Want to take you place amongst the great designers in the video game industry?
This is the first video in a two part series where we are going to show you how to properly
design a video game.
After watching this first video you will know how to do the right research so that you can
properly evaluate a market opportunity and differentiate your vision.
This is the same design research process that we’ve observed at big gaming studios
- and we’ve seen designers use this methodology
to build momentum and support for their ideas in the most competitive of industry studios.
We are Ask GameDev, and this is How to design a video game
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So you probably have a rough idea for a game that you think has promise.
You probably also have some high-level goals for your game - maybe you want to make money,
or show a competency, or maybe you just want to learn from development.
But before you start investing a lot of time and effort into that idea, the first step
is to do a comprehensive research of the market and products in that space to determine if
the concept and opportunity really has merit.
In this video will show you a framework used by the professionals - but this framework
is meant to be a guide only.
You’ll definitely want to adjust it to meet the specific needs of your game.
As a starting point you should spend some time looking at the different game stores
for insights on the products in the genre you are considering.
This would be places like Steam, the App Store and Google Play, the different console stores,
and any other indie or geographically relevant stores.
You’ll also want to review industry blogs and content sites that will provide good additional
insights on the market and competing products - like Gamasutra, Polygon, or Rock Paper Shotgun.
But these are all suggestions
So let's go through some typical questions that you may want to answer.
We will start with defining the market for your title.
Typical questions you will want to answer are:
How big is the market for your game?
Is this an appealing market?
Try to find sales numbers for existing titles to see how big the opportunity really is and
whether it is in line with what you want to accomplish.
What are the characteristics of primary and/or secondary consumers of this type of game?
Are these hard-core or casual gamers?
You’ll want to make sure your design vision aligns with the expectations of these users.
What platforms are popular with your genre of game.
Do titles often exist cross-platform?
Or are they usually tied to one platform only?
You will want to ensure that you have the skill-set necessary to develop for the required
platforms.
Does marketing and promotion appear to have a large impact on sales?
Do you have the promotional capabilities or budget to compete?
Many genres are crowded and you’ll want to know that you can reasonably promote your
title if you need to stand out.
Do successful titles in your space have additional release opportunities?
Are sequels commonplace?
Or additional DLC?
You may want to leave your story design open for sequels if the market allows it
Who are the typical influencers for these types of games are where do they hang out
online?
Is the game genre popular with streamers?
You may want to design components of your game to entice these influencers to check
out your game.
Competitor Research
Next take a look at the products in the your market.
Specifically, try to find out:
What feature sets do the incumbent products have?
What are must-haves features?
Can you meet those consumer expectations with the time or budget that you have?
Be realistic about what you can achieve and how you can differentiate.
Who competes in this space?
What size development team builds these type of games?
What capabilities do those teams typically have?
Knowing this information might inform whether you are underestimating the work involved
in developing this type of game.
What are the barriers to market entry?
Look at the incumbents - Do the teams that build these games usually enter this market
with modest offerings?
Does having a custom game engine have value?
This might indicate that it takes multiple releases to build the team and technology
to be a strong competitor in this market.
What price point can you charge?
Are their freemium or premium titles in the space?
Knowing what you can charge and how you plan make money is a critical part of your plan.
We recently made a detailed video on the different ways you can make money from games - check
it out with the link above.
What are the metacritic ranges for titles in your space?
How does metacritic tie to sales?
Is it reasonable to think you can hit the metacritic rating necessary for success?
Knowing the quality expectations of you target consumers should inform your final design
plan and feature set.
Where is innovation happening In this space?
Can an innovation from another gaming genre be applied here in a way that’s meaningful?
Use these insights to help differentiate your feature set.
Are mods popular in your space?
Foresight into how player will interact with your game regarding customization can be hugely
valuable.
Do Intellectual property licenses matter?
Are there examples in the niche of publishers copying existing games only to put a license
on top of the design?
Presence of high-end licenses can sometime indicate a very competitive market that might
not be appropriate for indie efforts.
This list is by no means exhaustive - you’ll need to refine your research questions that
need answering based on your specific genre and target market.
If we have missed any specific research topics - please go down to the comments below and
let your fellows viewers know what we’ve missed!
Making Sense of the Data
Once you have compiled all of this data, you will need to review the results in totality
and ask yourself the hard questions - Can you realistically compete in this space?
How can you position your game so that you stand out?
Can you meet your specific goals given what you have learned?
There a countless ways to review the data, but we have seen a few specific models that
have shown merit.
With Market characteristics, we like to list out the market conditions with a measurement
system that defines the importance and attractiveness of the each characteristic.
This way you can assign a general grade to a market that can then be compared to others.
For example, you might use a simple three point scale for importance - three being most
important and one being least important, and a similar three point scale for attractiveness
- one being most attractive and three being least attractive.
You then list out the most important market characteristics for your targeted genre - and
as an example let’s say, 1) market size, 2) consumer expectations, and 3) marketing/promotional
requirements.
You then grade these characteristics on importance and attractiveness and then multiply the outcomes.
You can sum up the values for an overall grade that then can be compared to others market
where assessed under the same characters.
The point scale and the market attributes are obviously subjective and the data can
be swayed easily - but the value out of this exercise isn’t the specific grade for each
market, but that it forces you to think about how to compare markets, their relative characteristics,
and what really matters in each.
So what do you think?
When you are evaluating a market - what do you think are the most important items to
consider?
Take a moment to look at the poll here and let us know what you think is most important
attributes in making a decision.
In regards to product characteristics, we like to visualize the different players in
2-axis format.
There are many ways to do this, but we like to compare two attributes and plot the market
competitors to promote thought about how to differentiate your product.
For example, we might compare price on the Y-Axis vs feature set depth on the x-axis.
High cost products with deep feature sets would be over here on the top right, with
shallow products at a lower price point over here on the bottom left.
You can then position your title based on how you think you want to differentiate.
This modelling process is meant to be repeated many times with different axis attributes
to help determine which ones make the most sense for your specific situation.
You could try developer size vs feature set, or art style vs user base - the possibilities
are somewhat endless and should be customized to what matters in your niche.
The value here is that this process forces you to think about how to position your products
versus other games in your space.
If after collecting and reviewing your market data you believe you want to move forward
with you design - the next step is to get specific about what you want to build!
We will cover this deep topic in part 2 of this video series: How to create a design.
Thanks for watching - and let us know in the comments what additional pieces of research
should your fellow viewers look for when evaluating a design idea?
Don’t hold back - the viewer community needs your opinion!
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