Hello adventurer! In today’s quest, we’re going to explore more about MVP and how it applies to the professional work of a Game UX designer. This is an even deeper dive into MVP in Game UX to discover what it means for game UX in a practical way!
Thinking and working with MVP in mind is a superpower if you learn how to harness it!
Read about what MVP means in this previous lesson:
GAME + UX + MVP = 💜
Step by step: How to work on an MVP UX design:
Have a Goal for the game or feature, and build the MVP to test it out.
Sketch up the idea and designs, keep it rough and simple to test out ideas.
Speed is crucial: An MVP should be built quickly to minimize time and resources spent on features that may not be necessary or wanted by players.
Embrace imperfection: An MVP is inherently not perfect. It's a starting point for learning and iteration.
What is the EASIEST and QUICKEST way you can test out your design?
Focus on the core value: The MVP should deliver a basic, but functional, version of the game that solves a core problem for the target players.
Show early: When you have something, SHOW it to people and playtest it!
Learn from the test and feedback - what did players like/understand, and what didn’t they like/understand.
Does the MVP give you the result you set out to hit?
If needed, pivot (change) in another direction if your idea doesn’t work. (ps, don’t be stubborn if the design doesn’t work. It’s important not to get attached to our ideas.)
Prioritize learning: The primary goal of an MVP is to validate assumptions and gather feedback to inform future development.
Iterate, change, improve, and add more to the design to flesh out the design. Details and extra flair get added later to add to the experience.
Personal Story: Working with an MVP isn’t just something we do at the start of a game project. As a UX designer, I’m always thinking about what is MVP to ensure we can test ideas early and iterate quickly. There have been several features I’ve had to cut because they didn’t actually improve the game. That’s exactly why I design the MVP first, so we can test and validate what truly adds value to the game experience.
TLDR:
MVP is used in many ways to make games better, and the work process itself! Thinking small first, focusing on the most important things for the game, showing and testing early, and building on your design later, are all important parts of Game UX.
Thank you for reading!
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