by Celia Hodent, expert in game UX (user experience) and cognitive psychology.

Making fun and engaging video games is hard, and with thousands of games being released every year, the competition is fierce. Although there is no known recipe for crafting successful games, some clear ingredients do exist, which game developers can use to make their own successful recipe. User experience (UX) and cognitive science disciplines combined provide developers with those ingredients --across all types of games, platforms used, or audiences targeted-- to guide them along the development process. Experiencing a game happens in the player's mind. This is why understanding the human brain (especially its limitations) while it is perceiving and interacting with a game is paramount to accomplish faster and more efficiently your developers' goals.

This workshop proposes to delve into how the human brain works in terms of perception, attention, and memory (critical elements for usability), and offers insights on human motivation, emotion, and gameflow (critical elements for engaging games). Based on these elements, the workshop proposes a UX framework and UX guidelines during the different game development stages. The ultimate goal of this workshop is to provide game developers with tools to significantly improve the experience of the game they are developing, as perceived by their target audience, not only in terms of usability, but in terms of engagement. This workshop offers numerous examples, from video games and beyond, to illustrate each point (including examples from Fortnite, since the game UX framework covered in this workshop was used during the development process).

About the speaker:

Celia Hodent, PhD is an expert in game UX (user experience) and cognitive psychology. She is a consultant, speaker, and acclaimed author of The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX can Impact Video Game Design & The Psychology of Video Games.