Gaming as Career Development

Sony Playstation 4 Controller

It took a lot of work for me to transition into the XR space from traditional 2D design. I know the pain, and as such, I now share my learnings and experiences with others who want to get into XR design.

One of the most important things that you’re going to have to start doing now is playing video games and trying out as many XR experiences as you can get your hands on.

You have permission to start gaming for your career advancement.

Game development has a heavy influence on VR development in particular, so understanding game mechanics, how people interact with characters and objects, how the NPC (non-player character) models behave in certain situations, and what interactions are easy or hard to figure out — and much more — will give you greater understanding of how to design quality immersive experiences.

I discovered this pretty early on in my own transition into the space. I started gaming heavily — studying the designs of the games and picking up patterns and overarching themes.

It has made a world of difference in my own understanding of the XR space and how to design for it.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Group recently posted a job opening for a Senior Designer in their new internal studio called Vortex.

This team is working to explore and help redefine the future of Mixed Reality.

One of the required qualifications they have listed is…

“Deep knowledge of current entertainment landscape (film, television, and games).”

And here again — this is direct from Microsoft — not just me

You have permission to study sci-fi interfaces and play video games to further your career in Extended Reality.

It doesn’t get much better than that, folks.

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I provide education and resources to empower current and future generations of designers to go down the path for great good.

One of the many ways I do that is by playing video games and reviewing them from a UX designer’s perspective.

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow my Twitch stream and join me so we can study video games and Virtual Reality experiences together. I stream live every Thursday starting at 12pm Central USA.

Featured experiences:

• Moss by Polyarc
• Invasion by Baobab Studios
• The Wizards by Carbon Studio
• Catan VR
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses
• Vader Immortal: Episode 1
• Oculus First Steps
• Windows Mixed Reality
• Beat Saber
• Bogo

Credits:

• Background music — “Organic Lo Fi” by Coma-Media
• Gaming console video by Joseph Redfield
• Storyboard sketch by Aleatha Singleton (pintsizedrobotninja)

UX for XR Toolkit

My full UX for XR toolkit has new content being added regularly.

• Learn how to transition into XR from a UX designer’s perspective.
• Learn the UX best practices for XR and dive deeper with video lessons.
• Learn how others have solved XR design problems with the UX for XR pattern library.

If you enjoy this content, consider supporting me on Patreon.

I’m an Immersive Tech UX Design Professional with over 22 years of experience designing for kiosks, websites, mobile apps and desktop software for many well-known and not-so-well-known companies.

I’m not speaking on behalf of or representing any company. These are my personal thoughts, experiences and opinions.

All screenshots in this publication are the property of the studios who produced the film or experience and are used under the Fair Use laws for educational purposes.