Expanding UX: Gameplay Loops

“A Gameplay Loop is a game design term that is used to describe the repetitive activities that a player will take while playing a game.”

Loops are a kind of a step-by-step descriptions of a player flow through a game or its parts. They describe different levels of a game: from core loop, which describes the core, low level mechanics, to more specific loops that may describe parts of the game experience, like fighting, collecting, crafting or etc. Loops are also distinguished by the time interval they may describe:

• Second to Second
• Minute to Minute
• Hour to Hour
• Day to Day

For example, let us imagine we are building a restaurant management game. The loops may look like this:

Core Loop

Second to Second Loop

Day to Day Loop

What Does It Mean for UX?

Seeing an experience through loops like this is a neat way to understand what the users go through while interacting with a service within various experience intervals. That gives us the ability to better identify what is important, better prioritize and enhance the core features and functionality.

For example, let us imagine we are building a loyalty app for a chain of restaurants. The UX loops may look like this:

Core Loop

Second to Second Loop

Day to Day Loop

Loops Show Where Value Is

Loops describe the time when users are getting the most value out of a service. Thus, functionality that participates in these loops should be the main priority. Loops should be smooth, properly tested, perfectly usable, accessible, engaging and fun.

Loops Show Feature Use Frequency

Loops show how frequently a user is performing a particular action and help determine the desired experience for that action.

For example: if a user clicks to read a restaurant description roughly every 10 seconds, the animation for showing description should be fast, simple and elegant, otherwise it will get distracting and will break the flow.

Loops Strip Off Secondary Details

Thinking in terms of loops helps strip off secondary details and might help avoid inflation of the scope.

For example: An idea to have different mini games to get loyalty points might sound good. However, playing mini games is not the part of the loop, thus not a priority and should be added to a wish list and be addressed later in development, if there is a need for it.

Also:

• Loops may help with forming initial assumptions during user testings
• Loops may serve as the foundation for user flow diagrams
• Loops may reveal A LOT of information in the early implementation stage, which is crucial for prioritizing and efficient planning