Ergonomics & Game Design
Author
I work now on the process of Game Design, and the whole environment of game development studios. Does anyone knows academic people or game designers studying the effect of the work environment of game developers on the quality of games? I''ll be interested in sharing ideas with them...
Yves from Calvingrad (Geneva)
Sorry, I don''t know anyone like that, but while we''re on ergonomics, why doesn''t anyone make a keyboard with the keys lined up so that the ''W'' is directly about the ''S''? That would a lot more comfortable for deathmatching. 
Oh, and if you want to see a good example of a game development environment, find a way to see the documentary on the Star Wars: Rogue Leader disc. Beer + arcade games + cool Star Wars merchandise = happy devs & good games.
Oh, and if you want to see a good example of a game development environment, find a way to see the documentary on the Star Wars: Rogue Leader disc. Beer + arcade games + cool Star Wars merchandise = happy devs & good games.
Author
Right, there''s still a lot to do to improve devices that are usable and useful for gamers. This explains why academics have to carry on exploratory studies on how gamers are playing. What are their attitudes while playing? How they use output and input devices? When we''ll know more about those hidden behaviors, we''ll certainly be able to build adapted stuff...
It''s my limited understanding that there are two major factors that effect game design...
Time and Money.
And as always there is never enough of either.
"Making it up! Why should I be making it up. Lifes bad enough as it is without wanting to invent more of it."
Time and Money.
And as always there is never enough of either.
"Making it up! Why should I be making it up. Lifes bad enough as it is without wanting to invent more of it."
Author
Time and money affect the quality of games too. Now I only focus on the work environment, but it is true that major factors like these are crucial.
Alain Le Diberder - a french multimedia specialist who was in charge of Canal Plus Entertainment - once said that in the beginning games were driven by technology. Now it is driven by profit (which explain the problem of both time and money), but it might change in the near future. To him the quality of content will be the driving force of the market. It means that we will have to re-consider the way we create games, the kind of scenario we want to build, which cultural messages we want to convey...
And he goes further by saying that when games will become mature enough (with theoretical background, specialised critics for all gamers, better choice of games - more educational, historical games for example), then we''ll talk about "le 10ème Art". Which is the ultimate multimedia experience, just after movies, comics and TV. When fiction and interactivity will merge into one integrated concept (eventhough the clash is still huge), I''ll be happy to discover the landscape of "Lords of the Ring" with some 3D immersive glasses!!!
And imagine an Oscar-like ceremony dedicated to games... can''t wait!
Alain Le Diberder - a french multimedia specialist who was in charge of Canal Plus Entertainment - once said that in the beginning games were driven by technology. Now it is driven by profit (which explain the problem of both time and money), but it might change in the near future. To him the quality of content will be the driving force of the market. It means that we will have to re-consider the way we create games, the kind of scenario we want to build, which cultural messages we want to convey...
And he goes further by saying that when games will become mature enough (with theoretical background, specialised critics for all gamers, better choice of games - more educational, historical games for example), then we''ll talk about "le 10ème Art". Which is the ultimate multimedia experience, just after movies, comics and TV. When fiction and interactivity will merge into one integrated concept (eventhough the clash is still huge), I''ll be happy to discover the landscape of "Lords of the Ring" with some 3D immersive glasses!!!
And imagine an Oscar-like ceremony dedicated to games... can''t wait!
quote:Original post by grassio4
And imagine an Oscar-like ceremony dedicated to games... can''t wait!
BAFTA is like an oscar-like ceremony dedicated to game. Both PC, Console and webgames participate in the different categories. Very cool and very glamorous.
[link]http://www.bafta.org/5_ie/5_INTRO.htm[/link]
Instead of looking it up specifically linked to game design - why don''t you just look up how workplace comfort effects productivity?
It is really about time and money - a delicate balance of the two.
I''m not sure what you''re really asking, but it sounds like you want justification to get a boss to spend some 200$ on a nice chair or something
Well a chair that will let you sit for 10-14 hours daily, without giving you injuries over the course of 12-24 months, without distracting you with its comfort is all that''s needed.
Apply that logic to all other ''ergonomics'' in the office and you''ll find a decent answer.
Now if you meant the ''ergonomics'' of a game, as in its interface, that would be a much better question in this forum...
Zaptruder
It is really about time and money - a delicate balance of the two.
I''m not sure what you''re really asking, but it sounds like you want justification to get a boss to spend some 200$ on a nice chair or something
Well a chair that will let you sit for 10-14 hours daily, without giving you injuries over the course of 12-24 months, without distracting you with its comfort is all that''s needed.
Apply that logic to all other ''ergonomics'' in the office and you''ll find a decent answer.
Now if you meant the ''ergonomics'' of a game, as in its interface, that would be a much better question in this forum...
Zaptruder
Author
Zaptrudr,
I won''t try to justify the interest of studying the whole process of Game Design from an ergonomics perspective. Because it is definitely a matter of time and money, and this is already a good reason.
Anyway how workplace comfort effects productivity has already been studied for the last 50 years. And it is true that if your boss is ready to pay for an ergonomic chair, all benefits goes to you and the productivity. Applying this philosophy into the office is still not something CEOs are aware of. But things will probably change when executives will understand human factors as crucial for the health of the business.
An ergonomic approach (usability) of Game the User Interface was my first idea for the thesis. I wanted to apply ergonomic criteria to Game Interface, but it came to be much more difficult than it sounds. For you have to deal with the conflict between criteria for 2D environment (classic GUI), and the transfer via 3D-like UI. And it is a kind of paradox to speak about usability applied in games, because it is already meant to be a natural interface to navigate within the virtual environment. Still a lot has to be done in that particular area.
If you read in french, have a clic on "draft" in my homepage:
http://tecfa.unige.ch/~yves/
You''ll know more about this subject.
Anyway, exploratory studies on how game designers work are badly needed too... so, let''s work on it!
I won''t try to justify the interest of studying the whole process of Game Design from an ergonomics perspective. Because it is definitely a matter of time and money, and this is already a good reason.
Anyway how workplace comfort effects productivity has already been studied for the last 50 years. And it is true that if your boss is ready to pay for an ergonomic chair, all benefits goes to you and the productivity. Applying this philosophy into the office is still not something CEOs are aware of. But things will probably change when executives will understand human factors as crucial for the health of the business.
An ergonomic approach (usability) of Game the User Interface was my first idea for the thesis. I wanted to apply ergonomic criteria to Game Interface, but it came to be much more difficult than it sounds. For you have to deal with the conflict between criteria for 2D environment (classic GUI), and the transfer via 3D-like UI. And it is a kind of paradox to speak about usability applied in games, because it is already meant to be a natural interface to navigate within the virtual environment. Still a lot has to be done in that particular area.
If you read in french, have a clic on "draft" in my homepage:
http://tecfa.unige.ch/~yves/
You''ll know more about this subject.
Anyway, exploratory studies on how game designers work are badly needed too... so, let''s work on it!
If you''re interested in 3D UI''s in games, check out Black & White. That game has a great UI, and it''s 2d and 3d at the same time. It''s a hand (your hand) that hovers a few feet above the ground. As you move the mouse in two dimensions, the hand moves over the terrain in 3 dimensions, since it follows the ground up and down. It''s really intuitive.
Grassio,
I''d suggest that your real study is the effect of ergonomics on the creative process, not simply on productivity.
Added comfort for an accountant working on a spreadsheet will make him or her feel more at ease, simply by sitting in a more comfortable chair and having an arm rest.
How does that translate over to artists, programmers and writers - a game development team? As a writer, I can tell you that I get my best work done while sitting in a twisted, but comfortable for me, position and hacking away on my laptop. When I''m sitting upright in a normal chair and working on the desktop, I''m continuously less pleased with my work.
I haven''t personally tested this yet, but I''ve questioned whether I could work better in a crowded club, sitting on a pillow with my back to a wall while working from the LT rather than at some ergonomically-designed desktop scenario. It''d be an interesting take.
I''d suggest that your real study is the effect of ergonomics on the creative process, not simply on productivity.
Added comfort for an accountant working on a spreadsheet will make him or her feel more at ease, simply by sitting in a more comfortable chair and having an arm rest.
How does that translate over to artists, programmers and writers - a game development team? As a writer, I can tell you that I get my best work done while sitting in a twisted, but comfortable for me, position and hacking away on my laptop. When I''m sitting upright in a normal chair and working on the desktop, I''m continuously less pleased with my work.
I haven''t personally tested this yet, but I''ve questioned whether I could work better in a crowded club, sitting on a pillow with my back to a wall while working from the LT rather than at some ergonomically-designed desktop scenario. It''d be an interesting take.
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