MA Games Design Diary

This week, I contacted  four creative practitioners via email and LinkedIn, and three of them— Dan Pratt ,  Daniel Rhodes , and  Kat Craig  - agreed to an interview.  Dan Pratt Dan Pratt is a user interface designer with over 15 years of experience working on well-known game franchises such as The Sims, Tetris, and Need for Speed. On his website, he describes game design as a " balance of budget, ambition, scope, & time " and thoroughly discusses the logic behind his design process. I believe his knowledge and practical mindset will offer me invaluable insight into how a design process typically functions within a game design studio environment. Questions: Q1. What is your typical design process when approaching a project? Q2. What is the most important step within your design process?  Q3. How do you prioritise the players' experience in your creative decisions?  Q4. In your opinion, what makes a UI design good? What qualities should it have?...

This week, I created a document containing a list of creative practitioners I could interview and a list of possible questions to ask.  In my DE4402 essay, I aim to explore the design processes of 3 UI/UX designers to understand how a professional design process typically functions within a game design studio, to improve my design process. I also aim to discuss their methods, advice, and philosophies surrounding relevant topics within UI/UX design, such as player experience, player immersion, usability, and playtesting. For my practical module, I created a list of keyboard shortcuts for UE5, which I can use as a reference in the future. I searched for UI design inspiration using websites such as  Interface In Game , and  Game UI Database , to brainstorm ideas for my 3 UI designs and consider what genres and themes I can use. I then created a  List of Resources  to use while making my UI designs.  Week 10 Plan: 

Over the last two weeks, I have continued to follow creative practitioners on LinkedIn and update my blog post of potential contacts for my DE4402 essay.   I also finished the Unreal Engine 5: Blueprint Scripting 101 Skillshare course and completed lessons 75 to 114 which covered flow control nodes, casting, event dispatchers, blueprint interfaces, framework blueprints and more.  Course Notes (Lessons 75 - 114) Course Exercises:  Enabling a Door to Open with a Key (Using Branch Nodes) Simultaneously Playing Music, Creating a Character Reference + Spawning a Health Potion (Using Sequence Nodes) Add 100XP when the Player Overlaps a Trigger Box (Using Do Once Nodes) Spawn a Fire Only 3 Times (Using Do N Nodes) Spawn 1 of 2 Spells (Using Flip Flop Nodes) Make a Cube Move on Overlap (Using Gate Nodes) Reduce Players Health on Overlap (Using Gate Nodes) Spawn 1 of 3 Visual Effects on Overlap (Using MultiGate Nodes) Spawn 3 Health Potions within a Trigger Box (Using For Loop ...