Slides from UIE virtual seminar on Game Thinking

1. how to improve your product design with
Game Thinking

2. Welcome
I’m glad
you’re here

3. Is this you?

4. Is this you?
• need to accelerate early
design process

5. Is this you?
• need to accelerate early
design process
• tough to filter & apply all
the feedback

6. Is this you?
• need to accelerate early
design process
• tough to filter & apply all
the feedback
• hard to make a stripped-
down MVP

8. What We Offer
resources workshops coaching design
services
Ray
Bradbury
Author
“There is nothing quite so
useless as doing with great
efficiency something that
should not be done at all”
Peter Drucker

9. Amy Jo Kim, Ph.D.
Social Game Designer
Entrepreneur
Startup Coach

10. Amy Jo Kim, Ph.D.
Social Game Designer
Entrepreneur
Startup Coach

11. Actionable techniques for
creating a better product
in less time
with Game Thinking
What You Will Learn

12. 2: Positioning:
My Story
4/11/2016

17. Let me tell you a story. It was a sunny September day
in Half Moon Bay, California - I was sitting in my living
room, enjoying the ocean view and listening intently
as the brilliant and visionary CEO of a hot gaming
startup told me about his crazy idea for a mutli-player
social game — a game where people with no musical
talent — playing simplified plastic instruments —
would FEEL like they were actually in a band, making
music together.

18. When the game was further along, we DID test our
ideas with these casual gamers. But in the early
days, it was our super-fans who helped us bring the
game to life. In a very real sense, those hard-core
music gamers were our co-creators -- our
collaborators — able to see what our crude mockups
and simple artwork could become, and — crucially —
give us actionable feedback on how to make it better.

19. we created a breakthrough hit

21. l needs
“The fans out
there are
entertaining us,
the developers,
with their
creations”
Will Wright
Creator, The Sims

22. By definition, successful innovations
end up affecting the majority — that’s
what makes them successful. But it
turns out in PRACTICE -- they
NEVER start off pleasing the majority.
small, high-learning experiments

28. By definition, successful innovations
end up affecting the majority — that’s
what makes them successful. But it
turns out in PRACTICE -- they
NEVER start off pleasing the majority.

31. And then it happened! Remember Ranan
- the CEO of Pley? He challenged me to
deliver my toolkit to his team online -- and
empower them to make 6 months of
progress in 6 weeks That scared the hell
outta me...

32. What is Game Thinking?

33. Amy Jo helped us
create our MVP in
record time. An
invaluable
investment that’s
still paying off.
Ranan Lachman
CEO, Pley

34. & the Getting2Alpha System was born

35. a step-by-step
system to
test your
high-risk
assumptions

36. based on the
habits & practices
of breakthrough
innovators

39. “Create something
that a few people
love - even if most
people don’t get
it right away”
Paul Buchheit
Partner, Y-Combinator

40. Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey Moore, 1991

41. [Innovation Diffusion Theory]
Now, I’m not the first one to discover
this. Way back in 1961, Everett Rogers
of Bell Labs published his landmark
study of how innovation spreads in
social systems.

42. Innovation Diffusion Theory
Everett Rogers, 1961

43. To cross the chasm…

44. find & delight a few
passionate early customers

46. if you want to cross that chasm…

47. find & delight your early market FIRST

49. “In a loop, you’re
learning a skill &
updating your
mental model.
That’s what leads
to player delight”
Dan Cook
co-founder, Spry Fox

50. is for Enthusiasts
what is my customer’s end-to-end experience?
Discovery
Onboarding
Habit-Building
Mastery
how does it evolve over time?

51. is for Enthusiasts
Discovery
Discovery is for Visitors
Is this right for me? What’s the value proposition?

52. is for Enthusiasts
Discovery
Onboarding
Onboarding is for Newcomers
How do I learn the ropes? When do I start getting value?

53. is for Enthusiasts
Discovery
Onboarding
Habit-Building
Habit-building is for Regulars
What pulls me back? What am I getting better at?

54. is for Enthusiasts
Discovery
Onboarding
Habit-Building
Mastery
Mastery is for Enthusiasts
How can I leverage the skills & knowledge that I’ve built?

55. Build your experience from the inside out

56. Fake
landing
page?

57. Fake
landing
page?
X

58. Operant
Conditioning
AKA
Skinner
Box?

59. Operant
Conditioning
AKA
Skinner
Box?
X

60. Skill-building =
making
customers
more awesome

61. Skill-building =
making
customers
more awesome

62. Core Loop
=
skill-
building
habit loop

64. Core Loop = your Day 21 experience

66. What We Offer
resources workshops
coaching design servicesPeter
Drucker
The best way to
have a good idea
is to have lots of
ideas
Lin
us Pauling
Scientist
“The best way
to have a
good idea is
to have lots
of ideas”
Linus Pauling
Scientist

70. X-axis:
customer’s
journey

71. X-axis:
customer’s
journey
Y-axis:
developer’s
journey

73. Game Thinking
Case Study

74. In case you don’t know - Slack
started out as the bare-bones in-
house communications tool for a
distributed team building an
innovative co-op multiplayer game.

75. When that game failed financially,
Steward Butterfield - the team
leader - pivoted and turned their in-
house tool into a better, faster team
communications product.

76. customer journey
“Lean Startup done right - through a game design lens”
Discovery
Onboarding
Habit-Building
Mastery

77. tage 1: Discovery is for Visitors
Social
Discovery via
Friends &
Colleagues

78. Onboarding is for Newbies
Learn the
ropes with a
friendly bot

79. Habit-building is for Regulars
Customized
group chat with
emojis, bots &
integrations

80. Launch a
channel,
program a bot,
integrate your
app
Mastery is for Enthusiasts

81. Create an
experience that gets
better as your
customers become
more skilled
Wanna build a product
people come back to?

82. In case you don’t know - Slack
started out as the bare-bones in-
house communications tool for a
distributed team building an
innovative co-op multiplayer game.
solve a real problem for a small group

83. Core Loop
Check Updates
urge to connect
with your team
Read &
Respond to
Updates
No More
Updates Need
Attention
Customize
your channel
& expressions

84. Core Loop
Check Updates
urge to connect
with your team
Read &
Respond to
Updates
No More
Updates Need
Attention
Customize
your channel
& expressions
Engaging Activity
Internal
Trigger
Engaging
activity
satisfies an
urge or
need

85. Core Loop
Check Updates
urge to connect
with your team
Read &
Respond to
Updates
No More
Updates Need
Attention
Customize
your channel
& expressions
Simple
Feedback
System
promotes
learning &
competence
Simple
Feedback

86. Progress,
Investment
& triggers
pull people
back
Progress & Investment
Engaged
Trigger
Check Updates
urge to connect
with your team
Read &
Respond to
Updates
No More
Updates Need
Attention
Customize
your channel
& expressions
Check
Notifications
Core Loop

87. Start with a skill-
building Core Loop
Wanna build
long-term engagement?

88. Game
Thinking
Roadmap
helps you
build &
tune your
Core Loop
FIRST

89. Game Thinking
Case Study

92. TITLE:
Get passionate customers to tell you what they want
SECTIONS:
1: Recap & Who I Am
2: Find your super-fans with 5 key discovery questions
4: Foreshadow Video #3 (+ CTA)

93. And as I’ve seen again and again - that
strategy just doesn’t work

94. RESULTS
market leader in
digital happiness

95. Amy Jo’s MVP
methodology is
fantastic.
The ROI you’ll
see is a no
brainer.
Ofer Leidner
President, Happify

96. Game Thinking
Case Study

98. To illustrate how this work, let me tell you a
story about one of the most nerve-racking -
but rewarding projects I’ve worked on. I
remember the feeling - sitting around a
conference table with a brilliant team of
experienced mobile game creators - trying to
figure out which game to build.

99. Our mission was to create an mobile
game for fashionistas that would feature
hot-off-the-runway designer clothes, and
bring in a much broader female audience
than any previous game they’d published.

100. Back at Crowdstar - the mobile games studio
-- we realized that we needed to branch out
beyond our usual testing audience and find
some fashionista super-fans.

101. 5 key discovery
questions
4/11/2016

102. TITLE:
Get passionate customers to tell you what they want
SECTIONS:
1: Recap & Who I Am
2: Find your super-fans with 5 key discovery questions
4: Foreshadow Video #3 (+ CTA)

103. TITLE:
Get passionate customers to tell you what they want
SECTIONS:
1: Recap & Who I Am
2: Find your super-fans with 5 key discovery questions
4: Foreshadow Video #3 (+ CTA)

104. Fashion Browser
stay up-to-date on fashion trends
Co-Creator
shop & dress with a buddy
Armchair Stylist
tell other people how to dress

105. Fashion
Browser
Existing habit
“When I’m tired after a long day
at work, I want to flop on the
couch and get the escapist,

106. Co-creator
Existing habit
“My BFF told me to put these
shoes and belt together with this
outfit – I would never think of that,

107. Armchair
Stylist
Existing habit
I LOVE the idea of rating my
friends outfits and telling them
how to dress better – I already
do that in real life ☺

110. Discover Your Style
Attend an Event
Make a Collection
Browse Your Stream
Customer Journey

111. Core Loop
Dress for the Event
Get Social Feedback
Raid your friend’s closet
Browse your Style Feed Choose an Invitation

112. Covet Fashion Today (>3M MAUs)

113. Amy Jo has a
refined & effective
process for
bringing early
ideas to life.
Blair Ethington
VP Covet Fashion, Crowdstar

114. Now let’s talk about YOU

115. What if you could

116. • Accelerate your early product development?
What if you could

117. • Accelerate your early product development?
• Talk with EXACTLY the right customers early on?
What if you could

118. • Accelerate your early product development?
• Talk with EXACTLY the right customers early on?
• Turn those insights into a simple yet compelling MVP*?
What if you could

119. • Accelerate your early product development?
• Talk with EXACTLY the right customers early on?
• Turn those insights into a simple yet compelling MVP*?
• Design your product for long-term engagement?
What if you could

120. Adopt these
3 habits to
increase your
chances of
success

121. ›
1

123. 2

125. 3

127. Ready to super-charge
your product design?
getting2alpha.com/apply

128. let’s stay
in touch
@amyjokim
amyjokim.com
ajk@getting2alpha.com