Delivered at Casual Connect Europe 2016
Building on the social constructs and shared spaces design framework from his 2015 Casual Connect presentation, in this session, Seyler will illustrate multiple modes of delivering novelty to players, and how these modes capture and retain players' attention. Attendees will also take away an easy-to-apply set of framework for designing games around these different modes and using them to accommodate the preferences of multiple player archetypes. Applied correctly, this framework will allow designers to either expand the addressable audience for their game, or to design with greater appeal to a well understood target audience.
2. BRETT SEYLER
Founder & CEO
Previously:
General Manager at Unity Technologies
General Manager at GarageGames
F2P Economist / Consultant at Upsight (and elsewhere)
Was titled “wisdom of the crowd” MMO design in the mobile era… you’re not at the wrong talk, you’re just going to get a better one
A persistent, dynamic world full of thousands of other players, and challenges for multiple modes of play
Classic guns vs. butter strategy & management, designed from the ground up to be a complete mobile MMO.
I'm also a investor with bets on several exciting companies in the space.
Not better looking.
Not more innovative.
BETTER. Meaning more people want to play, and play for longer periods of time (measured not in hours, days or weeks, but months and years).
This is a framework I developed from years of broadly considering what makes people want to play games, and keep playing some games more than others.
Just a note that some of this is explored in more detail in the “Strong Social Constructs” talk I did last year at MGF and Casual Connect
The big list
IP / Fiction
Even if we don’t know anything about the way this game played, what skills were available, how deep it was, how *in* the action you felt, how much freedom you’d have, or whether anyone else in the world was playing with you, there’s something about this fantasy and mystery that we want to explore.
SKILLS / MASTERY
The feeling of executing a difficult thing well, or simply building skill in a difficult to master thing, is incredibly satisfying for humans. It doesn’t have to be fast and tactical either. Chess players continue to invest their time and energy in what is, even for most high level players, often a very slow, thoughtful game.
The big list
DEPTH
The appeal of depth to gamers is not universal, but for many, the appearance of endless options and content creates the desire to continue investment of time and energy, seeking similarly novel experiences.
The big list
IMMERSION
The latest wave of innovation in games is a focus on this dimension of novelty. Without any interaction with the world, opportunity to build skill, apparent depth or variety in experience, or connection to other players, the convincing illusion of being somewhere else is undoubtedly novel.
The big list
AGENCY
The freedom to perform nearly any action a player can imagine, whether violent, explorative, or socially taboo is deeply novel for obvious reasons – most of these experiences are simply not available to us in real life.
The big list
CONNECTION
While many of like to escape our day-to-day experience in games, for most of us,
Noteworthy point: we haven’t looked at any mobile games delivering standout novelty. Why?
Right now, our diagonal axis pretty much looks like immersion (least to greatest). But isn’t immersion a good thing?
YES! But right now, it’s inconvenient and expensive. As such, our TAM (largest to smallest) follows a similar curve, approximately inversely proportional to immersion.
Right now, our diagonal axis pretty much looks like immersion (least to greatest). But isn’t immersion a good thing?
YES! But right now, it’s inconvenient and expensive. As such, our TAM (largest to smallest) follows a similar curve, approximately inversely proportional to immersion.
EASY = runs on hardware you already have, and is a highly interruptible experience
INCONVENIENT = requires dedicated hardware / space and is socially awkward / alienating
FREE = novel experiences in this dimension are readily available at no cost
COSTLY = novel experiences in this dimension require significant consumer investment
EASY = runs on hardware you already have, and is a highly interruptible experience
INCONVENIENT = requires dedicated hardware / space and is socially awkward / alienating
FREE = novel experiences in this dimension are readily available at no cost
COSTLY = novel experiences in this dimension require significant consumer investment
Unless you’re gung ho on investing in immersion and hoping cost & convenience arrive in time to find a market, let’s look at what happens when we consider slicing by the three most mature platforms at present mobile / PC / console
Unless you’re gung ho on investing in immersion and hoping cost & convenience arrive in time to find a market, let’s look at what happens when we consider slicing by the three most mature platforms at present mobile / PC / console