strategy and party game design

8/3/2019 Strategy and party game design

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Mad for Admen:

A qualitato-quantitative evaluation of how a hybridizedstrategy/party approach to the game experience can increase ARPU

Rehj Cantrell, [email protected] Shively, [email protected]

Jennifer Talbott, [email protected] Sexton, [email protected]

I. Executive Summary

In order to test the effectiveness ofAdmen as a hybrid strategy-party game, the designers

designed a small-scale pilot with a focus group of young adult playtesters. The pilot was

designed to answer three fundamental questions: Will players have fun? Will players from both

strategy and party game markets enjoyAdmen? Will players purchase the game and at what cost?

Read on to find out the scintillating conclusion!

II.Introduction

InAdmen, players attempt to increase their market value by answering advertising trivia

questions, gaining skills that can be used to win clients. Every new client increases a players

market valueif they have the skills the client needs. Players must decide on each turn where to

move, what skills to attempt to gain, and whether to spend resources to get a quick boostall

while keeping track of their competitors.

Admen was quantitatively evaluated to answer the fundamental questions: Will players have fun

while playing the game? Will players from both strategy and party game markets enjoyAdmen?

Will players purchase the game?

While these questions dealt specifically with a specific game, a larger issue was indirectly

addressed.Admen is a combination of a strategy and a party game, which tend to reach different

audiences. The opportunity to combine these two different game types has the potential of

achieving record sales. In order to achieve this, the aspects that make each type of game

appealing to its audience must be addressed in a single product.

Strategy games tend to minimize luck (e.g., by eliminating dice rolls) and maximize strategic

possibilities for those skilled in thinking about tactics and maneuvers. The audience targeted is

typically more fluent with mechanics (thus better able to quickly understand complex gameplay)

and more willing to invest time in reading rules. Examples ofsuccessful strategy games include

Risk, Power Grid, and Puerto Rico.

On the other hand, party games tend to be directed toward a general audience and maximize

player interactions (with, e.g., multi-player challenges, teamwork), and humor. Rulesshould be


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quickly mastered, thus mechanicsshould be fairly simple. However, the most classic party

games, while simple, have stood the test of time and achieved high levels of replayability,

demonstrating the genres potential for eliciting engagement. Common mechanics of popular

games include aspectssuch as trivia questions and humorous, time-limited challenges,

particularly those requiring interaction simultaneously from all players. Examples ofsuccessful

games include Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples, and Cranium.

The mechanics ofAdmen were therefore designed to combine the critical thinking elements of

strategy gamessuch as the choices that players must make when deciding how many tokens to

move, what path to take, and how to gain skillsand the fun and engaging aspects of party

gameslike the advertising-related questions presented to players on the cards (a more in-depth

description of game play is outlined in the Game Experience section below).

While many products have found success by matching game mechanics to player groupsgames

with character-building aspects to gamers who like role-playing gamesa game thatsuccessfully appeals to the two markets ofstrategy and party gamers may effectively expand its

market potential and chance of financial success.

A game that spans these two genres may be bought by consumers for many reasons and uses

based on positive answers to the fundamental questionsstated above.

IfAdmen is enjoyable to strategic gamers, they may buy it to play with otherstrategic

gamers.

If party game-players enjoy the game, they may buy it to play on party game nights with

other casual gamers.

If the game is enjoyed by both types of gamers, it may be bought to play with mixedgroupsto entertain when both strategy and party gamers are present.

If the strategic element ofAdmen is accepted and enjoyed by those who are unfamiliar

with strategy games, it may encourage these consumers to explore more strategy-heavy

games, effectively increasing the market for otherstrategy games.

III. Success Criteria

The success of the strategy-party hybrid thatAdmen attempts to embody can be measured by a

few relatively simple factors. Through observations during play tests and qualitative

comments/reactions on surveys distributed at each play test, it is possible to measure a certain

level of engagement that each playerwhether belonging to the strategy or casual gamer

categorymaintained throughout the course of the game. These forms of measurement, together,

can supply a definitive answer as to whether or not these players enjoyed the game, would play

again, or even would consider purchasing the game for their own leisure in the future.


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In order to successfully engage both party gamers and strategic gamers, we had several concerns.

These concerns are reflected in the games pacing.

Strategy games often move at a slower pace than party games. In particular, it is not unusual for

a strategy gamer to take some time mulling over his or her turn. This is typically made

acceptable to other equally-engaged players only by the opportunity it offers to consider possible

futures in relation to their own upcoming turns. By contrast, party games typically move at a fast

pace. This is often legislated by imposing time limits or race conditions. Even if the strategic

possibilities are numerous enough forstrategic games, party gamers unused to such planning

could find a slower pace tedious.

Furthermore, if the strategic possibilities are less numerous, they could still slow down the game

as those unused to them consider them, while those used to them find themselves without enough

to think about. This requires a delicate balance be achieved:strategic possibilitiesshould be

satisfying forstrategy gamers, but not enough so to require careful (and time-consuming)mulling during the turn; that such strategic possibilities not be required, leaving party gamers the

option ofsimply winging it rather than carefully planning moves in advance. A poorly achieved

attempt at this could leave party gamers bored with too much planning and a too slow pace, and

strategy gamers bored with too little planning available...and still a too slow pace.

However, the rewards of achieving such a balance are potentially many. First, a game that targets

both audiences could achieve a high selling volume. Second, introducing party gamers to the

world ofstrategy gaming could open up new markets for games that are already on the market,

many of which have higher price points than many party games.

IV. The Game Experience

In the game ofAdmen, players adopt the

role of advertising executives and are sent

out into the field to gain skills, earn

experience, and win clients. In the

beginning of the game, players choose a

team of five characters to represent their

agency throughout the game. Game play

begins with one representative from each

team in The Agency square in the middle

of the board.

Image 1: The Exciting World of Admen.


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After determining the order of play, the first player begins the game with the movement phase.

The player has a total of four movement points to distribute throughout the board during one

turn. The movement points can be distributed among different agency characters on the same

team. For example, the player may choose to move the character who started in The Agency

around the board fourspaces, or, for one movement point, may alternatively choose to bring

another character from their agency team, leaving three movement points. To finish the turn, the

player may move either character around the board as they choose with the remaining movement

points. This option to bring in an agency character always applies, and the player may have four

agency characters on the board at one time.

Each movement space on the board is occupied with two tokens. These tokens represent either

awards, challenges, or experience points. When an agency player lands on a space with an

available token, the player collects

it (only the top one, if there are

two). The first thing a player needsto do is collect experience points

orskills. Collecting experience

points issimple: a player lands on

a space, collects a small token with

a 1, 2, or 3 on it, and retains that

many experience points on their

Break Room card. A player may

choose to collect experience points

and later exchange them for a skill

of their choice at a rate of fourexperience points perskill.

If the player does not receive experience points from the small token, it is likely they received a

challenge. Challenge tokens are labeled with either a C or an A, indicating Creative and

Account challenges, respectively. It is through these challenges that players gain skills, which

ultimately can win them clients. When a player collects a token with a challenge, the person to

their right draws a challenge card from the appropriate pile and reads the challenge to the player.

These challenges are related to the advertising industry in various ways, and require players to

recall brand logos, slogans, know advertising trivia, and sometimes require the players creative

or acting skills! If the playersuccessfully completes the challenge, they receive the

corresponding skill. There are fourskills divided between the Creative and Account challenges,

Copywriting and Graphic Design under Creative, and Marketing and Research under Account.

Image 2: Break Room


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Finally, sometimes a player may pick up a token with a star on

it. This indicates that the player has the opportunity to spend

effort (a skill) earning an award, which increases their

desirability as an adman (reflected in an increase in their market

value). The cost of an award is one skill of the players choice

that has been previously acquired.

Players continue in a this way, using their four movement

points per turn, landing on spaces and collecting the tokens that

are available, and performing the action(s) associated with the

tokens they obtain. In this way players gain experience points,

gain skills, and possibly increase their market value along the

way, all while trying to navigate the board and make it to one of

the six large clients on the board.

When a player makes it to a client space on the

board, they may acquire that client if they are

able to supply the appropriate skills necessary

in order to gain the clients business. The skills

indicated at the bottom of each client card are

required to obtain the corresponding market

value that particular client represents.

Occasionally certain things may happen to

throw off the flow of game play. For example,a player may draw an Agency card when

completing a challenge. This makes all players return one agency character to The Agency space

on the board (the starting space) in order to

compete in a fun, challenge in which all

play but only some can earn points!

Players continue moving about the board,

completing challenges and either earning or

buying skills in this way with the ultimate

goal of acquiring the most clients and

reaching the highest market value

throughout the rest of game play. The first

to reach the designated market value, wins.

Image 3: Market Value

Track

Image 1: Client

Image 2: Agency Challenge


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IV. Methods

Data was collected using interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation. Since one of

our goals is to determine whetherAdmen is fun and engaging, we considered the various

definitions for both and realized it may be difficult for players to verbalize. We decided to

measure fun by observing and tracking the amount of laughter per minute and measure

engagement via time lost during the game (e.g., did players check their watches to see when the

game will end or do they forget about time altogether?) The specific measurements used

throughout playtesting sessions were as follows:

Laughter per minute: At each playtest, one observer kept track ofsimply howmany laughs were heard per minute of game play. Thissupplied generalinformation about how engaged and entertained the players were during the game,as well as which specific aspects of the game resulted in more engagement thanothers.

Qualitative comments: Each player was asked to take a survey before and afterthey played the game and were asked to comment on their expectations andimpressions of the game. These comments allowed for a qualitative understandingof how the players felt about the game, and whether or not it lived up to or fellshort of their expectations. In addition, it enabled players to give substantialfeedback and recommendations about what could potentially improve the gamefrom the perspective of the players.

Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU): At the end of each survey, players wereasked, on a scale of $0 -$50, what they would be willing to pay to purchase thisgame for themselves. This allowed for an understanding of how receptiveconsumers might be to this type ofstrategy-party hybrid game, and how it would

fare in the commercial game market.

We performed a series of playtests, each including four adult players from a variety of gaming

backgrounds (video games, board games, party games, and card games) and game literacy levels.

At each play test we conducted a pre-game survey and a post-game survey (see appendix), as

well as, collected data by tallying the number of laughs during each game, the number of

correct/incorrect answers, and collected quotes from in-game dialogue.

Half of the play tests were done playing the board game, while the other half were done withoutthe boardonly using the cards. The first play test tested the board game. We tested only the

card game during the second play test. We only had three participants for this round of play. Thefinal play test included four players with extensive experience playing role playing games,strategic games, and video games. They also had experience playing party games and boardgames. In short, the schedule of each playtest was:

Short pre-test questionnaire to establish prior experience and personal details. Unrestricted amount of time to play gamephotos taken and notes/counts were

collected regarding witnessed observations about laughing and engagement.


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Post-play questionnaire Informal interview to clarify answers given on questionnaires

Chart 1 - Play Test Design

Playtest Board Game/Card

Game

# of Players/Type of experience Time spent

playing

First test Board Game 4 - Party Gamers 1 hour 45minutes

SecondTest

Card Game 3 - Strategic Gamers/InternationalPlayers

1 hour

Third Test Board Game 4 - Strategic Gamers 1 hour 30minutes

FourthTest

Card Game 4 - Strategic Gamers 30 minutes

V. Results and Discussion

The fundamental question Will players have fun playingAdmen? was answered with an

astounding YES! We measured the fun factor by observing three areas: flow1 (a loss of time

while in play evidenced by casual comments); laughs per minute (tallied laughing during play

and divided by the time played); what players indicated as a monetary value for the game.

We discovered that players found the game best played at a quicker pace, which decreased theirconcentration on the length of the game. During the 3rd playtest several players mentioned, I

didnt even know what time it was, Id play this game again, it went by too quick! and I

never once looked at my watchwow that went by fast! These comments confirmed that

players were in the flow of playing and thus having fun while playingAdmen. In addition to

these comments, we observed laughing increased the most when both the card game and the

board game were played togetherindicating the fun factor was the highest when played as one

game. This is a result of increasing The Agency cards and the frequency for playing those cards.

Even though players enjoyed a quick game of The Agency cards on their own, it is most fun

when played with the board. Players found the strategy element of the game engaging and fun;

for example a playersaid that the strategy element allowed him to screw over his friends later

by blocking them from moving towardsskills or clients. Finally, 63% of the playerssaid that

The Agency cards were their favorite part of the game, in fact, each group requested more

1Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1996).Creativity, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), p. 110.


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Agency cards to increase the fun factor even more. We listenednowAdmen has more

Agency cards and more opportunities to play them.

The results of the players laughs per minute can be seen in Chart 2 and Graph 1 which breaks

down the laughs per minute over the course of our playtests. As you can see, after we increased

the number of Agency cards and increased the pace of the game, the laughs per minute nearly

quadrupled in both full game and card game play. The final measurement of the fun factor was

when players comparedAdmen to Apples to Apples, Monopoly, Trivia Pursuit, and

Cranium, several times when playing and without prompting: Oh, this is just like Apples to

Apples, but better! comparing the play aspect of The Agency cards. This comparison validates

that the ARPU that players indicate as a price theyd pay for the game is a valid estimate of the

games worth. See Chart 3.

First Board Test Second Board Test First Card Game Second Card Game

Ave laughs per

minute

50 laughs over 90

min game play

0.56

125 laughs over 60

min game play

2.08

20 laughs over 60

minute game play

0.33

25 laughs over 20

minute game play

1.25

Chart 2. Data collected for laughs per minute

Graph 1. Graph indicating increase in laughter


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Games on Market and Value Admen Estimated Market Value Indicated by Play Testers

Apples to Apples - $26.99 - Amazon playerssaid theyd pay $30

Cranium - $26.99 - Amazon playerssaid theyd pay $35

Trivia Pursuit - $39.99 - Amazon playerssaid theyd pay $40

Monopoly - $24.99 - Amazon playerssaid theyd pay $20

average market value $29.74 average market value $30.63

Chart 3. Estimated ARPU ofAdmen

Through playtesting, observations and feedback from players,Admen proved to be an enjoyable

game for both strategy and casual gamers. The results of the game design process and

playtesters reactions imply that this game would fare very well in the commercial game market,

and has the potential to be a very popular game.

In addition, there are many possibilities forAdmen to expand and grow in the future. For little

production cost, there could be many different additional sets of advertising questions that could

function as various add-ons orspin-offs to the original game. By simply producing and updating

new versions of the challenge cards with new questions, the scope of the game could be

expanded and could also remain up to date on the latest advertising trivia. Like many other

current trivia games, there could also be themed packages that address more specific aspects of

the advertising industry. These add-ons would keepAdmen relevant and up to date, and would

allow for an even greater profit in the game market.

strategy and party game design

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