User Experience Designer
B IMD 362 | Winter 2019 | AR Mobile Game
Team:
Andrew McDonald, Software Developer & PM
Chang S Wu, Narrative Designer
Giovanni Iriarte-Young, UX Designer
Javad Ali Goudarzi, UI Designer
Luc Demoulin, Level Designer
Concept:
Our project was to create an AR based mobile game that incorporates augmented reality as part of the game whilst also developing a game that is a critical intervention as well. Through our game, we desired to create a mobile game experience of Dungeons & Dragons, a traditional board game that is limited in scope to a particular demographic and sub group of people. We sought to distill the concepts of Dungeons and Dragons and create a game experience which anybody could play and find enjoyable, whilst also using the game theme as an opportunity to make a critical intervention. The project was first pitched by group members Andrew, Luc, and Giovanni, with Chang and I joining upon hearing their pitch. Through the game, we sought primarily to explore three major areas, those being: 1. Dungeon crawling adventure style game 2. AR combat and 3. Reversing traditional tropes.
Early stage level design with group members during class - this diagram is a wireframe of a level in our game showing the main characters interactions with enemies and objects.
Critical Intervention:
Our critical intervention revolves around moral issues with respect to achieving objectives. We achieve this in our game by having each character represented by a specific value/belief. In order to achieve their objective and fulfill their goal for entering the dungeon, the character will be tested with scenarios that question their value/belief. In response, the character can choose to either betray the value/belief in order to advance themselves and move forward in achieving their objective or choose to sacrifice parts of their goals in order to remain true to their beliefs. Their actions will impact their result in the game as well, with actions that betray their beliefs being chastised by the game and actions that confirm their beliefs being encouraged. By doing this, we seek to critique Western society and it’s ultra-materialistic lens, where progression must often come at the cost of sacrificing parts of our humanity and enter a competitive rat race with our fellow citizens. By portraying such dynamics in their extremities, namely, a dungeon where various characters are entering, with stakes as heavy as life and death, we provide a setting that will allow the true nature of our characters to be exposed.
Diagram that represents the morality value system of our project in its current state.
Development:
Step 1: Developing Initial Mockup Screens
My first step in the project was to develop the initial mockup screens of our game. I decided to mockup the home screen of the game, and a single character selection screen. I sought for my screens to take inspiration from medieval art and to evoke a fantastical, medieval world feel. I approached this by using an image of a dungeon as the background of the home screen. Additionally, I decided to create buttons that were more visually interesting, I did this by using the shape of a shield for a play button, and a book as a tutorial button. Additionally, I used a scroll as the background for the character selection screen. I framed the image assets in medievally inspired frames as well. My screens were well received by my team, and they also provided a lot of useful feedback on how to improve my design and utilize visual space, color, and hierarchy better.
Step 2: Developing more Character Screens
I received a lot of valuable feedback from my team mates on the mockup screens I had created. I decided to add more characters and change some of the design elements. For example, I decided to get rid of the scroll as part of the character selection screen design, as it was disrupting the balance of the screen. Additionally, I decided to add a crest for each individual character, as well as an associated value for the character. The value chosen for each character is the value they represent and functions similar to the way houses would exist in medieval times. Additionally, I changed the descriptions of the character, eliminating of any descriptions that include any current races or nation states in order to be inclusive design and avoid propagating generalizations. Additionally, I added motives in the character description as why they are in the dungeon and what is their aim. The color palettes of each crest were inspired by color theory, utilizing colors that are commonly associated with and match the value of the character.
Step 3: Final Revisions
After completing the next level of prototypes, my group mates, and course professor critiqued my screens again and provided even more advice.
At this point, majority of the hard work was done. All that was left was to make a few more touch ups and then the final version would be ready. The small work left to do was to just remake the title screen, as the character screens had been completed, and to adjust the order of the character screens, to make our presentation more seamless.
Reflection & Complete App
Reflecting upon this experience, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given to work as a UI designer in a group project. Previously, I have only had the opportunity to be a developer in group projects, so this was my first chance on working on the design portion of a project. Through this project, I realized the usefulness of being able to receive critique and others perspectives on design work. Additionally, I also understood the incredible power design holds in conveying ideas through an artistic medium, such as color, hierarchy, space, typography, rhythm, and balance. For example, using color theory in the crests made me realize how much power color has in conveying moods and themes. Additionally, I also learnt how frustrating it can be to use visual design software at times, dealing with limitations of such programs often requires you to think of out of the box methods to solving problems. In my case, this involved editing various image assets in different programs, such as photoshop and illustrator, and then combining them together in different software. Altogether, I am very happy with the experience, and hope to be able to improve my design skills even further and continue to develop myself in this field.