Designing the User Experience of Game Development Tools

by David Lightbown

Overview

This is the definitive guide on how to design game development tools. The book begins with the foundations of user experience and how they apply to game development tools, then guides you through the User-Centered Design process – the gold standard in user experience design – which involves watching users work, understanding their goals, designing efficient and learnable user interfaces, and refining them through targeted evaluation techniques.

This completely revised and expanded second edition includes nine new inserts with deep dives into topics such as:

• How to design intuitive tools
• When to follow standards and when to innovate
• AI and game development tools
• What games can teach us about tools design
• Why watching users work is essential

It also features excerpts from interviews with game industry legends, offering their advice on tools development:

• John Romero, co-founder of id Software and designer of DOOM and Quake
• Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games

Designing the User Experience of Game Development Tools is ideal for anyone who makes, uses, or benefits from game development tools. It explains complex concepts in a clear, accessible way and shares proven techniques backed by real-world examples and extensive references. Whether you're building a quick script or a full-scale level editor, this book offers the guidance and strategies you need to create tools that empower people to focus on making the best games possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032982588
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	12/24/2025
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

After spending most of his formative years in his parents’ basement trying to clone 8-bit console games on an Apple IIGS, David Lightbown got a job in the games industry. Since then, he has dedicated the majority of his career to working on content creation tools and pipelines.

In addition to contributing to a variety of games as a technical director, David has delivered presentations at the Game Developers Conference, Siggraph, CEDEC, FMX, and the Montreal International Game Summit in various cities within Canada, the United States, Japan, and across Europe.

He has also collaborated with Autodesk to create product reviews, training manuals, tutorial videos, and masterclasses. In 2010, he received the Autodesk Master Award for his contributions to the 3D community.

David currently holds the title of User Experience Director at Ubisoft Montreal.

Table of Contents

Introduction, About the Author, Chapter 1 — Welcome to Designing the User Experience, Chapter 2 — The User-Centered, Chapter 3 — What Does It Mean to Be “User-Centered”?, Chapter 4 — Analysis, Chapter 5 — Design, Chapter 6 — Evaluation, Chapter 7 — Back to Analysis, Chapter 8 — Real-World, Conclusion