PocketGamer.biz is well known for its conferences and round-tables, but the short nature of these sessions means they only scratch the surface of important subjects. For real in-depth learning, we have worked with industry experts to create the MasterClasses. They are professional half-day activities featuring tutorials and breakout groups, all accessed from your home office.

There are four sessions running in December 2020 (see below), and this session is: ‘Game Monetisation Design: Building value into your game’ with Oscar Clark, Author of ‘Games As A Service’ and CSO at Fundamentally Games

OVERVIEW

What is the best way to charge for your game? This can be a challenge for any developer on any platform (PC, console or mobile) and can't just be bolted on. A game developer needs to understand what their players value; what motivates them to invest their precious time and money; and most importantly, why they would do it again.

This is not a simple choice between pay-upfront or pay-in-game. We need to consider how each element of product and price design affects expectations, as well as communicating opportunity cost and anticipation.

This Masterclass will provide a framework to make practical decisions that can improve the commercial potential in your game. It will explore how price means more than a number, different forms of exchange, and the role of bundles and ‘unboxing’.

About the host

Oscar Clark is Chief Strategy Officer of Fundamentally Games LTD whose mission is to bring games to live. He has been a pioneer in games services since 1998 helping developers design, deliver, monetize, and operate games live. He literally wrote the book “Games As A Service” published by Routledge.

You can read an interview with Oscar about what he'll teach today, at PocketGamer.biz.

Content

We will focus on three core areas of design:

The workshop will focus on three subject areas:

Part 1: Introducing a Player Utility Framework to understand what players love in your game and find the balance between the experience and value for players. This approach uses four lenses (subsistence, shortcuts, strategy and social) to uncover the core experience and identify the best form of exchange for those elements (upfront, in-game, or via DLC.)

Part 2: How to make purchases meaningful. We will explore the role of price, ‘hotdog economics’, win/loss ratio, strategic variations, VIP programs, BattlePass, unboxing, time-limited offers and even the role of ads in creating a deeper, ongoing sense of value for players that is deeply rooted in the enjoyment of play.Part 3: Understanding the player lifecycle. We will explore how players' needs change throughout the lifecycle and how this impacts the perception of value and introduces new opportunities for supplementary goods – even (rarely) real-world items. We will explore the role (and impact) that ‘living games’ has on building sustainable value with ongoing, predictable events, promotions, content and feature releases.

In this class attendees will be able to learn:

• How to break down what players will want to buy specifically in your game and what forms that should take.
• How to maximise a player’s sense of value for their purchases; without breaking the game (i.e. avoiding pay-to-win)
• How offers, bundles, different forms of exchange (time and money), unboxing and VIP programs can improve a player’s willingness and satisfaction from the game overall
• How to intelligently innovate your game through your monetisation design

Format of teaching

This will be a highly interactive session using Zoom and Miro as tools to support the participants working together to see how the theory can be applied.

For each subtopic we will have the following format:

20 mins lecture

20 mins group activity

20 mins Feedback/Review

60 mins x 3 = three hours total

There will be audience participation encouraged throughout the MasterClass.

Target audience

Any level of seniority from the disciplines of development, design, product, live ops business intelligence, production etc. This workshop is suitable for game teams with any genre or platform.

Other sessions & attendee offers

There are three other sessions available in December 2020. Each MasterClass requires a separate ticket, although multiple bookings are encouraged and come with a discount:

Tuesday, December 1st (2pm-5pm)

Game Design: How to benchmark, create and validate fun, with Javier Barnes

Wednesday, December 2nd (9am-12pm)

How To Raise Investor Money For Your Game Studio, with Joakim Achren

Thursday, December 3rd (2pm-5pm)

Predicting Commercial Success in Free-to-Play, with Martine Spaans

Individual multi-buy discount: book for three & get fourth free (so, book for all four MasterClasses and get one of them free).

Corporate discount: a group of six or more from one company can get 30% off if booked together.

To take advantage of multi-buy or group discounts, please email sally.kevan@steelmedia.co.uk to discuss your bespoke package.

Book your ticket today!

Select your ticket above and follow the simple online booking system. Payment is required at the time of booking, so please have your credit or debit card ready.

Group bookings from the same company: to arrange a discount on block bookings, please contact us if you wish to purchase more than 6 tickets, via sally.kevan@steelmedia.co.uk

If you are an indie developer (small privately-owned studio with fewer than 10 members, engaged in game creation) or student you may be entitled to discounted tickets. Please contact us with proof of your status and we can discuss relevant offer codes: sally.kevan@steelmedia.co.uk

Please note the final ticket price is in £UK, and conference tickets can be subject to UK VAT at a rate of 20%. You will be sent a VAT receipt by email along with confirmation of your booking.

For all other questions, please contact support@pgconnects.com

Terms and conditions apply.