Mini Maker Faire 2017 - Notes and Takeaways

     Hello all! I took some observation notes on player behavior while they were trying out some of the games installed in the Cabinet at Mini Maker Faire and have compiled them into a more composed and organized list. Some of these notes can apply to any game (*) but I think all of them especially apply to working on a game for the SJSU arcade cabinets (-):

- All possible buttons the player can press for an action should be made very clear. New players will naturally start mashing all buttons on the machine. Also keep in mind that some of the SJSU cabinets only have a joystick and two additional buttons (not including each player's start button)
- Properly label what buttons correspond to what control. Not all of the cabinets have color coded controls, so using a picture to illustrate "pressing the leftmost buttons with do this" (example below). Also note that the Player 1 and Player 2 "Start" buttons aren't labeled and are centered just under the Cabinet's monitor
- Define the controls before the player starts the actual game. Giving them a sandbox to help figure out what everything does is a huge plus
- UI must be made larger than usual to be clearly visible, accessible, and most importantly easily read when played in the cabinet. For instance if your game display in 1024 x 768, an ability cooldown icon that is 64x64 is about in the sweet spot. Any text or other information for the player at that size or smaller isn't ideal

* Make sure that the objective of the game is made very clear. If there are multiple objectives, imply priority if needed
* Tailor the complexity of the gameplay and difficulty to the target audience
* Try not to front-load information. Slowly introduce new mechanics to players again keeping in mind the target audience and but also respecting the player's abilities enough to not "baby" them
* Effects or changes in the GUI can be very helpful to indicate what's happening or specific changes
* Design stages or worlds in a way that first introduce game mechanics, then later refine them and test a player's understanding/skill with them

I've also added some additional notes to Unfair Dodger as of this post.

09/08/2017 Edit: Clarified cabinet button mapping

An example on how to present "what button does what?" on an Arcade Cabinet