The rise of UX and cognitive science, why Jam City pushed back its IPO, and the requirements for making an F2P game
It's been a busy old week for PocketGamer.biz and the games industry at large, with all of our attention turned to the inaugral Devcom and the ever-popular Gamescom, but there were still big stories and useful insights that our readers found rather interesting.
The most read of these was Teut Weidemann's talk on the "requirements for free-to-play design", which offers up advice on what monetisation techniques actually work when making a free-to-play game.
Second on our Hot Five is Jon Jordan's deconstruction of why Jam City has decided to push back its planned IPO, with a particular focus on its most recent games and their performance.
UX, AR and starting over
Third up is an interview with Epic Game's Director of UX Celia Hodent, who discusses the importance of using cognitive science in order to create the best experience for a player.
And finally we have two more talks from Devcom, with Epic's Tim Sweeney explaining why he thinks AR will change the world in the next decade, and Grand Cru discussing its reboot following the unfortunate failure of its first game Supernauts.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our readers' eyes over the last week.
#5: Grand Cru on how it rebooted its business following the failure of Supernauts
More Info
Grand Cru on how it rebooted its business following the failure of Supernauts »Grand Cru had big ambitions for its game Supernauts, a user-generated content focused title that had players building whatever their brains could come up with alongside their friends.
But the game was an unfortunate flop, and the developer made the decision to shut it down fairly quickly after it launched - before coming back even stronger than before.
The studio is now split into smaller teams, with a focus on designing games and killing them as early as possible so they can focus on the releases that will actually perform.
It's led to two games that Grand Cru is happy with, one of which is Battlejack, a game that launched this week and is very, very good indeed.
#4: "Augmented reality is going to change the world": Tim Sweeney on the future of graphics in games
More Info
"Augmented reality is going to change the world": Tim Sweeney on the future of graphics in games »Tim Sweeney is a man who absolutely loves AR, and even got on stage at Devcom and happily proclaimed that "augmented reality is going to change the world".
And Sweeney has been around for a while, so when he starts talking about the future of games, graphics and development, you'll probably want to stick around and listen.
He also believes that AR devices will end up being cheaper than TVs, and will be able to offer experiences so close to reality that it will be difficult to discern the virtual world from the real one.
It's going to take some time to get there though - Sweeney thinks this technology will be available in around a decade or so - but if he says it's going to happen, then hey, get ready for AR to take over the world.
#3: How the rise of UX has brought cognitive science to mainstream game development
More Info
How the rise of UX has brought cognitive science to mainstream game development »"It's easy to forget that user experience (UX) as a profession is a relatively new discipline in games industry terms. It's now a term that's bandied around a lot, with developers taking a much more rigorous approach to issues of usability and onboarding, but it has taken a long time for UX to become formalised."
So begins Matt Suckley in his interview with Epic Games' Director of UX Celia Hodent, who took some time to explain how knowing how the brain works can make for a better game.
"When you buy a game, if there's a friction at the beginning but you spent $60, you're going to try and figure it out," she reasons.
"You're already engaged and committed. In free-to-play, that sort of frustration can be fatal for the game."
#2: Why Jam City’s IPO is on hold
More Info
Why Jam City’s IPO is on hold »Listen - Snoopy Pop is actually a lot of fun, and there are some of us out there who've beaten every level and are eagerly awaiting more.
That said, it doesn't yet seem to be monetising the level of its top games, something which appears to have caused developer Jam City to push back its planned IPO.
Resident clever clogs Jon Jordan breaks this down even further, noting that while Cookie Jam and Panda Pop are still doing the numbers, Jam City's latest releases just aren't matching them.
"Partly, this state of affairs is a result of the competitive nature of the app stores, particularly within the puzzle and action match-3 genres in which Jam City is strongest," he writes.
#1: The requirements for making a free-to-play game in 2017
More Info
The requirements for making a free-to-play game in 2017 »Making a free-to-play game is hard, but what's even harder is making one that people will actually spend money on.
Thankfully, freelance F2P consultant Teut Weidemann knows a thing or two about it, and stopped by Devcom to offer up some advice on how to make games that make money.
"Players who get engaged with a game want to be someone in the game," he started, noting that a high level of immersion is required to keep players coming back.
Immersion means offering short, medium and long-term goals, with Weidemann saying that "at no point should your player be in the game and not know what to do".