[OFFICIAL] User Experience subforum

[Entropy]

The User Experience (UX) subforum is now live!

UX describes what it is like to interact with software, including how engaging the experience is, relative to design intentions. Good UX = Usability + Game Flow

Specifically, Epic's UX team is structured like this:



It's important to note that the UX process focuses on facts and data, as a way of balancing against opinions and suggestions.

We hope to have many conversations here about UX, usability, accessibility, UI, game flow, and balance. We've recently had our first usability test with Unreal Tournament, and we'll share the results of that test (and any subsequent tests) here with you so that you can better understand (and participate in) our decision making process as we move forward.

[[EPIC] _Lynx]

Thanks Jim! It's really interesting to have an insight on how UX works, especially in studio like yours.

[Sly.]

That's pretty neat! Thanks for the nice insight!

[HenrikRyosa]

Whatever happened to "just because"? Especially with a free game.

[MΛuL]

Thanks Jim! It's really interesting to have an insight on how UX works, especially in studio like yours.

Major +1 to this.

[jay43K]

How'd I miss this board? Really cool.

I had courses in school with user centered design and human factors in system design and they were so interesting.

[avs002]

This is my first post to this forum - I hope it gets some attention. I have some background in software development and testing, but it's not my main line of work.

I'm amazed that such a sophisticated design approach to UT2015 - and a large developer and test-base - is churning out such a tired, stale decades-old concept of a game (actually, I'm not, given my development background, but anyway...). What may have been deemed "authentic" 15 years ago is now LAUGHABLE:

- PLAYERS do not have unlimited stamina, to run around endlessly - they get TIRED;
- They also REST and HIDE;
- They could not carry more than 2-3 WEAPONS at a time - which don't arrive from NOWHERE;
- Why HAVE weapons all the time - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is sometimes better;
- People MAKE WEAPONS in the real world: pits, bows-and-arrows, spears, shields, catapults, rudimentary firearms...;
- Nobody fights wars in super-sized termites' nests of MAPS;
- People also CHANGE SIDES... even changing/switching personality;
- No military engagement was made up of "headless chickens" - they move in FORMATION, covering one another;
- We've spawned GPS in the last few decades - surely OPPONENT LOCATORS and MAPS-TYPE NAVIGATION should be offered;
- There's NO HUMO(U)R in this thing whatsoever... ever heard of M*A*S*H, Apocalypse Now, etc.?

All this (and some "shrink rays") would do wonders for UT2015... otherwise is "same old, same old"!!!

[Amaurus]

<Long list of concerns / criticisms >

I'll address all of these one by one

- PLAYERS do not have unlimited stamina, to run around endlessly - they get TIRED;

Unreal Tournament is a game based in the far future (Somewhere around 2300~). In many of the games, the characters range from different species, different lifeforms, and varying degrees of augmentation. The Juggernauts for example, are described as (and look like) hulking beasts of men/women. They are large in terms of physique. The Skaarj are an alien species. And the 'Nightmare' are horribly modified and grotesque beings built for killing.
The Tournament is treated like a sport with some maps featuring an audience in the background or a scoreboard. As such, many of the characters are exceptionally athletic.

- They could not carry more than 2-3 WEAPONS at a time - which don't arrive from NOWHERE;

As far as I know, there is no explanation for how they can carry so many weapons. Some theorize that they are teleported in on command with the other weapon getting teleported away.

- Why HAVE weapons all the time - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is sometimes better;

It is argueably better, but don't forget that most if not all of the characters have tough suits of armour. Most of the characters would be unfit for hand-to-hand combat in this situation with a few possible exceptions.

- People MAKE WEAPONS in the real world: pits, bows-and-arrows, spears, shields, catapults, rudimentary firearms...;

Why would someone make a bow when they have a rocket launcher that is considerably more effective?

- Nobody fights wars in super-sized termites' nests of MAPS;

It's not a war, it's a sport.

- People also CHANGE SIDES... even changing/switching personality;

Not sure what you mean by this.

- No military engagement was made up of "headless chickens" - they move in FORMATION, covering one another;

Tactics and formations are up to the player to create and use. Formations are highly predictable and easy to abuse.

- We've spawned GPS in the last few decades - surely OPPONENT LOCATORS and MAPS-TYPE NAVIGATION should be offered;

Hunting is part of the sport. It could be interesting to have a radar but it is hardly necessary.

- There's NO HUMO(U)R in this thing whatsoever... ever heard of M*A*S*H, Apocalypse Now, etc.?

The game is nowhere near done yet. A lot of the balancing, map making, character design, and lore hasn't even be conceived or refined yet.

All this (and some "shrink rays") would do wonders for UT2015... otherwise is "same old, same old"!!!

The people in the weapon sub-forums would love ideas for new weapons or viable changes for existing ones. Feel free to go make a post.

[MrMat]

Creating your own development life cycle (or feedback loop) is an excellent idea.
I'll be hard-wiring my happiness meter into the data collection system. There is nothing more accurate than a happiness meter.

[homu]

What may have been deemed "authentic" 15 years ago is now LAUGHABLE

If I were to describe UT99, those adjectives wouldn't cover it. It was "fun", "challenging" and game types + mutator alterations were "spicy" compared to the landscape which at the time was mostly populated by quake2, counter-strike and such.

Nobody cared for explanations as to why elements are as they're presented and lore was the least of anyone's concern - all but the diehard bookworms I suppose. Do you need tetris to have a backstory for it to be engaging? The very idea of a backstory for everything is why hollywood movies based on game concepts end up so terrible.

Putting world-based limitations such as fatigue, reload and other mechanics of that effect simply damage the game-flow by slowing it down and exchange "playing" time with "waiting" time. You could very well make a mod to support such features but the main game of UT was never about them.

As for the humor, i always thought some of 2003/4's characters to be hilarious such as Mr. Crow whose name the announcer must always yell in a particular way, very campy.

tl;dr: UT is not a movie, do not push for "cinematic" game development here because it's unwanted and frankly doesn't belong in the world of video games at all in my opinion. Fun gives everything enough meaning.

[JustinM]

This is my first post to this forum - I hope it gets some attention. I have some background in software development and testing, but it's not my main line of work.

I'm amazed that such a sophisticated design approach to UT2015 - and a large developer and test-base - is churning out such a tired, stale decades-old concept of a game (actually, I'm not, given my development background, but anyway...). What may have been deemed "authentic" 15 years ago is now LAUGHABLE:

- PLAYERS do not have unlimited stamina, to run around endlessly - they get TIRED;
- They also REST and HIDE;
- They could not carry more than 2-3 WEAPONS at a time - which don't arrive from NOWHERE;
- Why HAVE weapons all the time - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is sometimes better;
- People MAKE WEAPONS in the real world: pits, bows-and-arrows, spears, shields, catapults, rudimentary firearms...;
- Nobody fights wars in super-sized termites' nests of MAPS;
- People also CHANGE SIDES... even changing/switching personality;
- No military engagement was made up of "headless chickens" - they move in FORMATION, covering one another;
- We've spawned GPS in the last few decades - surely OPPONENT LOCATORS and MAPS-TYPE NAVIGATION should be offered;
- There's NO HUMO(U)R in this thing whatsoever... ever heard of M*A*S*H, Apocalypse Now, etc.?

All this (and some "shrink rays") would do wonders for UT2015... otherwise is "same old, same old"!!!

-You make some valid points and Im sure everyone here would like to take UT to a new level. The problem with most of your suggestions is they do not suit UT's style of gameplay (100%non-stop action) . I would like to see hand to hand combat added. I believe this has potential> It would not be easy to do this right. It would need to have great animations, and have "competitive" non arcady gameplay . UT could certainly use more depth.

[Mumm-Ra]

incredibly egotistical post...

Yeh good one!!!!... then lets name it "call of unreal" and release it every november.

[ElizabethSTerling]

This is my first post to this forum - I hope it gets some attention. I have some background in software development and testing, but it's not my main line of work.

I'm amazed that such a sophisticated design approach to UT2015 - and a large developer and test-base - is churning out such a tired, stale decades-old concept of a game (actually, I'm not, given my development background, but anyway...). What may have been deemed "authentic" 15 years ago is now LAUGHABLE:

- PLAYERS do not have unlimited stamina, to run around endlessly - they get TIRED;
- They also REST and HIDE;
- They could not carry more than 2-3 WEAPONS at a time - which don't arrive from NOWHERE;
- Why HAVE weapons all the time - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is sometimes better;
- People MAKE WEAPONS in the real world: pits, bows-and-arrows, spears, shields, catapults, rudimentary firearms...;
- Nobody fights wars in super-sized termites' nests of MAPS;
- People also CHANGE SIDES... even changing/switching personality;
- No military engagement was made up of "headless chickens" - they move in FORMATION, covering one another;
- We've spawned GPS in the last few decades - surely OPPONENT LOCATORS and MAPS-TYPE NAVIGATION should be offered;
- There's NO HUMO(U)R in this thing whatsoever... ever heard of M*A*S*H, Apocalypse Now, etc.?

All this (and some "shrink rays") would do wonders for UT2015... otherwise is "same old, same old"!!!

Because this isn't a military simulator and it has never tried to be authentic, it's a far-future sci-fi game about prisoners being entered in to a gun-based fighting tournament with an emphasis on excess and ultra-fast unpredictable gameplay, hence no bogging it down with nonsense like fatigue, crafting or fist fights or allowing careful military coordination. These are not armies, they are not divisions, they are SPORTS TEAMS made up of violent sadists that play a blood-streaked game known as competitive murder. If you want Call of Duty style games you're not short on options. I'd also love to know why 'same old' is so much worse than 'same slightly less old', especially when almost no games on the market currently play like UT4 and almost every FPS plays exactly as you described.

I will never ever understand how so many gamers claim to hate executive meddling and focus-grouped mush and yet use broad executive-created marketing trends to justify themselves anyway.

[1LL]

This is my first post to this forum - I hope it gets some attention. I have some background in software development and testing, but it's not my main line of work.

I'm amazed that such a sophisticated design approach to UT2015 - and a large developer and test-base - is churning out such a tired, stale decades-old concept of a game (actually, I'm not, given my development background, but anyway...). What may have been deemed "authentic" 15 years ago is now LAUGHABLE:

- PLAYERS do not have unlimited stamina, to run around endlessly - they get TIRED;
- They also REST and HIDE;
- They could not carry more than 2-3 WEAPONS at a time - which don't arrive from NOWHERE;
- Why HAVE weapons all the time - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is sometimes better;
- People MAKE WEAPONS in the real world: pits, bows-and-arrows, spears, shields, catapults, rudimentary firearms...;
- Nobody fights wars in super-sized termites' nests of MAPS;
- People also CHANGE SIDES... even changing/switching personality;
- No military engagement was made up of "headless chickens" - they move in FORMATION, covering one another;
- We've spawned GPS in the last few decades - surely OPPONENT LOCATORS and MAPS-TYPE NAVIGATION should be offered;
- There's NO HUMO(U)R in this thing whatsoever... ever heard of M*A*S*H, Apocalypse Now, etc.?

All this (and some "shrink rays") would do wonders for UT2015... otherwise is "same old, same old"!!!

Is this for humor? I hope so because it rolled me. Hope you weren't serious.
Let me take a shot at a few of those.

STAMINA - Players in UT do have unlimited stamina. Some are aliens or robots and everyone knows they do not tire. As far as humans go all are dopers and there's no drug testing so no - they do not get tired.
I'm sure you enjoy finding "resting" players in halo and COD because of the easy frags but NEVER IN UT - EVER.

REST AND HIDE - OMG that's good stuff right there. Let's hide and rest in a game that is supposed to fast and furious. You just ended yourself there. No one will ever take you serious after that comment. Resting in UT. Say that to
UT'ers anywhere and get laughed off the server and booed off the forums. Sorry that's fact. Furthermore most people that are paying the way of the 30yr old mommy basement dwellers actually have to work.This means we do not have
as much to burn on games as we'd like.So I think most would rather be actually gaming rather than p!ss squatting in the bushes - resting.

2-3 WEPS AT A TIME - See you're playing dumbed down games to simplify your fighting.This way you only have 2 or 3 weapons to chose from which limits the mistake you could make by selecting the wrong weapon.Furthermore doesn't that get boring as hell being limited to a few weps or being able to get 15 weps that have different skins yet still have the same mechanics - BORING.

HAND TO HAND COMBAT - Again you're killing me. So would you like punching and/or swords in UT? We have hammers and that will suffice for close range/melee combat. Let me guess you want batman fighting mechanics with 3rd person view too right?

GPS - What? I think you mean a radar hack. Most of us prefer to use our senses and brains along with hand eye coordination. Ya know... look,listen,and predict to find enemies, not have a large blinking red dot taking me by the hand.

HUMOR IN THE GAME - If you show up on my server and start talking this trash there will definitely be people rollin. The game in itself offers plenty of humor through
all of the spontaneous things that happen in battle, not to mention skins and taunts that are amusing at times. UT always made me smile or laugh not to mention very rewarding when you land a good frag,blast someone from the map,knockem into lava, trans kills,chasing someone down with the hammer,etc.

Now to trump everything you've said if you're after reality so much - when you die in game you should not be able to return. YOU'RE DEAD. DEAD STAY DEAD. You should try paintball.Sounds like something you'd really get into it. You really cannot do anything other than what a human can do in reality.

Its called UNREAL for a reason. One of these times when I get a weekend to spare I'm gonna come to your COD or Halo server and master the game Friday night and then come destroy you come Sat after lunch.Hopefully you're not resting
because I prefer even battles.

[KazeoHin-TechAE]

This is my first post to this forum - I hope it gets some attention. I have some background in software development and testing, but it's not my main line of work.

I'm amazed that such a sophisticated design approach to UT2015 - and a large developer and test-base - is churning out such a tired, stale decades-old concept of a game (actually, I'm not, given my development background, but anyway...). What may have been deemed "authentic" 15 years ago is now LAUGHABLE:

- PLAYERS do not have unlimited stamina, to run around endlessly - they get TIRED;
- They also REST and HIDE;
- They could not carry more than 2-3 WEAPONS at a time - which don't arrive from NOWHERE;
- Why HAVE weapons all the time - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT is sometimes better;
- People MAKE WEAPONS in the real world: pits, bows-and-arrows, spears, shields, catapults, rudimentary firearms...;
- Nobody fights wars in super-sized termites' nests of MAPS;
- People also CHANGE SIDES... even changing/switching personality;
- No military engagement was made up of "headless chickens" - they move in FORMATION, covering one another;
- We've spawned GPS in the last few decades - surely OPPONENT LOCATORS and MAPS-TYPE NAVIGATION should be offered;
- There's NO HUMO(U)R in this thing whatsoever... ever heard of M*A*S*H, Apocalypse Now, etc.?

All this (and some "shrink rays") would do wonders for UT2015... otherwise is "same old, same old"!!!

I understand a BIT of where you come from in the first paragraph, as Arena Shooters need to evolve to survive and in this phase of the pre-alpha, the evolution has not started just yet.. but then you lost me.. This isn't a military shooter. This is Gladiators with Rayguns riding Dinosaurs in space. Not exactly a Tom Clancy novel.