5 Tips for Designers from Game Development

Web design and game development share a few things in common in terms of their creative aspects, but their processes could not be more different. There are some notable differences between the two. To start with, game developers tend to be more liberal with disseminating the information of their projects to their target audience, while design projects for companies tend to be kept tightly under wraps more often than not. Why this stark difference? This seems to be related to the diverging audiences that both types of projects are focused on. On one end, gamers are usually more involved and demanding, expecting a flawless user experience and specific features on their games, so game development projects must take them into consideration. On the other end, web design projects are usually only revealed when the final product is ready or close to completion. So, these differences got us wondering and this is why we asked ourselves, what can web designers learn from game development and incorporate into their own practice?

Open and clear communication is the first thing that design project could implement to change the experience of their audience. If you are planning to revamp your design or bring some new feature, tell your users clearly what you have set out to do and, importantly, how you will get it done. This instills credibility and makes your users curious about what your next design will look like. After all, what they care about is that your website, as well as their games, offer a great user experience. On a related note, in order to provide the best user experience, your design must be as flawless as possible. Just like with a faulty game, a glitchy website can drive away your audience. A third lesson that designers can learn from game development is the good practice of keeping proper records of every decision made, as well as commenting the code throughout. This helps to create a trail that you can go back on whenever you need to fix something and understand why some feature was designed some way and not another way. Fourth, whenever you implement changes in your design, make sure that it does not make your long-time users go away because it has changed so much from what it was. Keep them in the loop about the changes you intend to implement and consider their opinions. Lastly, it should be self-evident, but too few designers heed this advice. Make sure to take tour through your newly designed website, just as if you were a regular user and not the mastermind behind it. The aim is to expose you to the same issues that a normal user might encounter and help you catch them before they create some serious damage.

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