If you make games for a large company or a publisher, someone is eventually going to come to you with analytics data, and you're going to need to be able to understand it to act on it. Student and indie developers aren't exempt, either: at some point you'll find yourself looking over data in reports, in industry news, and in feedback from your fans and your playtests. Understanding the basic framework of analytics empowers you to determine for yourself what the value of this information really is, and how it can be used improve your design process. Luckily, Epic Games senior designer Jim Brown walked through that process and offered an easy-to-grasp rundown of what analytics data is valuable to a game designer in an excellent talk given at GDC Europe earlier this year. It's a remarkably informative talk peppered with actual examples from Epic's work on Fortnite that should prove informative for all developers, at companies large and small. The free video (embedded above) of 'The Importance of Everything: A Crash Course in Design-Related Analytics' is now available to watch here on the GDC Vault.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech