HOW THE LACK OF STRATEGY IN GAME DESIGN KILLS GAMES
Kutovaya ElenaI often help game studios improve their designs by figuring out what's not working in their games. I've noticed many teams don't understand their target audience well. Even teams with great skills and efficient processes face a tough decision: whether to cancel a game or not. This could be avoided if they started with a clear understanding of the audience.
Many game designers have engineering backgrounds, which is useful. This technical knowledge helps in managing the development process and foreseeing potential issues.
However, this doesn't provide insight into how games will perform in the market. Games are products, and the approach to game design today should consider all factors that affect their success as products.
I've previously mentioned that game design must begin with an analysis of the target audience.
For example, for Hybrids+, I start with thorough research on the players I want to attract.
I use a tool called Persona. It provides profiles of players for specific game genres, including their interests, habits, and preferences. This helps in designing the player experience.
Here's a brief guide on starting game design the right way:
- Identify the demographics of your game genre. Look for information online, like demographic data on puzzle games. Companies in the gaming industry often conduct such research. If you're working on a less popular genre or a unique game, you might not find existing research. For instance, three years ago, there was little on idle-arcade games. Now, we know this audience is quite interesting.
- Once you have data on your target audience, try to understand their daily lives: their tasks, interests, and priorities. Use the 'One Day from Life' tool to get insights, like how much time a typical casual player, who might be married with children, can spend on a game.
- Use your experience and look at the demographics of similar past games. Focus on real gameplay shown in creative materials.
- Analyze successful advertising materials. Understand why people clicked on them, the emotions triggered, the game's rhythm, and the demographics of those who responded best. For example, for a shooter game, we understood the audience's preferred movies and values, which helped improve the player experience.
Above is an example of a quick profile analysis I did for all potential player categories for one of our games.
Good luck, and remember: what we know now is never enough for sustained, high results 🤷🏻♀️
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