Fave @uxisfine.com holiday tradition. Sending out cards to new friends and old, showing off the amazing craftpersonship of our artists.

#sippinbourbon
#merrychrishannukahsameach

Annual pilgrimage with my son to San Antonio and Heroes Retreat. He has a fave place in Austin, but this place feels like someone’s basement.

#basementgaming #warhammer #iforgotmyipadsoicantgamewhilehegamesimded

Holiday party @uxisfine.com today. Last social event before closing the studio for 2 weeks over the holidays.

#noslackfor14days #comebackrefreshed

"Board and pieces" design improves usability and delight.

Rise of Nations scouts were hard to differentiate from peons.

So, we added a dog. Usability and delight increased (puppies!)

However, nothing sadder than the sound of a dog dying :(

#riseofnations #gameux #gameur #gamedev #boardandpieces

When I talk about the ROI of UX, I challenge people to name one aspect of game dev not tied to UX.

Network programmer? Low ping!

Tool dev? Enable creatives to iterate quickly to add more fun and polish.

Haven't been stumped yet.

I double dog dare you to try :)

#gameux #uxiseverything #gamedev

Duh... Allow players to fail gracefully. They can learn that way if you don't leave them in a degenerate state.

Make the wrong-way trade? Friendly AI will simply trade-back and then you try again.

(and, no, the UI Artist did not kill us).

#failinggracefully #gameux #bladerunner

Can we #FixItInUI? Two trade screens Brian Reynolds and I user-tested on Catan: XBLA.

Goal: Reduce confusion between GIVE vs. RECEIVE.

Left: "Animated Neck Tie" (marquis effect)
Right: "Asymmetrical Arrow"

Which one worked best? Check the thread.

Hint: Kobayashi Maru.

#gamesux #KobayashiMaru

I don't often post cheezy slides from my talks... But this one from 4C (Prague) a few years back still makes me chuckle.

#gamesux #ux #gamedev #TyrionLannister

Board & Pieces
Playtest. Find the fun.
Seek sweet serendipity.
Tutorial? Nope.

Posted this the other day on LinkedIn. Just seeing how the format works here on Bloosky.

*Straight outta college*

Bradley, Indiana
Waterloo, UT Austin
Claremont Mckenna