When creating plugins, publicly available tools, or in-house one off fixes, it can be easy to shoot for only exactly what the tool is supposed to achieve. However, this can have unforeseen consequences when the tool achieves exactly what it needs on its own, but does not fit within the other workflows that users are working with. The user experience as a whole is important to consider, especially for publicly available tools.
In this workshop, we will go over key things to know about when you are designing the user experience (UX) of workflows, while keeping in mind the user interface (UI) of their tools.
Only previous experience with game development in general will be necessary. Godot itself will not be used for this workshop, so no laptop is necessary. The lessons we will go over are generally applicable for all toolsets and 3D workflows.
We’ll explore several key lessons including workflows versus tools, focusing on the holistic user experience of toolsets and understanding how tools can interconnect to create workflows in expected and unexpected ways. We’ll examine the power of asking “why” repeatedly to dig deeper into user feedback and understand the real problems behind requests. We’ll discuss time and money considerations, learning how to calculate ROI for tooling decisions and determine what tooling work is worth pursuing. We’ll also explore how tooling and workflow needs change over the course of a project, understanding that change is constant in the games industry. All skill levels can join, as long as they have some experience with 3D editors or game development. The ideal background is tool programmers, but users of tools, producers, artists, designers, etc, are also welcome, as it will give them clearer ideas on how to voice their feedback in ways that work better for tool programmers. Attendees will walk away with knowledge and actionable takeaways that they can use whenever they are next creating tools and designing workflows.