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Applying Usability Heuristics to Video Games: Best Practices for Designing User Interfaces

• Jakob Nielsen’s 10 heuristics for user-interface design are applicable to video games, which aim to entertain users.

• Visibility of system status is important in video games to provide feedback to players, such as health or life meters.

• Video games should follow real-world conventions and use familiar language to ensure match between system and user.

• User control and freedom should be provided in video games through features like undo and redo, especially in complex games like chess.

• Consistency and standards should be followed in video games to avoid confusion among users, such as using the same buttons for similar actions across different games.

• Error prevention is crucial in video games to avoid accidental destruction, requiring confirmation dialogs for irreversible actions.

• Recognition rather than recall should be used in video games to minimize memory load and make instructions visible.

• Flexibility and efficiency of use should be built into video games through accelerators and tailoring frequent actions to users.

• Aesthetic and minimalist design should be used in video games to avoid overwhelming users with information.

• Error messages and help documentation should be provided in video games to help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.

• Best practices for designing user interfaces in video games include positioning interactive elements in the comfort-to-reach area, using sliders to expose many options without navigating away from the main scene, and using pop-ups for delivering abstract and informational messages to users.

• Rewarded-video ads are an industry standard in mobile games and should offer significant prizes to users, with the prize lasting permanently, per session, or per scene. Designers should also use draggable objects in video games to provide an intuitive game mechanic.Best Practices for Game Design: Draggable Objects, Intro Videos, Rate Us Dialogs, and Store Dialogs

• Set a custom anchor-point offset on draggable objects to ensure visibility despite the user's finger on the screen.

• The grab area of small draggable items should be larger than their actual canvas size and should be in front of other items when dragged.

• Use glow or dashed-outline for drop-zone areas and provide an intuitive 'drop-zone' to guide users.

• Pulling is easier than pushing, so design games for kids that emphasize pulling over pushing.

• Intro videos should be no longer than 20 seconds and accessible again from the cover page or settings menu.

• The skip button for intro videos should appear upon user-action and disappear after 2.5 seconds to increase the probability that users won't skip the content.

• Use the 'rate us' dialog after a big achievement or big satisfaction point and make sure it has a relevant presenter, positive color rate button, and is positioned on the right side.

• The 'full version' button in store dialogs should include a presenter from the game, be stronger in color and larger than other in-app offerings, and have a clear discount or best deal ribbon.

• Add a 'breathe' animation to the full-version button to increase the probability of selling.

• Allow users to enter the locked content screen before opening the store dialog with a dim background behind it for selling additional content.

• Avoid showing the skip button on top of videos as a default to prevent user impatience.

• Never use "5 stars" reference in the rate us dialog as it's against Apple's guidelines.

Test your knowledge of video game user interface design with these two quizzes! The first quiz covers applying usability heuristics to video games and best practices for designing user interfaces, including visibility of system status, user control and freedom, and error prevention. The second quiz focuses on specific game design elements, such as draggable objects, intro videos, rate us dialogs, and store dialogs. See if you have what it takes to create a user-friendly and engaging video game interface by taking these quizzes today!