UX laws we follow to create engaging video games
Developed from studies of human behavior, the Laws of UX offer guidelines on how to build quality user experience. These rules are usually followed by designers either intentionally or instinctively to make interactions as flawless as possible. However, when it comes to the realm of video games, user turns into player and game design follows its own path.
For the sake of a thought experiment, we argued in a previous article that some of the Laws of UX might be broken for reasons such as:
- Creating complexity
- Building challenge
- Supporting the artistic concept
- Making gameplay immersive
There’s no doubt, to be free from patterns can prove to be a good thing, especially when there’s an artistic component involved.
Even so, principles and observations highlighted through the Laws of UX are as useful in gaming as they are in software design. So today we are looking at the other side of the coin and we’re analyzing some of the UX laws we DO follow to build better games.
Gestalt principles
Law: Chunking
A process by which individual pieces of an information set are broken down and then grouped together in a meaningful whole.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Inventory: items categories (e.g. food, weapons, armor, consumables)
➡️Navigation: areas, travel points, zones
➡️Goals: quest objectives, achievements
➡️Narrative: questlines
➡️Skills: talent trees
➡️Experience: progression, levels
Law of Common Region
Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Navigation: areas on a map
➡️Inventory: dedicated bag slots
➡️Skills: talent trees
➡️Level design: highlighting paths, platform placement
➡️Action: area of effect attacks
➡️Environmental design: positioning of NPC (friendly or enemy)
➡️Player status: HP, mana, speed, stamina, etc.
Law of Proximity
Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Environmental design: placement of NPCs (friendly or enemy)
➡️Level design: environmental assets
➡️Items: weapons and armor of the same level placed near each other
➡️Narrative: environmental storytelling
Law of Prägnanz
People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form possible, because it is the interpretation that requires the least cognitive effort of us.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Level design: challenges in a puzzle game, environmental puzzles
➡️Action: combat with multiple NPCs, PvP combat
➡️Visual elements: game icons, concept art, heraldry
Serial Position Effect
Users have a propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Narrative: quest structure and story sequences
➡️Level design: puzzles and challenges, environmental design
Law of Similarity
The human eye tends to perceive similar elements as a complete picture, shape, or group, even if those elements are separated.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Visual elements: concept art, heraldry, maps
➡️Level design: Puzzles
➡️Narrative: environmental storytelling
Law of Uniform Connectedness
Elements that are visually connected are perceived as more related than elements with no connection.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Skill: talent trees
➡️Navigation: in-game maps
➡️Goals: objective list, quests, achievements
➡️Level design: player guidance and paths
Von Restorff Effect
The Von Restorff effect, also known as The Isolation Effect, predicts that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Inventory: special items, quest items, usable items
➡️Level design: bosses, buildings, landmarks, hubs, story characters, NPCs, interactable areas
➡️Skills: core build talents
➡️Sound design: custom sounds for important moments
Selective Attention (related to Von Restorff Effect)
The process of focusing our attention only to a subset of the stimuli in the environment — usually those related to our goals.
Where we might see this in a game?
➡️Level design: player guidance and paths
➡️Action: combat with multiple enemies, PvP fights
➡️Sound design: diegetic sounds considered background sounds
Other UX principles
Mental Model
A compressed model based on what we think we know about a system and how it works.
This principle is related to the concept of Jakob’s Law. According to a theory by psychologist Kenneth Craik, we form a mental model of the world and we develop expectations about what should happen with an interaction based on previous experiences. This helps us transfer knowledge and skills learned through similar encounters. The entire process is not re-learned when playing a new game, it’s a good practice to keep in mind player expectations over elements like button mapping, camera movement, navigation and genre-specific mechanics.
For example, in an RPG game, players will expect a system of classes and a large narrative. At the same time, when playing a first-person shooter, they might look for fast, precision combat and maybe a multiplayer mode.
Doherty Threshold
Productivity soars when a computer and its users interact at a pace (<400ms) that ensures that neither has to wait on the other.
The time between player input and computer feedback should be reduced as much as possible. Gaming is about reflexes and more often than not, it’s a competitive environment. Whether playing against a computer or other players, milliseconds can make all the difference. This applies to all gaming platforms (PCs, consoles, handheld, VR or any other kinds).
Generally, the acceptable latency in video games is under 100 ms for normal play and for competitive gaming it’s usually under 40 ms. Lag caused by latency, FPS drops or hardware problems can make games feel unplayable. Needless to say, this is one of the rules developers surely take into account when working on a release.
Paradox of the Active User
Users never read manuals but start using the software immediately.
Reading software manuals is no longer a practice nowadays, but we can also think of in-game tutorials as ‘manuals.’ All games have some sort of a tutorial, either clearly marked as such or embedded as a natural part of the gameplay.
Because of the nature of gaming, core mechanics are meant to be understood through an interactive process, instead of being delivered as a separate set of guidelines. Therefore, this “show, don’t tell” rule is a useful part of game design. Players should be able to start playing right away and the learning curve is best integrated as a natural part of the flow.
Goal-Gradient Effect
The tendency to approach a goal increases with proximity to the goal.
This law indicates that designers should inform users when they’re approaching a goal, and it’s based on the observation that humans tend to put in more effort once they’re closer to the finish line. This is a frequent practice in game design, as players are constantly motivated to continue.
We can see this rule in the design of interfaces, where we have progress bars, mini-maps, quests, achievements and all kinds of trackers. Level design also integrates this law. Through strategically placed paths and environmental elements, players can be guided toward actions such as reaching a landmark, taking a detour for a treasure, encountering a friendly NPC or fighting a boss, to name a few.
Because games are purchased and played on platforms (i.e. Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, etc.) there are also meta progress bars, trackers outside of the game itself designed to provide a sense of progress.
Tesler’s Law
Tesler’s Law, also known as The Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain amount of complexity which cannot be reduced.
According to this law, designers should keep in mind that complexity cannot be completely eliminated from the final product, so the design itself should accommodate it. In the previous UX article we already established that complexity in gameplay is appreciated by the players. But there are other challenges of video games:
Working with technology. Technology has specific limitations, so the vision must be adapted to what’s actually possible.
Players are a wildcard. The player base is vast and they can find unexpected ways to interact with the mechanics.
Systems need to be balanced. In a game there are multiple systems intertwined, there will always be a challenge to make them fit well together.
Interdisciplinary project. Having multiple people participate working on a project, while trying to preserve the original vision.
The game must be fun. Fun is an elusive concept, but in the end, this is probably the most important thing for game design.
Flow
The mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
A golden rule for game design, flow refers to a state in which players are completely involved in gameplay, fully focused and present. It’s what we know as immersion. According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the psychologist who originally developed Flow theory, the optimal experience is a fine balancing act between skill and challenge. If the challenge is fitted for the player’s skill, the experience will be fun. If it’s too hard it may lead to frustration, if it’s too easy it might lead to boredom, both breaking focus and immersion.
The theory of flow is closely related to the idea of happiness, describing a state in which we are absorbed in the present and our actions have intrinsic meaning. This concept is so vast and valuable for video games that it deserves its own analysis, which is why we will come back with a deeper look in a future article.
