Michael Voigt - the realization of a childhood dream
Michael Voigt's time spent in Wyoming's extreme weather encouraged a lot Apple II RPG games and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Developing this interest in gaming led to the realization of a childhood dream with a job in the games industry. All that dice rolling and calculating savings throws suddenly had professional worth.
Michael’s first role was as the Lead UI Artist for Star Wars: The Old Republic, joining BioWare from its early stages through the project's completion. He also served as the lead UI Artist & Designer for Anki Drive, a robotics-based AI car battle and racing game, and contributed to Dinoboy Adventures, an interactive iOS storybook for children that was featured by Apple.
Throughout his career, Michael has taken pivotal roles in leading UI/UX and art teams for top-tier projects, including James Bond Cypher 007 for Apple Arcade. His tenures at Wonder Workshop, Wargaming, and Zynga further honed his skills in conceptualizing and developing engaging gaming experiences. Notably, at Wargaming, he spearheaded the UI/UX design for an innovative multiplayer game inspired by World of Tanks, including new combat styles . His comprehensive involvement on Anki's consumer-oriented robotic games, including Anki Drive & Overdrive, highlighted his ability to lead art, design, and user experience across diverse gaming products.
Most recently at Slingshot Aerospace, Michael created a VR training space wargame that several military organizations used for exercises. And making VR games has been an awesome experience, especially creating a shared remote experience across computers and VR devices!
A funny anecdote about Michael: he guessed the password for the super user of his high school’s Novell computer network. And nearly got expelled when this was discovered. He managed to avoid expulsion only by revealing his administrator password and with advocacy from his favorite teacher. Instead, he ended up spending plenty of time in detention.
He enjoys outdoor running and hiking. Some of his favorite games are Airheart, Elite, Might-And-Magic III, TradeWars 2002, and Fallout 3. In VR, his favorites include Half-Life: Alyx, Star Wars: Squadrons, and Horizon: Call of the Mountain.
In his usual role within UX gaming, Michael contributes insights and guidance across diverse systems, dedicated to enhancing the overall gaming experience. The bulk of his daily workload involves designing UI mock-ups, working prototypes and storyboards, ensuring their implementation matches the envisioned in-game systems. Attention to detail is crucial in the early stages, with quality checks and bug resolution being critical for perfecting the final product.
Over the years, this journey began with Illustrator, transitioned through Flash, Omnigraffle, Sketch, and, for the past 6 years, Figma. Adobe Photoshop has been part of the entire journey. And Unity is used quite often to make playable prototypes and products.
Creating a good player experience involves understanding the engagement and emotional factors of the players. Identifying player personas and tailoring their experience, considering factors like player comfort and play session duration, is essential. Game UI conventions evolve to break rules and improve interfaces while ensuring alignment with established standards to prevent alienating avid players. Michael values openness to ideas and fostering open communication and feedback. His big successes have included establishing a clear design, implementation, and visual direction for the UX/UI. Defining design metaphors and crafting a visual style guide proved invaluable, consistently resolving ambiguities and gaining support across projects.
He's excited to continue his journey and looks forward to contributing to crafting your experiences.
