Training the game designers of tomorrow (Part 4/5)

In the previous part of this series of publications devoted to training game and level designers, I explained why a game designer must integrate marketing considerations from the concept phase of a game. I continue today with two other marketing issues to remember when developing a game concept.

Know your audience

When game designers develop a concept, their first reflex is drawing inspiration from their tastes and desires. It’s human because the intensity of emotions is a powerful spur. However, we are not always representative of the audience for which our game is intended. Developing a concept based on our tastes is dangerous; we don't make a game for ourselves; we develop it for an audience, an audience.

Identifying your audience and getting to know them are good reflexes during the concept phase. The following case study is a good illustration of this.

Case study

A few years ago, I contributed as a game designer to develop Wars and Battles, a portal offering several turn-based wargames for digital tablets such as iPads. As part of the Battle Factory development team, I saw how the precise definition of the audience impacted the game's design.

The targeted platform was the iPad because it offered almost no turn-based wargames. But which audience should we target: Traditional wargamers accustomed to complex turn-based simulations or “digital” gamers who favor real-time games offering more straightforward mechanics?

Our choice fell towards traditional wargamers due to the expected widespread use of digital tablets. We, therefore, made design choices designed to meet their expectations: turn-based gameplay, care given to historical credibility, game mechanics directly inspired by those used in "paper" wargames, detailed description of the results of the battles, historical facts, choice of the most famous battles among wargamers such as the battle of Normandy. However, for gamers who discovered the game, we added a 3D viewing mode and animations for combat.

For fans, the game is no longer available in the App Store but can be found on Steam. Two battles are proposed: The Battle of Normandy and the Israeli-Arab War of 1973. Play them; they are real simulations that are easy to learn and well-crafted.

Good practices

How to identify your audience and know their expectations? Here are some best practices.

Identify games similar to the one you plan to develop.

This is the simplest method, and accessible to everyone, to identify your audience. What if your game has no equivalent because it mixes two different gameplays? Assume that one of the two gameplays will always be more prevailing than the other. Then stick to that “dominant” gameplay.

Connect with gaming communities.

 Once you have identified your reference game, go to the forums dealing with this game or genre. A simple method is to present yourself as a developer looking for player opinions. You should receive lots of responses. Sort through and identify contributors who seem to know your reference game well and who have the best analytical skills. You will then learn a lot about the “must-haves” and the mistakes to avoid.

When I designed the Tornado Ground Zero multiplayer map for Unreal Tournament 3's Extrem PhysX mod, I relied heavily on the gaming community to define key features of the map, such as its primary game mode, its size, the number of players, and its topology. It was through the forums that I was able to do this.

A variation of the previous method is to organize focus groups.

This method is used by major publishers and is called focus group. While I was working on the multiplayer mode of Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory as a lead level designer, Ubisoft conducted such focus groups to better understand the improvements to be made to our game.

A focus group is not an informal meeting; it is a codified method that requires the presence of a facilitator trained in this method. If the participants are well selected, that is, if they represent the target audience, and if the group discussion is conducted correctly, you will learn a lot.

Watch Your Back – Know Your Competitors

How can I know which games will compete with the one I'm working on since it will be released in a year or two?

The task seemed illusory. And yet, we can already get a good idea of the games that will be your direct competitors by identifying your competitors today. Indeed, games tend to have longer and longer lifespans. Publishers are pushing to develop games designed to keep their players for many years. If a game is a benchmark today, there's a good chance that game will still be around in one, two, or even three years. In addition, you can also bet that its developers will have taken advantage of the years to enrich it and, therefore, make it even more competitive.

To know your future competitors, start by identifying games already published, or which will soon be published, and which are likely to interest the same audience.

When working on the concept of a game, why is it useful to know your competitors?

There are two reasons.

First, we can get an idea of the density of its direct competitors, games that are similar to the one you plan to develop. If these competitors are numerous, this means that you will be hitting the mark in terms of audience, but it also means that you absolutely must differentiate yourself with a good USP. But, on the contrary, if you have no competition, it can mean two things: Either you had a good intuition before the others or the audience for your game is non-existent. Such an observation should prompt you to exercise caution.

The second reason to know your competition well is to better identify what your audience expects from this type of game: What functions are they popular with? What should the level of difficulty and rhythm construction be? How high are production values? What are the main complaints from players?

Case study

I worked as game designer on Alone In The Dark - The New Nightmare, the fourth opus in the series. Launched by Infogrames, this franchise marked the industry because it invented the premises of horror-survival games.

After the first three episodes, the series had gone dormant, but the arrival of Resident Evil had reawakened Infogrames' ambitions. The latter entrusted the French studio Darkworks with relaunching the franchise.

As we thought about the concept of our game, we quickly asked ourselves the following question: Should we start with the mechanics that Alone In The Dark players were accustomed to or take inspiration from the model developed by Capcom?

We only had one competitor at the time, Resident Evil, but what a competitor! Capcom's title included many features that made the first games published by Infogrames successful, but it modernized them and adapted them to the PlayStation.

Resident Evil having become the new benchmark in terms of control and inventory management, we decided to take inspiration from it in order not to disturb players accustomed to the standards put in place by Capcom. But, to differentiate ourselves, we emphasized storytelling. At the time, Antoine Villette, one of the founders of Darkworks, wrote a scenario of rare quality in video games. To offer a USP, we built the scenario around two characters, each experiencing the adventure from their point of view.

The analysis of our main competitor allowed us to limit the risks on the game system while differentiating ourselves from Resident Evil on a key aspect of its success: Narration.

The game was released on Playstation, PC, and Dreamcast and sold more than two million copies, which was a very good performance for the time.

Best practices

Develop a competitive matrix.

This tool allows you to position your game project about its competitors. In the example below, Sea Hunter is the game project; the other games are the identified competitors.

The axes are defined according to the most salient characteristics of the game genre. In the example above, these are the number of game modes and the gameplay's complexity level.

We can deduce that most of the competition offers only a gaming experience for one player, while Sea Hunter differentiates itself with its multiplayer mode. Additionally, compared to its closest competitor, WarGroove, Sea Hunter offers less complex gameplay. Its only real competitor is Her Majesty’s Ship.

In addition to this competitive analysis, identify one or two similar games and play them a lot.

The goal is not just to list the features offered and gameplay mechanics. The main objective is to identify what will bring pleasure to the player or, on the contrary, what will frustrate him. Don't focus on the mechanics; listen to your emotions!

To be continued …

In the last part of this series of publications dedicated to the training of future game designers, I will deal with the practice that is undoubtedly the most relevant to guarantee the quality of a game. Those of you who know me know what I will speak; for the others, all you have to do is wait!

Link to part 1

Link to part 2

Link to part 3

Pascal Luban

Game designer & creative director, freelance

28+ years of experience serving game developers and publishers

www.gamedesignstudio.com

Photo credit: Poca Wander Stock