Building Buy-In: Creating design tools for better player experiences at EA

Peter Vesti Frendrup - Sr. Level Designer - EA DICE Krista Parham - Sr. UX Researcher - EA Vancouver Peter Vesti Frendrup Level Design 11 years Battlefield, Battlefront, Far Cry, Splinter Cell Krista Parham UX Research 3 years : Andromeda, FIFA

How to pitch your own company wide project

Key Takeaways How telemetry viewers can help teams make better decisions about their games

The challenges involved in building this type of tool and how to overcome them How to pitch your own company wide project

Key Takeaways How telemetry viewers can help teams make better decisions about their games

The challenges involved in building this type of tool and how to overcome them How to pitch your own company wide project

Key Takeaways How telemetry viewers can help teams make better decisions about their games

The challenges involved in building this type of tool and how to overcome them G e t Phases of ti n It g

g B in u s y Building a Tool - U In

Building the tool STOCKHOLM 2015 As a level designer, I want to...

Be able to easily understand how people play a level spatially over time Be able to easily compare players

Goal: Properly understand how people play. An exploratory tool (not a binary ‘problem solver’) G e t t Getting buy-in when i n It g

g B in u s y top-down fails. - U In

Building the tool First approach Second approach G e t t Building the tool: i n It g

g B in u s y game-specific - U In

Building the tool Thor Prototype Goals

Play over time Exploratory Tool 3D Tool Isolate and aggregate player Explore data from different Move & navigate the map. activity over time perspectives. Understand data spatially.

G e t t Using the tool: i n It g

g B in u s y SP - U In

Building the tool A powerful communication tool that removes ambiguity.

Be aware of incorrect analysis. Context Matters.

It’s not only about finding problems. Validation is valuable.

Don’t be precious. Embrace player behavior. Cool stuff up here Tru ck ...but people loved to go into this building

...no matter what

PLAYER COMING FROM THIS DIRECTION

Getting Buy-in: Success of bottom-up

Interest spreads if people can see the value.

Battlefield 1 MP & Battlefront II now also wanted 3D Telemetry. CROSS-STUDIO COLLABORATION EA Vancouver EA DICE Get top-down buy-in for company wide Generalize viewer & get it online. solution. Rebrand to THOR. Web Thor Goals

Access Anywhere Robust Continuous Support From any computer via the Integrate with other EA tools. From a dedicated team web. keeping the tool online. G e t t Getting Buy-in Part 2: i n It g

g B in u s y Top-down Thor - U In

Building the tool Reason for Thor 1: Make Data Human Context matters. Faces mean empathy.

Reason for Thor 2: Get Data In Early

Incentivises telemetry implementation Align product goals with business goals Main Concern: But who would use it?

A: Peter Main Concern: But who would use it?

A: Specific use cases - no hypotheticals

Telling a clear, actionable story using the tool. Tools touch more teams than planned. Buy-in is continuous. MEANWHILE, IN SWEDEN G Using the tool: e t t in It g

Multiplayer versus g B in u s y - U Single Player In

Building the tool Different lenses for different modes. One size does not fit all. Single Player Multiplayer Individual player paths shown at the same time. Individual matches (player positions colored by heat) Twisted Steel - Conquest Battlefield V Twisted Steel - Conquest Battlefield V Twisted Steel - Conquest Battlefield V Twisted Steel - Conquest Explore new visualizations. Player Paths by Quantity.

Provide options. Facilitate Data Exploration. What are we looking at? The Telemetry Event

How are we looking at it? Parameter of the above Event Are we looking at all matches or one match? +stats Filter

What kill range? Event Specific Filter

Designing Thor: Like designing an emergent game

It’s all about exploration Do not assume that you (tool dev) know all specific use cases Facilitate, don’t dictate

You succeeded when your tool is being used in ways you didn’t imagine G e t t Creating the tool: in It g

g B in u s y Designing for general use - U In

Building the tool The dream meets the reality The Dream meets Reality. Technical Requirements

Data Agnostic Plug and Play = Need to start fresh New Tech Stack Data Agnostic Putting dots on a map independent of what the dots mean Tech framework determines function.

G e t Using it company-wide: Roll t in It g

g B in u it out with game teams y s - U In

Building the tool Introducing Thor: The easy part

Relating the tool to their game Developer Question: What do I have to do?

Planning for end-to-end service Empowering users to help themselves Data variability more widespread than expected

No one had implemented telemetry with a viewer in mind - until now G e t t Getting Buy-in: Ongoing, not i n It g

g B in u s y binary process - U In

Building the tool Tools shape processes. And here we are

First prototype and pitch. DICE and EAV Team Up Web Thor Roll-out

2016 2017 2018

2015 2016 2018

Battlefield 1 SP Prototype First web Thor 1.0 Launches prototype

Battlefield 1 MP prototype Analytics

Tools bring Research Thor Development teams together

Data Platform There is value in seeing how players play

Data in development lets us improve gameplay a little bit at a time Building and Buy-in G e tt in It g go together g B in u s y - U I Repeat the process to n keep growing

Building the tool Know your use case - and prove it

Getting Buy-in Put everyone on the same team

Buy-in is cyclical Special Thanks Ian Livingston, Anthony Charles, Pratham Parikh, Namra Tayyab, Tahrima Tasmin, Ishneet Kaur, Farah Ali, Johan Dorell, Cameron Westlake, Rikard Nyquist, Reinhold Radick

Peter Vesti Frendrup Krista Parham @petervesti @kpearham