The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the term “game design thinking” is probably video games.  While you would be correct in assuming that, the principles that come from designing video games actually have an amazing correlation to how businesses and designers can create other products and services, not just literal games.  

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Core Engagement Loop 

The core engagement loop is the first thing that needs to be understood when it comes to learning about game design thinking.  This is what is used to make decisions when we want to analyze the experience we are creating from the viewpoint of the user.  Core Engagement Loops are fundamental  to user experiences, not only in games, but also in business.

 Core engagement loops are crucial to product design. A broken core engagement loop can explain why users are choosing not to return to your product or service, and fixing it can improve conversion rates, reduce acquisition costs, and more. 

Engagement Journey

The idea behind the engagement journey follows a similar path to that of the core engagement loop, but with more steps and for a different purpose.  The goal of the engagement journey is to keep the user coming back and using your product or service after their first experience.

The idea behind the engagement journey is to maintain a series of engagements with your audience over a course of time.  This allows creators to perform a step-by-step analysis of the user’s experience to see where any issues may occur and what aspects can be improved to ensure that the user keeps coming back by generating a sense of need from the user.

Outcome-Based Design

In order to create a product or service that meets all of the needs of users, it is imperative that you utilize outcome-based design to ensure the fulfillment and satisfaction of users.  For this approach, as a designer you need to think of your created experience in what seems like a backwards approach.  We begin analyzing at the end goal, or outcome, and move back towards the original phases of our design.  

Once again, we can use this method of outcome-based design to create a sense of need for the user.  If they feel as if they need to incorporate our product or service into their regular schedule and that it benefits them, it becomes a win-win situation for the user and the designer.  From here, we need to determine what can be done to keep users coming back and continually engaging in our design work.

If you’d like to learn more about core engagement loops, engagement theory, and outcome-based design and how you can improve conversion rates, and optimize your customer journey, sign up for our free mini-course here → .

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