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Design Process Behind the Xbox 360
Jason writes "I recently attended a SIGCHI (Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction) where the presenters talked through some of the design process and user experience work conducted during the design and development of the Xbox 360. Understanding the user experience isn't just about traditional software any more; Gaming software deserves the same attention to detail graphics software receives."
As a professional designer, some nice points there that we do actually do as part of the process of making a new product, but as always it skims the surface. What I want to know though is if they are actually worth buying one?
Some games just require complex interaction and there's just no way around it. Not every game interaction is going to be as easy as PacMan. For example, in FPS I like to have all my keyboard input mapped to the left side of the keyboard so I can have my right hand on the mouse. If you look at a game like BattleField 2, I can't even even manage that. "Oh, oh, my chopper is going down...time to bail...hope I can find number 9 on the keyboard for my parachute before I splat". The only other option is lots of menus, and that is even more clumsy.
How do you play something like WoW or EQ2 without a keyboard? I guess it's possible if you don't want to talk much or don't mind a clumsy pointer virtual-keyboard interaction.
I think that's where context sensitive keys play in. You should be able to have a key that handles multiple actions depending on the vehicle or type of player you are.
Chording might be a reasonable solution; imagine in your BF2 sceario if the Q key meant controlling the chopper, and holding it down changedd the functions of the other keys on the left side, such that Q+T = bail out.
I'm not saying that's the best solution, just that there need not be a one-to-one correlation between possible interactions with a game and number of buttons required.
-b
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God spoke to me.
I think the basic problem is that in most PC games, reaction time is paramount. If you have to press more than one button, you're at a distinct disadvantage.
Making interaction context-sensitive is like having the game play for you. Take it to extremes and imagine a 1-button FPS:
press A to aim,
press A to fire,
press A to dodge,
press A to locate, pick up and use medkit,
press A to become bored,
press A to quit.
It's fair enough for a fun-type game, but some games are meant to challenge. In that type of game having e.g. the fire button also be a context-sensitive use button sucks - you've just pressed the keys for walking up to a door and firing a flak cannon into it, either you've made a silly mistake and should suffer the penalty or you're trying to do something clever with reflecting shots to the person chasing you, which you should be allowed to do.
I quit!
You obviously haven't played Resident Evil 4. The A button is used to shoot, chuck grenades, tip over items, activate items, jump, climb ledges, kick and talk. There is never an instance where any of the actions get confused. The levels are designed intelligently enough to prevent that. Yet it's probably one of the best games available in its console generation.