Game Critique Blog: Can’t Unsee
Game Metadata
Game Name: Can’t Unsee
Designer/Developer: Amanda Hum and Alex Kotliarskyi
Platform: Web (PC or Mac)
High-level Instructional Goal: Train and test attention to UI design details, including padding, typography, hierarchy, alignment, contrast, and color
Link to game: https://cantunsee.space/
Educational Goals
The game teaches and train its players to have an eye for details in UI design, and be able to identify discrepancies within a design element. It seems to want a player to learn the importance of these details in affecting not just the design, but also the overall user experience. It is hard to say how much prior knowledge the game assumes a player has, as one can argue that good UI design is based on one’s aesthetic choice and gut feelings. But in general, it is helpful to have some idea of general design rules, and be aware of color theory, line weight, and space. Additionally, the game uses design from the Apply IOS, so I do think it is helpful if you are familiar with that design style. But as I played the game, I’ve found that it was pretty easy to treat it as a “find the difference” game and pick the choice that made more sense.
Having this skill is critical as a UI designer, as it is oftentimes these small details that throws off the design, and informs the user experience. While one may think that these seemingly small elements such as alignment, contrast, and radius width is not a big deal, it is in fact what separates GOOD design from GREAT design, and allows you to stand out amidst a strong competition of other similar applications. But having this “eye for detail” takes time and practice, and I do think this game helps with that.
Game Elements
The game’s core gameplay loop is: find the difference between the 2 images, decide which aligns better with good design rules, select your choice, and review the explanation behind the right choice. There’s not really any complex inner or outer loops, but I did find myself taking quite some time reviewing my choices each time and reflecting on them. At some times I would also go on my own google search for more explanations behind why certain styles are preferred.
Because of the game’s straightforward design, there really only 3 nouns which are the 2 provided design images, the Compare button, and the Next button. For verbs, players can identify the better designed image, select your choice, compare the 2 images, and move onto the next round. I would say that the overall player experience was very ye-opening. There were rounds where I was surprised by the small change, and how big of an impact it had only when I could compare them directly with one another. While there is not much direct interaction with the game elements, there is so much thinking and reflection that the player does by themselves that it proves to be a challenging but also rewarding game. However, there were times where I would compare the two images and reading the brief explanation given, but still not agree or understand why one was better than the other.
Learning Mechanisms
The game is focusing on improving a player’s memory/fluency building, helping them gain familiarity with the skills. It does so using principles including Pretraining, Metacognition, Immediate Feedback Timing, and Scaffolding.
To start the game, it first gives you 3 rounds of guided playthrough to help you understand how the game works and what elements to look out for, which falls into Pretraining. The game also uses Scaffolding by starting off with easier elements to detect, such as low contrast, offset alignment, and capitalization before slowly progressing to smaller details such as spacing, kerning, and alignment. I noticed that this helped me a lot with understanding what elements are important to notice before thinking about how they could be manipulated. After the player has made their choice, the game also gives immediate feedback by allowing the players to toggle between the 2 images and compare their differences, as well as giving a brief description of what elements were changed. This helps inform later decisions as the player now knows what to look out for.
Last, and probably most importantly, is metacognition. I believe that most of the learning in this game is through the player’s own reflection and recognition of what elements are important and how the details matter in UI design. And because the game is not timed, players get as much time as they would like to select their choice and reflect on it afterwards, which I thought was helpful.
Overall Critique
Overall, I would say that the game is a successful educational game. I thought I knew UI design principles really well going into the game, but I till found hat I learnt a lo o new rings coming out of it. In general, I think I fully understood and experienced the importance of details.
While one may argue that the game is too basic, or was lacking gameplay elements, I would actually ague that it’s simple design and basic quizzing and feedback loop allowed for a lot of learning just through reflection and realization. I also liked that it started off with easier differences to spot before moving onto smaller details as it gave me the chance to get an understanding of what to look out for. The only aspect which I would suggest for improvement would be to have more variety in the images they present, and also to draw design elements from other applications and not just the basic Apple IOS. I think this will allow the skills gained from the game to be more widely applicable and not just relevant to the current dominant design style.
