Design aspects This paper was started with the the idea of investigating aspects of design with the gaming industry principally in mind, considering the question of methodologies of academic origin, and their connection in practice to the works of the games industry in the area of design. This paper looks at two of these academic approaches to design thinking. One is an aspect of design, and the other a broader look at the process and a guide to design. The Science of Persuasion How to influence decisions psychologically is an interesting way to look at adding persuasive concepts into designs, sale pitches and most business deals. The video released on the subject by Influenceatwork (Dr. Robert Cialdini & Steve Martin, 2012) is a brilliant tutorial on the manner, but also a display of its teachings from using percentages as an “Authority”, caricatures for “Liking”, referencing everyday tasks others use to give a “consensus.” It clearly displays the massive uses for this concept, and its utility for design aspects especially those with sales in mind. Based upon these 6 persuasion groups this part of the paper will look at some areas they have been in use in the gaming industry. 1.Reciprocity “Obligation to give when you receive” “Be the First to give personalised and unexpected”- Influenceatwork, 2012 This is rarely used as much now, as sales in stores have lowered from their high point, but was very important at the early points in the “DLC” releases. The early concept to add more purchases of new games over resales was to add a DLC package in with the purchase. (Joel Hruska, 2015) This was sometimes personalised by having different stores given different DLCs or in games like Soul Calibur II each console had its own unique character, thus personalising the game so that each console felt special to have their exclusive character. (TokyoDrifter, Review: Soul Calibur II, 08/29/2003)

(Giantbomb, Soulcaliber II, Review,2002 https://www.giantbomb.com/soulcalibur-ii/3030-11822/)

This is rarely done now as the DLC extras were disapproved of by many customers. So it is now usually switched to add these elements to “Delux” copies, “Limited” releases or as an added bonus for preordering the game. Still is a representative of the “mints with the bill” concept, but since most of these usually come with an extra cost for these extras it's less Reciprocate sales and more a Scarcity business plan. 2.Scarcity Less of something makes people want more. ”Rarity value” “The Benefits + What's Unique + what they stand to lose”- Influenceatwork, 2012 The use of Scarcity in games is probably one of the biggest in use persuasion techniques inside the games (just below consistency) amd is used to create a mission flow for the games with an increased difficulty rate that could only be possible via the use of first getting the players to understand the starting easy parts of the particular game’s concepts.

(Smashchu, The Great Amiibo shortage, sourcegaming, 2015) Scarcity in games is used to promote an items worth, or to encourage the investigation of levels to the full in case of hidden ”rare” value. Or even more simply as an indicator that the asset may have some larger purpose in the game, or why create an asset that only has uses for a small amount of times if they have little value? For the use of scarcity for selling gaming products look no further than Nintendo’s Amiibo. The use of a product becoming scarce in either the United States or the EU increases its value there, even when it's commonly accessible in some other place in the world. The scarcity of a product that can be of use and is favoured in a country can promote an increase in its price. (Smashchu, The Great Amiibo shortage, sourcegaming, 2015) 3.Authority “ People will follow: Credible knowledgable experts”-Influenceatwork,2012 This is largely a part of the marketing for a game, and the hiring of the staff. If people know they like a lead designer or even know a artist (Akihiro Hiro, Ni no kuni,2010) people are willing to buy it because of those figureheads. It gains worth by association with them. Additionally, during the marketing people are willing to buy the game if the reviewers, and

other gaming news or theory outlets promote it, so giving those outlets review copies can be a large part of persuading people to buy.

(Colin Moriarty, NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH REVIEW, 2013) Probably the largest show of this persuasion method in use in the gaming industries design is simply in sequential releases of a game title. The concept that the previous entry was good, gives the game a brand and a credibility that if done similarly this next one should be to a person’s liking as well. For a product’s online sales (as many games are turning further and further towards for the majority of their sales) customers may be influenced by the logos, pathos, ethos, price and even product types. (Hsi-Liang Chu, Yi-Shin Deng & Ming-Chuen Chuang, Investigating the Persuasiveness of E-Commerce Product Pages within a Rhetorical Perspective, 2014) Anyone who has looked at any period of the competition “or console wars” can understand that even the type of console you sell a game to can influence how many buyers are available for the type of game you are selling and so influencing sales. 4.Consistency “Looking for, and asking for commitments that can be made” “Small tasks lead people to be more willing to do bigger tasks”. -Influenceatwork, 2012 The “foot in the door” for persuading strategy relies on the human behavioural trait that decisions of others are more likely be accepting of a premise if they have accepted a “first link in the chain.” If those are settled and the concept is widely accepted, then the subject is more likely to perform larger tasks of a type, following on from the smaller and easier requests of that type that they have already done. (Katheryn M. Stanchi, The Science of Persuasion: An initial Exploration, 2006) This is a popular method of design to place inside games that use micro transactions, as you can bait a small use of an action inside the tutorial giving the user a free use of a action that usually needs micro transactions to obtain with ease, and adding a cheaper first payment or a larger profit on the first transaction can help persuade users to start “paying to play”. This isn't overall always a good thing to exploit from your users. Due to how many games have done this a stigma or a consensus has been made about this approach that has left an idea that these games are bad because of the amount of money that can be lost attempting to play these games at a rate anywhere beyond “casual” play.

( Caiyel, My Koc City, forum City planning, Kabam, 2012) 5.Liking “3 important factors: People who are similar to us People who pay us compliments People who cooperate with us”-Influenceatwork, 2012 Tupperware parties: social gatherings where the host/hostess entertains guests under a strategy originally made popular by the Tupperware manufacturer, that provide income on commission to the host selling orders during these gatherings. (Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,C. & G. Merrian Co. , 1913) The concept revolved around the dynamic of the hosts ability to be liked for both gathering the group and getting the group to buy the products. “ If you want to influence people, win friends” (Rober B. Cialdini, Harnessing the Science of Persusion, Harvard Business Review,2001)

(http://www.zyngawithfriends.com/en/)

For a creative design use of liking in games look no further than Zynga with their games like “FarmVille” and “Draw Something”. The success of most Zynga games depends on the concept of a host/player that wants to play the game gathering friends to aid them play as the “friends” multiplayer connectivity thrives on those liking the game bringing those around them to play for the same reason as in Tupperware. (Cyrus Farivar, How Zynga went from social gaming powerhouse to has-been, 2013) Not everyone plays their games because they really like the game but their friends may not like it, and it revolves around having “friends” to play with. Share things common and general compliments. 6.Consensus “People will look to the actions of others to determine their own” “Point to what others are doing” -Influenceatwork,2012 This has been becoming more and more a part of game design as the concept of “sharing” is added to games from the consoles themselves being able to record a little footage of gameplay, to the more common addition to games of a screenshot feature. Even “selfie” features are added to games allowing you to share images at least of content in a game, both to promote game scenes, but also to show that people are having fun in this game and by implication to suggest that you should play this. (Quintet Plummer Tech Times, Selfies Arrive In Gaming. Photo Feature A Win-Win For Players, Game Makers, Tech times, 2015)

(Josh Wirtanen, BREATH OF THE WILD’S CAMERA UPGRADE IS A BETTER VERSION OF WIND WAKER’S PICTO BOX, 2017) This was also added to Steam and other consoles friends lists in a manner that pop ups will appear telling you what game your friends has just turned on to play. This both helps the user socialise with their friends, but also promotes games as the constant pop ups of friends entering games (especially the same game across a group of friends) can be a good promoter for a game. Though this is more a part of console design than game.

Design Thinking structure The 5 point process of Hasso Plattner Institute of Design [d.school](2013) leads a interesting concept of the design process a guide that is build to a “human-centered” design. This part of the paper will look at each heading part and it's possible connection to past designs in the game industry. Empathize This is the process by and which a designer “observes” potential users/subjects of a problem checking both for what they do and say they need to solve the problem before or/and after “engaging” them in direct conversation/interviews. The concept is to learn from the people you want to make the product for and understand their needs from this. A good display of this in gaming history is reliant in the story behind the “Game and Watch” the predecessor of the “Gameboy.” The story goes that Gunpei Yokoi (the designer) came up with the design while on the bullet train when observing a gentleman next to him fiddle with an LCD calculator. Watching as the bored businessman punched buttons idly, he created the concept of having a portable electronic gaming device that could entertain a user during these periods of idle boredom during travel.(Lara Crigger,EscapistMagazine,issue_87,pg 490,paragraph 8,Searching for Gunpei Yokoi, 2007)

(Damien McFerran, Feature: The History of the Nintendo Game & Watch, 2010) True or false, Gunpei Yokoi designed an invention with a human-centered design, one that has become a leading path of the gaming industry as portable gaming devices now encompass the entirety of this generation of Nintendo’s future with the “Switch” and “3DS”. The invention that possibly leads Nintendo into its future and fathered the lucrative concept of mobile gaming started with a little observation on a train journey. True or not, it's a

interesting concept to think on, the idea anywhere or anything might inspire an interesting design. In a similar way, “Pokemon Go” is said to have started as an April Fools joke. Defining the Design This comes down to the idea that with all the little notes gathered towards a design, it still needs direction. Look at the patterns from the notes, to confirm what appears most or what appears in the direction you want to design, and as such who needed those features, who are the planned “Users”. Select from those intended users the collective “Needs” and look at the “Insights.” Decide if the initial ideas you had towards meeting those needs actually fit together, do they solve all the needs, and most importantly will the “users” actually choose to use it. (There is no point coming up with an ingenious workout schedule application on the phone, if you know all your user base don't own phones.)

(Scrum.org, what is scrum, copyright 2017) This part of design thinking is often described the most in design as the first step, or sometimes as the second part of it. The best display of this in use in the games industry is in the use of Scrum and Agile systems. The “Scrumboard” is the defining stage in the Agile system known as “Scrum,” and as the entire process of Scrum is around defining and enhancing the product with the knowledge that users of Scrum in the industry are positive. “Scrum has affected all areas of production at the studio. Everything from meeting structures to report generation is more agile”. –Mark James,Lucas, External Technical Director, LucasArts. (Quote from the article by Clinton Keith, gamasutra.com, The state of Agile in the Games Industry, 2010) Ideate The combining the rational thoughts with the imagination in a readable format, the use of brainstorming, mind mapping, sketches - anything to separate the generation of ideas into an area, to better evaluate those ideas. Story boarding for animations and concept art are probably the largest part of the ideate phase for games with possible mind maps and brainstorms that aren't usually publicly released other than in comment about features that changed from those original designs.

A good display of when the ideate phase can become important is in Zelda 1s design interviews with Miyamoto where originally “Link” was to be a link between a scifi era with the triforce being computer chips and the medieval period that exist today. (William Audurea, “Miyamoto, the Wii U and the secret of the Triforce”, 2012) This concept was revisited again for “A Link to the past” in its early concept art, and it is speculated that the mechanic behind the Light/Dark world mechanic was to follow his Zelda 1s original design but again was scrapped at the ideate stage.

(DidYouKnowGaming, Development, EarlyIdea, The Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past ,https://www.vgfacts.com/trivia/108/) Prototypes “Build to think and test to learn”- (Hasso Plattner, Institute of Design[d.school],2013) Putting together the ideas and building it can help reveal problems never thought of in the design phase, and can display if a theory works in prctice. If non-fiction back to the drawing board by either defining or Ideate depending on the failure and is the feature any production system needs. The largest impact to take away from the idea of the prototype phase as a concept is to build a realistic knowledge of what is needed to create the finished project, an estimate of what they can get done before any access is given. With “Early Access” pushing the concept that fans buying the game before its complete could “aid” with getting the funds needed. That is aiding the funding not the making of it, a prototype is not at the stages of release to be placed for users to buy as Spacebase DF-9 displays. The game was as described under a lengthly wish list of features that they hoped to take five years into creating under the funding of fans. (Luke McKinney, 2015 http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-early-access-games-that-completely-screwed-customers/) A prototype must first be made so that a realistic wish list can be made and if early Access is the direction for full funding is to be placed on the hands of user early payments then a list of features that will be achieved and those that might be possible with time should at least be separated if a project is to be released in this manner. Instead of a list that offers the concept of massive features rather than the concept that these things are only if the funding goes well (Kickstarters are a good example of this format) with funding brackets.

But a prototype needs the ideate stage to be managed so that the concepts scope does not over-reach the projects cost as Spacebase DF-9 did. (Samit Sarkar, Tim Schafer explains why Double Fine is ending development on Spacebase DF-9, Polygon online, 2014 - http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/22/6830469/spacebase-df-9-double-fine-development-ending)

(Samit Sarkar, Tim Schafer explains why Double Fine is ending development on Spacebase DF-9, Polygon online, 2014) Testing From Testing in-house Alpha tests to outsourcing, to controlled Betas and semi-releases, tests should happen as often as possible it's the final step in the sequence but not the final step in the process. All the tests are there to make sure the product is released in a state ready to satisfy the customers, as such the tests are their to prove what is satisfying, what isn't, and what is failing even when bug free and running to be of any use to the product. All designs need to test the concept throughout to make sure that the ideas are beyond a theoretical standpoint, and that the sum of the parts are not simply functioning but are doing the job as desired in correlation to each other. To test is to make sure it fits purpose as much as it is to make sure it's functional.

(Wooga, Wooga @live Shopping Days, 2011) Wooga follows an interesting testing ethos “A/B” or “split testing” where the introduction of features is tested on select groups their reactions checked and for if the users engage with

them during the game, if they don't changes are made and something different is tried until they do, even if it's functional. (Functional is not enough). Making A/B test with a near daily iterative approach can be necessary. The tests are just designed experiments, but with their use on millions of users in real time they can give data to crucial levels of detail giving an already functioning product assisted checks and tests to make sure all additions add to the product. (Tom Cheshire, ”Test. Test. Test: How Wooga turned the game business into a science”, Wired magazine, 2012) Conclusion In the end design aspects and looking at the way these methods work can add to any designers skill set with these adding a very commercially oriented designs. But it can also show a lot of things about the history of designs even before papers on such design methods may have succeeded giving a little history in the the design approaches. From the material the chief conclusion made in this paper was that “The Science of Persuasion” adds an interesting direction to looking at designs as many actions in the world attempt to persuade targets of information, even this paper and breaking down those persuasion methods into a grouping is likely useful to any designers’ arsenal of knowledge. As for the“5-step Design Thinking Process Guide” throughout my looks into it and its approaches it kept me returning to look at Agile, Waterfall and even Prince 2 methods of project management. These 5-steps are interesting to have in mind but the methodology of a scrum or even a waterfall give the same step by step design approaches but adds more actual hands on understanding of how many companies work beyond this “process guide/” So, for learning skills for use in the industry, if they are not trying to broaden an existing concept on project management, these 5-steps seem to be less useful to learn for the most part, being as they are a broader look or information that could be trained to purpose under any of the project managing methods. Both are useful tools for a designer to look into and question in connection to their preferred industry as it gives the individual a chance to process some of the influence of such aspects in design have had overall in the industry. References Dr. Robert Cialdini & Steve Martin,Science of Persuasion,Influenceatwork, 2012 Joel Hruska, EA executive calls on-disc DLC complaints ‘nonsense,’ but the truth is more complex, extremetech.com, 2015 www.extremetech.com/gaming/212245-ea-excutive-calls-on-disc-dlc-complaints-nonsense-but-the-truth-is-more-complex Smashchu, The Great amiibo shortage, sourcegaming, 2015 – sourcegaming.info/2015/04/30/the-great-amiibo-shortage/ Akihiro Hiro,Ni no kuni,2010 Luke McKinney , 6 Early Access Games That Completely Screwed Customers,cracked ,online blog,2015 http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-early-access-games-that-completely-screwed-customers/ Katheryn M. Stanchi, The Science of Persuasion: An initial Exploration, 2006

Hsi-Liang Chu, Yi-Shin Deng & Ming-Chuen Chuang, Investigating the Persuasiveness of E-Commerce Product Pages within a Rhetorical Perspective, 2014 webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,C. & G. Merrian Co. , 1913 Rober B. Cialdini,Harnessing the Science of Persusion ,Harvard Business review,2001 Cyrus Farivar, How Zynga went from social gaming powerhouse to has-been, ars technica 2013 arstechnica.com/buisnesses/2013/09/ How-Zynga-went-from-social-gaming-powerhouse-to has-been/ Quintet Plummer Tech Times, Selfies Arrive In Gaming. Photo Feature A Win-Win For Players, Game Makers, Tech times, 2015 http://www.techtimes.com/articles/29428/20150129/selfies-spread-to-gaming.htm Hasso Plattner,The 5-step Design Thinking Process Guide ,Institute of Design d.school,2013 Lara Crigger,EscapistMagazine,issue_87,pg 490,paragraph 8,Searching for Gunpei Yokoi, 2007 Clinton Keith,gamasutra.com, The state of Agile in the Games Industry, 2010 William Audurea, “Miyamoto, the Wii U and the secret of the Triforce”, 2012 https://www.gamekult.com/actualite/miyamoto-la-wii-u-et-le-secret-de-la-triforce-105550.html www.vgfacts.com/attachment/full/1/108.png Luke McKinney, 6 Early Access Games That Completely Screwed Cust,cracked, 2015 http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-early-access-games-that-completely-screwed-customers/ Samit Sarkar, Tim Schafer explains why Double Fine is ending development on Spacebase DF-9, Polygon online, 2014 - http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/22/6830469/spacebase-df-9-double-fine-development-ending Tom Cheshire, ”Test. Test. Test: How Wooga turned the game business into a science”, Wired magazine, 2012 Giantbomb, Soulcaliber II, Review,2002 https://www.giantbomb.com/soulcalibur-ii/3030-11822/) Caiyel, My Koc City, forum City planning, Kabam, 2012 http://community.kabam.com/forums/showthread.php?118774-City-Planning!/page16 Colin Moriarty, NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH REVIEW, 2013 http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/01/15/ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch-review Zynga with friend logo http://www.zyngawithfriends.com/en/ Josh Wirtanen, BREATH OF THE WILD’S CAMERA UPGRADE IS A BETTER VERSION OF WIND WAKER’S PICTO BOX, 2017 http://lightgungalaxy.com/2017/03/26/breath-of-the-wilds-camera-upgrade-is-a-better-version-of-wind-wakers-picto-box/ Damien McFerran, Feature: The History of the Nintendo Game & Watch, 2010 http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/02/feature_the_history_of_the_nintendo_game_and_watch Scrum.org, what is scrum, copyright 2017 https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-scrum

DidYouKnowGaming, Development, EarlyIdea, The Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past https://www.vgfacts.com/trivia/108/ Wooga, Wooga @live Shopping Days, 2011 https://www.slideshare.net/wooga/live-shopping-days-presentation-march-22nd-2011