Leviathan: Requiem of the Deep

How it started:

I partnered with four game designers (fellow MA students) to create a team/company (Cosmopolitan Cetacean) for a VR game development and marketing project. We created the studio for a university master’s program team project.

Challenge:

We needed to develop an idea and early proof of concept for a video game using a VR platform. We wanted the game to would appeal to a large section of gamers, stand out in the market, and make excellent use of the immersion that VR can provide. The primary purpose of the project was to turn that proof of concept into a pitch video that could be shown to prospective investors.

My Contribution:

At the front end of the project, I conducted user, market, theme, and competitor/comparator research to inform design decisions, and to support those decisions in the investor pitch. I created the team charter and strengths analysis that informed our roles and goals for the project.

Throughout the project, as our team members were located across multiple countries and time zones, I facilitated team, sprint, and brainstorming meetings to keep us within scope and adhere to our timeline. Using my background in graphic design, I created our company branding for Cosmopolitan Cetacean. Based on my market and user research, I developed player personas to define our target audience, data analyses to support our theme and proof of concept, and designed the game’s branding and artifacts for distribution on the Steam gaming platform. I collaborated with the team to create storyboards and user journeys for gameplay.

Concluding the project, I created the pitch deck and editied audio and video for the final investor pitch, collaborating on content with the team.

The Project:

Client: Potential investors for Cosmopolitan Cetacean’s Leviathan: Requiem of the Deep video game

Information Gathering:

User Research

Given our limited time and resources, instead of performing interviews or creating questionnaires, I delved into the research of those with similar aims and a lot more resources. I aggregated data from sources including the Entertainment Software Association industry review, Newzoo’s gamer segmentation report, Quantic Foundry’s massive sample gamer motivation survey, and the Oculus gamer segmentation study.

Personas

From the data I mined from those reports, I created a primary and three secondary personas in order to represent a cross-section of players that our game would appeal to. Initially, I followed the traditional model of giving each persona a full set of demographic information and photographs. However, I felt a more modern approach of removing demographic information to prevent unconscious bias was a better solution, especially since one of the goals set by the teams was to produce an inclusive game experience. Therefore, I redeveloped the personas to focus on gamer types and how Leviathan would respond to their needs.

Competitor Research

Since my research indicated that Steam was best platform on which to present the game, I did an analysis of the games available on the platform at the time. Most gamers on Steam find new games either by searching using keywords or exploring suggestions based on their previously played games. Tags are an integral part of the search/recommendation process. I aggregated the tags of 22 games which shared some theme, visual, or gameplay characteristics with Leviathan. To maximize the chances of our game coming up during a search, I selected most common tags that described it.

The top 15 appropriate tags were:

I felt that, in order to get a better grasp of how our game would fit in the platform, our potential investors would benefit from some direct comparison. So I created a side-by-side of three games, each of which focused on one of the main pillars of our game.

• Iron Wolf VR is a submarine simulator that includes some repair activities.

• Subnautica is an underwater exploration game.

• The We Were Here series of games are atmospheric puzzle solvers.

Design Research

Traditionally, the cover art for a game and the back panel description were the only things that the gamer had to go on when deciding whether or not to buy a game. That has changed with the shift to online game purchasing and the ability to look up gameplay videos. However, when searching for new game on most platforms, the first thing a gamer will see is the capsule (the digital equivalent to cover art). That image will strongly influence whether the gamer looks any further at the game. The capsule needs to entice the gamer and imply what sort of game they will be getting.

I researched extensively covers/capsules for previous games, primarily those that fell into two categories: steampunk and submarine-centric. The steampunk covers tended to fit into four different categories:

1. Hero Pose

2. Character Focused

3. Atmospheric

4. Vehicle Focused

Submarine game covers, like most vehicle based games, almost exclusively featured images of the vehicle in question performing the task that the gamer will be emulating.

Development

Team Development and Facilitation

Keeping a team of creatives on task can be quite difficult. In order to keep the team focused, I took on the task of gathering input and organizing the team charter and strengths analysis, as well as facilitating the sprint planning meetings and ideation sessions.

Studio Branding

I started the design for Cosmopolitan Cetacean’s studio branding with a concept sketch of a dapper, Victorian whale. After generating a number of concepts (my favorite can be seen in the middle below), I decided that the graphic design process was taking away from research time and outsourced the rest of the development, resulting in the logo to the right.

Design for Steam

Steam requirements list four sizes of images for the cover art (referred to as “capsules”). I created a capsule for each size. Informed by the results of my previous cover art research, I focused on designs that involved atmospheric, underwater images of the submarine.

Delivery

Creating the Pitch Video

While the team worked hard on early development of the game, the intended deliverable for this project was not a functional game. Our goal was to produce an angel investor pitch. Each member of the team focused on an aspect of the pitch. In addition to addressing my user, market, platform, and competitor research, I also addressed accessibility considerations.

Once each member produced their script, the team reviewed them for content, and I reviewed them for time constraint. Once all scripts were complete, I turned them into a pitch deck and storyboard for the video. I edited all audio and video and output the final product.

Outcome

Results and Lessons Learned

We presented the pitch to moderately good feedback. The strongest change notes for the future were the following:

• The group spent too much time focusing on the inspiration for the game and not enough building interest in gameplay.

• The viewers were intrigued by the game’s direction but it was not fully developed enough for more than a basic demonstration.

• We should have had someone with more experience in financials and sales review our estimates and polish them for a more concise presentation.

Personal Lessons

I found the persona redesign to be a particularly interesting and rewarding exercise. I appreciate the broader inclusivity and feel this is a more effective method. I intend to advocate for more needs and behavior based persona development over demographically segmented development.

Team facilitation was not a role I originally expected to fill. However, I found an affinity for it and am currently furthering my training in group facilitation.