SINGLE SURFACE GAMING TABLE
Human centered interactive gaming
Blitz is a product on which I was the sole designer and engineer for 2 years. In 2015, I took this project from a conceptual idea to a physical live gaming table that is currently played on around the world.
As the sole designer and engineer, I had to wear multiple hats and carry various responsibilities in this project, which included the industrial, graphic, ux/ui and mechanical design, in addition to managing vendors and collaborating with other designers all while working under tight deadlines.
Blitz was a project where I had to combine my 11 years of experience in the design industry into one project and ensure that the product not only answers the client needs and targets the audience but is also aesthetically pleasing, has functionality, and meets user expectations in their interactions and experiences in both the physical and digital sense.
The casino gaming industry in general is shifting more towards electronic games as the new generation enter the market and have different expectations than older players. The new demographic is very different in their approach and if casinos do not adapt while simultaneously catering to the older generation, it becomes a harder task to maintain and even increase revenue streams.
We worked closely with well known gaming companies in the industry and dove into the revenue statistics of the old style gaming tables. We analyzed the speed of the game play and the length of time that a specific player stayed playing before leaving to play a different game. We also analyzed the current player needs which were different from the older generations’ gaming habits. For example, younger players want to utilize charging docks on the physical UX while playing multiple games while waiting for a call to action on the main game on the digital UX.
We analyzed the way a player feels toward a digital interaction and what gestures can be learned vs gestures that need to mimic the “old” physical card game as much as possible.
Our main challenges were:
Through research and understanding the challenges we faced, we had to take into consideration the older demographic and the traditional physical gaming habits. My team and I created a digital experience / system that integrates interactions and gestures that mimic the real life experience of
traditional game play.
We focused on the physical gestures that have real game meaning such as:
We solved their issues with unique gestures and sound indicators that are recognizable in relation to the physical call to action.
