ASTRONEER

The gaming industry has grown astronomically over the past few decades. Before I research what the community craves in the game, I first need to understand the many personas of a gamer and what features similar games possess. I started with secondary research, including a provisional persona exercise and competitive analysis.

When you think of a typical Gamer, the stereotype is usually based on introverted males. However, there are many personas that go unnoticed. In my research I have only scratched the surface of the various gamer personas.

The largest space themed exploration competitor would be No Man's Sky. It is the closest in visuals, gameplay, and overall UI aesthetic. Outside of that game, there are not many that compare besides Empyrion, which visually and story wise is more realistic than fantasy.

I also went through community forums on Steam and Reddit to look at player game suggestions for possible features that seemed interesting. I believe the following suggestions would improve inconvenient scenarios within the game and take a low amount of resources to implement:

Make small suspended pieces of soil de-spawn
Bring back sandstorms/hazardous weather (released in the Alpha version)
A way to add a small custom text to a beacon

Before releasing the survey I made note of a few assumptions and risks:

We assume those who take the survey take it seriously and aren’t being online “trolls”
We assume those who take the survey have played the game before
We understand some users may leave inappropriate or rude responses in the long response boxes
We may not get a decent sample size within the given time frame for the survey

Survey Findings

89% are very satisfied with the current version of the game (last updated in March 2021)
20% of surveyors have not played the game since the most recent update
100% of those said if new features were added to the game they would play it again
92% said they would recommend the game to a friend
35% bought the game because of someone they watched on Twitch or Youtube
70% said they like the game because of the creative freedom to explore the open worlds without being forced to follow the main storyline
13% said they like the game because there are no serious enemies getting in the way of game progression or exploration

Once I had my Survey completed I created 2 fictional personas, Veronica and Ricky. I wanted to have multiple personas to depict two sides of the gamer spectrum. I also created Empathy maps to bring these personas to life.

I decided as there are so many features that could be added to chose a feature that I would want to see implemented into the game. I chose to design a customization tool that allows players to change the color palettes of their crafted items.

How would this add value to the user experience?

Currently, a player can only change the appearance of their character such as body shape, color palette, and accessories. Also, crafted items are only in the original colors, blue and white, so this feature would allow the player to make their experience more personalized.

The general user flow to the customization tool would be:

Once I got the basic user flow of the tool I started sketching up storyboards:

How the player obtains the customization tool

Assuming the player is not starting a new game, they access the research catalog and search for the customization tool. Once found, they can determine if they have enough bytes (currency) to unlock it.

In order to obtain enough bytes to unlock the tool, they will need to conduct research. As they explore the world, they will find research items that are then placed into a chamber to extract bytes. They will need 7,500 bytes to unlock the customization tool.

Once the player has enough bytes they return to the research catalog and find the customization tool. They unlock the schematic and should now be able to print the customization tool if they have the required materials.

If the player does not have the resources needed to craft the tool they will need to go mine for resources. Astronium can only be found by digging to the center of a planet, which requires the player to have progressed significantly.

As the player drills down to the center of a planet they will eventually find Astronium. They mine it using the drill attached to their vehicle and after a few seconds will obtain enough Astronium to craft the customization tool.

Astronium is transferred to the players backpack to an empty slot. They then sift through their backpack printer schematics until they find the Customization tool. When they find it the backpack places Astronium into the printer slot and the middle button turns green indicating it can be crafted.

The player clicks the green button and the customization tool prints into an open slot and is ready to use.

How the player uses the customization tool

Option 1: Equip to Terrain tool

Once the tool has been crafted the player would equip it to their terrain tool. As they hover over the lava lamp shaped tool, hold the F key to turn it on. This is a similar action for how players turn on (or off) other crafted items.

Once activated, the player hovers over the customization tool again and presses P on the keyboard to open up the customization menu. Here they are able to see available color palettes on the screen. They can only use color palettes they have unlocked.

Once a color palette is selected the player clicks out of the menu and looks over at the item they want to customize. Press E on the keyboard to equip the terrain tool, point at the item, and left click. This will spray color particles in the air and a quick animation changes the items color.

Option 2: Equip to Backpack slot

Once the customization tool has been crafted the player can equip it on one of two widget slots on their backpack (either top left or top right slot).

Once equipped, the player hovers over the customization tool and presses F on the keyboard to turn it on and P to open up the customize menu. Here they are able to see available color palettes on the screen. They can only use color palettes they have unlocked.

Once the player clicks out of the menu and walks over to the item they want to customize, they hover over it and press P again on the keyboard. This causes the mod to scan the item down, and as the scan goes upward the item changes to the desired color palette.

ASTRONEER

About the Project

The Problem

The Solution

Design Process