With more and more of our target demographic shifting to mobile device

E-mail from Director of R&D to Staff

With more and more of our target demographic shifting to mobile devices, I think it may be time for a change in our product development process. It’s been a scramble to keep up with the changes in the technology, and most of our efforts have been aimed at modifying what we already own. We’ve made online gaming accessible to the mobile operating systems, and we’ve modified our PC games to create mobile apps. What have we done—or what should we be doing—to design new products that capitalize on the features of smartphones and tablets?

E-mail from Marketing Manager to Director of R&D

People think of their smartphones primarily as keep-in-touch devices. They are phones, but more and more, they’re used for texting and social networking. The easy Internet access is key for this. Tasks that require the player to locate information on the Internet and use it to complete an in-game task are much more practical than they were in the past. With built-in cameras and increasing video capability, sharing images is a common part of that instant communication. Perhaps we should be thinking about multiplayer games in which players share images of objects in their environment. The issue then becomes the game milieu. If we’re asking players to interact with their environment, fantasy settings are probably out.

E-mail from Applications Designer to Director of R&D

The touch screen aspect of smartphones and, more and more, tablets is one we shouldn’t ignore. We can’t keep designing for a keyboard and mouse and then try to adapt that to a touch screen. We have to take advantage of this modality. While some clients will use a stylus, if we design an interface that requires one, we handicap ourselves. Every extra accessory dilutes the perception of mobility. Our goal should be to use the touch screen technology in creative ways.