Student Sebas van de Munt 500786096 [email protected]

Education Communication and Multimedia Design 2nd year Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Coaching by Roey Tsemah

Date and version 18-06-2021 Version 1.0

Links Product Biography This project's Twitter https://twitter.com/PolarBearGamez

Introduction

Video games take on many different forms and purposes. There are racing games, which are supposed to make players feel like they're going fast. Some people enjoy horror games, which are made to make players feel scared. And for me personally, I like puzzle games, since they make me feel smart. You name it, and there's a game for it.

For this project, I designed a gameplay concept which is supposed to make players feel happier and more relaxed after playing. I reached this goal by researching game design, and carefully prototyping gameplay elements which are proven to stimulate player's mental health and happiness.

In this Design Rationale, I'm going over the most important aspects of my research, prototypes and tests, all resulting in a final prototype containing a gameplay concept which makes young adult casual gamers happier and more relaxed.

The Opportunity

Many links between video games and flourishing mental health have been discovered over the years by dozens of researches (Frontiers Psychology, 2014). With 50% of casual gamers being active gamers on mobile, gaming having an overall ~40% increase in playtime worldwide during 2020 (Inkwood Research, 2020), and with 33.6% of young adults stating to feel mostly unhappy every day this past year (CBS, 2020), the opportunity arose to design a video game which improves the happiness and relaxation of this demographic.

The Context

Target Audience - Adolescent Casual Gamers

The target audience for this project are casual gamers who are between the ages of 15 - 30. About half of them are male, the other half female. These people being casual gamers means that they enjoy video games, but they're not a priority for them. A small amount of time a week is spent on gaming; about 1 - 10 hours. A primary reason for them to play video games, is to improve their mood and relax.

Games they enjoy are primarily non adversarial, calm games that are easy to learn. They do want games to challenge them at least a little bit, though. Primary sources for finding new games are hearing about them from friends and family, social networks and online video channels.

Dark Souls is an example of a hardcore game. It's an action game with complex controls and high difficulty.

Dark Souls is an example of a hardcore game. It's an action game with complex controls and high difficulty.

Animal Crossing is an example of a casual game. It's a vacation life simulation game with simple controls and players can't really lose.

Animal Crossing is an example of a casual game. It's a vacation life simulation game with simple controls and players can't really lose.

Persona

Name: Jacob Williams Age: 23 years old Nationality: North America, Pennsylvania Living situation: Student housing with 3 roommates, one room for himself Relationship status: Single

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/0404c7e7-f7af-4d2a-be18-9b951c8ae768/Hey.jpg