Ben Taels

@bentaels

Kiwi, Dad, Human Factors Psychology PhD, & Games User Experience Research. Director of Intended Experience: Formerly Epic Games, Player Research, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Te Manatū Waka, & Hamilton Zoo.

2,288 Following1,347 Followers3,683 Posts

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Ben Taels@bentaels· 17d

"Put em on the endangered species list"

Ben Taels@bentaels· 19d

Behold! Fresh carrots from the garden!

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jul 1

I am going to be speaking at @nzgda.bsky.social's #NZGDC 2026! Come along & hear about how psychology and UX can help you design for new players. The talk will go into the challenges that new players can face & how you can realise your design intent & make an awesome experience. See you there!

This shows an image from the NZGDC program: https://www.nzgdc.com/programme

The talk is Designing for new players and it is being given by Ben Taels at 3-3:50pm. The talk is classified as a "data, testing or research" talk.

The talk description is:

"Play is learning, and to learn to play your game players likely will need some support. This applies whether they are just new to your game, to your games genre, the platform you game is on, or to gaming in general.

This talk will go into the challenges that players can face when picking up a game and how the psychology of learning can be applied in practical ways to help realise your design intent for your players and to make your game an awesome experience."

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 22

Today I want to talk about the Kia radial gear selector knob, but I promise this will also relate to games. The radial gear selector changes gears (as the name would suggest) and is the gear selector in my Hybrid Kia Carnival. The UX of this thing sucks.

A car center console with a dial in it. The center of the dial has a "P" button. Above the dial are the letters R N D (in that order). The center console is black and the dial is shiny.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 18

Back when indie pixel art games were first getting big commentators said that we would never see the same thing with low poly type graphics as they are "ugly". They were wrong. Art is subjective. What it makes you feel is important and nostalgia is a powerful feeling. #gamedev #ux

A low poly modern indie horror game. It has a floating ghost in front of a large castle. A purple moon or sun looms large in the scene.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 14

A year ago my family & I left the USA & arrived back home in Aotearoa! I left in 2007 to do my PhD at the University of Gronignen in the Netherlands and I returned home with my partner @betkataels.bsky.social & our kids after living in the UK (at Player Research) and the USA (at Epic Games)!

A green backyard surrounded by trees that are heading into Autumn. In the front of the picture are two green and yellow kids tricycles. One of which has a trailer. The sky above is blue and cloudless.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 13

Marathon 1994's motion tracker was so iconic that Bungie made a 25th anniversary T-shirt out of it, yet when Marathon 2026 came out the motion tracker was not part of the HUD. Having a motion tracker can make a game more accessible in addition to adding extra tactical information. #gamedev #ux

The Marathon symbol is made up of a large circle with a smaller circle inside it. This version has been overlaid with motion tracking, the majority of which are red enemies, but there are a few green friendlies.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 12

Conferences, conventions, and other events can be an opportunity to both show your game AND get UX feedback on it from players. If possible record gameplay at your stations for watching later. #gamedev #ux

A bunch of people waiting in line. In the distance a sign says "welcome to the Fieldays"

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 9

I updated Fly You Fools! To include a link to safety tools, flag that the game mechanics include self-sacrifice as an option, and to make what you can spend achievements on a bit more interesting. intended-experience.itch.io/fly-you-fools #ttrpg

The updated achievements:

- You fool of a fool: Your actions cause a change in the situation you are in. Add 1 to the current Threat, but you get to describe new situation. This gives you a chance to change the situation to something that may better match your Aspect and/or Traits.
- Delve deep: Add 3 boxes back to a Trait. Describe what has motivated you and/or recovered your strength.
- Time that is given to you: Add 2 to your Lead. Describe what outcome has given you this time.
-No further nuisance: Reduce current threat by 2 (to a minimum of 1). Describe how this happens.
- Glitter in the gloom: Add four dice to your next roll. Describe what personal reserves, tools, and/or environmental factors you are using to do this.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Jun 8

Tonight for dinner I cooked mini-burgers (sliders if you like) with homemade buns, patties, and chips. Yum!

Four players with mini-burgers and chips on them.

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 30

If I swap to dark mode the contrast is improved. But I want to be bathed in light damnit! A web search reveals people complaining about this for well over a year. With What it seems like are different causes.

In dark mode the white bolding is a bit clearer

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 30

The difference between the unread and read message here is shamefully bad with the new Gmail update I thought there was a bug that had marked all my emails as read #ux

Two emails. One is read. One is not. The unread one is very very slightly bolded.

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 28

This is my submission to the NZ Government Select Committee on the discriminatory and unnessary Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill. I encourage you to put in a submission yourself!

There aren't enough characters allowed in an alt text to have the full text of the post here.

In summary though the bill is unscientific, unnessary, unworkable, and damaging to society. It is not something that should be supported and does not reflect the New Zealand I want to live in.

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 18

On social media when meat is cooked the creator will often excessively squeeze it to show how juicy it is. Given the videos are otherwise instructional some viewers also copy this squeeze even though it has no value. This highlights the importance of representative tutorials. #ux #gamedev

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 14

I have a draft of my Havoc Engine based TTRPG "Fly you fools!" done and I am almost done laying it out as a PDF for fun (using public domain art for now). It needs serious playtesting though! I am trying to build tension and threat via the mechanics, but my maths may be completely off. #ttrpg

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 12

When building control schemes in a mobile game remember that it is easier & more ergonomic for a player's thumb to move in an arc to controls rather than having to contract or extend If it helps, picture the arc on a game controller from the right thumb stick to the face buttons #gamedev #ux

A red and back Xbox Elite 2 controller.

The placement of the sticks means that there is a comfortable arc from them to the face buttons or dpad

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 10

The touchpad was first added to a PlayStation controller in 2013 but I still see in UX tests that many icons for it have clarity and readability issues A good solution is to put it in context and show an outline of the controller with the touchpad highlighted (and a down arrow on it) #gamedev #ux

Three different icons for the touchpad, each is a rounded rectangle with varying amounts of dots on it

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 3

A lovely little visitor at our new house

A Piwakawaka with its fan tail up in the air doing a small jump as it repositions on top of a moving box. Dark brown top feathers contrast with its lightly yellow brown down feathers

Ben Taels@bentaels· May 1

Samsung just updated their TV's with an awful glass look UI Just look at how ugly this volume bar is! Look at it and wonder why???

An ugly glowing, glassy, and unclear looking volume bar

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 26

Always check the scale on the axes of graphs that you are presented AND that you create Graphing software will often inappropriately scale graphs in a way that makes differences look bigger and/or more deceptive than they are. You should check for this and rescale if needed #gamedev #ux

A graph with a 3.2GHz bar which is red and very small. Then a huge 3.3GHz bar which is green and towers over the red bar

The Y-Axis goes from 3.18 to 3.32

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 26

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 18

Hot pies and physio! Sounds like my kind of place!

A sign above a door says "hot pies"

On the windows next to are signs for physiotherapy and acupuncture

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 16

I first worked on Fortnite: Save the World around 10 years ago! At that point it was in closed testing with a small community of players and we were running a bunch of UX tests. When it launched into paid early access everyone who worked on it signed posters. It's a cool keepsake to have!

A post saying Fortnite and showing Halloween versions of Fortnite characters. It is framed and covered in signatures

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 12

Now my oldest is getting more confident at writing and spelling he has worked out writing nice notes for people makes him feel good Very cute!

A note that says "You two are the best chefs! Grandpapa and Dad"

With a picture of a table with food on it and a picture of a smiling cat with human teeth

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 12

Souls-like games that let players leave notes for each other are an interesting UX case study In that if a developer tended to leave a note right before a difficult encounter or trap that said "be wary of enemy" then they could be accused of hand holding and coddling players #gamedev #ux

A message with a high reputation. It looks like glowing, flaming, runes.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 8

When you come close to a mob in Minecraft it turns and looks at you. This immediately makes the mobs feel more alive because it is reacting to your presence. Small touches like this in how NPCs react to the player can strongly impact the UX of a game. #gamedev #ux

Three Minecraft sheep look towards the screen. One is white, one is black, and one is a white lamb.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 8

Hey, here is an extra #UX Research tip for today: Asking people to rate how the experience of interacting with a system that is actively screening them for if they get a job or not is likely to produce a biased outcome!!

An article on an AI interview screening tool.

The quote says

"We ask candidates after every single AI interview how their experience was, and at the moment they are giving us 4.3 out of 5

Webster said the AI interview process was evolving and improving - and job seekers would too."

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 6

Thanks, an interesting read! There has been spikes in growth (often related to the things I mentioned in the thread?), but my understanding is it is declining in general For example go here and zoom the time scale out: bsky.jazco.dev/stats I would be happy to be wrong though :)

Graph showing unique likers on Bluesky over time. There was a big peak in 2024 and a smaller peak in 2025, but it is generally in decline.

Graph showing unique posters on Bluesky over time. There was a big peak in 2024 and a smaller peak in 2025, but it is generally in decline.

Graph showing unique followers on Bluesky over time. There was a big peak in 2024 and a smaller peak in 2025, but it is generally in decline

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 4

What is your favourite Easter Egg in a video game? I enjoyed the Coral Buddies civilization evolution that was hidden across multiple Fortnite Battle Royale Games.

Several blobby coral buddies looking up at a rocket platform.

Ben Taels@bentaels· Apr 4

Easter Eggs in games are cool. Just be aware that by their nature only a few people will find them. So don't rest your hopes for the best game experience on them! They should be a bonus, and not something you will be sad if people don't find. #gamedev #ux