AMOR EX MACHINA GAME UX/UI REDESIGN
DATE
June 2021
TYPE
Redesign / Conceptual Project
PLATFORM
PlayStation 4
TOOLS
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Figma, Diagrams.net
MY ROLE
I worked on this solo project as the lead UX/UI designer. Main areas of responsibility:
UX analysis (user data analysis, design analysis, user flows)
UX/UI design (sketching, wireframes, mock-up)
PROJECT
Amor Ex Machina is a 3D stealth/puzzle game originally released for PC where the player plays as Gabriel, a sentient robot trying to save his kidnapped partner. The game was developed Backstreet Bots, a group of seven second-year Game Design students as a vertical slice project at Uppsala University.
I was the lead UX/UI designer of the original project but filled multiple other roles as well. While the original user experience filled its intended purposes, I was eager to challenge myself by revisiting the project without the need to split my focus between UX/UI design and other tasks.
CHALLENGES
The redesign addresses the same user needs as defined by the design team of the original project. From a UX/UI standpoint, these needs focused on giving the users the information they require relating to the key features of the core gameplay loop: stealth, exploration, experimentation of different abilities, and puzzle-solving.
The project’s example of an end-user was defined as someone invested and involved within the game that they are playing when they have the availability of the extended playing session. Playing the game is perceived as a commitment with rewarding progression and problem-solving challenges that lead to a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. The user experience of the game needed to enhance immersion but also be an aid for the user’s own problem-solving skills.
SOLUTION
The development team of the original project conducted multiple rounds of user testing for the game, and so I already had much of the information I needed to complete the redesign project. At the start of the redesign process, I revisited the data from the tests, and the reviews for the final product and with this data in mind, analyzed the original user experience to see if there were any issues that had not yet been addressed.
Below are screenshots of the original user interface. Click on the images to open them in Expand Mode.
While analyzing the original user experience, I came across a couple of unnecessary steps within the original user flow. The redesign addressed the following issues:
The settings menu no longer requires the player to enter separate menus for different settings.
The original pause menu had no option for the player to return to the main menu, forcing the player to exit and restart the game should they want to go back. The option was added to the new design.
After identifying what aspects of the original user experience could be improved, I explored my ideas with quick sketches. While updating the layout of each screen was all about improving usability, I also wanted the interface to have a more defined and cohesive visual style than it originally had, and for it to better enhance the user’s immersion.
Once I had explored my ideas with sketches and had a plan going forward, I created medium-fidelity wireframes in Figma to solidify the changes to the layout.
