Season 1 Episode 1: Using UX Strategy to Put Players First
From her work as UX Director at Epic Games on classics like Fortnite to her widely respected published books on the psychology of video games, UX Strategist and author Celia Hodent, PhD has helped a broad variety of games, gamers, and game developers wrangle the complexity of possibility using classic human-centered design and research psychology techniques. In this first episode of Enduring Play, Celia and Cheryl go far beyond wireframes to redefine your mental model of what the discipline of user experience can truly bring to the table for video game teams. We also explore ethics for modern game economies, inspired by Celia’s time as the founder of the Ethical Games initiative.
There’s something in this conversation for everyone because the application of user experience to video game development is critical to crafting video games that thrive: far more than just delivering screens, the craft of user experience can help game development teams foresee potential problems early, make smarter business decisions, and apply the best of cognitive psychology to make games more fun to play.
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Featured in this Episode
Celia Hodent, PhD:
Independent UX Strategist, Author, and Game UX Summit Founder
Celia Hodent, PhD is an expert in game UX (user experience) and cognitive psychology. She is a consultant, speaker, and acclaimed author of The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX can Impact Video Game Design and The Psychology of Video Games. After over 15 years of experience in the development of UX strategy and processes through her work on Fortnite as Director of UX at Epic Games, at LucasArts (e.g. Star Wars: 1313), and at Ubisoft (e.g. Rainbow 6 franchise), she contributed to many projects across multiple platforms, from PC to consoles, mobile, and VR before becoming an independent UX Strategy consultant, helping studios increase the likelihood of their games to be engaging and successful. Celia’s interests also include educational games (serious games, or gamification) and unconscious biases (i.e. how they impact diversity and inclusion in the workplace).
A passionate advocate for ethical standards in the game industry, Celia is the founder of the Ethical Games initiative, aiming to develop a code of ethics for the Western game industry. She is also founder of the Game UX Summit, an annual gathering of user experience practitioners in the video game industry, and served as the UX Summit chair at the Game Developers’ Conference for many years. Celia has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Paris 5 Sorbonne (France), and is specialized in cognitive development (her thesis was about language-specific effects on number computation in toddlers).
Show Notes
Quotable Moment
“We can do anything, but we can’t do everything. I love the saying, it’s, it’s very true. You don’t want to do everything with your game. You want to do the things that are really serving the gameplay and serving the players that you’re targeting. And so the UX process and UX mindset and strategy is very much about defining what are those priorities and defining, “OK, where do you want to challenge players?”
Celia Hodent, PhD on prioritization and scope in game design
Supporting Links
| Celia’s Books | The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX can Impact Video Game Design The Psychology of Video Games What UX Is Really About: Introducing a Mindset for Great Experiences |
| Narrative Cutscene: Lucasarts and Epic Games | Atari Unveils Lucasfilm Games (PC Gamer 1984) https://www.pcgamer.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-history-of-lucasarts/ Unreal Engine home page Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney Says “The Long National Nightmare of The Apple Tax Is Over” |
| Ethical Games Initiative | https://ethicalgames.org |
| Game UX Summit | https://gameuxsummit.com/ |
| Squads in Fortnite | ‘Fortnite’ UX Lead Reveals How Science, Talent & Luck Made Battle Royale Successful (Newsweek, 2018) |
| Celia’s Homepage | https://celiahodent.com |
| Job Advice | https://celiahodent.com/getting-a-job-in-the-video-game-industry-general-tips-focus-on-ux-roles/ |
| Celia’s UX Consulting | Inquiry Form |
| Celia on Socials | https://www.linkedin.com/in/celiahodent/ https://www.youtube.com/c/celiahodent https://bsky.app/profile/celiahodent.com |
Book links are affiliate links and proceeds help defray the cost of podcast production.
Episode Outline
| Scene | Timestamp | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Interview Start | 2:01 | Career Overview |
| Narrative Cutscene | 3:45 | LucasArts and Epic Games |
| Level 1 | 5:38 | The Evolution of UX in Video Games |
| Tutorial Level | 9:02 | Providing Clarity with Curiosity |
| Level 2 | 13:17 | Balancing Confidence with Curiosity |
| Level 3 | 15:13 | Constraint and Process as a Creative Gift |
| Host Commentary | 18:17 | Archetypes of Video Game Failure |
| Level 4 | 18:57 | Failure to Thrive |
| Level 5 | 19:54 | Self-Determination Theory |
| Host Commentary | 25:10 | Serving Gameplay for Thriving Gameplay |
| Level 6 | 26:14 | Prioritization and Strategic Scoping |
| Level 7 | 28:50 | Minimum Viable Gameplay |
| Level 8 | 32:36 | Chasing Taillights |
| Level 9 | 36:09 | Ethics and Perception of Free to Play Games |
| Narrative Cutscene | 41:04 | The Yellow Paint Meme |
| Level 10 | 42:02 | The Yellow Paint Problem |
| Level 11 | 46:51 | Presence for 3D Digital Spaces |
| Final Boss Level | 49:56 | Ethics for Economies in Video Game Development |
| Links and Followup | 57:13 | Social Media, Web, Game UX Summit 2025 |
Episode Transcript
The Game Development Strategy Guide
Celia Hodent is featured as Player 2 in Cheryl Platz’s new book, The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games that Thrive. Pre-order before the release on September 16, 2025 direct from publisher RosenfeldMedia.com to receive 15% off, and a free ebook with every physical purchase.
