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1. Research
Megan Bannister

2. Audience Research

3. Target Audience Profile
• My project is aimed towards young people
between 15-25.
• Belonger and Socially Conscious A
• Entertainment, escapism
• Integration, identifying with others, developing a
sense of belonging
• Secondary audience – ages older than chosen age
• No specific gender or sexuality

4. Audience Research
• This is a survey that was completed on
the Stardew Valley Reddit forum. My
game trailer is going to have a similar
style and mood so this demographic is
what I need to be aiming for.
• The largest age group is 15-25 which is my
primary audience and I have a secondary
audience of those older as there are few
under 17 and barely anyone under 13
that play the game.
• The gender of the player is around 50/50
and those outside of the gender binary
still play so my game needs to be inclusive
to everyone.
• The same is said for sexuality,
heterosexuality only makes up 55% of
those playing so my game again needs to
be inclusive – if choices are shown to
romance NPCs (non-playable characters)
the options will have to be all genders.

5. Audience Research
• LeBlanc’s Taxonomy of Gaming Pleasures
– Sensation – hearing music, seeing something beautiful or
using empowering control scheme - aesthetics
– Fantasy – pleasure arising from imagining oneself in a grand
fictional world and immersion
– Narrative – the dramatic unfolding of a sequence of events
– Challenge – accomplishing tasks and puzzles
– Fellowship – feelings of pleasure from friendship
– Discovery – exploring the game world or finding a secret
feature
– Expression – Pleasure of expressing oneself or creating
things (character creation)
– Submission – pleasures comes from entering the ‘magic
circle’ of play and escaping the real world
Magic Circle – the unique space of fictive
play that games provide (Huizinga)

6. Audience Research
• Bartle’s Taxonomy of Player Types
– Achievers – players who
primarily wish to achieve the
goals of the game – associated
with ‘Challenge’
– Explorers – players who want to
‘get to know the breadth of the
game’ - associated with
‘Discovery’
– Socializers – Interested in
relationships with other people -
associated with ‘Fellowship’
– Killers – interested in ‘imposing
themselves on others’ through
competition, destruction or
teaching others - no main
association

7. Audience Research
• I want to aim my game trailer at ‘Explorers’
and the pleasures ‘sensation’ and ‘submission’
• I have chosen these because my game will not
be challenging and able to be played by a
casual player. The idea for my game is
aesthetically driven so those who have the
‘sensation’ Gaming Pleasure will be stimulated
by the style of the project.

8. Market Research
Existing Products

9. Existing Product
’Haunted Chocolatier’ Trailer

10. Existing Product
’Haunted Chocolatier’ Trailer

11. Existing Product
• The trailer uses fanciful ideas, such as ghosts and monsters, to
entice the viewer – it shows an adventure aspect which is
appealing to a lot of gamers.
• The colour palettes for each scene are strong and appealing,
the wintry outside shot has a uses a lot of blues to show the
chill. In contrast, the indoors uses a lot of warm-toned colours
and greens in their plants. The ghosts are blue/white to show
their stereotypical cold appearance.
• Even though it is a trailer it shows multiple aspects of
gameplay: foraging, fighting, cooking and interacting with
NPCs.
• It also shows the HUD (Heads Up Display) which includes
inventory, money, weapons and presumably a health bar.
• A part of the developer’s appeal to viewers is his consistent
art style. He was the sole creator of ‘Stardew Valley’ and this
new project resembles it quite a lot, however it is not a copy.

12. Existing Product
It has a detailed HUD, which
includes health and energy, and all
the scenes shown are actual
gameplay.
This trailer is for ‘Potion Permit’ and entices
players with the soft, muted colour scheme;
fantasy theme and relaxing gameplay.
It appeals to those who enjoy puzzle games as
well as there are puzzles to complete
throughout that are necessary for the game.

13. Existing Product
This game trailer is for a game called ‘Unpacking’.
The player unpacks the boxes of the main character,
as she moves throughout her life.
The game is an evidently easy game that casual players could play, but
as you discover the character’s life you will learn more about her life
events so is good for gamers that enjoy an emotional, intimate game.
The game has realistic colouring and sound
effects which allows the game to become
immersive.

14. Existing Product
‘Spiritfarer’ is a game where you play as a
ferrymaster to the deceased, helping
them finish their final wishes and
befriending them.
It, like the others, uses its colour
scheme to imply the soft nature of
the game. It is emotional but a ‘cosy
game’ nonetheless.
The ferrymaster’s familiar and the
souls on the boat are enticing to
the viewer as they are cute and
have personality in their design.

15. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched
products have?
– Soft colour palettes, ‘real’ stories.
• What aspects of the research will you include
within your on work?
• I like that Spiritfarer shows interactions with
NPCs as well as more fast-paced gameplay.

16. Questionnaire Analysis

17. Audience research
• Observation: Over half my responses are from females
• What this says about my audience: I am catering to a majority
female audience
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My game will appeal
to this audience as it is not violence based and provides an
alternative to other games.

18. Audience research
• Observation: 71% of my audience is 15-19
• What this says about my audience: I am catering
towards people within my age range.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:

19. Audience research
• Observation: Nearly all of my audience has
played video games, which means that I am
catering to a wide range of people, I shouldn’t
ignore secondary audiences such as males/non-
binary people or other age ranges.

20. Audience research
• Observation: Even though nearly all of my
audience has played a video game, less have
played ‘cozy games’, even though it is still a
majority.

21. Audience research
• Observation: Over half of players like to
immerse themselves in the fictional world,
this means my game trailer has to feel fleshed
out and real.

22. Interviews

23. Interview 1
• unfinished

24. Interview 1
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

25. Interview 2
• unfinished

26. Interview 2
• Observation:
• What this says about my audience:
• How will your product appeal to this
audience:

27. Bibliography

28. Bibliography
1. Your, Name. (2018) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on
DATE)
2. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)