2nd Edition
The Gamer's Brain How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design
Foreword
1. Why you should care about the gamer’s brain
PART 1: UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN
2. Overview about the brain
3. Perception
4. Memory
5. Attention
6. Motivation
7. Emotion
8. Learning principles
9. Understanding the brain: Takeaway
PART 2: A UX MINDSET FOR VIDEO GAMES
10. Game User Experience: Overview
11. Usability
12. Engageability
13. Design thinking
14. Game User Research
15. Game Analytics
16. UX strategy
17. Ethics
18. UX Across Various Products: From VR to AI to “Gamification”
19. To conclude
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
REFERENCES
Biography
Celia Hodent, PhD in psychology, is recognized as a leader in the application of user experience and cognitive science in the game industry. With over 17 years of experience in game studios (Ubisoft, LucasArts, & director of UX at Epic Games), she has contributed to advancing the topics of UX strategy, inclusion, and ethics in games. Author of several critically acclaimed books on games and psychology, Celia is the founder of the Game UX Summit & the Ethical Games initiative. She works today as an independent consultant and is an international public speaker.
Praise for the First Edition…
"The beauty of this book is that it is two things at the same time:
1. An amazingly complete introduction to psychology, using examples from video games to make the concepts clear and memorable.
2. An amazingly complete introduction to video game design, using psychology to help design more compelling games.
So whether you are a game designer, a player, or someone wishing to understand psychology, this is the book for you."
-Don Norman, Director, the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego, Author of The Design of Everyday Things
"By blending up-to-date brain science with game-relevant UX design principles, this book doesn't just give great tips about how to make better games, it gives designers the mental tools to get better at thinking about games. Read this, and suddenly you'll know what you're talking about."
-Jesse Schell, Game Designer, author of The Art of Game Design
"This book is an invaluable asset for game developers, whether you work in game design, user experience, or programming. With a lucid overview of the current best knowledge from cognitive psychology, Hodent provides guidelines and approaches to improve the game experience for players that are based on actual science."
-Raph Koster, Game Designer, author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design
