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Tag: howto

Blue and red

Published by Paolo on 10/09/2024

Every business owner I engaged with in the last 5 years wanted to find a blue ocean. If you manage to find a blue ocean, they said, you can eventually make it. If you work in a red ocean, instead, is too risky.

But then I look at the history of every successful game out there, and also every successful product. I see that they didn’t find any ocean. They found a niche. And they found them also in red oceans.

An ocean is a deep, dark liquid full of mysteries. A niche is a calm, safe place made out with people. Isn’t that easier?

They should give the game for free

Published by Paolo on 04/09/2024

Wicked problems have nuances. How to get people’s attention and understand their motivation to play a certain game.

“The market is oversaturated“, yet I don’t have new games that I am hyped for right now… So the market is saturated for who, specifically?

Creating good free-to-play games means having a game with the biggest spend depth possible. Or that the game is so massive that sustains itself on (truly) micro-transactions. You either make a Witheout Survival or a Candy Crush Saga.

The latter is complicated nowadays because people learn and the market evolves. What had value before is not the same as today. People discovering casual games on a Facebook invitation are not the same as people who decide to install a game after watching a YouTube interstitial today.

That is why modern casual games (that work) rely a lot on ads. Their business is with ad networks, more than players’ wallets. And that is a complicated and also shady business, are you sure that your team is ready for that?

As I said, on the other end we have games with a big spend depth. These games are much more deep and complicated. They manage to create a gamified society, by pushing for regulars: players that play every single day. That’s the single most important KPI of all, if you ask me. In that case, and only in that case, the wealthier cohorts decide to spend high. And that makes your business grow for real.

Making free-to-play games is like making luxury goods. You should aim to the rich, if you want to have more chances. And to do that, you need a strong service.

When we give something for free, time becomes the currency with which people decide. It’s not just “give them for free, otherwise, they will not come“. If you are already thinking like that, you are on the wrong track: you are not believing in your own game.

You need to build something that makes you think “This is an incredibly amazing game, people will play this every day!“. And then, if you’re lucky, you will have a TOP Grossing game with high concurrency.

Pawtners Case first blockout

Published by Paolo on 29/08/2024

This week I have worked intensively on my indie game, Pawtners Case. You are a police dog and you have to help your colleagues to solve cases.

The first level I am prototyping is a medium one. The goal is straightforward, you need to reunite with your colleague, Agent Quinn, and escape a warehouse. There is a bomb to dismantle, too.

This week I have implemented a lot of features, and a blockout. You can see the result here:

For the blockout, I started by looking for references and setting up a moodboard:

Then, I proceeded to create a notepad where I defined my goals, the sequence, and so on. Later I created a map:

Then, in Unreal Engine I set up the level, iterating on the concept. I have to say that I find Unreal Engine versatile for a game designer. It has integrated a gameplay framework that makes things easier. I am happy with my choice!

LLMs and critical thinking

Published by Paolo on 22/08/2024

One of my duties as a game designer working in a team is to give feedback. Usually, I give it to other designers, artists, and writers. Giving feedback is hard, because when we’re asked for it we tend to look for the defects. Or, at least, I do.

The same is true when I am on the other side. I ask for feedback and I already know that 80% or more of that will be some critical opinion. I accept it, because I know how it is when I am on the other side of the table.

I have developed this interrogation to LLMs that helps me a lot with my designs. I provide the machine with my design goals and elements and ask it to do my job. The result is wrong, and average. I criticize it and find solutions.

The dialogue with a dummy entity helps with my critical thinking.

Reasons to go F2P

Published by Paolo on 13/08/2024

I am following a couple of projects lately that are tackling F2P that in my humble opinion is completely wrong. I won’t name the projects, because it’s not meaningful for this short conversation.

The first project makes the mistake of designing the game for addiction. They seem to be designing a shop, not a game. Well, while some early metrics could show promising that will be not the case for the long term. A F2P game is a game and the Player wants to get out something. It’s not a gambling game, but a true game. Some Player may experience addiction, but you shouldn’t design for that. I mean it’s also bad for the business.

The second project makes the mistake of designing the game F2P because its competitors are doing so. “Why should the Players want our game if it has a price and the other one is free?”. Well, in that case, I am sorry, but you are not really believe in your game. Players may choose to play your game instead of that other because they love it! Having a premium game against a service based one can be also an advantage according to the kind of audience.

When to go F2P?

You should think in F2P like a luxury service. You give your game for free to a mass of people because you create another layer for the wealthier part of your audience. You need to think in red carpets, VIP treatment.

If your service permit EVERYONE to have fun and a small part to be treated like Kings (including by winning), you can create a good F2P service. Otherwise it will be simply a race to the bottom.

The courage of logging out

Published by Paolo on 05/08/2024

I was watching this fantastic video, a little clip from an interview to one of my favorite singers.

Apart from the fact that I love when someone I consider a true talent shows humility and thanks his high school teachers, I think lots of things are transferable to my professional life.

The main one is that you have to truly dedicate yourself to something to become good at it. And this is not anything new, but in my life I have:

  • my family
  • my clients
  • my hobbies
  • this blog to maintain
  • a Substack where I teach game design in Italian
  • my LinkedIn account
  • a Reddit account

that means lots of distractions for becoming a true expert in something. That’s why the time in high school is so valuable now to me.

I wish myself the courage to log off and pursue my dreams, today.

Indies and F2P

Published by Paolo on 20/06/2024

As a freelancer I work with many realities, but never AAA games. I work mostly with indies and free-to-play companies. I had some blockchain gigs, too. They paid very well even if the business was confusing, to say the least.

A significant difference between free-to-play companies and indies is their definition of success.

F2P CEOs are looking to solve a formula: CAC < LTV. Customer Acquisition Cost less than LifeTime Value. Indie founders, instead, want to be able to make another game. Everyone would like to become rich of course.

On one side we have people thinking of something scalable, on the other teams who want to continue making games. They both can learn a lot from each other.

  • The importance of thinking in a business
  • The importance of having the right KPIs to measure results
  • The importance of working on something you love.

Squad Busters beat the “voluntary play” test

Published by Paolo on 03/06/2024

Squad Busters is a great toy, for me. I noticed this is a game led by game designers. I guess that they want to prove the long tail of this concept. And I hope they will because they are making something they like.

I bet that this game has passed the first very important test of any successful game. This is NOT the D1 retention that can be calculated in at least 4 different ways to trick stakeholders.

I call this test “voluntary play”: if the team is playing the game for pure pleasure, you have a promising game.

Only 5% of games pass this test. If more people would make this test we would have fewer meaningless games in the stores. We prefer to keep working on something uninteresting because “we should check CPI”, or “Let’s see D3“.

My question is: why should the people play that crap if you won’t?

Squad Busters has a strong hook, for sure. If its tail is high enough, building the mid-experience on vertical progress should be easier than following the old playbook. And if it doesn’t work, it’s still a game related to their brand. They could also try to expand to more platforms.

I would play this on Steam, for example.

And for mobile, I would add a new control system for people like me who prefer to swipe. A system based on giving directions to the squad by swiping on the screen. With points of interest for them to act with elements in the range.

Self-expression means self-discovery

Published by Paolo on 31/05/2024

A report I read days ago confirms self-expression as one of the trendy drivers of motivation to play a game. This is why the top games are always Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft. These games are masterpieces and they are champions of self-expression.

According to the MDA Framework, there is an aesthetic of games (which means an essence of a playful experience) called expression:

Expression: the Game as self-discovery.

[…]

Expression comes from dynamics that encourage individual users to leave their mark: systems for purchasing, building, or earning game items, for designing, constructing, and changing levels or worlds, and for creating personalized, unique characters.

Self-discovery is to provide tools to the Players to create their assets inside of the game. That is expensive because there are usability issues. It’s hard to prepare an economy on self-expression motivation.

It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!

When it comes to self-expression, in my experience there are 3 archetypes:

  1. Creators: they play games that empower them to create their own worlds. They want to turn their vision into reality.
  2. Storytellers: they need freedom to hold the protagonist’s actions in their hands.
  3. Belongers: they want to be part of a team and feel a sense of relatedness.

There are 3 main drivers: creation, emotional immersion, and independence.

For creation, ask yourself these questions:

  • How can I create a world of my own?
  • How can I use my imagination?
  • Can I explore the way I want?
  • Can I create items that I can call my own?
  • Can I explore new environments in other worlds?

For the emotional immersion, ask this:

  • Do I feel completely engrossed in the world/story?
  • Can I care for something or someone within the game?
  • Will I feel an emotional connection to the story?
  • Do I feel a sense of ownership?
  • Do I have an emotional response to an experience?
  • Do I feel like an integral part of the story?
  • Can I be someone else?

Finally, for independence ask yourself:

  • Can I create a different life I want to live?
  • By playing this game can I feel in control of something important in my life?
  • Can I have an experience and not be judged by the game?
  • Can I break the rules?
  • Can I do something I can’t do in real life?

That’s it! Now take Fortnite, Minecraft, or Roblox and answer the questions above. You can see they mark all the checks.

Games drive our work

Published by Paolo on 29/05/2024

I am reading breakdowns and opinions regarding the last game from Supercell, Squad Busters. I love to read those things, but the point of all that content (writing and video) is to sell the idea that something like that can be done following a concrete set of practices.

The real goal of the game design is to entertain people using a video game. A video game is an artifact made of technology and entertainment. When you and your team are working on a game, it’s the game itself that guides the whole thing.

You create a game one brick at a time, and you design its systems step-by-step. At some point, it becomes an entity that will inevitably drive your design choices. If the business side starts to impose the imitation of others, that’s a dead end sorry about that.

You can decide what the game should be about, of course. And it’s better to be something that comes from inside of you, somehow. You will not make the next Squad Busters, because you’re not Supercell.

It’s interesting to have a mental library of mechanisms and methods to work with. Your toolbox is important. But you need to put something truly out. There is no other way around, especially if you want to build something solid that lasts.

Nothing new can be predicted to be a success, you have to put yourself in it. And make the game drive your choices according to its evolution. In fact, following others using your intel will only drive you to failure.