How to design games children want (CMC 2016)
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The document discusses principles for designing games that appeal to children with varied abilities. It notes that children's skills develop between ages 3-8 in social, communication, physical, and cognitive areas. The key principles for design are to have a low threshold for entry through intuitive tutorials, a high ceiling to allow for mastery, and wide walls to support different play styles. Examples are given of games like Minecraft, Animal Crossing and Toca Ballet that demonstrate these principles through open-ended play and creative freedom. The goal is to create experiences that are enjoyable for all skill levels.
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How to design games children want (CMC 2016)
- 1. HOWTO DESIGNGAMES CHILDRENWANT Phil Stuart, Creative Director @philstuart, @preloaded
- 5. 100m+gameplays #1in over 14 App stores
- 6. HMM.GAMES
- 7. 22% UK gamers under 18 35Average age of gamer 1.6bngamers worldwide 48% gamers are female 99% of UK 8-15s play games
- 9. Social Communication Physical Cognitive Credit Digills Research & Consulting & Fundamentally Children Starting to follow simple instructions Limited memory and concentration Learning rules through play Able to follow instructions Increasing ability to focus on tasks Learning rules through trial and error Begin to predict, experiment Start to recollect not just remember Strategic and abstract thinking emerging Learning to share / take turns Begin to have interest in making friends Starting to build strong friendship groups Same gender play becoming more common Approaching puberty Social and peer pressure becoming a thing. Typically non-readers Speech understood Vocabulary growing Moving from pre-reader to chapter books Speech still primary communication tool Can read and write Fast growing vocabulary Gross motor: moving from one (hopping) to two (cycling) things at once. Fine motor: Learning to hold a pen & make some ‘marks’ Gross motor: Developing co- ordination (e.g. skipping, dribbling) Fine motor: Hand writing skills developing Gross motor: Sport Fine motor: Many enjoy fine motor challenges (small craft, construction) 3-4 5-7 8+ Children’s development
- 10. Social Communication Physical Cognitive Credit Digills Research & Consulting & Fundamentally Children Starting to follow simple instructions Limited memory and concentration Learning rules through play Able to follow instructions Increasing ability to focus on tasks Learning rules through trial and error Begin to predict, experiment Start to recollect not just remember Strategic and abstract thinking emerging Learning to share / take turns Begin to have interest in making friends Starting to build strong friendship groups Same gender play becoming more common Approaching puberty Social and peer pressure becoming a thing. Typically non-readers Speech understood Vocabulary growing Moving from pre-reader to chapter books Speech still primary communication tool Can read and write Fast growing vocabulary Gross motor: moving from one (hopping) to two (cycling) things at once. Fine motor: Learning to hold a pen & make some ‘marks’ Gross motor: Developing co- ordination (e.g. skipping, dribbling) Fine motor: Hand writing skills developing Gross motor: Sport Fine motor: Many enjoy fine motor challenges (small craft, construction) 3-4 5-7 8+ Children’s development Social & economic Location Number of siblings External influences
- 11. THEPROBLEM __ How do you design for an audience when their needs and abilities can be so varied?
- 12. Happy Studio (McDonald’s) Purposeful-play platform for 3-9 year olds, 42 countries.
- 13. OURAPPROACH __ To create games kids want, you need to create a good experience for all players regardless of abilities.
- 15. 1. LOW THRESHOLD
- 16. LOW THRESHOLD Crafty Cut’s inline tutorial
- 17. LOW THRESHOLD Pudding Monster’s inline tutorial
- 18. TOCA HAIR SALON (INTUITIVE UI) LOW THRESHOLD Toca Hair Salon’s diegetic interface
- 19. LOW THRESHOLD Beasts of Balance’s fun failure
- 20. LOW THRESHOLD Rugged Rover’s fun failure
- 21. 1.LOWTHRESHOLD __ Inline tutorials Intuitive UI Make failure fun
- 22. 2. HIGHCEILINGS
- 24. HIGH CEILINGS Minecraft’s scope for mastery
- 25. HIGH CEILINGS Minecraft’s scope for mastery
- 26. HIGH CEILINGS Minecraft’s scope for mastery
- 27. HIGH CEILINGS Story Card’s emergent complexity
- 28. HIGH CEILINGS Cut the Rope’s reward system
- 29. 2.HIGHCEILINGS __ Scope for mastery Emergent complexity Rewards for everyone
- 30. 3.WIDEWALLS
- 31. WIDE WALLS Animal Crossing’s different play styles
- 32. WIDE WALLS Happy Studio’s open-ended play
- 33. WIDE WALLS Toca Band’s creative freedom
- 34. 3.WIDEWALLS __ Different play styles Open-ended play Creative freedom
- 36. It’s better than Minecraft” __ 7 year old boy Happy Studio play testing Fundamentally Children “
- 37. QUESTIONS? __