Designing with Gamification: Tips for Creating Fun & Engaging User Experiences
- 1. Designing with Gamification Tips for creating fun and engaging experiences
- 3. Jeff Steffgen Director of Product at mLevel (game-based e-learning platform) Understanding Gamification
- 4. • Chicago-based SaaS start-up • Focused on game-based enterprise eLearning • No-code game development, unique content generation, instant deployment • Multi-platform, using Unity3D • Web-based admin site for simple mission creation
- 5. Level 1 Understand Gamification Level 2 Know the Audience Level 3 Think like a Game Designer Level 4 Planning for Gamification End-goal Apply Gamification into your own user experiences after completing all 5 ranks Your Mission…
- 6. Understanding Gamification Level 1 Start your Gamification training by learning the basics…
- 7. Meaningful Play Use of game mechanics applied in a non-gaming context Understanding Gamification
- 8. Goals • Sticky, viral and engaging • Make mundane tasks fun • Drive specific user behaviors Understanding Gamification
- 9. Example: Hot Lava Game
- 10. Example: Kids Star Chart
- 12. Example: Urinal Fly Sticker
- 13. Game ≠ Play Understanding Gamification
- 14. Play Unstructured, flexible & freeform. Driven by imagination. Understanding Gamification fun$
- 15. Understanding Gamification WIN$Game Structured, rigid, stimulating & focused. Driven by rules.
- 16. Understanding Gamification Work already has rules… Defining a win condition is all that is needed to make it a game.
- 17. Congrats! You’ve successfully completed Level 1 Level Up!
- 18. Continue your Gamification training by gathering intelligence about your target audience… Know the Audience Level 2
- 19. Killers Winning, rank & direct peer- to-peer competition Engaged by: Leaderboards & Rankings Achievers Attaining status & quickly completing pre-set goals Engaged by: Achievements & ToDo’s Socializers Socializing & developing a friends/contacts network Engaged by: Newsfeeds, Friend Lists, Chat Explorers Exploring and discovering the unknown Engaged by: Achieving their own goals Know the Audience Bartle’s Player Types
- 20. Know the Audience Player Type Actions Acting Interacting GameSpace Players Killers' Achievers) Socializers+ Explorers)
- 21. Know the Audience Things Guys Like in Games Mastery Doesn’t need meaning, just challenge Competition Love to prove we are the best Destruction We like destroying things — a lot! Spatial Puzzles Especially puzzles navigating 3D spaces Trial and Error Men hate reading instructions!
- 22. Know the Audience Things Girls Like in Games Emotion Exploring richness of human emotion Real World Prefer games that connect meaningfully Nurturing Relationships & healing others (vs. winning) Dialog & Verbal Puzzles Love books & cross-word puzzles Learning by Example Appreciate tutorials that lead step-by-step
- 23. Know the Audience Age Demographics Games with parental guidance Age of reason Read, make decisions & solve problems Age of obsession Brain growth & passion Boys: Competition & mastery Girls: Real-world issues & communications Firmly establish tastes for entertainment & games Casual gamers due to families; hardcore gamers are very influential Casual gamers due to career and families; seek family play Empty nesters with lots of time to play games; enjoy social components 4"6$ 7"9$ 10#13% 13#18% 18#24& 25#35% 36#50& 50+$
- 24. Level 2 completed! Finish 1 more level to see gamification examples… Level Up!
- 25. Think Like a Game Designer Level 3 Learn about game theory to create successful gamification
- 26. Know the Audience Flow Theory Anxiety! Boredom! Flow% Channel% Low! High! Challenges! Low! High!Skills!
- 27. Basic Elements of Game Design Think Like a Game Designer Aesthe&cs! Technology! Mechanics! Story! Story Linear or branching Mechanics Procedures and rules Aesthetics How it looks, sounds & feels Technology High tech, materials or interactions
- 28. Think Like a Game Designer Game Mechanics • The Game Space • Objects, Attributes & States • Actions • Rules • Skills • Chance & Surprise
- 29. Think Like a Game Designer The Game Space Defines spaces that can exist in a game and how those places are related to one another
- 30. Think Like a Game Designer Objects, Attributes & States Objects are anything that can be seen or manipulated in the game space (characters, tokens, props, etc) Pac$Man' Power' Pellet' Inky' Pellets'
- 31. Pac$Man' Moves& Is&Yellow& Eats&Objects& Can&Die& Power' Pellet' Strategically&Placed& White,&Round&&&Large& Enables&PowerCUp& ' Inky' Moves& Is&Blue& Kills&PacCMan& Can&Go&to&Cage& ' Pellets' StaIc&PosiIon,&Fills&the&Maze& White,&Round&&&Small& Is&Worth&Points& ' Think Like a Game Designer Objects, Attributes & States Objects have Attributes such as the current position in the game space, or other categories of information
- 32. Think Like a Game Designer Objects, Attributes & States Each Attribute’s current State can be static or dynamic, as shown in the classic Pac-Man example above
- 33. Think Like a Game Designer Actions (Operative) Operative Actions are base actions that a player can take in the game space (think VERBS) Climb&Up& Duck/Climb&Down/" Enter&Warp&Tube& Move& Le:& Move& Right& Jump/" Swim&Up& Dash/Throw&
- 34. Think Like a Game Designer Actions (Resultant) Resultant Actions are strategic actions that use operative actions (or a combination of them) to achieve a goal Jump%+% % Land%on%a% mushroom% % =%Kills%it% Jump%+% % Hit%brick% % =%Coins% Jump%+% % Hit%?%Box% % =%Power%up% Jump%+% % Land%on%Yoshi% % =%Ride%
- 35. Think Like a Game Designer Rules Defines the space, objects, consequences & constraints of actions, and the overall goals of the game Concrete & Understandable Achievable Goal Rewarding & Fun
- 36. Think Like a Game Designer Skills Needed Define various types of skills (both real & virtual) within the game needed to engage your audience Physical)) • Strength( • Dexterity( • Coordina1on( • Physical( Endurance(! Mental) • Memory( • Observa1on( • Puzzles( • Problem( Solving! Social) • Reading( Opponents( • Teamwork( • Leadership( • Banter(
- 37. Think Like a Game Designer Chance & Luck Consider interactions with other mechanics to create uncertainty & surprise
- 38. Excellent work, you’ve finished Level 3! Level Up!
- 39. Planning for Gamification Level 4 Examples of applying gamification into your business
- 40. Business Needs How can we apply these theories and mechanics into business products, processes & services? Planning for Gamification
- 41. Step 1: Define Users & Goal Planning for Gamification
- 42. Know your Audience • What are their needs? • Employees v. Customers • What’s the primary playing style? • What metrics do they care about? • Achievement v. Enjoyment • Structure v. Freedom • Self interest v. Social interest Planning for Gamification
- 43. Define your Goal • Drive specific user behaviors • Create brand loyalty • Re-engineer a daily process to make it more efficient & engaging • Inject fun into mundane tasks • Create competition Planning for Gamification
- 44. Step 2: Use Mechanics that Work Planning for Gamification
- 45. 3 types of gamification worth pursuing in a business context: Validation Completion Prizes & Rewards Planning for Gamification
- 46. Planning for Gamification Validation A strong driver of long-term, quality engagement that forms communities and allows users to share & express
- 47. Planning for Gamification Completion Guide user progression and persuade useful contributions to enhance the experience for themselves and others
- 48. Planning for Gamification Prizes & Rewards Reward users with upgraded status, exclusive access, additional power (decision/budget) and money, gifts or trips
- 49. Tips for Success • Provide a reason to play and ways to feel progression/ accomplishment • Make sure players understand the goal and why they should play • Let players set their own goals, or suggest goals to motivate mastery • Use global goals to inspire collaboration and teamwork Planning for Gamification
- 50. Step 3: Analyze the Data Planning for Gamification
- 51. Metrics are important… • Performance & player behavior • Set goals & have tools in place to gauge your progress • Pinpoint where users drop out and where they have the most fun • Use this data to optimize the experience — play test & iterate! Planning for Gamification
- 52. Level 4 completed. Let’s see how mLevel uses gamification elements… Almost Finished!
- 54. mLevel Examples Unlocking & Progression
- 55. mLevel Examples Use of Time & Levels
- 56. mLevel Examples Freedom of Choice
- 57. mLevel Examples Use of PLB
- 58. mLevel Examples Challenges & Social
- 59. mLevel Examples Guides & Tutorials
- 60. mLevel Examples Feedback & Stats