With each new project it is important to do market research. It is one of, if not the most, important part of planning when you are going to make anything from a website all the way up to a video game. It is important because you need to know if what you are making is suitable for your target audience and if what you are making is relevant in the market at the time.
The best way to find this out is to use both primary and secondary research. Primary research is information that you have gathered for yourself. You can do with surveys and interviewing people to see their response. Secondary research is information that you gathered off someone else like off the Internet or in a book. There are also two ways of counting up the data you:
As part of a current project, I had to do some research online to see which is more popular between iOS and Android. From what I found online it looked like Android was alot more popular the iOS:
With this quantitative data, you can see that it is more profitable to make something that is for Android then iOS.
The next task was to find a theme to reskin a 'Dodge and Catch' type of game. In our group we decided to theme it after the popular 'MineCraft' universe. To see if this would be a good idea or not we put out a survey to see what they thought.
Survey Results:
16.6% of the people we ask where aged 18 and above with the remaining 83.4% being younger.
8% of the people we asked where female with 92% being male.
75% of people said that they played games often with 25% only played them rarely.
50% of people asked said that they like to play Small Games like Angry Birds with the other 50% saying they don't.
92% of people said that they would enjoy a 'MineCraft' themed game with only 8% saying they wouldn't.
And finally 100% of people said they played games based on gameplay and not graphics.
The results above are an example of Quantitative data. Quantitative data is presented with numbers and in charts.
Questions Asked and Answers:
Question 4:
Do You Enjoy Playing Small Games (e.g: Angry Birds)?
Answer from George Hunt, aged 16:
"I do enjoy small games because they're simple, easy to play and pass the time with. Plus they can be addictive."
Question 5:
Are You Interested in the 'MineCraft' Universe or Anything Around It?
Answer from Dan Sherman, aged 16:
"Yes because it's got crafting content, you can collect, craft and improve."
Question 6:
Do You Play Games Based on Gameplay or Graphics?
Answer from Tom Millen, aged 16:
"Gameplay because the detail and graphics can be include, however it needs content to be fun."
The results above are an example of Qualitative data. Qualitative data is opinions and what people thinks.
Quantitative data is counted in numbers but it doesn't tell you why people picked them. That's where Qualitative data comes in. Qualitative data tells you what people think. This helps you see what people like and don't like as well as what needs changing.
