Abdi Noor | User Experience

For decades we taught people the language of computers, save, download, copy, folder, file and designers aimed to do one thing reduce friction between the users and the machine. We built clear affordances, menus and buttons. The user clicked and typed the system did exactly what they wanted.

Then came AI. Suddenly the machine doesn't want you to know the steps. It just needs to know your intentions. You don't need to know what Gaussian blur is. You say "make the background blurry." The machine fills in the gaps. And it works like Magic.

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Designing 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.

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Every 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

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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.

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Designing 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.

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Onboarding is not a box you tick before launch; it is the first live product your players touch. In a world where a player can drop your game and open another in seconds, those first 15–30 minutes are your most important release. Treating onboarding as “just the tutorial” guarantees it becomes outdated, ignored, and resented by players and the team alike.

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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.

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The 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.

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In 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.

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Communication 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.

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Question: Why is it that a meal you cooked yourself (even a simple one) somehow tastes better than the one delivered to your door? the same reason In games, harder bosses drop better loot.

This guide is born from my time mentoring and managing young individuals who often found themselves stuck in life. The most common bottleneck I see is Analysis Paralysis—too much choice becomes a prison rather than a freedom. When a person lacks a clear "North Star," they often fall into a trap of trying to solve their entire life in their head, before taking a single stepd.

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Snapchat, 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.

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UX 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.

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Let’s tackle the ten most critical questions facing indie devs today, moving beyond basic button styling to help you design a game that feels as good to play and looks good.

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As 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. Lets beak it down.

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I 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.

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Design isn’t just about aesthetics or functionality—it’s about understanding the emotional core of your audience inorder to make unforgettable gaming moments.

Narrative design isn’t just about creating plots or dialogue—it’s about shaping how experiences convey meaning, evoke emotions, and connect with the audience. Let’s explore how these lessons apply to game and UX design.

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The 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. 🏆

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