User Experience Design for Smartwatch Games Li Huangyu A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Communication Studies (MCS) 2017 School of Communication Studies Abstract This research aims at addressing several user experience design challenges while in the process of developing smartwatch games. The challenges were caused by the difficulties of interacting with the tiny smartwatch screen. In this practice-based research project, a smartwatch game prototype was built to explore the answer to the challenges. In this prototype, the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown was used as the main interaction method, in association with some simple touch interaction as a supplement. This interaction method proved to be a more superior way, in terms of precision and screen visibility. This practice-based research consists of a 50 percent creative production and a 50 percent written exegesis. The creative production is a smartwatch game prototype presented as an online interactive mock-up and its screen recording. The written exegesis presented herein includes the literature review, the methodology, the design process and the description of the prototype, and the findings. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 2 List of Figures ................................................................................................................... 5 Attestation of Authorship .................................................................................................. 6 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 7 Intellectual Property Rights .............................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Aims of the study .................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Significance of the research..................................................................................... 9 1.4 Scope and limitations of the study ........................................................................ 10 1.5 Positioning the researcher ..................................................................................... 10 1.6 Structure of the exegesis ........................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2: Literature Review .......................................................................................... 12 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 12 2.2 The smartwatch ..................................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 What is the smartwatch? ................................................................................. 12 2.2.2 The Apple Watch ............................................................................................ 13 2.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of the smartwatch .......................................... 13 2.3 User experience design .......................................................................................... 14 2.3.1 User experience (UX) ..................................................................................... 14 2.3.2 Usability .......................................................................................................... 14 2.3.3 Interaction Design (IxD) ................................................................................. 15 2.3.4 Recent studies about the user experience design for smartwatch ................... 15 2.4 Video games .......................................................................................................... 15 2.4.1 Gaming on mobile devices ............................................................................. 16 2.4.2 Gaming on the smartwatch ............................................................................. 16 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................. 17 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Practice-based research ......................................................................................... 17 3.2.1 Reflective practice .......................................................................................... 17 3.2.2 Iterative design and prototyping ..................................................................... 18 3.3 Research design ..................................................................................................... 19 3.4 Summary ............................................................................................................... 19 3 Chapter 4 Spirit Guardian for Apple Watch ................................................................... 20 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 20 4.2 Key user experience design challenges ................................................................. 20 4.3 The limitation of the Apple Watch hardware and software .................................. 21 4.4 The original mobile version of Spirit Guardian and the content of the prototype 21 4.5 Ideation .................................................................................................................. 22 4.5.1 Journey map .................................................................................................... 22 4.5.2 Interaction method .......................................................................................... 24 4.6 Concept validation and prototyping ...................................................................... 28 4.6.1 Prototyping tool .............................................................................................. 28 4.6.2 Navigation ....................................................................................................... 29 4.6.3 Layout ............................................................................................................. 29 4.6.4 Interaction ....................................................................................................... 30 4.7 Summary ............................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 5: The Prototype ................................................................................................ 32 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 32 5.2 The step-by-step guide .......................................................................................... 32 Step 1 Beginning ...................................................................................................... 32 Step 2 Engaging ....................................................................................................... 34 Step 3 Enemy targeting ............................................................................................ 35 Step 4 The first Superpower .................................................................................... 37 Step 5 The second Superpower - healing................................................................. 39 Step 6 The third Superpower - interrupting ............................................................. 41 Step 7 End ................................................................................................................ 42 5.3 Summary ............................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 6: Reflection and Evaluation ............................................................................. 44 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 44 6.2 Reflection on the user experience design .............................................................. 44 6.3 Reflection on the creative-production project ....................................................... 45 Chapter 7: Conclusions ................................................................................................... 47 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 47 7.2 Answering the research question ........................................................................... 47 7.3 Implications of the study and limitations of the findings ...................................... 49 References ....................................................................................................................... 50 4 List of Figures Figure 1. RIAP & RIOP .................................................................................................. 18 Figure 2. The Sketch