User Experience

"Players naturally need to know what's happening in the game world, but they also need to know what they should do next, and most critically, they need information about whether their efforts are succeeding or failing, taking them closer to victory, or closer to defeat" (Adams, 2014) There are many questions I must address as the game designer of Garden Mania:

Where am I? 

I plan to provide the player with an aerial view of the game world. There will be a map of the United States where the player is then able to click on a specific area they would like to build a garden in. Once they pick their location, they will get a close up view of their garden. I also plan to provide ambient sounds that tell the player about their environment.

What am I actually doing right now? 

To tell the player what they are doing, I will show them their garden and plants so they can see them. The game will use first-person perspective, so there won't be an avatar. Instead, there will be sound effects such as digging to let the player know what activity they are doing.

What challenges am I facing?

The game's challenges will be directly in the main view of the game world. To show conceptual or economic challenges, I will use text to explain the challenge, for example, "Plant a variety of fruit trees with a budget of $1,500."

Did my action succeed or fail?

There will be animations and indicators that display the result of actions. For example, the player purchases a bush and the money disappears from their inventory along with an accompanying sound.

Do I have what I need to play successfully?

The player will know what resources they can control and expend by indicators for each: money, inventory, etc.

Am I in danger of losing the game?

There will be indicators for money remaining, time of day, rainstorms coming in, etc. There will also be audio signals to alert the player when one of these commodities nears critical level.

Am I making progress?

The game will have indicators for the percentage of a task completed or the fact that the player completed an objective.

What should I do next?

Garden Mania will be more of a sandbox-type game world in which the player can run around and do anything they like in any order. However, there will be some guidance about different objectives they may like to try. There will also be pop-up reminders to help the player know what actions they could take next.

How did I do?

The player will earn rewards for success such as badges or money, and will be alerted through messages or animations if they have gone over budget or if their plants are dying. When the player completes a garden renovation, there will be a debriefing: a score screen, a summary of what they did well, how they could have improved, etc.

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