So it's kind of like a
wilderness environment

1041
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:04,924
made out of LEGOs.

1042
00:47:04,924 --> 00:47:06,340
And the only thing
that you can do

1043
00:47:06,340 --> 00:47:08,680
is walk around and punch things.

1044
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,790
So you start punching the ground
and you get some dirt blocks

1045
00:47:11,790 --> 00:47:12,420
out of it.

1046
00:47:12,420 --> 00:47:14,369
You start punching
trees, and you

1047
00:47:14,369 --> 00:47:16,160
start getting some wood
blocks out of them,

1048
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,800
and they go into your inventory.

1049
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:21,960
What you very
quickly discover, I

1050
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,050
would say, in the first
minute of game play,

1051
00:47:24,050 --> 00:47:26,250
is that if you went
into your inventory

1052
00:47:26,250 --> 00:47:28,730
and looked at those
blocks, you can move them

1053
00:47:28,730 --> 00:47:32,585
into this little four-by-four
square, just using your mouse

1054
00:47:32,585 --> 00:47:33,960
and clicking and dragging them.

1055
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:38,640
And the square is
named crafting.

1056
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:43,420
So OK, I've beat up 15 trees.

1057
00:47:43,420 --> 00:47:45,352
So now I've got
15 blocks of wood.

1058
00:47:45,352 --> 00:47:46,310
What do I do with them?

1059
00:47:46,310 --> 00:47:49,390
Well, if I drag them into the--
I can turn them into planks.

1060
00:47:49,390 --> 00:47:50,260
Is it planks?

1061
00:47:50,260 --> 00:47:54,640
Yeah, planks-- just by
dragging them up there.

1062
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:55,370
OK.

1063
00:47:55,370 --> 00:47:58,880
By dragging things
into the crafting box,

1064
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:00,800
I can make other
kinds of things.

1065
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:02,860
That's the craft
part of Minecraft.

1066
00:48:02,860 --> 00:48:06,070
The mining part is the
punching part of the world.

1067
00:48:06,070 --> 00:48:09,410
So you punch the world,
and you make planks.

1068
00:48:09,410 --> 00:48:13,552
You put planks into the crafting
square, and you get sticks.

1069
00:48:13,552 --> 00:48:15,010
And you can do all
kinds of things,

1070
00:48:15,010 --> 00:48:19,600
like make torches and make
arrows and so on and so forth.

1071
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:24,720
Later in the game, you
encounter something--

1072
00:48:24,720 --> 00:48:28,940
you discover that you can
make a crafting table.

1073
00:48:28,940 --> 00:48:32,510
And you see a nine-by-nine
square instead

1074
00:48:32,510 --> 00:48:33,630
of a four-by-four square.

1075
00:48:36,500 --> 00:48:38,991
Because you've already
seen the first one,

1076
00:48:38,991 --> 00:48:41,240
you've already seen this
four-by-four square, the word

1077
00:48:41,240 --> 00:48:44,110
crafting, and the arrow
which points to the right,

1078
00:48:44,110 --> 00:48:47,160
and now you're seeing this very,
very similar thing over here,

1079
00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:49,140
and inventory is
still visible there,

1080
00:48:49,140 --> 00:48:51,610
even though it's not
just you anymore, it's

1081
00:48:51,610 --> 00:48:55,059
you and this crafting
table, the implication

1082
00:48:55,059 --> 00:48:56,850
is that you should
interact with this table

1083
00:48:56,850 --> 00:49:00,540
pretty much in the same way that
you interact with objects back

1084
00:49:00,540 --> 00:49:02,780
when you were examining
your inventory.

1085
00:49:02,780 --> 00:49:05,020
So this is context that
has been established

1086
00:49:05,020 --> 00:49:07,057
to the previous things
that you're seeing.

1087
00:49:07,057 --> 00:49:08,640
And the things that
you see around it,

1088
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:12,180
like the arrow and your
arrangement of the boxes.

1089
00:49:12,180 --> 00:49:16,490
And the word crafting-- you're
sort of telling the player,

1090
00:49:16,490 --> 00:49:19,060
treat this very
much in the same way

1091
00:49:19,060 --> 00:49:21,510
that you solved that
previous problem.

1092
00:49:21,510 --> 00:49:23,280
And then eventually
you get to make things

1093
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:28,270
like pickaxes, for instance--
so giving some context to what

1094
00:49:28,270 --> 00:49:29,260
the players are doing.

1095
00:49:29,260 --> 00:49:33,840
Now, there's one particularly
powerful kind of context

1096
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:37,260
that you can set for any action
that a player does in the game.

1097
00:49:37,260 --> 00:49:38,870
And some of your
games already have

1098
00:49:38,870 --> 00:49:41,950
this-- and that's some sort
of storyline or setting

1099
00:49:41,950 --> 00:49:44,100
or narrative, some sort
of fictional setting

1100
00:49:44,100 --> 00:49:46,240
that your game is
taking place in.

1101
00:49:46,240 --> 00:49:51,050
And often this is done
very, very poorly in games.

1102
00:49:51,050 --> 00:49:53,580
You are being told your
games are in space,

1103
00:49:53,580 --> 00:49:57,450
and you're being encouraged
to walk outside your spaceship

1104
00:49:57,450 --> 00:49:59,340
without a spacesuit or
something like that.

1105
00:49:59,340 --> 00:50:01,470
And in your game, that's fine.

1106
00:50:01,470 --> 00:50:04,530
You have no asphyxiation
mechanic or something

1107
00:50:04,530 --> 00:50:05,420
like that.

1108
00:50:05,420 --> 00:50:07,680
But players don't
necessarily assume

1109
00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:12,450
that they should be able to walk
outside in space and not die.

1110
00:50:12,450 --> 00:50:14,560
So when you choose
your settings,

1111
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:19,222
when you choose your-- when
you choose your storylines,

1112
00:50:19,222 --> 00:50:20,680
you have to make
sure that they are

1113
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:22,164
supporting those
kinds of mechanics

1114
00:50:22,164 --> 00:50:23,080
that you come in with.

1115
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:25,130
A lot of your games started
off by what mechanic

1116
00:50:25,130 --> 00:50:27,660
that you wanted to do.

1117
00:50:27,660 --> 00:50:30,700
Make sure that your storylines
are actually supporting that.

1118
00:50:30,700 --> 00:50:33,500
Can you think of any games,
commercial games for instance

1119
00:50:33,500 --> 00:50:36,000
that you've played, where
the storyline was really

1120
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,400
at odds with what the
players were actually

1121
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,320
being asked to do.

1122
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:43,130
I see some nods.

1123
00:50:43,130 --> 00:50:45,720
Some hands?

1124
00:50:45,720 --> 00:50:47,190
Let's call out a few bad ones.

1125
00:50:47,190 --> 00:50:51,030
AUDIENCE: Well, one this
is that most-- playing

1126
00:50:51,030 --> 00:50:52,907
games, especially
Japanese ones, tend

1127
00:50:52,907 --> 00:50:54,990
do have battle systems
that have basically nothing

1128
00:50:54,990 --> 00:50:58,205
to do with the story and have
a lot of strange mechanics

1129
00:50:58,205 --> 00:50:59,482
that aren't actually related.

1130
00:50:59,482 --> 00:51:01,690
For example, the Final
Fantasy games-- your character

1131
00:51:01,690 --> 00:51:04,530
can summon these really powerful
monsters, but for some reason

1132
00:51:04,530 --> 00:51:06,684
you never actually use
those to solve your problems

1133
00:51:06,684 --> 00:51:08,100
in the storyline,
for some reason.

1134
00:51:08,100 --> 00:51:09,390
PROFESSOR: Right.

1135
00:51:09,390 --> 00:51:12,150
And I would say that's
actually the difference

1136
00:51:12,150 --> 00:51:15,020
between the better and the
worse Final Fantasy games.

1137
00:51:15,020 --> 00:51:18,690
In the better Final
Fantasy games,

1138
00:51:18,690 --> 00:51:20,580
they actually explain
why that doesn't work.

1139
00:51:20,580 --> 00:51:23,280
In the worse Final Fantasy
games, you have all this power.

1140
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:27,420
Why aren't you just solving
the problem instantly?

1141
00:51:27,420 --> 00:51:28,490
That's a good one.

1142
00:51:28,490 --> 00:51:30,169
Any others?

1143
00:51:30,169 --> 00:51:34,001
AUDIENCE: Well, I feel like
the classic example is probably

1144
00:51:34,001 --> 00:51:39,280
Skyrim, where you're a warrior
fated to this grand destiny

1145
00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:44,759
and probably just run around
punching chickens for a while.

1146
00:51:44,759 --> 00:51:46,594
PROFESSOR: Well, I'm
trying to remember.

1147
00:51:46,594 --> 00:51:49,010
Skyrim, you start off like a
prisoner or something, right?

1148
00:51:51,810 --> 00:51:54,420
But I do remember some of
the earlier Elder Scrolls

1149
00:51:54,420 --> 00:51:55,710
and a lot of Western RPGs.

1150
00:51:55,710 --> 00:51:58,931
It's like, let's go into
the tunnels and kill rats,

1151
00:51:58,931 --> 00:52:00,180
because you're the chosen one.

1152
00:52:03,790 --> 00:52:06,590
It comes up.

1153
00:52:06,590 --> 00:52:12,210
That is actually, I think,
partly fiction against fiction.

1154
00:52:12,210 --> 00:52:15,632
It's like, you have the quest
which tells you to kill rats.

1155
00:52:15,632 --> 00:52:17,840
And you have the overall
storyline that's telling you

1156
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:20,470
that you're the savior
of the universe.

1157
00:52:20,470 --> 00:52:23,820
And that's at odds.

1158
00:52:23,820 --> 00:52:26,080
But there are mechanical
issues as well.

1159
00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:31,630
Why is your savior
of the universe

1160
00:52:31,630 --> 00:52:33,650
picking up all the cheese
wheels in the world,

1161
00:52:33,650 --> 00:52:39,300
for instance, which
does happen in Skyrim.

1162
00:52:39,300 --> 00:52:43,550
Something else that you can do
is expose more of your system.

1163
00:52:43,550 --> 00:52:46,170
How many of you are playing
Destiny right now, by the way?

1164
00:52:46,170 --> 00:52:47,350
Just out of curiosity.

1165
00:52:47,350 --> 00:52:48,100
A few hands, OK.

1166
00:52:51,130 --> 00:52:56,570
One thing that Destiny does
that Halo-- how many of you

1167
00:52:56,570 --> 00:52:58,060
have played Halo?

1168
00:52:58,060 --> 00:52:59,780
OK, more.

1169
00:52:59,780 --> 00:53:02,940
One thing that Destiny
does that Halo doesn't do

1170
00:53:02,940 --> 00:53:05,710
is that it actually shows you
how much damage you're putting

1171
00:53:05,710 --> 00:53:07,150
up with every single shot.

1172
00:53:07,150 --> 00:53:09,870
A little floating number,
in a very RPG-like way,

1173
00:53:09,870 --> 00:53:15,350
showing you how effective
your weapon is being.

1174
00:53:15,350 --> 00:53:21,190
And that seems to be a necessary
consideration by Bungie,

1175
00:53:21,190 --> 00:53:24,400
who made both games, that,
well, even though our games kind

1176
00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:28,260
of play in the same way, we need
to reveal this extra little bit

1177
00:53:28,260 --> 00:53:31,640
of information, because the
way how weapons work in Destiny

1178
00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:37,660
is a little bit less predictable
than how they work in Halo.

1179
00:53:37,660 --> 00:53:40,280
So we're actually
just going to show you

1180
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,170
how much damage each weapon
does every time you shoot it

1181
00:53:43,170 --> 00:53:46,230
by showing you the
numerical amount.

1182
00:53:46,230 --> 00:53:48,990
This is a screenshot
from SimCity.

1183
00:53:48,990 --> 00:53:51,250
And one of the neat
things about SimCity

1184
00:53:51,250 --> 00:53:55,746
is that you can kind of open
the hood on all of the variables

1185
00:53:55,746 --> 00:53:57,620
that the game is tracking
at any given times,

1186
00:53:57,620 --> 00:54:00,750
and they show you these
lovely little bar graphs.

1187
00:54:00,750 --> 00:54:04,767
I think this is, like,
citizen satisfaction or maybe

1188
00:54:04,767 --> 00:54:05,600
it's property value.

1189
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:07,840
I'm not sure.

1190
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:10,580
But you can go into all
of these different modes

1191
00:54:10,580 --> 00:54:12,920
where you can look at your
city through different lenses

1192
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:14,461
to see all of the
different variables

1193
00:54:14,461 --> 00:54:16,790
that the game is tracking
and how they're interacting.

1194
00:54:16,790 --> 00:54:19,590
So it takes a lot of
work to be able to reveal

1195
00:54:19,590 --> 00:54:20,880
this sort of information.

1196
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:23,832
And if you're not careful, you
can reveal so much information

1197
00:54:23,832 --> 00:54:26,290
that a player is just confused
because there's so much data

1198
00:54:26,290 --> 00:54:28,050
on the screen at once.

1199
00:54:28,050 --> 00:54:33,530
But being clear on this is
the action that you're taking

1200
00:54:33,530 --> 00:54:36,220
and this is the result,
or here are all the things

1201
00:54:36,220 --> 00:54:39,930
that the game
currently cares about,

1202
00:54:39,930 --> 00:54:42,600
is one way to help
people better understand

1203
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,919
how your game is working,
so opening up the hood

1204
00:54:45,919 --> 00:54:46,460
a little bit.

1205
00:54:46,460 --> 00:54:48,400
I don't mean giving
them the source code.

1206
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:50,040
No one's going to read that.

1207
00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:53,140
I mean putting things on
screen or through audio

1208
00:54:53,140 --> 00:54:56,140
to better reveal what's
happening numerically

1209
00:54:56,140 --> 00:54:56,880
in your game.

1210
00:55:01,180 --> 00:55:03,320
Previous user experience,
we focus-- yes?

1211
00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:06,314
AUDIENCE: What about
the danger of you

1212
00:55:06,314 --> 00:55:08,809
revealing that information,
the player seeing how something

1213
00:55:08,809 --> 00:55:12,135
works, and then them saying,
I don't like how this works,

1214
00:55:12,135 --> 00:55:14,310
I don't want to do this anymore?

1215
00:55:14,310 --> 00:55:17,240
PROFESSOR: Then I think you
have a play-testing issue

1216
00:55:17,240 --> 00:55:18,770
to consider.

1217
00:55:18,770 --> 00:55:23,190
It's not like the player is
confused about the situation.

1218
00:55:23,190 --> 00:55:27,550
The question is-- that there
are two possible answers.

1219
00:55:27,550 --> 00:55:30,950
One, maybe our game system is
badly tuned or badly designed

1220
00:55:30,950 --> 00:55:31,850
in the first place.

1221
00:55:31,850 --> 00:55:34,830
And yeah, once people
realize how this game works,

1222
00:55:34,830 --> 00:55:36,910
they're not going to
want to play it anymore,

1223
00:55:36,910 --> 00:55:38,650
which is a game design issue.

1224
00:55:38,650 --> 00:55:41,570
And then the other
situation which

1225
00:55:41,570 --> 00:55:47,550
is, well, if we never explained
these numbers to them,

1226
00:55:47,550 --> 00:55:49,555
they will actually
better like our game.

1227
00:55:49,555 --> 00:55:51,430
Even if they figure out
how this game worked,

1228
00:55:51,430 --> 00:55:52,840
by not showing
them these numbers,

1229
00:55:52,840 --> 00:55:53,970
they better like this game.

1230
00:55:53,970 --> 00:55:55,440
I have that issue with
Destiny, actually.

1231
00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:56,856
I don't want to
see those numbers.

1232
00:55:59,220 --> 00:56:01,710
And you can make that
decision to hide it.

1233
00:56:01,710 --> 00:56:03,530
It's like, this is
complexity that we don't

1234
00:56:03,530 --> 00:56:05,955
want players to care about.

1235
00:56:05,955 --> 00:56:07,580
You guys have to be
very, very careful,

1236
00:56:07,580 --> 00:56:12,141
but that's why design is an
interesting, tough problem.

1237
00:56:12,141 --> 00:56:13,640
But those are the
kinds of decisions

1238
00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:15,100
you get to make as a designer.

1239
00:56:18,565 --> 00:56:19,555
Other questions?

1240
00:56:22,530 --> 00:56:25,730
We used this earlier when
we looked at Animal Upon

1241
00:56:25,730 --> 00:56:30,150
Animal, Tier auf Tier,
And people immediately

1242
00:56:30,150 --> 00:56:32,460
assume that this
was a game for kids

1243
00:56:32,460 --> 00:56:34,730
based on user experience,
other kinds of games

1244
00:56:34,730 --> 00:56:37,070
that you've seen-- the color
of the font and the shape

1245
00:56:37,070 --> 00:56:39,590
and how it's written.

1246
00:56:39,590 --> 00:56:46,420
This is an illustration of how
pull-to-refresh works on iOS.

1247
00:56:46,420 --> 00:56:50,210
If you want to refresh all of
the email in your mail client,

1248
00:56:50,210 --> 00:56:52,900
you pull it down, and
this little circle

1249
00:56:52,900 --> 00:56:56,260
starts to stretch, and
there's a little icon there.

1250
00:56:56,260 --> 00:56:59,660
And then it starts refreshing.

1251
00:56:59,660 --> 00:57:03,960
That is not an interaction
with a computer

1252
00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:05,730
that anybody's born with.

1253
00:57:05,730 --> 00:57:09,267
This is something that someone
had to learn from somewhere.

1254
00:57:09,267 --> 00:57:11,600
Anyone can think of when was
the first time you saw this

1255
00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:14,720
on a cellphone?

1256
00:57:14,720 --> 00:57:16,740
On Instagram?

1257
00:57:16,740 --> 00:57:18,200
OK.

1258
00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:21,850
Any other earlier things?

1259
00:57:21,850 --> 00:57:25,390
I think Twitter actually
has the patent on this,

1260
00:57:25,390 --> 00:57:29,010
but they don't seem to have
sued anyone for using this,

1261
00:57:29,010 --> 00:57:32,134
and Apple uses it
now-- pull-to-refresh

1262
00:57:32,134 --> 00:57:33,050
for your Twitter feed.

1263
00:57:36,020 --> 00:57:37,890
And now it's in
many mobile apps.

1264
00:57:37,890 --> 00:57:39,667
And mobile apps just
assume that we don't

1265
00:57:39,667 --> 00:57:40,750
have to teach anyone this.

1266
00:57:40,750 --> 00:57:44,084
They just assume that if you are
a regular user of mobile apps,

1267
00:57:44,084 --> 00:57:45,750
pull-to-refresh is
something that people

1268
00:57:45,750 --> 00:57:48,710
will understand how to do.

1269
00:57:48,710 --> 00:57:50,770
Here's another example.

1270
00:57:50,770 --> 00:57:52,780
This is early in Half-Life 2.

1271
00:57:52,780 --> 00:57:56,710
And early in the game,
you're just given a crowbar.

1272
00:57:56,710 --> 00:58:01,060
And the dialogue
even says, you know,

1273
00:58:01,060 --> 00:58:04,480
assume you know what
to do with this thing.

1274
00:58:04,480 --> 00:58:07,920
Why can the game just
give you a crowbar

1275
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:10,330
and not tell you how to use it?

1276
00:58:10,330 --> 00:58:11,874
Why can Half-Life 2 do that?

1277
00:58:15,398 --> 00:58:16,772
AUDIENCE: Because
people know how

1278
00:58:16,772 --> 00:58:18,317
to use a crowbar in real life.

1279
00:58:18,317 --> 00:58:18,900
PROFESSOR: OK.

1280
00:58:18,900 --> 00:58:21,650
There is some real-life
personal experience

1281
00:58:21,650 --> 00:58:22,835
about how to use a crowbar.

1282
00:58:22,835 --> 00:58:25,460
Although I would argue that how
to use a crowbar in Half-Life 2

1283
00:58:25,460 --> 00:58:27,530
is not actually how you
use it in your life.

1284
00:58:27,530 --> 00:58:29,950
In real life, you sort
of lever it, right?

1285
00:58:29,950 --> 00:58:33,950
In Half-Life 2, you
kind of do that.

1286
00:58:37,100 --> 00:58:39,360
Of course, having
to use it in a game

1287
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:41,400
is using the mouse and keyboard.

1288
00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:44,530
Why can the game get away
with not explaining to you

1289
00:58:44,530 --> 00:58:46,833
what this object is used for?

1290
00:58:46,833 --> 00:58:48,374
AUDIENCE: Well, it's
a sequel, so you

1291
00:58:48,374 --> 00:58:50,499
could assume that the person
played the first game.

1292
00:58:50,499 --> 00:58:53,340
PROFESSOR: The assumption that
they've played Half-Life 1.

1293
00:58:53,340 --> 00:58:55,530
It's a game for fans.

1294
00:58:55,530 --> 00:58:58,140
It's not that crucial a tool,
although eventually they

1295
00:58:58,140 --> 00:58:59,640
start to have puzzles
where you need

1296
00:58:59,640 --> 00:59:01,723
to solve it using the
crowbar, but you can usually

1297
00:59:01,723 --> 00:59:05,290
solve it using some
other weapon as well.

1298
00:59:05,290 --> 00:59:07,190
The crowbar happens
to be an iconic weapon

1299
00:59:07,190 --> 00:59:08,700
of the Half-Life series.

1300
00:59:08,700 --> 00:59:12,440
And so they just assume, you're
getting into Half-Life 2,

1301
00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:14,960
you probably realize
that the crowbar

1302
00:59:14,960 --> 00:59:18,170
is a thing in this series.

1303
00:59:18,170 --> 00:59:20,395
So again, previous
user experience.

1304
00:59:23,310 --> 00:59:26,560
There's cultural cues that
come from outside of games.

1305
00:59:26,560 --> 00:59:28,540
Like, this is a shot
from Grand Theft Auto.

1306
00:59:28,540 --> 00:59:31,610
And even though
you may never have

1307
00:59:31,610 --> 00:59:33,860
driven a car that looks
exactly like that,

1308
00:59:33,860 --> 00:59:37,290
you can make certain assumptions
about this kind of car.

1309
00:59:37,290 --> 00:59:38,840
What kind of car is that?

1310
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:42,900
It's kind of blurry, but
maybe you can make it out.

1311
00:59:42,900 --> 00:59:45,440
Does it go fast, or is
it kind of a clunker?

1312
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:46,784
AUDIENCE: Fast.

1313
00:59:46,784 --> 00:59:48,200
PROFESSOR: It's
fast, because it's

1314
00:59:48,200 --> 00:59:52,080
kind of a streamlined,
sports car look.

1315
00:59:52,080 --> 00:59:53,730
So you know that
you're in a fast car.

1316
00:59:56,346 --> 00:59:57,470
Grand Theft Auto is a game.

1317
00:59:57,470 --> 00:59:58,350
There's a lot of violence.

1318
00:59:58,350 --> 01:00:00,391
If somebody shot at you
while you're in this car,

1319
01:00:00,391 --> 01:00:03,190
do you expect to
be taking damage?

1320
01:00:03,190 --> 01:00:04,120
Yeah.

1321
01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:04,990
There's no windows.

1322
01:00:04,990 --> 01:00:06,820
There's no steel frame.

1323
01:00:06,820 --> 01:00:09,790
If you wanted to get onto
that bridge back there,

1324
01:00:09,790 --> 01:00:11,036
how would you do it?

1325
01:00:14,530 --> 01:00:16,780
Just go up the on ramp, right?

1326
01:00:16,780 --> 01:00:20,640
I mean, you can kind of see
it, but it actually curves off

1327
01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:22,210
and then goes onto the bridge.

1328
01:00:22,210 --> 01:00:25,470
But you kind of assume that
players have seen real-life

1329
01:00:25,470 --> 01:00:30,640
on ramps and sort of understand
how urban geography works.

1330
01:00:30,640 --> 01:00:33,610
In this case, it's
particularly an American city.

1331
01:00:33,610 --> 01:00:37,690
And they see a bridge
in the background.

1332
01:00:37,690 --> 01:00:39,610
And this thing
that slopes upward,

1333
01:00:39,610 --> 01:00:42,790
even though it curves away
from the bridge, people

1334
01:00:42,790 --> 01:00:45,170
can assume that it actually
leads to the bridge.

1335
01:00:45,170 --> 01:00:49,470
So they're using all
of these cultural cues.

1336
01:00:49,470 --> 01:00:52,200
But you can take
that idea too far.

1337
01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:58,410
So this is a screenshot from the
Magic Cap PDA user interface.

1338
01:00:58,410 --> 01:01:02,670
So this was pre Apple
Newton, I believe.

1339
01:01:02,670 --> 01:01:09,750
And this was a user interface
for a personal data assistant.

1340
01:01:09,750 --> 01:01:14,160
And there are some things
here that sort of make sense.

1341
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:19,360
What do you think the little
postcard thing in the middle

1342
01:01:19,360 --> 01:01:22,302
is supposed to be for?

1343
01:01:22,302 --> 01:01:24,034
AUDIENCE: Writing postcards?

1344
01:01:24,034 --> 01:01:24,617
PROFESSOR: Hm?

1345
01:01:24,617 --> 01:01:26,010
AUDIENCE: Writing postcards?

1346
01:01:26,010 --> 01:01:28,690
PROFESSOR: Writing postcards?

1347
01:01:28,690 --> 01:01:30,962
This is a digital device.

1348
01:01:30,962 --> 01:01:34,212
Do you think you're actually
using it to write postcards?

1349
01:01:34,212 --> 01:01:35,420
AUDIENCE: Internet postcards.

1350
01:01:35,420 --> 01:01:37,050
PROFESSOR: Internet
postcards, OK.

1351
01:01:39,590 --> 01:01:44,385
What do you think this thing
in the lower right corner does?

1352
01:01:48,238 --> 01:01:49,375
AUDIENCE: Recycle bin.

1353
01:01:49,375 --> 01:01:50,625
PROFESSOR: It's a recycle bin.

1354
01:01:50,625 --> 01:01:52,250
It's a trash bin.

1355
01:01:52,250 --> 01:01:55,360
You've seen it in a lot of
different desktop-- this time

1356
01:01:55,360 --> 01:01:57,490
it's a trash truck, I'm
assuming because all

1357
01:01:57,490 --> 01:01:59,910
of the other recycle
bin and trash bin things

1358
01:01:59,910 --> 01:02:02,990
have been copyrighted
or trademarked by Apple

1359
01:02:02,990 --> 01:02:06,900
and Microsoft, respectively.

1360
01:02:06,900 --> 01:02:10,245
What does the magic lamp do?

1361
01:02:10,245 --> 01:02:12,160
AUDIENCE: Grants wishes.

1362
01:02:12,160 --> 01:02:14,940
PROFESSOR: Grants your wishes.

1363
01:02:14,940 --> 01:02:15,920
Programs?

1364
01:02:15,920 --> 01:02:17,450
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

1365
01:02:17,450 --> 01:02:18,520
PROFESSOR: Like, apps.

1366
01:02:18,520 --> 01:02:20,192
Yeah, OK.

1367
01:02:20,192 --> 01:02:20,900
Some other hands?

1368
01:02:20,900 --> 01:02:22,395
Some other ideas?

1369
01:02:22,395 --> 01:02:23,020
AUDIENCE: Help.

1370
01:02:23,020 --> 01:02:24,103
PROFESSOR: You think help?

1371
01:02:24,103 --> 01:02:26,660
Yeah, you rub the
genie for help.

1372
01:02:26,660 --> 01:02:29,670
So we have three
fairly plausible

1373
01:02:29,670 --> 01:02:32,680
entirely different
interpretations

1374
01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:34,240
of what that magic lamp is.

1375
01:02:34,240 --> 01:02:35,670
This is an indirection metaphor.

1376
01:02:35,670 --> 01:02:38,430
Everything on this
desktop-- and we

1377
01:02:38,430 --> 01:02:40,910
still use that
terminology today.

1378
01:02:40,910 --> 01:02:43,990
This is from the early '90s.

1379
01:02:43,990 --> 01:02:46,090
Every single one
of these things is

1380
01:02:46,090 --> 01:02:50,300
a metaphor for something else
that you can use on the PDA.

1381
01:02:50,300 --> 01:02:52,430
You're not going to
be writing postcards

1382
01:02:52,430 --> 01:02:58,940
using a digital device because
that's a medium that exists

1383
01:02:58,940 --> 01:03:00,457
outside of digital technology.

1384
01:03:00,457 --> 01:03:02,040
But you're going to
be sending emails,

1385
01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:05,550
so you're going to use that
postcard icon in the middle

1386
01:03:05,550 --> 01:03:08,345
to send messages.

1387
01:03:08,345 --> 01:03:11,950
Are you going to be
sending faxes exactly?

1388
01:03:11,950 --> 01:03:13,510
That's a fax machine.

1389
01:03:13,510 --> 01:03:16,350
First of all, in 2014,
I'm not entirely sure

1390
01:03:16,350 --> 01:03:19,140
whether anyone recognizes
a fax machine anymore.

1391
01:03:19,140 --> 01:03:21,900
Are you going to be using that
thing to make phone calls,

1392
01:03:21,900 --> 01:03:24,360
or are you going to be
sending pictures with it?

1393
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:28,635
The clock is not such a
difficult thing to understand.

1394
01:03:28,635 --> 01:03:31,050
So some of these
interaction metaphors work,

1395
01:03:31,050 --> 01:03:33,600
and some of them don't.

1396
01:03:33,600 --> 01:03:35,440
Again, if you put
story in your game

1397
01:03:35,440 --> 01:03:41,760
or even some sort of a fantasy
setting or fictional setting,

1398
01:03:41,760 --> 01:03:45,070
that's already establishing
a metaphor for your game.

1399
01:03:45,070 --> 01:03:47,710
If your game is
about child grows up

1400
01:03:47,710 --> 01:03:51,470
and learns to battle
the evils of the world,

1401
01:03:51,470 --> 01:03:53,630
for instance, that
maps on pretty closely

1402
01:03:53,630 --> 01:03:55,750
to the mechanics
of a lot of games.

1403
01:03:55,750 --> 01:03:59,550
That's why the Zelda
franchise works kind of hand

1404
01:03:59,550 --> 01:04:03,090
in hand, the storyline
and the mechanic.

1405
01:04:03,090 --> 01:04:05,210
You start off as this
kind of helpless kid,

1406
01:04:05,210 --> 01:04:07,860
and then you get
all of these tools

1407
01:04:07,860 --> 01:04:09,650
and take on bigger
and bigger challenges.

1408
01:04:09,650 --> 01:04:13,750
It's a big metaphor
for growing up.

1409
01:04:13,750 --> 01:04:19,060
But you can also confuse, or at
the very least, date your game

1410
01:04:19,060 --> 01:04:22,190
by over-relying on metaphors.

1411
01:04:22,190 --> 01:04:25,890
So if you, say, have a big stop
sign or something that, well,

1412
01:04:25,890 --> 01:04:27,570
that's probably pretty timeless.

1413
01:04:27,570 --> 01:04:31,950
But it's going to assume that
everyone has seen a stop sign,

1414
01:04:31,950 --> 01:04:34,100
and your users will be
unclear whether that

1415
01:04:34,100 --> 01:04:38,560
means stop the current action
or stop forward velocity.

1416
01:04:38,560 --> 01:04:41,790
Those are two different things.

1417
01:04:41,790 --> 01:04:45,140
So I'm just saying, be careful
of using too many metaphors

1418
01:04:45,140 --> 01:04:49,274
to do the heavy lifting on
getting your concepts across.

1419
01:04:49,274 --> 01:04:50,690
Often you're going
to have to rely

1420
01:04:50,690 --> 01:04:53,564
on multiple means of
feedback to help people

1421
01:04:53,564 --> 01:04:54,855
understand how your game works.

1422
01:04:58,040 --> 01:05:00,860
Now, one thing that you're
going to be keeping your eye out

1423
01:05:00,860 --> 01:05:04,380
for when you're designing for
usability errors-- mistakes

1424
01:05:04,380 --> 01:05:06,910
that people are making,
but I want to clarify there

1425
01:05:06,910 --> 01:05:09,000
are two different
kinds of errors,

1426
01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:10,840
and mistakes are
only one of them.

1427
01:05:10,840 --> 01:05:14,050
Slips are skilled
behavior errors.

1428
01:05:14,050 --> 01:05:17,890
Someone who knows what they
want to do and accidentally

1429
01:05:17,890 --> 01:05:19,060
did the wrong thing.

1430
01:05:19,060 --> 01:05:24,710
How many of you
have gone to class

1431
01:05:24,710 --> 01:05:27,676
when you had intended to
go to a friend's dorm room,

1432
01:05:27,676 --> 01:05:29,960
and you just ended
up in your class?

1433
01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:31,360
OK, yeah.

1434
01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:35,450
Or driven to work
or something while

1435
01:05:35,450 --> 01:05:39,140
intending to drive to
your friend's house?

1436
01:05:39,140 --> 01:05:42,535
So it's not like you didn't
know where your friends were.

1437
01:05:42,535 --> 01:05:43,910
You knew where
your friends were,

1438
01:05:43,910 --> 01:05:45,534
and you knew that
you were going there.

1439
01:05:45,534 --> 01:05:48,870
But somewhere along, your skill
behavior of getting to class

1440
01:05:48,870 --> 01:05:51,150
just automatically took over.

1441
01:05:51,150 --> 01:05:53,030
And you did the wrong thing.

1442
01:05:59,070 --> 01:06:01,750
I have calling your boyfriend
by your last boyfriend's

1443
01:06:01,750 --> 01:06:03,240
name on my examples here.

1444
01:06:03,240 --> 01:06:05,190
That's a tricky one.

1445
01:06:09,810 --> 01:06:11,670
But things like
clicking a button that

1446
01:06:11,670 --> 01:06:13,753
looks very similar to the
button that you actually

1447
01:06:13,753 --> 01:06:14,580
wanted to click.

1448
01:06:14,580 --> 01:06:16,350
This is, by the way,
something that you

1449
01:06:16,350 --> 01:06:19,540
find in Dark Souls and many,
many different fantasy games,

1450
01:06:19,540 --> 01:06:21,540
is you have a
monster that happens

1451
01:06:21,540 --> 01:06:23,270
to look like a treasure chest.

1452
01:06:23,270 --> 01:06:24,410
And this was intentional.

1453
01:06:24,410 --> 01:06:30,090
So the game designer is using
this kind of player error

1454
01:06:30,090 --> 01:06:33,354
deliberately to sort of trick
you into a powerless position.

1455
01:06:33,354 --> 01:06:34,270
Ooh, a treasure chest.

1456
01:06:34,270 --> 01:06:35,330
I'm going to open it.

1457
01:06:35,330 --> 01:06:37,310
And it bites you.

1458
01:06:37,310 --> 01:06:39,500
So it's going to mimic.

1459
01:06:39,500 --> 01:06:47,360
And those are things that might
be OK to leave in your game.

1460
01:06:47,360 --> 01:06:49,810
If it happens too often,
it can be frustrating,

1461
01:06:49,810 --> 01:06:52,590
especially if you're sort
of designing your user

1462
01:06:52,590 --> 01:06:56,200
interface in a way that
leads people to confusion,

1463
01:06:56,200 --> 01:07:00,090
and you want to be able to catch
those errors and fix those.

1464
01:07:00,090 --> 01:07:03,540
But a little bit harder to
fix are mental model errors,

1465
01:07:03,540 --> 01:07:07,250
where somebody actually thinks
your game works differently

1466
01:07:07,250 --> 01:07:08,804
from how your game
actually works,

1467
01:07:08,804 --> 01:07:10,970
and they're going to make
a mistake because of that.

1468
01:07:10,970 --> 01:07:13,750
So how many of you play Portal?

1469
01:07:13,750 --> 01:07:14,956
All right.

1470
01:07:14,956 --> 01:07:18,100
Up until you meet
this thing, is there

1471
01:07:18,100 --> 01:07:20,280
anything in the game that
can actually hurt you?

1472
01:07:27,112 --> 01:07:28,190
Oh, yeah.

1473
01:07:28,190 --> 01:07:31,340
You can fall into water,
that really, really

1474
01:07:31,340 --> 01:07:32,600
icky-looking water.

1475
01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:34,360
So that's the
first time you die.

1476
01:07:34,360 --> 01:07:36,026
But that's something
that you fall into.

1477
01:07:36,026 --> 01:07:38,510
That's something you
kind of like-- yeah,

1478
01:07:38,510 --> 01:07:42,570
you can kill yourself, but
you have to kill yourself.

1479
01:07:42,570 --> 01:07:45,760
Then you meet these
things, and you

1480
01:07:45,760 --> 01:07:48,930
haven't met a single thing
that is out to get you.

1481
01:07:48,930 --> 01:07:51,000
And then you walk
around the corner,

1482
01:07:51,000 --> 01:07:52,950
and what does this thing do?

1483
01:07:52,950 --> 01:07:54,330
AUDIENCE: It gets you.

1484
01:07:54,330 --> 01:07:55,575
PROFESSOR: It gets you.

1485
01:07:55,575 --> 01:07:57,090
It shoots you.

1486
01:07:57,090 --> 01:07:58,550
It's a turret.

1487
01:07:58,550 --> 01:08:01,140
It says some really, really
cute things, and then it's like,

1488
01:08:01,140 --> 01:08:02,230
are you still there?

1489
01:08:02,230 --> 01:08:03,063
Bum-bum-bum-bum-bum.

1490
01:08:05,540 --> 01:08:07,750
And then you suddenly
realize in this game

1491
01:08:07,750 --> 01:08:10,540
that there are things out
there who are actively

1492
01:08:10,540 --> 01:08:13,520
going to be trying to hurt
you even if you're not

1493
01:08:13,520 --> 01:08:15,690
moving, for instance.

1494
01:08:15,690 --> 01:08:20,340
So now, up until that point
in the game, the player

1495
01:08:20,340 --> 01:08:24,439
will be perfectly
legitimately thinking,

1496
01:08:24,439 --> 01:08:27,910
the only way that I'm going
to lose or die in this game

1497
01:08:27,910 --> 01:08:32,899
is to make a mistake
myself or to deliberately

1498
01:08:32,899 --> 01:08:36,460
cause myself to be in a position
that's going to kill me.

1499
01:08:36,460 --> 01:08:39,340
But then they find these things,
and they realize, no, actually,

1500
01:08:39,340 --> 01:08:41,485
there are hostile
elements in this game that

1501
01:08:41,485 --> 01:08:42,720
are out to get me.

1502
01:08:42,720 --> 01:08:44,733
And now they have to
revise that understanding

1503
01:08:44,733 --> 01:08:46,024
of what this game is all about.

1504
01:08:49,734 --> 01:08:50,859
Now, this is the challenge.

1505
01:08:50,859 --> 01:08:53,109
You as a designer,
you are the people

1506
01:08:53,109 --> 01:08:54,290
who are making the games.

1507
01:08:54,290 --> 01:08:56,640
You are making these
systems that players

1508
01:08:56,640 --> 01:08:57,779
are going to interact with.

1509
01:08:57,779 --> 01:08:59,920
And when players are
playing the game,

1510
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:03,090
they're sort of having a little
conversation with the system.

1511
01:09:03,090 --> 01:09:06,170
But your conversation with
the system is kind of one way.

1512
01:09:06,170 --> 01:09:08,310
You are making this
system, and then

1513
01:09:08,310 --> 01:09:10,890
the system isn't there
to tell you, by the way,

1514
01:09:10,890 --> 01:09:14,060
the players are
doing this thing that

1515
01:09:14,060 --> 01:09:16,639
clearly indicates that you don't
understand what's going on.

1516
01:09:16,639 --> 01:09:18,680
But the system isn't going
to be able to give you

1517
01:09:18,680 --> 01:09:21,010
that information.

1518
01:09:21,010 --> 01:09:25,640
Actually, if you take our
design class in the spring,

1519
01:09:25,640 --> 01:09:28,140
it gets even worse, because
what you're really in control of

1520
01:09:28,140 --> 01:09:29,590
are the game mechanics.

1521
01:09:29,590 --> 01:09:33,359
And those are going to result in
emergent dynamics-- strategies,

1522
01:09:33,359 --> 01:09:35,830
for instance, things
that are optimal,

1523
01:09:35,830 --> 01:09:38,729
things that are going to lead
people in a downward spiral.

1524
01:09:38,729 --> 01:09:40,441
And that's going to
create an experience

1525
01:09:40,441 --> 01:09:41,899
for the player,
the aesthetic which

1526
01:09:41,899 --> 01:09:45,240
we will get a little bit
into later in the class.

1527
01:09:45,240 --> 01:09:47,770
They're just what the
player actually experiences.

1528
01:09:47,770 --> 01:09:49,250
So the player may
think your game

1529
01:09:49,250 --> 01:09:52,229
is very threatening
and dangerous

1530
01:09:52,229 --> 01:09:55,120
and it's out to get them,
when really to you, it's

1531
01:09:55,120 --> 01:09:59,330
just a perfectly harmless
logic puzzle, because this

1532
01:09:59,330 --> 01:10:01,240
is what you have control over.

1533
01:10:01,240 --> 01:10:03,050
But through all of
that interaction,

1534
01:10:03,050 --> 01:10:06,130
what you've got here is kind
of a second or even third order

1535
01:10:06,130 --> 01:10:09,290
problem, where the
thing that you get,

1536
01:10:09,290 --> 01:10:12,440
where you can actually
create, is not

1537
01:10:12,440 --> 01:10:16,770
the thing that the players
are actually experiencing.

1538
01:10:16,770 --> 01:10:19,102
So that's why
you've got to test.

1539
01:10:19,102 --> 01:10:20,810
That's the only way
that you are actually

1540
01:10:20,810 --> 01:10:24,054
going to get information about
what the players are actually

1541
01:10:24,054 --> 01:10:24,595
experiencing.

1542
01:10:24,595 --> 01:10:27,720
You can't intuit it just
by looking at your design.

1543
01:10:27,720 --> 01:10:30,480
Maybe with a lot of
experience, you will eventually

1544
01:10:30,480 --> 01:10:31,900
start to get some
best practices,

1545
01:10:31,900 --> 01:10:33,840
but you still have to
do usability testing,

1546
01:10:33,840 --> 01:10:36,970
even if you're
extremely experienced.

1547
01:10:36,970 --> 01:10:39,220
So one way to do testing
is to actually set

1548
01:10:39,220 --> 01:10:40,310
goals for the player.

1549
01:10:40,310 --> 01:10:43,687
Sometimes when you're doing this
in the middle of play-testing,

1550
01:10:43,687 --> 01:10:45,520
the players can come
up with your own goals.

1551
01:10:45,520 --> 01:10:48,080
But what I like to do
is actually ask players,

1552
01:10:48,080 --> 01:10:52,850
all right, I want you to create
a new game with a new player

1553
01:10:52,850 --> 01:10:55,530
and give it a name
of whatever you want.

1554
01:10:55,530 --> 01:10:57,400
Give them a specific
goal, and see

1555
01:10:57,400 --> 01:11:01,379
how they go about that process
of actually accomplishing that.

1556
01:11:01,379 --> 01:11:03,795
And of course, while they're
doing that, you observe them.

1557
01:11:03,795 --> 01:11:07,410
You encourage them
to talk aloud.

1558
01:11:07,410 --> 01:11:10,530
You observe where they're
moving their mouth,

1559
01:11:10,530 --> 01:11:12,400
or if they're doing a
tablet game, observing

1560
01:11:12,400 --> 01:11:14,590
where the fingers are looking.

1561
01:11:14,590 --> 01:11:17,230
Try to figure out what
they're looking at.

1562
01:11:17,230 --> 01:11:19,600
In big companies they
can do things like eye

1563
01:11:19,600 --> 01:11:22,520
tracking-- Riot Games talks a
little bit about eye tracking--

1564
01:11:22,520 --> 01:11:24,930
to actually figure out
what they're looking at.

1565
01:11:24,930 --> 01:11:27,070
But sometimes if
they're talking aloud,

1566
01:11:27,070 --> 01:11:29,590
they will say, well, I
see all these buttons.

1567
01:11:29,590 --> 01:11:31,520
And they all have icons on them.

1568
01:11:31,520 --> 01:11:35,620
And this one looks like
it might mean delete game,

1569
01:11:35,620 --> 01:11:37,860
so I'm not going
to click on that.

1570
01:11:37,860 --> 01:11:40,780
This one looks
like a disk drive,

1571
01:11:40,780 --> 01:11:43,690
so I think it's a save game, so
I'm not going to click on that.

1572
01:11:43,690 --> 01:11:46,060
And then while they're
saying all of these things,

1573
01:11:46,060 --> 01:11:48,770
you start to understand
how your players actually

1574
01:11:48,770 --> 01:11:51,140
understand the things that
you put into your game.

1575
01:11:51,140 --> 01:11:54,020
And you can figure out why
they're making these errors.

1576
01:11:54,020 --> 01:11:56,420
So you're looking for
them to make these errors,

1577
01:11:56,420 --> 01:11:58,625
and you want to record
them down so that later on,

1578
01:11:58,625 --> 01:12:01,000
when you go back to design
and go back to implementation,

1579
01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:01,890
you can fix them.

1580
01:12:01,890 --> 01:12:04,060
Or you can give players
the necessary feedback

1581
01:12:04,060 --> 01:12:06,260
to avoid those kinds of errors.

1582
01:12:06,260 --> 01:12:10,530
But it's important--
when they make an error,

1583
01:12:10,530 --> 01:12:16,000
you have to try to identify what
the player's reaction to that

1584
01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:17,370
is.

1585
01:12:17,370 --> 01:12:20,140
Say something happens that
they didn't quite expect.

1586
01:12:20,140 --> 01:12:23,010
Are they surprised,
or are they confused?

1587
01:12:23,010 --> 01:12:25,160
I thought I was
creating a new game,

1588
01:12:25,160 --> 01:12:29,490
but I ended up
opening an old game.

1589
01:12:29,490 --> 01:12:32,830
That's probably a
confusion situation.

1590
01:12:32,830 --> 01:12:35,270
I thought this was going
to take out one enemy,

1591
01:12:35,270 --> 01:12:37,940
but it took out five enemies.

1592
01:12:37,940 --> 01:12:42,330
Pretty nice surprise--
players might like that.

1593
01:12:42,330 --> 01:12:47,270
So even though
it's an error, you

1594
01:12:47,270 --> 01:12:51,780
might be able to just live with
that, or even amplify that.

1595
01:12:51,780 --> 01:12:53,910
Let's give these
players these weapons

1596
01:12:53,910 --> 01:12:57,490
that occasionally do critical
damage and surprise the player

1597
01:12:57,490 --> 01:13:01,130
by how bad-ass the players are.

1598
01:13:01,130 --> 01:13:03,630
Are they frustrated,
or are they engaged?

1599
01:13:03,630 --> 01:13:06,787
I chose Flappy Birds in
particular as an example

1600
01:13:06,787 --> 01:13:08,870
here because when people
are playing Flappy Birds,

1601
01:13:08,870 --> 01:13:13,560
they get very angry, right?

1602
01:13:13,560 --> 01:13:16,475
But then they go back
and play it again.

1603
01:13:16,475 --> 01:13:18,110
Are they frustrated?

1604
01:13:18,110 --> 01:13:19,040
Well, yes.

1605
01:13:19,040 --> 01:13:20,290
But are they engaged?

1606
01:13:20,290 --> 01:13:21,790
Yeah, they are.

1607
01:13:21,790 --> 01:13:26,143
For some people, Flappy Birds
is an extremely engaging game,

1608
01:13:26,143 --> 01:13:28,405
and it's kind of a pity
you can't get it anymore.

1609
01:13:28,405 --> 01:13:30,530
I also have two different
versions of Flappy Birds.

1610
01:13:30,530 --> 01:13:32,500
One is kind of an
Arduino powered version,

1611
01:13:32,500 --> 01:13:34,500
but it's really made out
of paper and cardboard.

1612
01:13:34,500 --> 01:13:37,850
And one is the actual digital
version, so to remind you,

1613
01:13:37,850 --> 01:13:41,260
you can do this without
having to actually implement

1614
01:13:41,260 --> 01:13:42,260
a digital version.

1615
01:13:42,260 --> 01:13:44,060
You can do this with
your paper prototype.

1616
01:13:44,060 --> 01:13:47,360
You just have to create a paper
prototype of a user interface

1617
01:13:47,360 --> 01:13:51,204
instead of just game play.

1618
01:13:51,204 --> 01:13:52,870
So you can do testing
even before you've

1619
01:13:52,870 --> 01:13:54,119
written a single line of code.

1620
01:13:56,490 --> 01:13:58,265
So I've talked a lot
about constraints.

1621
01:13:58,265 --> 01:14:00,390
Now, so far everything that
I've been talking about

1622
01:14:00,390 --> 01:14:03,290
has been about
informing the player

1623
01:14:03,290 --> 01:14:05,460
and then trying to
catch those errors

1624
01:14:05,460 --> 01:14:08,310
and then feed that back into
your design of how you provide

1625
01:14:08,310 --> 01:14:09,910
more information to the player.

1626
01:14:09,910 --> 01:14:13,390
But you can also prevent
certain problems.

1627
01:14:13,390 --> 01:14:16,480
Constraints is one way, where
you just make it impossible

1628
01:14:16,480 --> 01:14:21,470
for them to do the wrong thing,
or at least early on, when

1629
01:14:21,470 --> 01:14:23,450
you had multiple choices,
you sort of take some

1630
01:14:23,450 --> 01:14:25,840
of those choices away and
maybe later reintroduce

1631
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:28,000
those choices when
you are fairly sure

1632
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:30,900
that you've understood what
the consequences of those are.

1633
01:14:30,900 --> 01:14:35,390
You can do conformation,
which is you take an action,

1634
01:14:35,390 --> 01:14:37,230
and then the game asks
you, are you really

1635
01:14:37,230 --> 01:14:39,070
sure you want to do that?

1636
01:14:39,070 --> 01:14:41,948
However, this is
really sub-optimal.

1637
01:14:41,948 --> 01:14:43,370
Any idea why?

1638
01:14:46,220 --> 01:14:49,580
Why is it bad to get a little
dialogue box asking you,

1639
01:14:49,580 --> 01:14:51,628
are you sure you
want to do this?

1640
01:14:51,628 --> 01:14:53,504
AUDIENCE: If you
wanted to get to it,

1641
01:14:53,504 --> 01:14:55,037
it might be really annoying.

1642
01:14:55,037 --> 01:14:55,620
PROFESSOR: OK.

1643
01:14:55,620 --> 01:14:56,690
It gets annoying, yeah.

1644
01:14:56,690 --> 01:15:00,157
AUDIENCE: And it might
make you doubt what you

1645
01:15:00,157 --> 01:15:01,510
were doing in the first place.

1646
01:15:01,510 --> 01:15:02,093
PROFESSOR: OK.

1647
01:15:02,093 --> 01:15:05,410
Are you really sure you
want to close this web page?

1648
01:15:05,410 --> 01:15:09,410
You really sure that you
want to save this game.

1649
01:15:09,410 --> 01:15:14,520
Well, maybe not, but maybe
that was the right thing to do.

1650
01:15:14,520 --> 01:15:16,810
You can also get really
automated on that.

1651
01:15:16,810 --> 01:15:20,770
Players can sort of learn
to just click yes every time

1652
01:15:20,770 --> 01:15:25,290
that thing pops up, and then
kit kind of defeats its purpose.

1653
01:15:25,290 --> 01:15:27,630
If all you're doing is
throwing up a dialogue box

1654
01:15:27,630 --> 01:15:30,980
and they're going to say every
minute or something like that,

1655
01:15:30,980 --> 01:15:33,280
and the answer 90%
percent of the time

1656
01:15:33,280 --> 01:15:37,130
is yes, then players start
to learn to just click

1657
01:15:37,130 --> 01:15:38,824
yes every time they
see the dialog box,

1658
01:15:38,824 --> 01:15:41,240
whether or not they actually
intended to click yes or not.

1659
01:15:41,240 --> 01:15:42,770
And that's bad.

1660
01:15:42,770 --> 01:15:44,570
You're training them
to sort of defeat

1661
01:15:44,570 --> 01:15:45,899
the confirmation process.

1662
01:15:45,899 --> 01:15:47,565
And then you get
dialog boxes like this.

1663
01:15:55,180 --> 01:15:57,035
I don't know what
the buttons do.

1664
01:16:01,530 --> 01:16:07,590
So this is Skype, obviously.

1665
01:16:07,590 --> 01:16:10,920
This itself can be so
confusing for players.

1666
01:16:10,920 --> 01:16:14,480
The confirmation dialog itself
is a piece of user interface

1667
01:16:14,480 --> 01:16:16,980
that can go right
and can go wrong.

1668
01:16:16,980 --> 01:16:19,920
So you've just
introduced a new element

1669
01:16:19,920 --> 01:16:23,090
that can be misinterpreted
in the design of the game.

1670
01:16:23,090 --> 01:16:26,670
So confirmation is something
that exists, is often used,

1671
01:16:26,670 --> 01:16:30,210
and can backfire, and we need to
be aware that it can backfire.

1672
01:16:30,210 --> 01:16:32,050
You can also do checks.

1673
01:16:32,050 --> 01:16:37,640
If you've ever entered a code
into Xbox Live or PlayStation

1674
01:16:37,640 --> 01:16:43,420
network or the Apple
App Store, the numbers

1675
01:16:43,420 --> 01:16:45,800
that you're typing
into the system

1676
01:16:45,800 --> 01:16:51,940
have to fit some sort of
checksum or error correction

1677
01:16:51,940 --> 01:16:53,070
protocol.

1678
01:16:53,070 --> 01:16:55,320
And you can prevent
certain errors

1679
01:16:55,320 --> 01:16:58,750
by doing checks on the
data that you're entering.

1680
01:16:58,750 --> 01:17:00,730
Now, this is probably
very familiar for anyone

1681
01:17:00,730 --> 01:17:03,260
who's done any kind of user
interface, software engineering

1682
01:17:03,260 --> 01:17:03,950
class.

1683
01:17:03,950 --> 01:17:07,170
But this is one from
Microsoft Xbox Love.

1684
01:17:07,170 --> 01:17:09,040
And if you type
in a code that you

1685
01:17:09,040 --> 01:17:14,200
might have gotten from a
giveaway or a free coupon

1686
01:17:14,200 --> 01:17:17,260
from a game developer,
or maybe a card

1687
01:17:17,260 --> 01:17:19,110
that you bought at
the store, they're

1688
01:17:19,110 --> 01:17:21,310
always 25 characters long.

1689
01:17:21,310 --> 01:17:24,810
They're always separated by
these dashes in chunks of five.

1690
01:17:24,810 --> 01:17:26,420
I don't have to type
those dashes in.

1691
01:17:26,420 --> 01:17:28,680
I just start typing, and
those dashes fill themselves

1692
01:17:28,680 --> 01:17:30,010
in automatically.

1693
01:17:30,010 --> 01:17:35,220
If I do type the dash, the input
box will just ignore the dash,

1694
01:17:35,220 --> 01:17:39,230
and it will only allow me to
enter in those characters.

1695
01:17:39,230 --> 01:17:42,360
So that makes sure that
the dashes are always

1696
01:17:42,360 --> 01:17:45,550
exactly five characters
apart from each other.

1697
01:17:45,550 --> 01:17:47,180
And that's a visual
way to provide

1698
01:17:47,180 --> 01:17:51,900
a check while I'm entering
this long string of characters.

1699
01:17:51,900 --> 01:17:53,590
I can do this sort
of visual check

1700
01:17:53,590 --> 01:17:57,890
of, are my characters
appearing in the right position

1701
01:17:57,890 --> 01:18:01,370
in the string as they
are printed on my card,

1702
01:18:01,370 --> 01:18:04,724
and as it is being
displayed on my screen.

1703
01:18:04,724 --> 01:18:06,140
You can do other
kinds of checks--

1704
01:18:06,140 --> 01:18:10,240
like, if you try to do the same
thing on the Apple App Store,

1705
01:18:10,240 --> 01:18:12,810
I believe it could be
numbers, it could be letters,

1706
01:18:12,810 --> 01:18:16,600
or whatever, but you can hit
OK as soon as you enter it in,

1707
01:18:16,600 --> 01:18:19,420
and the system actually does
a quick check before it even

1708
01:18:19,420 --> 01:18:23,010
sends the code off to Apple
on whether that's actually

1709
01:18:23,010 --> 01:18:26,390
a valid string, that fits
a certain kind of checksum

1710
01:18:26,390 --> 01:18:27,027
algorithm.

1711
01:18:27,027 --> 01:18:28,360
Before it sends it off to Apple.

1712
01:18:28,360 --> 01:18:29,830
And if it's a wrong one, it
just tells you right away,

1713
01:18:29,830 --> 01:18:31,380
no, you actually made an error.

1714
01:18:31,380 --> 01:18:32,256
You can fix that now.

1715
01:18:32,256 --> 01:18:34,338
So you don't have to wait
for it to hit the server

1716
01:18:34,338 --> 01:18:34,930
and come back.

1717
01:18:37,550 --> 01:18:39,755
But say the error does happen.

1718
01:18:39,755 --> 01:18:41,690
The player has made
a mistake, and it

1719
01:18:41,690 --> 01:18:45,010
happens to be a mistake that
you know about as a designer.

1720
01:18:45,010 --> 01:18:47,190
And you know this mistake
is going to come up often.

1721
01:18:47,190 --> 01:18:49,220
This kind of error
is going to happen.

1722
01:18:49,220 --> 01:18:51,770
And maybe it's a slip,
maybe it's a mistake.

1723
01:18:51,770 --> 01:18:55,370
And you want to
provide some feedback.

1724
01:18:55,370 --> 01:18:58,430
So first of all, make sure that
you are informing the player

1725
01:18:58,430 --> 01:18:59,877
that an error has happened.

1726
01:18:59,877 --> 01:19:02,210
And you need to test whether
the information that you're

1727
01:19:02,210 --> 01:19:04,500
providing, whether
it's audio or visual,

1728
01:19:04,500 --> 01:19:07,900
some combination of the
two, is actually something

1729
01:19:07,900 --> 01:19:10,420
that people notice
and see, and then they

1730
01:19:10,420 --> 01:19:12,740
realize that, oh, I've
made a mistake somewhere.

1731
01:19:12,740 --> 01:19:14,490
And then you've got
to get them some tools

1732
01:19:14,490 --> 01:19:16,700
to be able to fix that problem.

1733
01:19:16,700 --> 01:19:18,900
There's backwards,
which is basically undo.

1734
01:19:18,900 --> 01:19:21,980
This is Words With
Friends, for instance.

1735
01:19:21,980 --> 01:19:25,090
If you enter in
some sort of word--

1736
01:19:25,090 --> 01:19:27,022
this is an online
game, by the way.

1737
01:19:27,022 --> 01:19:29,230
It's a multi-player game
that you play on your phone.

1738
01:19:29,230 --> 01:19:31,167
And because it's
Words With Friends,

1739
01:19:31,167 --> 01:19:33,250
you're basically playing
Scrabble against somebody

1740
01:19:33,250 --> 01:19:36,110
who's geographically
separated from you.

1741
01:19:36,110 --> 01:19:39,679
And if you've taken a turn,
you've entered in a word.

1742
01:19:39,679 --> 01:19:41,220
And then you say,
wait a minute, I've

1743
01:19:41,220 --> 01:19:42,810
come up with a better word.

1744
01:19:42,810 --> 01:19:43,750
You can hit Undo.

1745
01:19:43,750 --> 01:19:45,590
I think it's called Recall.

1746
01:19:45,590 --> 01:19:47,480
The button is actually
called Recall.

1747
01:19:47,480 --> 01:19:49,450
Take your move
back and then just

1748
01:19:49,450 --> 01:19:51,470
replay your turn
before the other person

1749
01:19:51,470 --> 01:19:52,780
has taken their turn.

1750
01:19:52,780 --> 01:19:55,190
But that's backwards
error recovery,

1751
01:19:55,190 --> 01:19:58,160
very good for things
like turn-based games,

1752
01:19:58,160 --> 01:20:01,920
games that you play by
email for instance or games

1753
01:20:01,920 --> 01:20:07,620
that you are sort of--
like Final Fantasy Tactics,

1754
01:20:07,620 --> 01:20:08,680
or strategy games.

1755
01:20:08,680 --> 01:20:11,560
A lot of strategy games
which are turn-based

1756
01:20:11,560 --> 01:20:14,640
allow you to sort of
undo your decisions.

1757
01:20:14,640 --> 01:20:16,176
Even if you've
said, yes, this is

1758
01:20:16,176 --> 01:20:17,550
what I want to
do, wait a minute,

1759
01:20:17,550 --> 01:20:18,800
this is not what I want to do.

1760
01:20:18,800 --> 01:20:20,870
I want to undo that.

1761
01:20:20,870 --> 01:20:22,660
There's also forward
error recovery.

1762
01:20:22,660 --> 01:20:28,990
This is a screenshot of
Mario where Mario's mid-jump,

1763
01:20:28,990 --> 01:20:31,361
and based on player
experience up to this point,

1764
01:20:31,361 --> 01:20:32,860
you realize halfway
through the jump

1765
01:20:32,860 --> 01:20:34,985
that you're not going to
be able to make that jump.

1766
01:20:34,985 --> 01:20:36,020
What can Mario do?

1767
01:20:38,455 --> 01:20:39,330
You can go backwards.

1768
01:20:39,330 --> 01:20:41,880
You can change
direction in midair

1769
01:20:41,880 --> 01:20:44,330
and say, oop, not
what I'm going to do.

1770
01:20:44,330 --> 01:20:45,420
It doesn't rewind time.

1771
01:20:45,420 --> 01:20:46,961
You're still moving
time in the game.

1772
01:20:46,961 --> 01:20:49,410
And time is important
in a Mario game.

1773
01:20:49,410 --> 01:20:52,290
But the player has the tool to
say, I'm going to try to jump.

1774
01:20:52,290 --> 01:20:54,110
No, I'm not going to
complete this jump.

1775
01:20:54,110 --> 01:20:57,870
I'm going to go backwards
before it's too late.

1776
01:20:57,870 --> 01:21:00,850
There is a consequence to that,
and the player is losing time.

1777
01:21:00,850 --> 01:21:03,070
And in many of
your games, you're

1778
01:21:03,070 --> 01:21:06,400
going to want to allow those
errors to happen but then

1779
01:21:06,400 --> 01:21:10,420
give players tools to be able to
take a new action to compensate

1780
01:21:10,420 --> 01:21:13,320
for the mistake of
the previous action.

1781
01:21:13,320 --> 01:21:17,730
And that is called
forward error recovery.

1782
01:21:17,730 --> 01:21:22,660
Now, if it's a mistake that
happens near the end of a game

1783
01:21:22,660 --> 01:21:25,500
session-- say you're
making a multi-player game

1784
01:21:25,500 --> 01:21:28,540
and somebody's about to win.

1785
01:21:28,540 --> 01:21:30,350
Forward error recovery
may not be something

1786
01:21:30,350 --> 01:21:33,270
that you want to make too
easy, because somebody's

1787
01:21:33,270 --> 01:21:35,380
spent a long time actually
getting themselves

1788
01:21:35,380 --> 01:21:37,820
in a position where
they can win the game.

1789
01:21:37,820 --> 01:21:40,870
And then the person who's losing
uses whatever forward error

1790
01:21:40,870 --> 01:21:45,180
recovery tools you've given
them to say, ah, let me just

1791
01:21:45,180 --> 01:21:46,750
take back all of
those mistakes I did

1792
01:21:46,750 --> 01:21:48,817
and then come back from behind.

1793
01:21:48,817 --> 01:21:51,275
Well, if you were explicitly
designing a game where someone

1794
01:21:51,275 --> 01:21:53,274
is supposed to be able
to come back from behind,

1795
01:21:53,274 --> 01:21:56,254
like Mario Kart does something
like that, then that's great.

1796
01:21:56,254 --> 01:21:58,170
But if you're trying to
make some sort of game

1797
01:21:58,170 --> 01:22:01,330
where long-term strategy is
supposed to pay off, then yeah,

1798
01:22:01,330 --> 01:22:03,750
you don't want to make
those forward recovery

1799
01:22:03,750 --> 01:22:05,995
tools too powerful.

1800
01:22:05,995 --> 01:22:07,495
Let people live
with their mistakes.

1801
01:22:14,074 --> 01:22:15,740
One last point, and
I save this for last

1802
01:22:15,740 --> 01:22:17,573
because I want you to
be thinking about this

1803
01:22:17,573 --> 01:22:19,320
in your team, so
something for you

1804
01:22:19,320 --> 01:22:21,900
to go into discussion
about after this talk,

1805
01:22:21,900 --> 01:22:23,680
is accessibility.

1806
01:22:23,680 --> 01:22:26,730
One challenge is that
when people think,

1807
01:22:26,730 --> 01:22:33,270
my game is for everyone, my game
is for anybody who plays games,

1808
01:22:33,270 --> 01:22:37,430
is that that's not actually
what the game ends up being.

1809
01:22:37,430 --> 01:22:41,150
Often it becomes
this, which is you're

1810
01:22:41,150 --> 01:22:46,250
going to assume that your
player is focused and has

1811
01:22:46,250 --> 01:22:51,540
full use of their hands
and full visual acuity,

1812
01:22:51,540 --> 01:22:53,380
that they speak
English so they'll

1813
01:22:53,380 --> 01:22:55,500
understand any text
that you give them,

1814
01:22:55,500 --> 01:22:57,790
that they know how to
install stuff in a computer

1815
01:22:57,790 --> 01:23:00,650
and they've played games
before, that they are around

1816
01:23:00,650 --> 01:23:04,287
about your age, that they
have desktop computers that

1817
01:23:04,287 --> 01:23:06,870
have lots of processing power,
especially if you're doing a 3D

1818
01:23:06,870 --> 01:23:10,100
game, that their mice have more
than one button, that they're

1819
01:23:10,100 --> 01:23:11,840
actually using mice
and not a trackpad,

1820
01:23:11,840 --> 01:23:13,620
that they've got
headphones so they're

1821
01:23:13,620 --> 01:23:15,654
going to listen
to every audio cut

1822
01:23:15,654 --> 01:23:18,350
that you're going to give
them without distraction.

1823
01:23:22,450 --> 01:23:25,750
So these particular
red line things

1824
01:23:25,750 --> 01:23:30,130
are the things that I want
you to be willing to question

1825
01:23:30,130 --> 01:23:31,440
about your own game.

1826
01:23:31,440 --> 01:23:33,360
There are some things
like-- they're speaking,

1827
01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:34,700
computer-literate young adults.

1828
01:23:37,500 --> 01:23:40,210
It's great to be able to
design games for people

1829
01:23:40,210 --> 01:23:41,960
who are not like you.

1830
01:23:41,960 --> 01:23:45,750
It is a little bit beyond the
scope of this particular class,

1831
01:23:45,750 --> 01:23:48,850
although you do have to keep in
mind that we are also designing

1832
01:23:48,850 --> 01:23:51,330
this games, your
final fourth project,

1833
01:23:51,330 --> 01:23:55,300
for people who may be working
for the Red Cross Red Crescent

1834
01:23:55,300 --> 01:23:56,370
Climate Centre.

1835
01:23:56,370 --> 01:24:01,500
So you want to keep them in
mind and consider-- many of them

1836
01:24:01,500 --> 01:24:02,800
actually speak English.

1837
01:24:02,800 --> 01:24:05,040
They may be
foreigners, people who

1838
01:24:05,040 --> 01:24:09,035
work in other countries, who
will appreciate a game that

1839
01:24:09,035 --> 01:24:13,101
is a little bit more language
agnostic or even localized

1840
01:24:13,101 --> 01:24:13,600
for them.

1841
01:24:16,507 --> 01:24:18,090
Shall we assume that
the computers are

1842
01:24:18,090 --> 01:24:20,610
capable of handling your game?

1843
01:24:20,610 --> 01:24:23,450
OK, I think for this
class that's all right.

1844
01:24:23,450 --> 01:24:27,350
But shall we assume that
the computers are only

1845
01:24:27,350 --> 01:24:29,970
running your game and nothing
else, that they're not

1846
01:24:29,970 --> 01:24:33,131
running any IM clients--
or a lot of the games

1847
01:24:33,131 --> 01:24:34,880
are going to be browser
games so that they

1848
01:24:34,880 --> 01:24:38,090
don't have any other browser
windows open, for instance.

1849
01:24:38,090 --> 01:24:42,331
I think that might be asking
too much of your player.

1850
01:24:42,331 --> 01:24:44,830
You might want to assume that
they have other things running

1851
01:24:44,830 --> 01:24:48,410
around in the background-- their
iTunes playlist, for instance--

1852
01:24:48,410 --> 01:24:51,390
and which is going to
interfere with your sound.

1853
01:24:51,390 --> 01:24:55,570
You should be able to design
your game so that you don't

1854
01:24:55,570 --> 01:24:58,240
assume everyone has a left
mouse button and a right mouse

1855
01:24:58,240 --> 01:25:00,012
button, or necessarily a mouse.

1856
01:25:00,012 --> 01:25:01,720
For one thing, it'll
make testing easier.

1857
01:25:01,720 --> 01:25:03,380
A couple of you
discovered last time

1858
01:25:03,380 --> 01:25:05,630
you did a visual test, that
if you don't have a mouse,

1859
01:25:05,630 --> 01:25:07,969
a lot of your games actually
became difficult to play.

1860
01:25:07,969 --> 01:25:10,010
You might want to have
that discussion-- at least

1861
01:25:10,010 --> 01:25:12,490
have that discussion with
your team, and if you decide,

1862
01:25:12,490 --> 01:25:15,637
no, a mouse is essential,
make it very, very clear

1863
01:25:15,637 --> 01:25:16,720
that's what you're saying.

1864
01:25:16,720 --> 01:25:18,780
And put it in your game.

1865
01:25:18,780 --> 01:25:22,230
Say, this game is best played
with a mouse and headphones.

1866
01:25:22,230 --> 01:25:25,160
There's a lot of iOS games out
there that require headphones,

1867
01:25:25,160 --> 01:25:26,880
and they will state
right upfront,

1868
01:25:26,880 --> 01:25:28,960
this game is best
played with headphones.

1869
01:25:32,100 --> 01:25:38,960
And I would like you to at
least consider colorblindness.

1870
01:25:38,960 --> 01:25:42,860
Actually, yeah, there we go.

1871
01:25:42,860 --> 01:25:45,410
When you are designing
art for your game,

1872
01:25:45,410 --> 01:25:47,010
buttons that need
to be distinguished

1873
01:25:47,010 --> 01:25:49,165
from each under or
visual cues, consider

1874
01:25:49,165 --> 01:25:51,290
that there are people who
can't tell the difference

1875
01:25:51,290 --> 01:25:53,550
between certain color pairings.

1876
01:25:53,550 --> 01:25:54,570
What are common ones?

1877
01:25:54,570 --> 01:25:57,470
Red, green.

1878
01:25:57,470 --> 01:25:57,970
Red, blue?

1879
01:25:57,970 --> 01:25:58,928
AUDIENCE: Blue, yellow.

1880
01:25:58,928 --> 01:26:00,340
PROFESSOR: Oh, blue, yellow.

1881
01:26:00,340 --> 01:26:03,210
And red, blue.

1882
01:26:03,210 --> 01:26:03,735
Red, blue.

1883
01:26:03,735 --> 01:26:05,600
Blue, yellow.

1884
01:26:05,600 --> 01:26:06,469
And red, green.

1885
01:26:06,469 --> 01:26:08,510
Those are the most common
ones, but there's a lot

1886
01:26:08,510 --> 01:26:10,460
of colorblindness out there.

1887
01:26:10,460 --> 01:26:14,410
And it affects, I think,
20% of the population.

1888
01:26:14,410 --> 01:26:15,162
10?

1889
01:26:15,162 --> 01:26:15,927
10 to 20%?

1890
01:26:15,927 --> 01:26:18,260
AUDIENCE: I think it's as
much as 10% of the population.

1891
01:26:18,260 --> 01:26:19,890
PROFESSOR: 10% of
the population.

1892
01:26:19,890 --> 01:26:21,490
So there's a lot
of people out there

1893
01:26:21,490 --> 01:26:24,466
who might well want to
be playing your game

1894
01:26:24,466 --> 01:26:26,840
but can't because they can't
tell apart those visual cues

1895
01:26:26,840 --> 01:26:27,840
that you're giving them.

1896
01:26:27,840 --> 01:26:30,550
So make sure that they're also
taking advantage of things

1897
01:26:30,550 --> 01:26:33,330
like shape and brightness.

1898
01:26:33,330 --> 01:26:36,820
These are things where if
somebody is colorblind,

1899
01:26:36,820 --> 01:26:39,490
they can at least
still distinguish shape

1900
01:26:39,490 --> 01:26:40,430
from each other.

1901
01:26:40,430 --> 01:26:43,470
So instead of having red
diamonds and blue diamonds,

1902
01:26:43,470 --> 01:26:46,740
you have red diamonds and
blue stars or something,

1903
01:26:46,740 --> 01:26:51,020
and that makes it easier to
tell that there's a difference.

1904
01:26:51,020 --> 01:26:53,960
I mentioned other application
windows, touch pads,

1905
01:26:53,960 --> 01:26:56,480
or the possibility that somebody
might be playing your game

1906
01:26:56,480 --> 01:26:58,390
muted, which means
make sure that not

1907
01:26:58,390 --> 01:27:00,917
all of the feedback that you're
giving them is audio only.

1908
01:27:00,917 --> 01:27:02,500
Make sure that you're
also giving them

1909
01:27:02,500 --> 01:27:04,820
some sort of visual
feedback so that they

1910
01:27:04,820 --> 01:27:06,920
understand that if
they're playing in a cafe

1911
01:27:06,920 --> 01:27:08,090
or something like
that, they will still

1912
01:27:08,090 --> 01:27:10,214
be able to understand that
they're making mistakes,

1913
01:27:10,214 --> 01:27:12,930
or errors or slips.

1914
01:27:12,930 --> 01:27:14,460
All right.

1915
01:27:14,460 --> 01:27:17,260
That went way longer
than expected,

1916
01:27:17,260 --> 01:27:20,600
but I did warn you guys
it was going to be long.

1917
01:27:20,600 --> 01:27:23,574
Any questions before
we wrap this one up?

1918
01:27:26,980 --> 01:27:27,610
OK.

1919
01:27:27,610 --> 01:27:28,120
All right.

1920
01:27:28,120 --> 01:27:30,340
Well, now is a break
time, I believe?

1921
01:27:30,340 --> 01:27:31,780
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

1922
01:27:31,780 --> 01:27:34,180
Take a 10-minute break.

1923
01:27:34,180 --> 01:27:35,753
At 2:47, come back here.

1924
01:27:35,753 --> 01:27:38,544
If you want to play-test
a paper prototype

1925
01:27:38,544 --> 01:27:41,953
or have any kind of testing
in your game, let us know.

1926
01:27:41,953 --> 01:27:44,084
Otherwise, working in teams.

1927
01:27:44,084 --> 01:27:44,750
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

1928
01:27:44,750 --> 01:27:46,280
A lot of you have
mentioned how hard

1929
01:27:46,280 --> 01:27:47,290
it is to schedule a meeting.

1930
01:27:47,290 --> 01:27:48,740
You've got the
rest of this class

1931
01:27:48,740 --> 01:27:51,180
to be able to meet
with your team.

1932
01:27:51,180 --> 01:27:54,410
And either test something, or
you can just work on your game.

1933
01:27:54,410 --> 01:27:56,830
If anyone wants to look at
these books or this game,

1934
01:27:56,830 --> 01:27:58,640
come up to the
front, have a look.

1935
01:27:58,640 --> 01:27:59,690
Thank you.

1936
01:27:59,690 --> 01:28:01,240
[SIDE CONVERSATION]