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TIGSource ForumsCommunityTownhallForum IssuesArchived subforums (read only)Creative[Available] Gaming Psychology - the feelings behind your game
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Author Topic: [Available] Gaming Psychology - the feelings behind your game  (Read 1281 times)
wzol
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« on: February 14, 2016, 03:05:49 AM »

The background

You can be a talented designer, developer, producer, but sometimes your product just misses the target audience and won't be successful. There are negative reviews, small number of downloads, even refund requests. The users just don't like what you have created in months or even in years: you had a great game in your mind, and now it seems, that something somewhere went wrong.

During the development process it is very important that you gather as much feedback as possible: from professionals, from focus groups, from friends - the more the better. This not only will give you power to continue, but also will help ensuring you that what you are doing is right.

Gaming psychology is often missed during the early stages, and even some games are released without any consulting at all. Is it possible that these games will be successful? Of course. There are many times when the project manager, producer, lead developer or the whole team can feel what is right, and what should be avoided, changed or dropped. But the bigger the project, the bigger the risk, and the bigger will be the damage if they just made a game for themselves or created something that the users won't enjoy - and pay for.

So what kind of answers can you expect from me?

In short, it is all about feelings, so my primary goal is to give you all the information about what will make the player feel good or bad.

At early alpha or beta stages:
- the stage of the challenge - reward balance
- is the concept clear
- do the goals make sense
- player motivation status (short mid and long term)
- is a feature unique or just makes the gameplay complicated
- are there any, or which are the misguiding UI elements
- overall game atmosphere, theme consistency
- disturbing, confusing elements (graphic, level, sound, mechanics)

After release:
- why they don't play the way they should
- what makes them give up
- what annoys them
- how can they not understand/see/use a feature
- when do they quit (and get a refund)
- why is a similar game more fun to play

Individuals, small groups and studios both welcome, and I love to and need to hear your imagination of the final game, what you feel is the most important part of it, what is your vision of the player's experience.

The type of information, suggestion, feedback you can get: psychological ("what would the gamer think"), story-, UI-, graphic-, gameplay mechanics related suggestions, improvement ideas, marketing solutions.

You can contact me with almost any type of game (I mostly like RPGs, also recently there are many dungeon crawler games), but be prepared that I'll be "honest" if you ask me about a Flappy Bird clone. Please keep in mind that paid requests have priority.

Email - [email protected] - and later Skype contact is preferred, and all the shared informations will be kept confidential.

Good luck with your game! Smiley
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Kayzaks
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« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2016, 09:15:17 AM »

That's a very cool service you provide! Definitely something to keep in mind down the line.

Is this a hobby you pursue or your full-time occupation?
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wzol
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« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2016, 10:07:50 AM »

I learned psychology, social psychology and found those topics, experiments, the strange (sometimes funny) reactions, feelings of our mind very interesting. But later I went to another direction: programming, design and marketing. I also was a project manager of four games, one web based and three coded in Unity.

That's when I found out how strongly these two worlds connect: like it is not much different that how many times you try to start your car in the morning, before you give up and take a cab or a bus, and how many times you try to kill a boss in a game, before you give up and play something else. And keeping this example how it changes your trial count (effort) if you just have to go to the shop, or you want to show your new car to your friends (motivation, "reward"). The same happens in a game, if you know that the reward is worth it (like an epic loot, or you are curious enough in what's next), than you likely to try again: give more effort.

So back to your question: beside this I have a full time job, this started as an interesting hobby, but turned into a very unique and very serious mission for me. I learn a lot from many people, I get to know lot of visions, and I'm also hope that they all profited from my suggestions, critics and ideas.
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lolpatrol
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« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2016, 02:07:46 AM »

I got a lot of quality and insightful feedback from wzol on a trailer for our game. It was much appreciated. Thanks.
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wzol
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« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2016, 03:36:25 AM »

You are welcome, I'm happy that I could help you Smiley
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iamagiantnerd
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« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2016, 07:03:35 AM »

Just wanted to chime in; wzol gave us some great feedback for your game, and I wanted to give him a ton of kudos for the time and care he took. It probably helped that he liked our game too Smiley

Thanks again!
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wzol
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« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2016, 12:33:20 PM »

You are welcome, and you are right, I really liked your game Smiley
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