For this research project, myself and two other NCSU graduate students in the Human Factors & Applied Cognition program collaborated with the Epic Games development team to investigate the Heads-Up-Display (HUD) system in Paragon, a complex new game they were preparing to release. Because of the complexity of the game, the numerous streams of information presented to the player in the HUD could be overwhelming, especially for players new to the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. It was thought that this initial difficulty and the ensuing frustration was creating a barrier to entry, wherein only a very small percentage of first-time users would return to the game and become dedicated players. At any one time, for instance, a capable player would have to monitor health, mana, map elements, ability cool-downs, card status, and a whole multitude of other inputs. Failure to understand and utilize these elements would result in one-dimensional, relatively unenjoyable gameplay.
After conferring with the Paragon Development and User Experience (UX) teams, we decided to focus our research into how most effectively alleviate the steep learning curve involved in mastering the HUD. This project was completed in three phases.
Phase 1
- Approach to evaluating the system
- User characteristics
- Component analysis
- Think-aloud testing
Phase 2
- Literature review
- Selection of intervention style, rationale
Phase 3
- Experimental evaluation of HUD tutorial
- Results
- Design recommendations
After designing and building a prototype in-game tutorial system specific to the HUD, we tested our intervention by recruiting novice and expert gamers who had not played Paragon. For both experts and novices, first game enjoyment was increased in the group given the tutorial before playing, and these participants indicated they would be more likely to return to the game in the future than the group who did not receive the tutorial.
One deliverable from this project can be found below.
Patrick Lawson, PhD 