HOW TO INCREASE RETENTION IN THE GAME UI/UX INDUSTRY?
What is retention and why is it so important? The word “retention” literally means the continued possession, use, or control of something. In a business sense, it is a measure of how successful a company is at keeping customers, employees, or members over a period of time and can be used to measure the quality of a company's services and products. Or in other words - users' ability to come back to your product and reuse the services your product provides is defined as retention. But why is it so important? It helps businesses keep their customers engaged, increasing customer loyalty, sales, and profitability.
It also helps businesses to better understand and respond to customer needs, allowing them to create better products, services, and experiences that keep customers coming back. And what about the gaming industry? Studies show that game UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) affect user retention by up to 40%. As their goal is to make a game easy to navigate and engaging for the player, we need to recognize their importance. You can find tips below on the game UX/UI areas that need to be considered when aiming to increase your user retention.
FOCUS ON THE USER EXPERIENCE
User experience (UX) is essential in the gaming industry. Designers have to focus on the user’s needs and how the game can meet those needs. They pay attention to the game’s flow and how the user interacts with it. Specialists also need to ensure the game has a strong learning curve and that the user can progress quickly and feel rewarded. The interface needs to be easy to use and understand and the navigation should be kept straightforward and as intuitive as possible. There are whole studios full of people that specialize in exactly this and their expertise is irreplaceable.
Furthermore, a distinguished user experience is among the top reasons why customers choose one product or service over another, aside from its pricing and other concerns such as security. This fully applies to the video game industry as well.
Even when it comes to pricing, 80% of people are willing to pay extra for a better user experience. This is why it is better to not neglect it and really go in-depth with your user experience research and design.
MAKE IT ENGAGING
A well-designed user interface (UI) will make it easier for users to interact with your game, thus increasing the chances of user retention. By providing users with an interactive, engaging, and visually appealing user interface, you can make it easier for them to complete tasks, navigate the game and find what they are looking for.
A great user interface should also be visually appealing. The use of vibrant colors and attractive graphics tends to draw the user’s attention to the most important elements and make the game more enjoyable. Don’t be afraid to experiment and create a wide range of designs before choosing the final version.
When it comes to creating a game interface, it is essential to make the design match the theme of the game (e.g. for a casual match 3 game the interface would be more cartoony, using more rounded and goofy shapes). However, you shouldn’t overdo it with the complexity of the shapes or the number of textures and patterns. We want everything to be clear and visually pleasing to the player and not overwhelm them
When it comes to user interface, there are many possibilities and directions that we could take when we design a new game. More and more games use the immersive type of UI. Immersive UI is a type of user interface that is designed to create an immersive experience for the user. This type of design focuses on creating a more interactive experience, often by removing the buttons from the screen and replacing them with audio cues, animations, and visual elements that make the user feel like they are part of the experience. Immersive UI can be used to make an app more engaging and memorable and can be used to improve user engagement and satisfaction.
Another way to make your game UI engaging and attractive is by adding animations. A static screen can be visually uninteresting and might even give the impression that the game has crashed. Whether it's a subtle pulsing light effect, a flickering vignette, or floating elements in the foreground, by adding a tiny bit of animation to a screen we can make a game look more polished and appealing. With all that said, the animations we choose to incorporate shouldn't overshadow the functionality of the UI itself. They shouldn’t distract the player too much, but they can guide the eye to specific areas of the screen that may be important.
ACKNOWLEDGING THE USER
This is the part where we need to remember our audience – the type of players the game will attract, their gaming experiences, etc. You can use analytics and customer data to get an understanding of who your players are and their preferences. Their expectations need to be met, but at the same time, we can include some surprises or new features to give the user a reason to keep playing. Games can become boring and trite, so implementing new elements, weekly events or daily bonuses is a great way to keep things fresh and interesting.
The user can help us with another key aspect of UX/UI creation – feedback. Ask your players for feedback and use it to improve the game’s interface. Listen to what your players have to say and use their opinion and experience to make the product better.
It is important to ask the right questions. Questions like “Do you like it?” are not sufficient feedback. We need to think of specific areas that may need improvement. For example, we can ask the user if the “Save” icon is understandable enough. A floppy disk icon may be clear to a certain age group (that knows what a floppy disk is), while younger audiences may not be familiar with this item and therefore don’t understand the meaning of the icon.
There is research on the effect of UI, UX, and GX on video games, where an audience of different genders and age groups was asked to answer some questions regarding the UX/UI of “Tekken 7”. One of the questions was “How do you feel about the Tekken 7 gameplay UI?”. There was a picture from the gameplay included so that the player sees exactly which part of the UI the question is endorsing. The respondent was supposed to decide if they like the health bar if the tutorial was clear enough, and whether the game has an enjoyable and non-disturbing UI mechanic. 62.2% of players loved the gameplay UI, 27% liked it and 10.8% remained neutral.
THESE STATS DON’T LOOK TOO OPTIMISTIC, HOWEVER, WE NEED TO LOOK AT SEVERAL FACTORS WHEN IT COMES TO USER SATISFACTION:
There are several age groups and they may prefer different types of UI design. For example, younger audiences could lean towards modern and clean-looking designs, while mature users may like heavier, old-school-looking ones.
There could be a problem with one of the UI elements. If the health bar has a strange and unreadable color or is placed in an awkward spot on the gameplay screen, this could be a huge factor in user dissatisfaction.
There are many factors that need to be analyzed and taken into consideration when receiving feedback from players.
It all comes down to whether the user has a good experience with the game or not - this affects retention, monetization, and the success of the game among new and old players.
GIVE USERS CONTROL
Allowing users to customize their experience can be a great way to increase retention. It is good to give the player the option to personalize elements of the design, such as colors, fonts, and UI layouts, to create a more individual experience.
This approach has become a trend in the game industry in the last few years and is used in many games (e.g. Final Fantasy XIV, The Lord of the Rings Online, etc.). More game studios recognize that every player has different needs. For example – some users are left-handed, some are colorblind or dyslexic, and some are long-time players that like to have their own custom layout to improve their gaming experience.
For example, in relation to color blindness, we need to understand that some players do not perceive colors and patterns the same as others. Furthermore, there are different types of colorblindness, so every player with this condition might perceive colors differently. There are several practices that we can employ to ensure the game is easily playable by colorblind players:
Use colorblind preview tools/simulators to better understand how colorblind players will experience the game.
If you cannot avoid using color to distinguish information, then consider developing a colorblind mode for your players to use. The best colorblind modes allow the player to choose the colors of the most important element. Giving the player control over colors doesn’t just mean they can distinguish elements from each other, but they can make them distinguishable from everything else in the game.
Make the color options easy to find in the menus. Either have a specific accessibility menu or include them in the top-level graphics options. Make it as easy as possible for players to find the options that can make the experience playable.
All people are different, but every one of them deserves to experience a game they like in the best way possible. We, as UX/UI designers, need to consider what these players need and deliver a product that feels made specifically for them. This is why specialized game studios like PUNCHev Group are chosen by clients to create their game interface and help the game development process.
HERE IS A LIST OF EXAMPLES OF GAMES THAT USE UI CUSTOMIZATION:
- Final Fantasy XIV
- EverQuest Series
- Football Manager 2010
- F1 2020
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
- Warhammer: Age of Reckoning
- Lord of the Rings Online
DON’T FORGET THE TUTORIAL
The tutorial is the first interaction a user has with your game, so it is important to make it as easy and seamless as possible. Use elements from the UI in a consistent manner, and make sure that these first screens look and feel like the rest of the game. Ensure that your onboarding process is simple and intuitive, so users don’t have to spend a lot of time figuring out how to use your game.
Provide visuals that illustrate the game's mechanics, and provide helpful tips and hints to help users quickly learn how to play. Ensure that the game's controls are intuitive and that the onboarding process is painless and quick. Be sure to test your tutorial with a variety of users to ensure that it is as effective as possible.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that the game UX/UI industry is an ever-evolving field, and understanding how to increase user retention should be a priority for any game developer. By leveraging user data to understand what elements of their game experience need improvement, and focusing on creating immersive and engaging experiences for their users, game developers can ensure their users stay engaged and continue to play their games. With the right strategy and implementation, increasing user retention in the game UX/UI industry is far from impossible.