Seaport - Using data to design onboarding
1 like172 views
1. The document discusses using data to improve the onboarding experience for players in a game. It describes collecting insights from players and identifying problems such as low ship purchases and dispatch rates. 2. Various solutions are proposed to address problems like unclear interactions and exploration bottlenecks, such as adding tooltips, changing game rules, and new content. 3. An A/B test was run comparing a "guide" mechanic to trigger tutorials versus no tutorial, finding the guide significantly improved key metrics like ships dispatched after purchase. The focus is on intuitive design over perfect tutorials.
Seaport - Using data to design onboarding
- 1. Using DATA to design onboarding Martin Jurasek - PIxel Federation
- 7. v LONG SAIL AHEAD OF US
- 10. Only 56% players purchased ship Only 69% of purchased ships were dispatched 81% of players didn’t get to exploring. That sucks. v 2. IDENTIFY PROBLEMS
- 11. BUYING SHIPS Problem: Lof of players don’t buy the ship. 3. FIX THE BOTTLENECKS
- 12. DISPATCHING SHIPS Problem: Lof of players don’t buy the ship. Real problem: If players buy the ship, they still do not use them. 3. FIX THE BOTTLENECKS zZz zZz zZz
- 13. TODAY’s Takeaway: Game Designers shouldn't just aim to design perfect tutorials. Instead, the focus should be on designing a perfectly intuitive and engaging environment. Tutorials are only one of the available tools in the quiver to achieve, the perfect onboarding experience.
- 14. TODAY’s Takeaway: tl;dr Tutorial is only one of the tools for player’s onboarding experience
- 17. VERIFY player’s understanding of mechanics
- 19. 1. IMPROVe CLARITY. STEP BY STEP
- 20. 1. NEW ICON.
- 21. UX METHODS - QUALITATIVE DATA ICON LABELING!
- 22. SMALL DETAILS MATTER! Task: “Ok, let’s ask our art to design new icons…” Q: But how do we know if those new icons are going to be better? A: We don’t. But we can argue about that icon design all day long and we still won’t come to a conclusion. NEW ICON
- 23. ICON LABELING test - OUR process 1. Create more designs for testing 2. Prepare questionnaire 3. Do the PILOT test! 4. Ask for help from your colleagues - community management/people who are in touch with community 5. Test 6. Evaluate 7. Implement
- 24. ICON LABELING test - OUR process This was done in two days as one small activity, so there wasn’t any collision with production process.
- 27. If you Want your player to do something, tell him In order to support the player’s actions we used “forced” tooltips. At the beginning of the game, the player is shown various tooltips. Tooltips are placed to help him understand our game environment better.
- 28. TEXT is temporarily shown every time a new player visits the map
- 30. 3. Don’t be afraid To change GD rules
- 31. New GD rule: If player owns in total less ships than his capacity of ship fleet, he is not able to send ship to docks. If needed, change GD RULES
- 33. 4. NEW CONTENT Sorry SANTA MARIA LONG LIVE LE GRACE!
- 34. Onboarding Preco sme nic nemali? New Ship! Sorry Santa Maria Limited offer to 1 vessel. Le Grace is 5 star ship. That means player is not able to upgrade it. Therefore cognitive overload is reduced
- 37. 5. WE’re DONE AND READY FOR SAIL!
- 39. ???
- 40. ??? ???
- 41. ??? ??? ???
- 42. Old rule - “Realistic” Once the player buys a new ship and has empty slots in his fleet, purchased ship strats sail to the port from the right side of the screen New rule - “Usable” Once the player buys a new ship and has empty slots in his fleet, purchased ship shows immediately in the port Usability > 100% accurate Realism
- 43. ??? Small change = difference of +-30 seconds OLD NEW
- 44. Unclear Interaction 69% of purchased ships were sent
- 46. Many MANY MORE DETAILS improving FTUE Upgrade mark Retention chest zZz - to highlight idle production
- 47. Sawmill PRODUCTION Problem: Based on playtestcloud testing and our data we have discovered that players weren’t producing any materials in their sawmill. Solutions: 1. Start game with finished production 2. Create support animation 3. Add “zZz” mark to highlight idle production
- 48. Sawmill PRODUCTION 1. Start game with finished production Didn’t help at all 2. Use support animation Helped a bit, but players didn’t restart production 3. Add “zZz” badge to highlight idle production “zZz” badge from boats didn’t work. Players found it distracting and we had to go with more subtle design
- 49. ● Reduce travel time to Small Town -> more interaction with ships ● Redesigned map areas to create more exploration zones -> more mini goals for player ● Moved exploring to earlier stages of the game -> early game curiosity ● Add treasure chest destinations on the map -> More rewarding experience FIXING EXPLORATIOn
- 51. NO GUIDE WITH GUIDE
- 52. And where is that tutorial? Hello? v SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
- 53. TODAY’s Takeaway: tl;dr Tutorial is only one of the tools for player’s onboarding experience
- 54. now for “tutorial” Our recipe: GUIDE mechanic NPC triggered by various events at the beginning of the game. Mechanic is robust and usable in later stages of the game as well.
- 55. GUIDE’s purpose: 1. Support and clarify 2. Force player to do something now for “tutorial”
- 56. TUTORIAL - OUR RECipe Feedback collected via playtestcloud 5 rounds of iterations
- 57. GUIDE LAUNCH -> A/B TEST
- 58. NO GUIDE WITH GUIDE
- 62. WITHOUT GUIDE 85% 96% WITH GUIDE v SHIPS DISPATCHED AFTER PURCHASE
- 63. THANK YOU!
- 64. QUESTIONS? MARTIN JURASEK UX Game Designer mjurasek@pixelfederation.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jurasekmartin www.pixelfederation.com