Over a decade leading UX across AAA games ike Call of Duty: MW3 & Star Wars: Hunters from player research to shipped interface, and the design direction that holds it together.
UX isn't designing screens; it's designing behaviour at scale.
Say hi ABDIJNOOR@GMAIL.COM love to hear what you’re working on.
Many games allow you to customise your HUD experience via the settings, to turn off or change your HUD elements. They may even have presets such as hardcore (No HUD) settings or streamer modes. In this post, I will be looking at some console and PC games that have at good notable HUD designs, as well as some innovative ways of incorporating it into your game design itself.
Read MoreDesigning the social backbone of a cross-platform multiplayer shooter. Turning solo players into connected ones, without letting voice chat become a liability. The complete friend-to-party journey, side by side on Switch and mobile. One mental model; two input layers.
Read MoreEvery Studio Head’s biggest fear is "The Pause Menu Exit." Every time a player hits "Options" and sees a generic, sterile list of text, their brain is reminded that they are sitting on a couch. While an invisible UI is immersive and a flamboyant, delightful UI is memorable
Read MoreWhen you drag a file into the "Trash," nothing actually is being destroyed. It’s an abstract dance of pixels. Your folders are not really folders. Your computer is gaslighting you. The digital world is entirely an illusion. Computers don’t actually have files they have logic gates, binary code, and shifting electrical charges.
UX design is essentially the art of Human computer translation. A hidden art of Smoke and Mirrors that takes the cold mathematics and translates it into a language humans can naturally comprehend. Without this translation layer, computing would remain trapped in the hands of engineers and academics.
Read MoreDesigning for multiple platforms is not just about moving buttons, if your game isn't accessible on PC, Console, and Mobile, you're missing out on a massive chunk of the market. Creating a cohesive UI across platforms isn't about making everything look identical it's about making the transition invisible. When a player moves from their console to their phone, the logic should stay the same, even if the buttons change.
Read MoreDetroit: Become Human is the perfect example of emotional engineering through narrative choice. You're negotiating with a hostage-taking android as Connor, you have a ticking countdown. Every choice has a time limit. Miss a clue? Fail to ask the right question? Your options narrow. The girl dies
Now imagine negotiating that hostage situation with a NPC that has access to LLM and live input from a Smart Watch.
Read MoreIn this Apex Legends UX breakdown analysis, we dive into the seamless integration of its core game loop and the intricate design of every screen, widget, and UI element.
This detailed UX design not only promotes fluid gameplay but also ensures that players can react quickly in high-stakes situations, fostering an immersive and competitive experience.
There's a moment in Silent Hill 2 that perfectly captures the genius of horror game design. You're fumbling through your inventory, desperately searching for a health drink while something unspeakable lurks just outside your flashlight's reach. But here's the brilliant part—the inventory screen doesn't pause the game. Time keeps ticking. Danger keeps approaching. What should be a safe space, a moment of respite, becomes another source of terror.
Read MoreIn the world of luxury products, inconvenience often masquerades as exclusivity. This counterintuitive approach to design has been embraced by several high-end brands, with Apple leading the charge. By creating products that sometimes defy conventional usability, these companies have managed to turn potential flaws into talking points, reinforcing their brand identity and fostering a sense of exclusivity among their customers.
Read MoreCommunication is the most important tool in your stack. You can have the best Figma plugins as a designer or coding skills as a dev, but the most powerful tool is simply understanding how a developer and other teams think. Build the bridge, and your design intent will follow.
Read MoreSnapchat, Instagram and Tiktok aren’t just apps—they're video games where the objectives are attention, expression, and social capital. For game designers, studying these platforms offers a masterclass in engagement. By treating social media as a competitor (or collaborator), we can design experiences that tap into the same innovative community-driven experiences.
Read MoreUX is not just about making menu look good or enabling game play mechanics, it’s about about one thing: Psychology. It’s about making the player feel safe, powerful, and smart. If your player feels like an idiot because they forgot who "Duke Von Boring-Name" is, you’ve already lost.
Read MoreThe genius of extraction shooter UX isn't just in making you feel good when you win; it's in making you feel something profound when you lose. That gut-punch of knowing you messed up, that infuriating sigh as your pristine gear vanishes – that’s the secret sauce.
Read MoreAs impressive as Ghost of Tsushima is with it’s innovative UX design, it’s thematic beauty and art direction, the heart of any samurai game lies in its combat system and luckily Ghost of Tsushima's combat system is a masterful blend of simplicity and depth delivers a visceral and immersive samurai experience. Let’s break it down.
Read MoreThe harder something is the more people seem to love it. Sounds counterintuitive but here's why. The best reward isn't a badge; it's the feeling of Mastery. Don't reward the user for opening the game but reward them for getting better at the skill the app provides. 🏆
Read MoreAI is like electricity: revolutionary, everywhere, and completely invisible. But here’s the problem—most people don’t get it. Not because they’re too dumb, but because companies are too busy trying to explain the voltage instead of showing the lightbulb.
Read MoreMotivation is commonly separated into two different types, Intrinsic and extrinsic and these are important for designers to understand. Motivation can also be linked to the self-determination theory. Users can be motivated to use your product through rewards and incentives but also can be motivated by the internal personal satisfaction of using it.
Read MoreGame design is the foundation of any great game, defining how players interact with mechanics, environments, and systems. When design falls short—whether through unclear mechanics, confusing navigation, or lackluster feedback—developers might turn to UI as a quick fix. But piling on UI elements won’t rescue a poorly designed game. Instead, it often highlights underlying issues while cluttering the experience.
Read MoreI used to think UX was about making things easy for people. Then I got into games.
But In games, "Good UX" isn't about making things easy; it's about making things satisfyingly. Its about delivering on the game design whilst balancing the need of the Art Direction and Business goals .
I used to think the less UI the better then I got into branding.
Read MoreMultisensory Design Multisensory design is revolutionizing user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) by engaging multiple senses. This approach creates a more holistic and immersive user experience, going beyond traditional visual and tactile elements.
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