Session Name: | Designing for Free: How Free-to-Play Games Blur the Line Between Design and Business |
Speaker(s): | Tom Chick, Ben Cousins, David Edery, Soren Johnson, Matthias Worch |
Company Name(s): | Quarter to Three, ngmoco Sweden, Spry Fox, Game Developer Magazine, LucasArts |
Track / Format: | Game Design |
Overview: |
The free-to-play movement is here to stay and will touch every corner of the games industry. However, the format blurs the line between game design and game business, so that business decisions will become increasingly indistinguishable from design decisions. Free-to-play content must be fun enough to attract and retain players but not so much fun that no one feels the need to spend some money. Managing this tension makes free-to-play design extremely difficult, especially for traditional game designers who are used to simply making the best game possible. Our panelists will discuss this transition and best practices for building free-to-play games with soul. |