On March 20, local time in the United States, Tim Nixon, designer of That Game Company, the developer of "Light Encounter", shared at GDC 2023 how to make seasonal events in the game full of emotions and monetize this feeling.
Tim Nixon is the director of online experiences for That Game Company, the developer of Light Encounter. He shared the design concept for the Light Encounter season event at the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC) on Monday.
"We're here right now at the Free Games Summit, so I'm sure most of you already know that events increase revenue and player activity. But I want to say more than that today. In-game activities can be a testing ground for concepts, playgrounds, and places to express your game or your company's core values. “
"And the core value of That Game Company is to touch people's hearts, and that's how the studio approaches gaming activities."
"We've found that focusing on the emotions players have during gameplay leads to a more impressive experience for players and their friends. And after that, the revenue element of our free-to-play game will come more naturally. Monetization opportunities for events happen naturally. “
What activities will make Light Encounters players genuinely interested?
With more than 40 events running so far, Nixon traces how the studio has changed its emotional handling of players in the game's day-to-day activities.
"Generally, free-to-play events are materialistic, and players participate in events to get a new character, a new card, or a limited-time item. The original event of "Light Encounter" is similar, it is also a limited-time Christmas hat or a Halloween pumpkin hood sale. It sold well, but the team's perception of characters in Christmas hats running around the streets was out of place with the immersive atmosphere created by the original game. And Nixon says those events can be boring and unengaging for players who don't spend money.
After that, they try to distribute some more game-themed items at the event, such as lanterns that can help light other players' paths. But they feel that such activities still rely on props. Those who can afford it will naturally buy, and those who cannot afford it will still be excluded.
After that, the studio began to dislike this purely profit-making activity, and began to think about how to make activities that belong to the world of "Light Encounter". They then combined the company's core values to come up with three principles for event design.
First of all, the activity must be emotionally driven, and the experience must allow the player to touch the heart.
Then, the event must be inclusive, whether the player has money or not, whether they have a lot of time or not, hope that they will have a sense of participation.
Finally, the items players get in the event must be commemorative and remind players of their special experiences in the game.
Case review: Four emotionally oriented campaign designs
- Flower Break
The developer held the "Flower Rest Festival" event inspired by the Asian spring flower viewing culture. They create a new area in the game's main space, where there will be a tree that grows, changes, and finally blooms in a few weeks. When the flowers are in full bloom, a currency is dropped to entice players to sit under the tree and socialize around the beautiful tree. After the event, the bare tree is left there and no longer functions and lasts for a week.
"We're always trying to make sure that we have that emotion, the emotion that good things are fleeting."
The tree is designed to give players a moment of relaxation under the tree with other players during the game. Early in the activity, the tree simply appeared there without any function. But its appearance itself will also give the player a hint that something is going to happen. Later, when the event officially starts, the tree will bloom. By the end of the event, the flowers are even more spectacular, and a lot of currency and candlelight are dropped for players to pick up.
"But we made a small mistake, which is that players don't need to do anything to pick up the candlelight." "This way the player just has to turn on their phone and move the character under the tree," he says. The picture of sleeping characters lying under the tree appears. Although this picture is also good, it is not actually the kind of effect we want to achieve where everyone talks and laughs under the tree. “
As for the consumption part, there is a set of tea table gift bags sold in the game to match the theme of flower viewing. After placing the tea table, players can sit down with other players and socialize face to face. "This is our best-selling game item so far," Nixon said.
- Banquet Festival
Considering that this is a global game and many people in the world do not celebrate Christmas, the designers removed the religious part of this winter festival and replaced it with a "banquet festival" to retain the warmth of the reunion, the feeling of "it's cold outside, but it's warm at home with elders".
So the designer invited the role of the grandmother of the previous "belonging season" to appear again. And also created a room for grandmothers to invite players in. The player then sits around the hearth with the grandmother, who knits items that the player needs to collect during the event, such as a fleece hat and scarf. After sitting with the grandmother for a while, players can go out to skate in the center of the game's home field. These activities require a little manipulation by the player, thus avoiding the collective standby state of the player like the previous Flower Break.
- The day of the mischief
The team designed the "Day of the Pranks" campaign inspired by Halloween. The festival creates a space full of tricks, and there are pots that cast spells. Spell hits will change the player's size or shoot the player at will. "It was chaotic and had a Halloween vibe," Nixon said. Since this didn't quite fit the main atmosphere of the game, the designers set this area in a remote place.
"It was a success, and the players loved it. Their liking lasted, two days." Nixon said that despite a lot of effort to design, the content of the event could not keep players engaged, they played a few times and got tired of it, and could not become content that players want to participate in every day. This frustrated the design team, but they started thinking about how to design activities that would be fun whether they were played a hundred times or a thousand.
- Music festivals
To get inspired, the design team went to Disneyland to see how this old brand theme park made many visitors want to go no matter how many times they visited. Nixon said Disneyland made him feel the breath of life. He gives an example: "Sometimes, a random band appears on the street, and without a warning or prompt, they suddenly appear and bring joy to everyone. This makes visitors feel that this is a fun place, whether you go to the motorized activities or not. He also talked about his shopping experience at Disney. The store blends perfectly into the environment, rather than dividing the area.
With the inspiration in mind, the team designed a "music festival", a year-long event that would culminate in a concert by Norwegian singer Aurora.
The team set up an area called the Music Hall. There are different instruments in the lobby for players to come and practice every day or watch others perform. "This piques the curiosity of the players, opens up different possibilities and is a bit confusing at the same time. It's like when you were a kid visiting a musical instrument shop or going to a music room in elementary school, lots of different instrument sounds. It's the same when your character enters the concert hall. ”
The key to this space is to provide players with a place to practice and improve their skills. The team designed daily music missions that allowed players to play some music in the game and reward them based on the level of performance. The concert hall has a lot of instruments that players can try for free, but teams can also add some paid items to players who are willing to spend money, just like in real-life instrument shops.
"When we prioritize the player's emotional experience, monetization comes naturally"
At Aurora's concert, just like in the real world, players can buy tracks from the concert or some decorations to make the character dress up like Aurora.
"What we found at this event was that when we created an empathetic experience for the player, the player naturally paid for the experience," Nixon said, "It's not just about how to design or how to choose, but you don't feel like you need to force the player to do anything, it's the player who wants to buy these items because they want to commemorate the moment."