A UX Analysis Blog Post
What UX methodology makes Ring Fit Adventure a good somatosensory game?
April 2020 | 7 min read
Intro
As a person who were not familiar with workout or video games in the past 25 years of my life, I've got a chance to try Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure as my very-first somatosensory game during the massive quarantine in 2020. I was so impressed by the enjoyable and accessible experience that a game could provide, both mentally and physically.
Thus, as a UX designer myself, I started to be curious about how Nintendo designed such a great user/player experience, while unifying gamification and workout as one pleasant thing.
01
Always Start From User's Pain Points
"I don't find workout enjoyable."
For people like me who don't find workout enjoyable, we all know what the roadblocks are. They're usually something like (1) The workout is too boring to keep up with. (2) Couldn't find what types of workout fit me the best. (3) During the workout, not sure whether the gestures are correct or not. Besides, people who don't usually play video games might need some time to get used to the controller.
When it comes to technology that encourages workout, there are so many of them in the market. When I was in college back in 2016, I used an App called Nike Run Club. I remember I had to tied my phone on the arm for it to track my movement during running because wireless earphones like AirPods were not as popular as they're today.
I used the App for like 2 months, running 2 to 3 times a week outside. To be honest, the tracking feature of the App did work a bit as a motivator. During running, the real-time audio guide provided data about my distance, pacing and time. After finish a session, it gave me a summary of how well I did. However, the biggest pain point back then was having to put on too many physical devices for just tracking myself running. There was just not enough "ROI" for my time and passion.
Therefore, I had the same hesitant when I first tried Ring Fit, thinking it would be just another start and quit exercise. Surprisingly, I went through the first few months and it turned out not as boring as I thought!
The game setting was fun, but easy enough for beginners to get motivated. The physical devices were easy to learn, and safe but effective. I would say that Ring Fit had met 80% of my personal workout and entertainment needs during the quarantine.
02
So, how do you actually play it?
Given the fact that Ring Fit brought so much pleasure and surprise to me, as a UX designer, I started to do a UX analysis of how the game was designed.
In terms of the physical controller, Ring Fit requires a set of two pieces, made up with a Pilates ring that the user holds and a leg strap that ties to the user's lap. The sensor on the leg strap tracks the movements of the lower body, while the Pilates ring tracks the upper body gestures by squeezing, stretching, or movement.
On the other hand, Ring Fit has multiple game modes that were designed for various scenarios. The main adventure provides a great way to encourage a single user to workout continuously on a regular basis. The mini game mode is full of fun and quick mini games, making it a perfect choice for party and family time. The customized workout series provides adequate space and freedom for the advanced body builders to build professional workout plans that fit their unique needs. While the background play mode lets the user have other kinds of entertainment while doing the workout.
Maybe some one would argue that Ring Fit cannot compete traditional gyms and equipments in terms of the exercise results, and that's completely fair. In my opinion, Ring Fit is ultimately just a video game. It offers an alternative way for people who don't feel comfortable or cannot going outside to stay healthy and active. And it works well.
03
The inspiring UX design methods.
Due to the unique play-at-home scenario, the interaction design of Ring Fit needs more thoughts to ensure playability (usability), safety and accessibility.
Proper Indications
The design of game UI is usually drastically different from mobile or web UI, where it's crucial to display proper amount of information in the proper way. For instance, the UI of Death Stranding, a popular RPG exploration game, always contains large amount of lists, data, and menu items, which requires the players to be highly concentrated. On the other hand, Ring Fit has extremely simple and straightforward interface that suits the needs of indoor activity scenario.
Looking at the UI of Ring Fit, there are three main sections: battle animation in the center, progress bar and texts at the bottom, and the action instruction on the left side. Obviously, the most in-demand information is the bottom section, telling the user how they're doing and what to expect. It also provides real time audio guide that ensures the continuity of the actions even the user cannot stare at the screen. The action instruction on the left includes an animation presentation, visual cues of the force directions, and some educational tooltips of which muscle is being trained. While the center animation is visually and auditorily pleasant, giving the users as much positive feedback as possible.
Interestingly, the attacking effect reflects which part of the body is being trained at the moment. For example, it becomes a burning fist for upper body workout, and turns into 8 packs for cardio workouts.
Accessibility
Every body is beautiful because of its uniqueness. I always believe that design should bring inclusion to people as broader as it could. With curiosity, I found a video posted by a YouTuber called boogie2988, who is 340 lbs weight, trying to play Ring Fit for the very first time. He was able to put on the leg strap without any issue, while it even left a lot of room for someone who is bigger than him.
"Thank you Nintendo!" said by Boogie. And so did I.
Who do you design for? Is your design inclusive? The answer should be clear when the proposal is first brought up, while leaving some user groups out of the "normal" one, intentionally or not. Ultimately, no one should be exclusive of a product because of their race, gender, figure, or any other factors.
Thoughtful Indications
As mentioned previously, Ring Fit could be perfect for beginners of workout looking for motivations, or people staying indoor for too long looking for a change. Thus, the lack of professional body training knowledge might be a potential problem/risk.
There are various assistive indications in Ring Fit, including prompts for a warmup before a session starts, prompts for stretching when a session ends, tips for finding an empty indoor space in case of collisions, asking for wrap-up after certain amount of exercise has been done in case of overdoing.
The tips and prompts may sound boring and redundant sometimes, but their existence reflects how thoughtful and user-centric the product was designed. Just like trusting another person, a good product can also be trustworthy by how warm it is.
Thank you for reading.