Steam OS Neo Concept

The user interface concept designed for Valve's portable gaming device Steam Deck.

Role:

Experience Design

Category:

Concept

Time:

2024

Content:

Content:

Steam is the largest video game distribution platform in the world, accounting for about 75% of the market share, with approximately 120 million monthly active users.

Steam Deck is a portable gaming device released by the Steam platform (Valve Corporation).

Steam Deck is equipped with a Linux-based Steam OS, and this work is a redesign of the Steam OS.

Details:

Details:

  1. Improvements to Information Hierarchy

  • The Steam web service has a long history, and as the business and player community have evolved, Steam has become complex and inconsistent. The complete Steam experience is not suitable for smaller handheld devices. The traditional web structure designed for PCs is also not suitable for game devices that use controllers.

  • I have redesigned the page hierarchy to create an interface structure suitable for handheld gaming devices. You can quickly access games on the homepage, or view the art scenes of the games; you can also quickly browse the game list in the store and purchase games.

  1. Improvements to Controller Interaction

  • Game controllers are one of the most common controllers, but not all interactive elements are designed for controller use on the Steam Deck, especially in the complex content of the store interface. If we look at the best-selling Nintendo Switch, it has almost perfect joystick control, yet there are still aspects of page logic and efficiency that could be improved.

  • I have bound the main tabs to the shoulder buttons, the secondary tabs to the directional buttons, and controlled the cursor selection with the left joystick. This approach avoids inefficiency caused by the joystick controlling too many elements. Previously, users often had to move the joystick multiple times to switch between tabs, which made the operation cumbersome and prone to error.

  1. Improvements to Information Layers

  • The Steam web service has a long history, and with the richness of its business and player community, it has become complex and inconsistent. The full Steam experience is not well-suited for portable devices with smaller screens. The traditional web structure designed for PCs is also not suitable for game devices using controllers.

  • I have restructured the page hierarchy to design an interface suitable for handheld game devices. You can quickly access games on the homepage or view the scene art of games; you can also quickly browse the game list in the store and purchase games.

  1. Improvements to Controller Interaction

  • Game controllers are one of the most common controllers, but not all interaction elements on the Steam Deck are designed for controller use, especially in the complex content of the store interface. Looking at the best-selling Nintendo Switch, although it has almost perfect joystick control, there are still areas for improvement in page logic and efficiency.

  • I have bound the main tabs to the shoulder buttons, the secondary tabs to the directional buttons, and the left joystick controls the cursor selection. This avoids the inefficiency caused by the joystick controlling too many elements. Previously, users often had to move the joystick multiple times to switch tabs, making this operation cumbersome and error-prone.