Gaming usability 101 15 Oct 2007

Blake Snow of Business Week lists ten usability best-practices that all games designers should adhere to. Here's a summary:

1. Never ask a player if they want to save their game.
2. Always say "press any button" to start a game.
3. Always let players remap controller buttons to suit their preferences.
4. Always let players skip cut scenes no matter how important they are to the story.
5. Never let a camera get too close to a player or bump into a wall.
6. Never make use of every controller button just because you can.
7. Always give players full control of accessiblity options.
8. Never use insipid, indefensible enemy attacks.
9. Always present in-game tutorials, FAQs, and help menus for newbie gamers.
10. Always let gamers get in and out of gameplay as they desire (otherwise they'll just turn the console off).