The Game Approachability Principles (GAP) PDF offers 27 principles of practical knowledge to help create a streamlined player onboarding experience. These principles include ways to enhance the first-time user experience, which can lead to stronger player acquisition while helping your game feel fun.

GAP utilizes ways to develop a player’s sense of self-efficacy and independence to help make those critical first minutes of gameplay feel as smooth as possible without feeling too pedantic or too open world. The principles guidance to develop enough guardrails without a player losing their own sense of mastery, which is ultimately important to gamers when learning how to play a game. Capturing  player interest and maintaining retention being extremely vital in games and interactive experiences, our specialized  principles are designed to help maximize the value of your title by reducing and preventing potential friction. 

The GAP Principles deal primarily with issues of new-player experience (aka FTUE) and the processes by which players learn how to play a new game, while the PLAY Heuristics are broader in scope, encompassing a wide variety of issues that range from enduring play to UI design.

The Game Approachability Principles are referred to in the following publications & journals:

• Evaluating User Experience and Other Lies in Evaluating Games

• Heuristics uncovered for Games User Researchers and game designers

• User Experience Design for Inexperienced Gamers: GAP – Game Approachability Principles

• Master of the game: Assessing approachability in future game design

• Game Principles: Change, Choice & Creation: Making Better Games

• Are game design and user research guidelines specific to virtual reality effective in creating a more optimal player experience? Yes, VR PLAY

Product details: PDF (3 pages) with 13 categories of principles: 

Principle Categories:

1. Amount of Practice

2. Type of Practice

3. Demonstration of Actions and Feedback Thereof

4. Observation-Modeling

5. Self-Efficacy

6. Gee Principles

7. In Context Principles

8. Scaffolding

9. Build on Prior Knowledge

10. Including PLAY Principles

11. Likeability of Tutorial

12. Mastery

13. Good Gameplay and Entertainment

The PDF includes 27 principles total 

This purchase includes an introductory “How to Use and Apply the Heuristics in Your game to optimize the player experience ” PDF