Delivering Successful Games - A Player-Centred Process

Delivering Successful Games A Player-centred Process

!

Graham McAllister !

@grmcall @playerresearch

Player Research have an unparalleled track record of successful games across all platforms:

GAMES

of our

100%

iOS games featured

20+

FRONT PAGEon the Apple App Store

User Research

What metrics can we get from the player?

!

Behaviour - what the player did

Rationale - why they did it

Perception - what did the player think happened

Experience - how the player felt

Pure - level 1 !coded

Video

HOW?

CHALLENGE

ASSUMPTIONS

You may not know where your barriers to monetisation reside until it’s too late

FEEDBACK IN GAME DEVELOPMENT

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Key Question: How early do you get objective player feedback?

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ProductionDesignConcept Soft-launch Launch

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• Assumption: The player is going to reach the monetisation point

MONETISATION IS NOT ENOUGH

MONETISATION!

Players justify spending on the game, given circumstances in which they appreciate the benefit to their experience.

PLAYER EXPERIENCE!

Players reliably follow the game’s designed experience, without unwanted hinderance.

USABILITY!

The menu and UI design is usable, allowing players to complete tasks and goals from ‘understanding’ the game.

UNDERSTANDING!

The tutorials and feedback provided support the player’s understanding both reliably and sufficiently.

• Evidence-based - hundreds of interviews with players

• The Swiss Cheese model of accident causation

A PLAYER PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Problems

Understanding

Usability

Player Experience

Monetisation

Weaknesses

Player Path

UNDERSTANDING PLAYERS

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Key Question: How well do you understand your players?


• Monetisation is significantly impacted by player experience

• How can we deliver a better player experience?

PROCESS FOR USER FEEDBACK


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PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL GAMES

MONETISATION!

PLAYER EXPERIENCE!

USABILITY!

UNDERSTANDING!


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PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL GAMES

Concept Testing

Competitor Analysis

Interaction Analysis

Collaborative UI Design

UI Expert Evaluation

Usability Expert Evaluation

Playtesting

Engagement Diary

Soft Launch Playtesting

Ongoing Analytics + User Research

MONETISATION

PLAYER EXPERIENCE

USABILITY

UNDERSTANDING

MULTIPLE LENSES

MONETISATION

PLAYER EXPERIENCE

USABILITY

UNDERSTANDING

MONETISATION

PLAYER EXPERIENCE

USABILITY

UNDERSTANDING

Playtesting A Player-centred Process

How many opportunities to understand and

polish the player experience have you put in place?

SUCCESSFUL GAMES

How soon in the process was there any uncertainty?

[email protected] !

@grmcall @playerresearch

Delivering Successful Games - A Player-Centred Process

Software

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