Dolphin Emulator 2.0
NOTICE: I am currently working on this project as we speak. Progress is slow due to the nature of the open source software and it being tied to several different large communities.
Phase 1: Collaborate and Developers on board
What Is Dolphin Emulator?
Dolphin is a video game console emulator that runs on the PC. Dolphin uses C++ and a variety of other languages to run GameCube ISOs. It is an open source project run by over 350 developers, and my branch is run by around 80.
The UX Problem Space
The UX Problem Space: Dolphin Emulator overall is a development tool for people to break down how a game is running inside of the emulator and manipulate in a development fashion. This tool has largely transformed into a hub for people to play these games together in a multiplayer instead of its traditional use as a development tool.
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We have around 15,000 active weekly users. Our branch of Dolphin receives many support tickets that are simply questions about UI. This is a classic UX problem space; instead of catering to a small percentage of the user base (developers), cater to the large majority (average users) and make the UI reflect that.
How I am Convincing 80+ devs to follow UX fundamentals
UX is a fairly foreign concept for devs in the Dolphin community. The UI has fundamentally not been changed since it's initial inception and has been raised to cater to a development audience.
A main concern of developers to change the UI is at its core a worry that UX revolves around a zero-sum game. If we make the UI cater more to users then it hinders the developer audience. With clever solutions, this is not the case. Being able to draft up real interactive prototypes while in a conference call puts the devs at ease -- they are still top of mind.
Feature Audit
I used a feature audit of the dolphin software as an initial talking point to grab the attention of devs. I recorded and categorized the features available on Dolphin and brought up who our primary user group is -- people that don't care about 80% of the features.
Next Steps
With a prototype functional and ready to test with users I need to wait for the permission of different community leaders to get volunteers for user interviews and usability testing.
All of us do this in our spare time as a way to give back to the community so it is very important to me to give people plenty of time to move this project forward. Phase one of the redesign is nearly completed.
Follow the development of our branch here