Launching a Serious Game for Music Festival Management Training

Role

Product Designer

Interface

Website

Skills applied

Product StrategyFeature PrioritizationA/B TestingUX DesignUser Research

Credits

In collaboration with: Embassy of France in Canada, Matthew Belford, Lan Wang, Neel Nair, Jason Elliott

In a nutshell

Fête Accompli was conceived as a pioneering serious game dedicated to revolutionizing festival management training. Targeting aspiring event managers and seasoned festival professionals alike, the game aimed to merge educational content with interactive gameplay. The core objectives of Fête Accompli were to:

Provide a immersive simulation of music festival management
Enhance learning and skill development for both novice and experienced event organizers
Foster engagement through interactive scenarios and user-centered design

Problem

In midst of a global pandemic in 2021, the French Embassy in Canada wanted to utilize one of the major vectors of creative and economic development - a video game - as an information and training tool for music festival management.

Opportunity

Fête Accompli presented an opportunity to revolutionize how festival management is taught. By harnessing serious gaming, the project aimed to offer an interactive, engaging, and effective learning experience. Success with the game is determined by player engagement and completion.

Approach

Adopting an agile development approach, the project focused on iterative design based on continuous user feedback. This involved regular prototyping, testing, and refining game features to enhance educational value and user engagement.

Competitive Analysis

A thorough analysis of existing serious and simulation games was conducted. This helped identify gaps in the market and opportunities to innovate in terms of gameplay, educational content, and user experience.

Our competitive analysis focused on these key areas:

User Experience and Interface Analysis
Game Design and Mechanics
Educational Content and Accuracy
Technology and Platforms

User Personas and Journey Mapping

I crafted user personas representing our key users: event producers and festival organizers. These personas, like "Novice Event Organizer Derek” and “Experienced Festival Director Nina” highlighted distinct needs and challenges of each learner, guiding the development of user journey for the game. This process was also crucial in ensuring that the game is relevant, engaging and enjoyable for our key audiences to complete their learning.

Agile Development and Testing Process

We conducted a comprehensive analysis of player behavior in the initial prototypes of the game, meticulously tracking user interactions, engagement levels, and response patterns. This data, coupled with detailed user feedback gathered through surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews, provided invaluable insights into player preferences and pain points. Leveraging this rich body of research, we strategically refined both the game's features and UI elements.

Initial Research and Data Collection Before the implementation of UI/feature improvements, initial data was gathered to understand the baseline user experience. This involved: Quantitative Metrics: Data such as average session duration, user engagement levels, and completion rates of the game scenarios were tracked. Qualitative Feedback: Initial user interviews, surveys, and focus groups were conducted to gather subjective feedback about the game's usability, educational effectiveness, and engagement.

Iterative Development and Testing Cycles The agile testing process for Fête Accompli was characterized by short, iterative development cycles, each followed by testing phases. This allowed for continuous refinement of the game based on user feedback.

Prototype Testing: Early versions of the game were tested with a small group of 20+ users. Key metrics like navigation ease, understanding of game mechanics, and overall enjoyment were measured.
Feedback Integration: User feedback was categorized into different areas such as UI clarity, feature usability, and educational content engagement. This feedback directly informed subsequent development sprints.
Data-Driven Decisions: Decisions for UI/feature improvements were backed by data from user interactions. Metrics like time spent on different game sections, and user progression rates were critical in these decisions.

UI/Feature Improvements and Refinement

Each UI and feature improvement underwent rigorous testing:

Department Exploration System:

The glowing exclamation mark placed above each department’s desk helps players navigate different departments: finance, programming, marketing, human resources. The exclamation mark will no longer appear after the player has interacted with the department.

Pre-Improvement Data: Users were getting lost or confused during the onboarding of the game, indicated by longer navigation times and lower interaction rates with key game elements.

Post-Improvement Data: We implemented exclamation marks for each department as visual clues for players to interact with. These exclamation marks helped guide the users through different departments they have to interact with in order to start the planning phase of organizing a music festival. Improvement in onboarding and navigation ease was measured by reduced time to complete tasks and increased interactions with department elements.

Selection Rating System:

As players interact with each department desk, a series of options will be given in terms of the level of preparation and management tactics players can deploy for the festival. The following icons indicate aspects of the festival which the player can control and influence:

Calendar: The amount of time (days) taken to complete the task
Money: The amount of estimated budget required
Star: The level of attendance attracted

Pre-Improvement Data: Players expressed difficulty in making informed decisions (e.g. what are the trade-offs between choosing TV promotion or street marketing?), reflected in lower decision accuracy rates and hesitancy in selection.

Post-Improvement Data: The icons have been added to enhance decision-making, improvements have been observed through quicker decision times with players.

Scenario System and Navigation:

All festival scenarios are displayed on the taskbar located on the screen’s centre top. As the music festival continues throughout the day, the number of scenarios shown will gradually increase and accumulate on the bar. To help players distinguish between new and current scenarios, the following signifiers are used to illustrate the difference:

New Scenario: A red dot located on the bottom right corner of the scenario box indicates a new scenario that is being presented. The red dot disappears once the player hovers over the new scenario box.
Current Scenario: A red outline wrapping around the scenario box indicates the current scenario that the player is working towards completing. Whenever the player decides to switch to another scenario, the red outline will appear around the chosen scenario box.
The Urgency of Scenario: The colour of the scenario box reflects the urgency of the scenario, in which the colour will change from bright green (least urgent) to red (most urgent). For instance, the longer the player leaves a scenario unattended, the colour of the scenario box will gradually turn bright red, indicating urgency in completing the scenario.

Pre-Improvement Data: Users were missing critical scenarios or not responding in time, shown by lower completion rates of scenarios.

Post-Improvement Data: Improved scenario response and completion rates, and positive feedback on user satisfaction surveys.

Success Metrics and KPIs:

The final phase involved validating the overall effectiveness of the improvements. This was done through comprehensive user testing, measuring key success metrics such as user immersion, game completions, and user surveys. Surveys and interviews post-improvement provided qualitative data on user satisfaction and educational effectiveness.

User Engagement We achieved a 35% rise in user immersion, as reflected in over 100+ hours of active gameplay. Average session duration also improved by 30%, with session lengths extending from 15 to 20 minutes
Game Completions Players completing the serious game increased by 25%, with completions rising from 400 to 500 users.
User Feedback User feedback collected through surveys underscored the positive impact of Fête Accompli. The majority of players expressed satisfaction with the game's immersive experience and praised the realistic scenarios of the game