Archive for design
20 February, 2016 at 5:58 am · Filed under design, publishing, quote, research
- You Didn’t Understand The Problem You Were Solving
- You Asked Your Friends What They Thought
- You Listened To Users Instead Of Watching Them
- You Didn’t Test Your Riskiest Assumption
- You Had A “Bob The Builder” Mentality
“…Sharon says it’s as simple as validating, or invalidating, three core pieces of the plan: The problem (Is the app solving a problem people care about?), the market (Are there enough people who have this problem?), and the product (Is our product solving this problem for this market?).
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3033092/googles-6-reasons-why-nobody-uses-your-app
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9 August, 2015 at 10:18 pm · Filed under design, publishing, quote
Rule one has two parts:
a. the customer is always right
b. if that’s not true, it’s unlikely that this person will remain your customer.
If you need to explain to a customer that he’s wrong, that everyone else has no problem, that you have tons of happy customers who were able to successfully read the instructions, that he’s not smart enough or persistent enough or handsome enough to be your customer, you might be right. But if you are, part b kicks in and you’ve lost him.
If you find yourself litigating, debating, arguing and most of all, proving your point, you’ve forgotten something vital: people have a choice, and they rarely choose to do business with someone who insists that they are wrong.
By all means, fire the customers who aren’t worth the time and the trouble. But understand that the moment you insist the customer is wrong, you’ve just started the firing process.
PS here’s a great way around this problem: Make sure that the instruction manual, the website and the tech support are so clear, so patient and so generous that customers don’t find themselves being wrong.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/07/when-in-doubt-re-read-rule-one.html
Not everyone who talks about projects are customers (as defined by them having spend money on the product), however they have an impact on brand, community and customers. Understanding how you deal with the customers & community around a brand is a big deal to live service products.
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9 August, 2015 at 10:15 pm · Filed under design, storytelling
Mostly in the context of telling stories for children on the fly, good advice for general storytelling;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-ambrose/how-to-tell-an-enchanting_b_7883932.html
1. Begin with a provocative set-up
2. Explain how something happens, either to the main character or the environment
3. In one or two sentences, tell how the plot thickens. The stakes are raised when tension appears
4. Mentally analyze the reaction of the audience and adjust accordingly. If the listeners aren’t engaged by this time, strengthen the narrative
5. Build a vision of a scene that involves the senses: sight, sound, taste, vision, and touch
6. Weave a climax that produces an “aha” moment for the audience
7. End when the story is resolved
8. Record your story. To improve your storytelling abilities, record yourself reciting an original fable
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5 March, 2015 at 9:39 pm · Filed under design ·Tagged gdc, tools
- Erase and rewind – manage your technical debt as you go along rather than between releases.
- Reduce iteration times – count loops through workflow and measure the times to calculate ROI
- Customize for your needs
- Brand your tools – encourages investment and builds integrity to your tools. Add a little polish and fun.
- Celebrate your victories
Ubisoft music tools developers GDC15
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3 March, 2015 at 12:41 am · Filed under design, publishing ·Tagged quote
New ideas need audiences like flowers need bees. No matter how bright and colorful, they will die unless others work to spread them.
Simon Sinek
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26 February, 2015 at 5:03 pm · Filed under design, publishing ·Tagged free to play, monetization
“… you don’t have to trick them…
It’s not like people don’t want to spend money, they want to spend money on things that they love and they want to be charged honestly.
They don’t want to be like ‘I’ve run out of energy?’ They want to feel like it’s not monetisation based on they need to move forward, it’s monetisation based ‘I want to do this.’ When you move from need based monetisation to want based monetisation you think about things differently as a user, you don’t begrudge spending the money. I think in Japan they’re much further along that curve.”
Neil Young
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-02-26-ngmoco-founders-return-to-games
People want to spend money on the things that they love. Things that meet their needs, that entertain them and on things that feel valuable to them.
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25 February, 2015 at 9:47 pm · Filed under design ·Tagged dice, rpg
Role-playing games are thing we do to craft story or celebrate an idea or IP or to enjoy triumph — all things that are emotional at their core.
Ryan Macklin
http://ryanmacklin.com/2011/10/mechanics-rational-emotional-brains/
Rolling dice is an interesting beat in the flow of a game. It can be heavily over used, or under rewarded or penalized to make a moment impactful. Rolling dice has an element of anticipation, which might not be an emotion like fear or joy, but can certainly heighten other existing emotions.
The key is to make the dice rolling moment something additive to the atmosphere rather than toxic. Ryan refers to ‘toxic emotional beats’ – which dice could be if they don’t become part of the narrative.
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25 February, 2015 at 6:56 pm · Filed under design, publishing ·Tagged app store, curation
“Developers put so much work into their games, but they should put as much time and energy and love into selling the game as they do building the game.”
Michael Ehrenberg, Mobile Gaming USA 2014
“He went on to explain that the App Store is “100 percent hand-curated,” and when it comes to App Store Managers “You can’t pay them off or talk to them, they are the sole keyholders for featuring games.” Apple, he explained, are extremely sensitive about how their products look from the outside. Creating a high quality gameplay experience with fluid monetization and utilizing new and exciting features is the best way of getting noticed.
Slightly contradictory points; put more effort in to selling your games and create a great game experience and it will be featured… while contradictory, probably good advice on both counts.
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25 February, 2015 at 6:51 pm · Filed under design ·Tagged monetization, rpg
“Sheppard went on to explain some of the mechanics payers value. “The RPG user cares a lot about advancing through something, whether it’s advancing through a character tree or advancing through a universe or a storyline. They’ll often pay to advance through that storyline. Then there’s also people paying to participate in something that’s of limited duration. Whether it’s a sale or a promo, which is the more commonly understood concept, or an event like a boss raid…
Mobile Gaming USA
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31 October, 2014 at 3:48 pm · Filed under design ·Tagged marketing, process
There may be very few truly original or unique new ideas in the world. There are many more possibilities if you look at the world with your worldview, perspective and experience.
The people who stick with it know that there is a place where truly great ideas, writing, design, products, services, platforms and innovations are born, if only we would allow ourselves to tap into them sooner and more often. Everything truly great is inspired by our own stories and experiences—our unique worldviews.
http://thestoryoftelling.com/how-everything-truly-great-inspired/
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27 August, 2014 at 2:17 am · Filed under design
Thinking about the possible roles in multiplayer games. Player’s will need to organize, recruit and remind players of their goals etc. This matches the real world role of a whip.
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party’s “enforcers,” who typically offer inducements and threaten party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy.
A whip’s role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken. The usage comes from the hunting term “whipping in,” i.e. preventing hounds from wandering away from the pack. In the United States there are legislatures at the local (city councils, town councils, county boards, etc.), state, and federal levels. The federal legislature (Congress), state legislatures, and many county and city legisltive bodies are divided along party lines and have whips
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16 July, 2014 at 3:41 pm · Filed under design, publishing, quote
* You Didn’t Understand The Problem You Were Solving
* You Asked Your Friends What They Thought
* You Listened To Users Instead Of Watching Them
* You Didn’t Test Your Riskiest Assumption
* You Had A “Bob The Builder” Mentality
“…Sharon says it’s as simple as validating, or invalidating, three core pieces of the plan: The problem (Is the app solving a problem people care about?), the market (Are there enough people who have this problem?), and the product (Is our product solving this problem for this market?).
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23 May, 2014 at 11:50 pm · Filed under design ·Tagged design
Peter Molyneux’s definition of god games
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snippets of cloud 