Josh Lee presented at the Game Design Conference about exploratory design for new user interfaces. He discussed designing games for inputs beyond traditional buttons and screens, including full body movement, sensors, virtual reality, and 3D printing. Some key principles included starting with simple mechanics, reducing cognitive load while players learn new interfaces, observing ergonomics and how the environment impacts play, and designing to both inspire other creators and show players new interactive possibilities.

1. Exploratory Design for
New User Interfaces
Josh Lee, Floor Is Lava
Game Design Conference, September 2012

2. Introduction
‣ Josh Lee
‣ Floor Is Lava
‣ Experience
‣ Sifteo
‣ Excite Truck

3. User interface
‣ UI = Input + Output

4. User interface
‣ UI = Input + Output + Context

5. Innovations in UI
‣ Then: Focus on outputs
‣ Now: Inputs ahoy!

6. Pop quiz
‣ Q: What are the most important games in Microsoft’s
history?

7. Pop quiz
‣ Q: What are the most important games in Microsoft’s
history?
‣ A: Minesweeper and Solitaire

8. Learning to mouse

9. Designing for new user
interfaces
‣ Design to Discover
‣ Design to Teach
‣ Design for the Body
‣ Design for the Environment
‣ Design to Inspire

10. Design to discover
‣ Be humble
‣ Become an expert
‣ Make games. Lots of games!

11. Sketch all the ideas
‣ Get all your ideas on paper
‣ Flesh out details
‣ Figure out what doesn’t work

12. Focus on mechanics
‣ Bottom-up design
‣ Worry about the other stuff later
‣ Explore the unknown

13. Small is beautiful
‣ Simple mechanics lead to small games
‣ Look for the Minesweeper, not the Starcraft

14. Develop the interaction
language
‣ Give names to gestures
‣ Simple vs. Compound
gestures

15. The most important question
‣ “Would this game work better in another interface?”

16. The even more important
question
‣ “Would this game even be possible in another
interface?”

17. Design to teach
‣ Teaching ≠ tutorials
‣ Teaching = sharing discoveries
‣ Let the player explore
‣ Design each game as if it’s the first thing the user
has ever seen in the interface

18. Keep it simple
‣ Simple gestures first
‣ Compound gestures
later

19. Learning and difficulty curves
‣ Normally: steady upward movement

20. Learning and difficulty curves
‣ Unfamiliar UI introduces early spikes
‣ The interface is hard; your game doesn’t need to
make it harder

21. Learning and difficulty curves
‣ Reduce cognitive load while players get over the
hump
‣ Raise difficulty organically

22. Design for the body
‣ Then: minimal body
movement
‣ Now: full body UIs

23. Design for the body
‣ A human is not just a brain with fingers

24. Watch for fatigue
‣ Physical fatigue
‣ Changing controller usage
‣ Eye strain

25. Playtest Playtest Playtest
‣ Observational vs. metrics, interviews
‣ Watch the player
‣ Face
‣ Hands
‣ Posture

26. Design for the environment
‣ There is no virtual world, there is only this world.

27. Awareness of space
‣ Where is the game
being played?
‣ Who is playing? Who is
observing?
‣ How does the site of
play affect the activity
of play?

28. Playtesting in the home
‣ More comfortable for the player
‣ Examine the sites of play
‣ Site of play affects ergonomics
‣ Inquire about when play happens
‣ Investigate the scene!

29. Wait a minute...
‣ Why are we doing all this again?

30. New UI: Sifteo

31. New UI: Second screens

32. New UI: Sphero
‣ Smartphone-controlled
robot roller balls

33. New UI: VR goggles (again!)

34. New UI: Personal telemetry
‣ Fitbit, Fuelband, etc.
‣ Is that a bundle of
sensors in your pocket,
or are you just... oh.
That’s a bundle of
sensors in your pocket.

35. New UI: 3D printers

36. New UI: Emotiv
‣ OMG brain control

37. New UI: Makey Makey
‣ Turn any conductive surface into a controller

38. Design to inspire designers
‣ Lead, don’t follow
‣ Draw the map for other designers

39. Design to inspire players
‣ Show players new possibilities
‣ Explore new spaces with them

40. Thanks!
‣ Josh Lee
‣ http://floor.is/lava
‣ josh@floor.is