The
work of professional usability experts like Nicole
Lazzaro of XEODesign and Bill Fulton and Kevin
Keeker of Microsoft (see sidebars in Chapters 9
and 6) is becoming more and more important to
game designers and publishers in their attempts
to improve game experiences, especially with the
new, sometimes inexperienced, game players that
are being attracted to platforms like the Nintendo
Wii and the DS. You don??™t need to have access
to a professional test lab to use the playcentric
approach. In Chapter 9 we describe a number of
methods you can use on your own to produce useful
improvements to your game design.
We suggest that you do not begin production
without a deep understanding of your player experience
goals and your core mechanic??”the central
activity of your game. This is critical because when
the production process commences, it becomes
increasingly difficult to alter the software design.
Therefore, the further along the design and prototyping
is before the production begins, the
greater the likelihood of avoiding costly mistakes.
You can assure that your core design concept is
sound before production begins by taking a playcentric
approach to the design and development
process.
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