Response to the Interdisciplinary Interaction Design PDF we were instructed to read.
I really appreciated this reading as someone who has little-to-no experience with interactive/ game design (at least not seriously). It showed me just how much goes into the design process and all the different things that are important to think about when designer something user based. It starts off by talking about the different basics in interactive designing such as mapping out the choices (which reminded me of our very similar process for assignment 2) and thinking about the controls of your work. When they talked about cognitive load theory and how designers need to be aware of how long they can hold their users attention and how much information they can get them to retain without being overwhelming, I was reminded of how there really is a psychology to all of this. Another example of this is when they discussed "magical #7", which is that a person's memory can only hold 7 objects at a time, which is why (well designed) menus or navigation bars will keep their options limited in one header or page. As I mentioned the reading covers a lot of different topics relating to the process of interactive design, but another I found fascinating was 'Faux Choice'. I love playing on the idea that you think you have control or a choice in something like a video game but in the end it all ends in the same outcome. But other than possibly clever or frustrating to the user, they talk about how it can be a really helpful tool in guiding them to whatever outcome it is you want them to end up with. A way for the designer to keep control regardless of if the player has "choices".
I found the reading to be really helpful in explaining this process, and it's something I wish I had earlier in the semester.
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