Creating Usable Software « DawnBringer3D

24
Jan/086

Creating Usable Software

Problem I usually come across is that software is not usable. I would buy more cool software if it would be usable, but most isn’t.

What do I consider as usable software? Let’s take an example of not usable and usable software.

Not Usable

I found this really cool 3D engine but I can’t use it as it doesn’t have any content path – a way to create content to it through some other software like max, maya, etc. How the hell I’m suppose to use it if there is no easy way to create content for it?

Usable

I found this really cool 3D engine that has full content path for max, maya, etc.

Also it support custom displays for all of these which enables me to work on just with my model editor as long as I need to get the model done for my game. Custom display enables me to see the result running on the engine at max, maya…

Conclusion

So, usable software is something that is Easy To Use, e.g. content creation, etc.

Software usability is something that I have been thinking a lot lately as I’m currently writing 2D graphics engine and I want it to be very easy-to-use, which means having some kind of content creation tools. I’ll write about it at some point more, when I have something cool to show.