Newsletter #011
My 3 Favorite GMTK Videos
Hallo and welcome back!
Last newsletter the data showed that NONE of ya’ll clicked on the YouTuber video recommendation I had for Game Makers Tool Kit (GMTK).
I’m not mad, just disappointed…😒
I’m unsure if it was because the video didn’t seem relevant to data, or if the thought of a long video about gaming seemed boring. Either way, I’m here to try again.
This time I specifically chose easy to watch videos from GMTK’s channel, and I would invite you to pay attention to the following:
Think of how he ORGANIZES his information
Think of how he DISPLAYS his information
Watch how he GUIDES you in his story
His approach to story telling is very compelling, and something we ALL can take a note from. We convey data and insights through our own storytelling. Why not take a page out of someone else’s book, and see how we can improve?
And also,
this newsletter contains my high level insights on how you can take the concepts from his video and apply it to your work. Whether you’re a data analyst, product designer, a PM or just work in an environment where you produce something for an end user.
These videos will have a definite take away for you, and I’ll guide you on what to pay attention to so you can get the most out of your time.
1 - The Two Types of Random in Game Design
Randomness in game design is used in a pretty straight-forward manner. It’s used to generate excitement through unpredictability, level playing fields of differing skill levels, and force users to plan and adapt.
But how is this related to data or any sort of user interaction with a product?
Let me explain; the video breaks randomness into two types:
Input Randomness: Randomness generated before a player takes action. (ex: pre-generated levels, cards being dealt)
Output Randomness: Randomness occurring by a player trying to take an action. (ex: opening a rewards chest and receiving a random item)
But these concepts can be easily applied to analyze various components of what happens within a business:
Input Randomness: What the user sees for the first time when using a new software will be unfamiliar, AKA random. The options we display a user can be perceived as random. How will the user respond to different configurations?
Output Randomness: When we make a business decision, we do not know how the market will react, it will be random.
The way game designers utilize and deal with randomness intentionally can help us better understand what we can do to encourage certain outcomes and how to manage uncertainty and risk.
2 - How to Keep Players Engaged
In the world of social media, the name of the game is engagement, and no one knows the game better than…game designers. Pun fully intended.
Game designers employ a number of strategies to ensure that they can engage their players, and great game designers make sure to do that in responsible and non-addictive ways.
Here are some strategies that they use as presented in the video:
Pacing the rhythm of the game to make sure something isn’t too boring or repetitive, but also give them a break from high intensity moments.
Introducing new game play elements at the right time to keep gameplay fresh and exciting, but not overwhelming.
Creating foreshadowing and anticipation of what’s to come in a game, or what could be possible in the near future while playing.
Making micro-progress that feeds into a larger long-term goal (finding the princess in the other castle)
Positive feedback loops
Let’s take those gaming concepts and apply it to our day to day work:
Pacing onboarding training to make sure new hires don’t burn out too quickly.
Introducing new metric concepts in a presentation at the right time, making sure the information is engaging, but not overwhelming.
Progress a visualization in a story-telling format as to allude to a problem-research-solution AHA moment for your audience.
Teaching new users your product in appropriate steps. Helping them with the information they need when they need. This could be them building a website to launch, trying to deploy an app for the first time, or setting up and sending out their first newsletter.
Reinforce completion with positive feedback. Why do you think the Robinhood app throws confetti when you buy a stock? Or when Duolingo praises you for maintaining a streak for doing a lesson every day.
What’s even better about all these concepts is that they are measurable in one way or another.
So the next time you’re trying to improve a product, process, or presentation at work, maybe think about how a game designer would go about solving it.
Speaking of solving…
3 - How Game Designers Solve Problems
We all got like 99 problems, but this video aint one!
We’re all designers in one form or another. We may be designing a product feature, an analytics test, a presentation, a data warehouse. I don’t care your field, you’re a designer.
But when we design, we inevitably come across design flaws that we have to solve for. Game designers have a set of methods they work through to solve these design problems, and you can too.
My biggest take-aways from this video, and something for you to pay attention to are:
Seeing the various ways game designers are solving problems. Each technique has it’s place depending on the problem at hand.
When working with a team, is everyone on the same page in terms of the problem we’re trying to solve?
Someone may state visits to our site is low. One person blames the domain name, another person blames SEO. It could in fact be poor SEO due to domain name usage.
How are solutions implemented? What solution makes the most sense with the given resources?
How can we tell if the change fixes the problem? What do we do to measure success?
Keeping these things in mind should help us all along our individual design processes.
In the end I believe good designers have good ideas, but great designers have great solutioning processes.
My traffic dashboard will tell if this did any better in terms of click-through. If not, it’s ok. I learned how to deal with the randomness of my users, figured out a little more on how to keep them engaged, and will use the knowledge to produce a solution when I design my next newsletter. 😉
As an encapsulation of why I value GMTK’s videos so much, it’s because what he brings to the table is the third of my Data Analytics pillars;
Technical Skills
Statistical Knowledge and Feel
Breaking Down the Process
I’ll be going through those pillars in more details in future projects, so if this is your first newsletter consider checking out past newsletters HERE, and stayed tuned for more content!
If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to sign up, just click the link HERE.
Thank you and be good,
Irfan - Founder
