Feb 15, 2022

The Acagamic Tip Tuesday 🎲 Issue #1

By Lennart Nacke • Issue #1 • View online

Hey there 🙋‍♂️,

Welcome to the 1st issue of The Acagamic Tip Tuesday.

Each Tuesday, I will send you a tip from the world of UX Research & Design for games. At my website The Acagamic, I focus on training people to become better researchers and designers for games and beyond.

Each tip will take less than 3 minutes to read.

Tip of the Week:

Use artistic composition and environmental cues to guide players smoothly through your game.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the painted environment guides the player.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Level Designers use painted areas to guide the player along walls and through the jungle.

In The Last of Us, light is used very effectively to guide a player.

Using light is a powerful way to guide players through the level. The Last of Us does this expertly as shiny objects usually indicate the direction the game designers want the players to go.

In Uncharted 3, the visual composition of the levels always guide the player.

The arrangement of elements (pre-fabs) in Uncharted 3 levels always provides clues about where to go next. You can see the boards and lanterns arranged in the perfect swinging distance in the example above.

Weenies are giant landmarks in games that draw players to a location.

I recently talked about Weenies on my Instagram. Many games feature weenies as environmental cues to guide their players through levels. Using Weenies is like the visual foreshadowing of an exciting experience that players will engage in later.

If you’re not getting value from these tips, please consider unsubscribing. I won’t mind, and there are no hard feelings.

If you enjoy this newsletter, the best compliment you could pay me would be to share it with others on Twitter.

Bonus Video

"Everything I learned about Level Design, I Learned from Disneyland" Scott Rogers, Walt Disney

We still have GUR Book Webinar Tickets on Sale

The GUR Book

@GamesURbook

Join us on February 18, 2022, for a webinar on Bias and Validity in UX Research. @Pejman_MB, @andersdrachen, and @acagamic will host. #webinar #ux #grux #gurbook #gamesur #research #bias #validity #gameux https://t.co/M7HvFYIx75

4:52 PM - 6 Jan 2022

Webinar: Bias and Validity in UX Research Tickets, Fri, 18 Feb 2022 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

Eventbrite - Games User Research Book presents Webinar: Bias and Validity in UX Research - Friday, 18 February 2022 - Find event and ticket information.

www.eventbrite.ca • Share

Consider Subscribing to my Course Newsletter

Get free updates for the How to Write CHI papers course

I hope you love the course I teach at CHI about how to write papers. We have big plans for this course and how to expand it in the future and would love for you to get all the updates as this course develops. Please sign up for updates, free stuff, and more.

mailchi.mp • Share

Or get the Scoop from the GUR Book Editors

News from the editors of Games User Research

Sign up for our email list to receive free updates related to the Games User Research book, our course offerings, and free content updates. It is your VIP pass to a premium experience of the Games User Research book.

mailchi.mp • Share