Niels_Huusmann

We love games. And we love to make games at Huusmann Media.

The past weeks we have being working hard to re release our puzzle game Cado and at the current time we are starting beta testing. An important focus for us during development of any game is the experience value in the game. The experience value we understand as both the emotional value and also the economical value and how we combine these two.

We focus on creating emotional value, because we think that this is what creates user engagement, which in the end leads to in app purchases or users buying the game and thereby creating economical value. To keep track of the emotional elements in a game we have created experience pointers which is important to think of when creating a game or when incorporating experience elements into a game and creating coherency between them. Our experience pointers looks like this:

Story: What kind of story engages the user?

Fun: How can we incorporate a tone and a style, that is fun and humoristic?

Competition: Which kind of competition elements can be incorporated into the game so that the user can compete against him/herself or others?

Social value: How can the user help others/his friends advance in the game?

Exclusive features: What kind of elements can be incorporated into the game so that the user gets a feeling of being special?

Identity: What kind of social medias can be incorporated into the game and how can these features be used in an interesting way in the game?

Rarity: How can rarities be incorporated into the game (limited items or possibilities)?

Vanity: Things that can boost the users reputation and prestige in the game (clothing, home, assets)?

Convenience: What kind of elements can be incorporated that appeal to the users convenience and makes them want to pay for it.

Chance: Which kind of element of chance can be incorporated into the game like mystery crates or secret levels?

Decoration: How can users add decoration or decorate the main character.

Statistical progression: What kind of statistical progression elements can be incorporated into the games thereby creating an overview of the user progression in the game?

Obligation: What kind of obligation can be incorporated into the game so the users feel compelled to return to the game and play?

Cado as case example

In our newest game – Cado – we are working on engaging users by adding a fun story and new level designs set in different environments. As the game was released to App Store some years ago, the gameplay has been tested and the game in this form and period has had about 50.000 users. So in the new versions we are adding new experience value to the game to engage new users. In Cado we are focusing on experience values as the story, social value and obligation.

Story: We all know that words are in motion and constantly writing and defining the world we live in. But not many people know that the dot above the letter i, is called Cado.One day Cado falls asleep for just a couple of seconds. Words move fast and when Cado opens his eye, he is all alone. Help bring Cado back to the alphabet and restore the letter i.

Competition and obligation: Cado is a game that needs a huge amount of skill building. The game thereby triggers the competitive gene in gamers and making them want to see how fast they can get Cado to the portal and how many levels they can complete before losing a Cado.

If gamers have lost all their Cados they will have to wait 10 minutes before they receive new Cados or they can choose to buy new Cados and get instant access to the game again. In this way we are applying the factor of obligation in the game where gamers have to return to the game and see if they have received new Cados.

Even though we seek to incorporate these experience elements into the game it does not automatically mean that we create economical value. Fundamentally it takes a good gameplay and passion behind it to get others involved.