How to Create Game Design Concepts and Keep Your Audience Engaged with Lord Gosingtian of ThinkBit

We kick off this year's episode with an interview with ThinkBit's President, Lord Gosingtian. He shares his company's journey from taking on small projects to designing their games for themselves and their clients.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Creating game concepts from scratch: Lessons learned from shifting from an individual playing games to an entrepreneur creating games for a living
• The importance of market research, understanding the market, and staying on top of trends
• How to keep a game engaging in a saturated market
• Testing what works and what doesn't with your game and how to iterate
• Finding a balance between creativity and budget constraints

ThinkBit Solutions is an IT Solutions company based in Manila, Philippines. They provide software development and design services including mobile app development, web apps, mobile games, branding, design, and digital marketing.

Find ThinkBit Solutions online at

https://thinkbitsolutions.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thinkbit

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thinkbitsolutions/

Transcript

Aileen Artificio: [00:00:00] In this episode, we get to sit down with Thinkbit's president, Lord Gossington. He shares his expertise in game design concepts, from how to create a game concept from scratch to making sure that your audience stays engaged. We also talk about upcoming trends and how to incorporate those into your designs.

I am joined today by the president of Thinkbit, Lord Christian Gosington. He's here to tell us about their stories, about game design, their journey getting there, and what's coming up next. So we're very excited to have you on. But before we get started with all the game design, I think one of the best things that we love to hear from our guests are their journeys just towards getting into the industry.

So how did you start getting into game design? How did Thinkbit come about? Can you tell us more about that? ThinkBit. com 

Lord Gosingtian: I guess I could go through quick introduction of myself and how I got into the industry, right? Thinkbit is actually a IT solutions company, but one of my passions really is game [00:01:00] development and game design.

So aside from like doing different kinds of IT solutions for our clients, we started venturing into creation of mobile games for our different clients and it's not limited to actually mobile games. It's also like a web web games and other small activations as well. So roughly we've been around for more than 10 years and roughly around the first or second year of.

The company we started already developing our own games. I guess you could say it's like a passion project on my end, where I really wanted to pursue and experience the industry as whole, right? So of course, when we were starting out we would do a small work for higher projects. We will take on some projects from clients that would want specific mobile games that they wanted.

The, and then we eventually started working on our own games, right? From then we roughly around, maybe prior to the pandemic, [00:02:00] maybe seven years ago we started working on our own IP called BrawlQuest. So it's out on Google play and Apple app store. It has won some awards on big in the pitch as well as got nominated for a level of KL back then.

And then it got featured on both Android and iOS play stores as well. For. The time we released the game, right? So it's essentially a beat them up. That's a tailor fit for mobile devices. So you actually play it on portrait mode. And you can actually play the game with just one hand. So that's basically the hook.

And the unique selling point of that. that game. And from there, of course, while we were working on that, we continued to develop different mobile games for our clients as well. And I explored more into understanding how to, aside from develop designing the games. themselves doing all of the number work and understanding what we need to do in terms of like player progression and how they experience the game.

I started also trying to understand how we're supposed to market, how we're [00:03:00] supposed to sell the game as well. So of course now I'm continuously working on new titles both for client work. And of course, we're also working on a new game internally. That we hope to be able to release sometime in the near future.

So that's where I am right now. Yeah. 

Aileen Artificio: Okay, that sounds like quite a journey and there's something you mentioned at the beginning that was really interesting. You mentioned that games were a passion of yours and it was something you liked. And I think that was a similar thing with all the other CEOs or all the other game development companies that we featured.

Is there a specific game that got you hooked into gaming or do you remember what was that first game? 

Lord Gosingtian: Actually when it comes to the games themselves growing up, we did have a Famicom. So it's really the classics Super Mario among other games. But what really got me very interested in game design is actually an event before this was back When I was studying in grade [00:04:00] school I would go with my brother for lunch or recess, and they would go to the library and they would play a made up tabletop game where everything's just on paper.

There would be drawings of monsters and then there would be a game master and they would play rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to turn and attack the monster. And that got me quite interested in how these things are actually made. from scratch and from a piece of paper, they can make an engaging exciting experience.

And I guess from there, like being someone who really liked playing games and seeing like the bare bones of how to make like something very engaging from something as simple as paper and pencil that got me into very interested in Understanding how things are being created, being decided, being developed in games, right?

And I guess that spurred my enthusiasm and interest in eventually just making games. 

Aileen Artificio: That was a very young time to be interested in something that's very complex. So [00:05:00] taking that story in mind now that it's all elaborate. How do you approach creating a game concept from scratch? It's gone from just the bare bones of the paper.

And now how do you do it today? 

Lord Gosingtian: Okay. So of course, back then I was extremely naive. I didn't know anything. And it was really just. Really just being in, in so much wonder of how to do it. And now it's very different. Of course, now we're, I need to manage a company and there are responsibilities on top of that.

So when it comes to creating an approaching game concepts, one of the things that we do is. Heavily is doing research, doing market research. Back then, of course when we were young, there were only a couple of games that were really popular, but right now the market's getting more and more saturated and you'd get to see a lot of different games within the same genre.

And one of the key things that we really do right now is make sure that we do a lot of research. [00:06:00] seeing the market trends and seeing what concepts would be unique or different from what's out there. So that's really step one. After we do like some of the research and checking out the existing market then we start conceptualizing our own ideas and putting our own personal.

inputs and making it our own as well, right? So I guess that's where we currently start off with. These ideas and concepts doesn't really, I guess just to take into consideration that we don't like really, continuously do research, but some of these ideas just come out from us doing everyday things and then we suddenly have an idea, but our ideas already comes with all of the inputs and research that we've actually been doing across the months or the years as well, right?

So yeah, that's where we start off when we're creating a game design, game concept. 

Aileen Artificio: So it's very elaborate now. So now that you've [00:07:00] created the game concept, I think the next not. hurdle, but the next step really is to figure out how to keep it engaging for players over time, because like you mentioned, when you were younger, the games were very linear, it was very simple, but now since the market is being saturated, you need to be continuously coming up with things that keep you engaged.

people engage. So how do you do that with a game that you design? So after the concept, how do you keep it engaging? 

Lord Gosingtian: So I guess as a disclaimer I do specialize in mobile game design. So while I think there would be some people who don't. Aren't too particular with mobile games. That's where we're at because it's the most accessible right now.

So when it comes to engagement and retention, of course one, one of the key factors that we need to take into consideration right off the bat is making sure that It feels good to play. And when I say feel, it's a lot of things that's already [00:08:00] combined within the game. From your controls, the sound effects, how the actual gameplay responds and gives feedback to the player, to the visuals, of course, and that's what gets them on the game itself.

But once they're on the game, in terms of engaging. I would say specifically for mobile, it's really going to be the gameplay first and the player experience. And then after that, it's making sure you have mechanics that actually will push for the player to continuously retain within the game.

Whether or not it's providing them various different resources or various different rewards for them to continuously achieve, being able to see progress as they go along, seeing them go through and achieving more different stages and the right? So that's generally how we're looking at retaining and engaging players.

And of course, when it comes to [00:09:00] the mobile space already see a lot of these tried and tested, uh, techniques and methods. So I guess if you've played a couple of mobile games, you already know that when you open the game, there's always a seven day login banner. There's always this daily quest system.

There's a weekly quest system. There are limited time events among a few of the techniques that we use. That gets employed for retention. 

Aileen Artificio: That's great. You mentioned a couple of game mechanics that are very familiar to anyone who has really played a mobile game and stayed on. So that's very interesting.

So let me jump into that a little bit. How do you test and iterate what works for a game that you have? And how do you improve gameplay based on that? 

Lord Gosingtian: From my experience when we have started out with our game, Brawl Quest, how we did it is we do it in a lot of phases. Initially, of course, when we already have a rough prototype, we test it within the team, test it if it feels good, [00:10:00] test it if it doesn't.

If it's the exact emotions that we want to evoke specifically on the different kinds of level design. So there would be some designs that we would make that really should be irritating for the player. And we want to make sure that those are the things that actually come out. After we do like a small internal test to us and we feel like this is ready.

Then we bring it out to a bigger audience. And usually what we do is we take it to some of the smaller conventions locally. And we have them. That's the playable version of the bill to see their actual feedback and these are like it's great because these are like very raw feedback that they would give and they would really just say, and their immediate feedback.

And even if they don't say anything, you can actually see from their like, physical emotion. From if they are getting frustrated with a couple of mechanics, that should be very simple. And then from there [00:11:00] we put all of that in at the time we put it on spreadsheets, we have a Google form and have them fill it up.

And then we consolidate the information and we have a discussion within the team. And then after that we move on to another cycle of tests where we do more open tests. So we start running an internal test with ad campaign, get more random users to test it out and see.

And from there, we actually already see the data. So we actually look at the data already by then. So initially when it comes to like their actual player experience of the core gameplay it's very It's very physical. It's very face to face. But when we're already happy with that, and we're sure that this is already a fun experience, we test it on a broader market.

And we want to make sure that our decisions are data driven. So after we roll it out, we want to make sure that in terms of metrics, they do stay [00:12:00] after playing the game. A couple of times they go through the have multiple sessions, and then they go open the game again the next day and measure that data.

So that's generally how we scale up and then we test different sections of the gameplay and the game design. 

Aileen Artificio: It's fascinating how games today really need that continuous testing and actual user feedback, as opposed to before that it was just testing. Plain research, we think you will like this and then just send it to the shelves.

But it's very interesting how the games now actually require a lot of internal testing. And like you mentioned, you need to test every single part and it has to be data driven. And so I think that brings us to the next question, which is, I feel it's still painful if you're creative, because how do you balance creativity and the constraints of a project scope?

Because definitely, as much as we want to have a lot of money to throw into a game and just keep building it, that's not always feasible. So you have to have some [00:13:00] restraint. So how do you balance that? 

Lord Gosingtian: I think I won't be the only one to say that this is probably one of the hardest things to keep track of.

And you can see this across the industry as well, where even if you're big or you're small, the project would sometimes get delayed, the project scope would adjust, would change, the budget might not be enough to your initial wants. It's really a push and pull between how much you'd want to put in the game and having Your creativity go wild, but at the same time, of course, we're all going to be tied with certain restrictions.

Limitations will, of course, within a company, it's going to be financial first, right? If we can't pay. The people that's going to be working on it, definitely it's a hard stop already. One is being more goal oriented would define a lot of the activities that we would be doing.

So setting a clear goal to make sure that we are within [00:14:00] the bounds. What we should be doing. If us there, there is a certain feature or that we would want to do we want to make sure that a feature has a well defined goal so that we don't overproduce that feature, right? So if we were to add the button that.

And our end goal was to make sure it's very visible for the player to click. We make sure that it is the production for that specific button or that specific feature is only limited to that function. So one is setting the goal and then The next one would be, I guess it's more of like on a project management already.

Of course this the in project management, we're looking at three main things, right? It's scope budget and timeline. You pull on one, the other ones need to get reduced, right? So it's really just Continuously managing those three together. But at the same time, while the project is ongoing and we're managing the scope, the budget, and the timeline, we're making sure that all of our [00:15:00] design decisions and all of the creative decisions that are put in the game is focused towards what that goal would be, as I mentioned.

So yes, there are times where. We wanted this cool new character to be added in the game. But when we looked at what our goal is, and we realized that it's not going to improve their attention of the players, then we eventually would have to cut a couple of features in and make sure that we're within that scope and budget.

Aileen Artificio: That sounds painful, but I think that's really the reality of game design if you want to if you want to ensure the success of your game. Now that we have all those things happening, and you guys are mainly focused on mobile games, how do you keep up with the latest trends in gaming and how do you integrate them into your designs?

Lord Gosingtian: Personally I do since it has become like part of a hobby, I do read through a lot of [00:16:00] newsletters about game design trends mobile game trends. But on top of that, so there are like specific Podcasts and newsletters that I actually really look into one of it is two and a half, two and a half gamers.

So they do do they do leak weekly reviews of different games out in the market right now. And they also do a review of the different trends that there are. So that's one the other one is of course, I myself Download and play a lot of the new games in the up and coming ones, even though they are not in my personal preference or personal niche.

So there are games that I would probably have never picked up just if I was just to only look at what I wanted to play so really it's also. just keeping it part of my ecosystem of work and making sure that I do a lot of activities that get me exposed to different kinds [00:17:00] of trends.

Because we as much as we want to, like when we're making a game, we want to make. What we want all the time. But the reality is like the market doesn't necessarily always would want the same that what we want. So we need to keep ourselves quite open minded to that, so that we are able to know What kind of trends is good and what we could actually implement within the game that we're working on.

Yeah. 

Aileen Artificio: You said something very important there that I really enjoyed you mentioned you still play games even if they're not in your preferred genre or preferred space and I think that's very important just to widen your perspective of what actual people want and not just What we want in general. So that's, I think that's very important for anyone designing games out there.

So thank you again so much for your time today, Lord. This has been very good. Before we go, can you tell us a bit more about Thinkbit, how people can find you, what they can look out for in terms of the games that [00:18:00] you guys are coming up with? 

Lord Gosingtian: Think that we are, as mentioned, we are a solutions company that we, and we also develop games.

You could check out our website, I think that solutions. com. And we're currently working on a new game called Kaiju survivor. But that's not yet out. It's not yet public. So hopefully you guys can get that. To see it in a couple of months to maybe a couple of years. We don't know about the scoping.

Hopefully months. But yeah That's it, yeah. 

Aileen Artificio: Alright, thank you so much for your time today and we look forward to seeing all of those games released in the near future. 

Lord Gosingtian: Alright, thank you so much. Thank you.

Aileen Artificio: Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our series on game development experts on the Arise Plus Philippines YouTube channel. Thanks