d esigning for n ew a udiences with a focus on shared worlds and social networking
TRANSCRIPT
DESIGNING FOR NEW AUDIENCES
with a focus on shared worlds and social networking
NO LONGER A SOLITARY ENDEAVOR
Competition and Cooperation: Goals give players common points of reference to share or
contest.
Building Community: Impetus to returnto the game or environment.
Belonging and Identity: A gamer’s mostvaluable takeaway is other gamers.
Shared Worlds: What I see is what you see.
EXAMPLES:WELL-DESIGNED FOR NEW AUDIENCES Braid Bioshock
+ Immersive artwork, sound, and music design
+ Emotional storyline that provokes response
+ Simple-to-master control+ Intriguing gameplay beyond the run-
jump-shoot of stock platformers+ Logic puzzles mixed in with platform
play+ Compellingly strange but not off-
putting world suggested in broad strokes and story context.
+ Just enough story, and if you don’t want it, you can ignore it
+ Sympathetic protagonist+ Exciting, original world design+ Integrates minigames well and
believably+ Easy to control± Boy’s club gameplay
EXAMPLES:ALMOST THERE… Puzzle Quest Aurora Feint
+ Complex but casual puzzle-play married to a fun RPG environment
+ Addictive+ Competitive online play- Derivative world and story- Clunky story interface
+ Puzzle-play as resource gathering+ Massively multiplayer builds
community- Spotty tutorial- No overview of scope — don’t
know what I’ll be doing past the obvious
SMART DESIGN
Create a feeling of belonging and pride. Community tools Concurrent users Content is key — let the
player do it and create it.
Know who you’re designing for. My Little Pony: The perfect
game? Lineage did poorly in the US —
everyone wants to be a prince.
SMART DESIGN
Reduce barriers to entry. More connections increases
the value of the network. Make it easy for players to
make and keep in contact with friends.
New Player Experience Useful tutorials Optional participation Reward learning
SMART DESIGN
You’re not competing against your competitors at launch, you’re competing against them now. LOTRO, AoC, WAR, Tabula Rasa
Which means you’re competing with their... Tools UI Add-ons NPE