I have no buy-in and I must UX
A collection of practical ways of working (and behaving) that fit with game teams
I have no buy-in and I must UX
A collection of practical ways of working (and behaving) that fit with game teams
UX designer 1x, UX researcher 3x
Most recently: 4 years on GTA VI
Why me?
- 12 years on Console/PC at studios like Rockstar Games, Creative Assembly,Paradox Interactive, Crytek
- 12 years of informal chats with people outside my regular sphere of influence
Who?
All involved in this loop 🔗
- The new kids: UX designers/researchers 👥
- Designers, artists and programmers 👥👥👥
- Producers, head of studios 👥
When it works ✔
- You: my ideas are given a chance, thrive 🌱
- Your coworkers: I get it
- Your employer: dev costs are kept in check 💵
When it does not ✘
- You: ideas killed or backlogged, early 🥀
- Your coworkers: I don't get it
- Your employer: costs keep going up 🔥📈
They can be heard saying...
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You (in general)
- Boundless optimism
- First time in games
- Empathetic
- Will help, in a to-be-defined way
Your new coworkers (in general)
- Lives with trade-offs, constraints
- Was there to ship the previous game
- Systemic-thinker
- Measurable output
The heads of studio (always)
We have a UX team - Year1
You
You
Your coworkers
We have a UX Team - Year1: all good ✅
We have a UX team - Year2
oh shit, we're blocked
Blocked where?
panic
Let's push it to the next milestone
Diagram: Reinforcing feedback loop 🔗
[Audience gets 30 seconds to pick]
| Path #1 | Path #2 |
|---|---|
| "ok, I'll do competitor analyses and put them up on confluence" | "ok, I'll learn how to change text string in the build" |
I recommend path #2
| Path #1 | Path #2 ⭐🥇 |
|---|---|
| "ok, I'll do competitor analyses and put them up on confluence" | "ok, I'll learn how to change text string in the build" |
| You | Coworkers |
|---|---|
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| Lives with trade-offs, constraints | |
| Was there to ship the previous game | |
| Systemic-thinker | |
| Measurable output |
You: something big/new
Design: project-wide evaluation
"let's take a step back", "holistic approach"
Research: big playtest
"product strategy", "holistic experience"
Data: segmentation
"player habits have changed", "market trends"
Diagram: Going big vs being there🔗
| You | Coworkers |
|---|---|
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| Difficult trade-off ❌ | |
| From concept to code = ❓ | |
| Autonomous ❌ | |
| Measurable ❌ |
"it feels like we're an external agency inside a studio"
What's actually expected
I am blocked Some paths are blocked
The implicit signals you send
| Path #1 | Path #2 🥇 |
|---|---|
| "ok, we'll do competitor analyses and put them up on confluence" | "ok, I'm going to learn how to change a single line of text in the build" |
Curious ✔️
Self-reliant ✔️
Will show up ✔️
And when you do: virtuous cycle 🔗
"But wait, I can't code"
"But wait, I can't code"I can edit text
- ❶ Find editable files in your game folder (.log, .csv)
- ❷ Ask for a mentor, outside of your circle of influence (20mins/week)
- ❸ Ask them about their job and about these files
Real-life examples
Iterating when all resources are taken
No bandwidth for telemetry? Try log-parsing
.log files + GREP + Google sheets
Work: bite-sized ✅ You: curious, self-reliant, available ✅
No bandwidth for tutorialization? Try editing loading tips
.csv files + notepad
Work: bite-sized, visible in our feeds ✅
You: curious, self-reliant, available ✅
Improving things, without UI resources
moving light sources to help players progress through a tutorial
Work: bite-sized, visible in our feeds ✅
You: curious, self-reliant, available ✅
Meeting expectations in a low-tech way
Tabletop Simulator (20$ on Steam)
Work: bite-sized, visible in our feeds ✅
You: self-reliant, available ✅
Meeting expectations in a high-tech way
Javascript (Three.js 🔗)
Work: bite-sized ✅
You: curious, self-reliant, available ✅
You and you coworkers
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Bonus section: Meeting high expectations
For the successful kids
Meeting high expectations
“My last game director was the kind of person who needed to fiddle with things in game, and if it wasn't in game, no approval of wireframes, mockups, or prototypes was binding. [...] because so much gets lost in translation from static mockups. ”
Meeting high expectations
“My last game director was the kind of person who needed to fiddle with things in game, and if it wasn't in game, no approval of wireframes, mockups, or prototypes was binding. [...] because so much gets lost in translation from static mockups. ”
Meeting high expectations