Why do business games and what have the ERA
In 2015, the game development studio Signus Labs joined the EPAM. Inside EPAM, it became a division of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Game Experience Delivery. They develop gaming solutions for businesses.
Why corporations are client-players, what are the games doing in EPAM and how does the work of game designers and VR / AR-developers work?
Thirty years ago, when computer games just appeared, it was thought that gamers were completely marginal teenagers with red eyes. Time passed, the technology improved, the games did not lag behind. Three-dimensional graphics changed the two-dimensional, first-person shooters appeared, from the game consoles they moved to personal computers, and from there to mobile gadgets. On the two thousandth, there was a boom of casual games - the ones that are played on phones and in social networks. For casual games, neither assiduity nor special skills are needed - just a smartphone or browser and a couple of minutes with nothing to occupy. Not surprisingly, not only teenagers play games now: Candy Crush's candy mom liked both their mothers and grandmothers. And I liked it so much that now the traditional business attracts them with the help of these same games.
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Pavel, unit manager:
For EPAM, the meaning of gaming technology is not to develop games as such. We make a lot of decisions on gaming tools: Unity-programmers make 3D, augmented and virtual reality, but these are games for business.
In the 21st century, we came to a post-industrial society, where people no longer buy goods, services, or functions. Now they buy stories, images, impressions and a game. This is a new experience for the traditional industry with the audience, and we in game devise have learned this well for the last 30 years. We take ready-made technologies and game development mechanics - 3D-visualization, AR, VR, gamification - and we shift it to the traditional business. That is why we are here.
Game designers are the same UX designers who deal with the structure of the game, not its appearance. They know how to increase conversions, return and retain customers - and all this with the help of gamification, virtual and augmented reality. Game designers understand how games are organized, understand their psychological foundations and game mechanics, and are more like engineers than artists by their mental outlook.
Maria, game designer :
We often offer our customers free-to-play games - you can play these games for free and if you want to use paid options. In normal games, extra health or gold is bought from bank cards or online wallets. In our case, the paid options are opened to the player if he uses the services of our client or buys his goods.
There are many ways to motivate people to perform the expected actions. Most often, we are putting pressure on the desire to develop, to express ourselves creatively and the simplest, but the important thing is to simply complete the task and the conditions for its implementation. Surprisingly, it works. We seem to say to the player: “Weak?” - and then he loses his guard and wants to check whether he is able to complete the mission in thirty moves. He returns, tries again and again to pass the level and at the same time contacts with the brand of our client. More people love to try their luck. This is the basis of our concept of a mobile application for banks, which increases the number of card transactions. In the application is an icon for the chest, and in the chest is a prize from the bank. The chest is opened with a virtual key, and each card transaction gives a chance to get this key. Usually people do not care what to pay: by card or cash. We give them a reason to choose a card to win a prize, albeit a small one.
Gamification does not only return and retain customers - it is also good for staff selection and motivation. For example, we did a gamification project for job seekers in one company. We wanted candidates to send companies as much information about themselves as possible: not only resumes, but also photos, letters of recommendation. For each step, the user received points and could see how many points the leaders earned.
Vladimir, game designer:
The primary task of a game designer is to decide how the player plays. This for us (game designers) is more important and graphics, and mathematics, and anything else. For example, we decide how the player recovers health in the shooter and how much experience he gets for passing the level; we create missions for users, levels and transitions between them. For augmented and virtual reality applications, game designers help design the user interface.
At the core of any gaming applications are common basic principles. In virtual and augmented reality, you need to solve the same tasks as in large (and indeed in any) games.
In my experience, the main task of VR-and AR-applications is the visual presentation of information in a new format that can open up to the user previously unexplored interaction with content. We help businesses stun a potential client, evoke an emotional response from them, which means turn it from a potential client into a real one. Although sometimes VR-and AR-functionality is needed to solve very specific tasks.
We developed the HTC Vive virtual reality helmet app for one of our customers. It teaches new employees to use equipment on oil rigs. It would seem to be an educational application, but in it we solved purely game problems. For example, in the real world, devices are far apart. We needed to make sure that the user did not wander around virtual reality in search of unfamiliar cars and quickly got acquainted with the equipment. This is a classic case of level design: each new device and a new point on the map is a transition to the next level. Another task is to entice the user: a motivated person will cope with learning faster than a bored person. Therefore, it is profitable for business to make learning interesting, and this is already a story about gamification. Even a simple progress indicator adds excitement and motivates to achieve a result. When the user sees on the screen "0/19", he understands that he needs to go through 19 points, and perceives it as a game mission. Gamification benefits everyone: an employee likes to learn, and a business gets an employee ready to work faster.
The development of virtual and augmented reality - the main focus of the unit. This is a promising direction, and customers are more and more interested in them.
Georgy, VR developer:
In the development of AR- and VR-applications, one should be able to experiment: while virtual and augmented reality are poorly understood. To technical problems that need to be addressed periodically, misunderstanding is added in which areas AR and VR can be used (sometimes in the most unexpected). For example, we had a project for one of the customers of the military museum - a VR tour around a sunken ship. By the way, we wrote shaders for it - programs for displaying materials. For this, we had to remember mathematics (mainly trigonometry and matrix multiplication).
A rich field for experimentation - the user interface. For virtual reality, the UI in the usual sense does not seem to be needed. You have to see the world around you, and the standard interface destroys the whole picture. What is the point of reading text in 3D? It would be better to move the UI to a suitable 3D form. Conventionally, instead of drawing a health indicator with a standard heart in the upper right corner of the screen, in VR you can transfer it to the sun. The less health remains, the more the solar circle fills with black, and vice versa. This is the right interface for VR.
I believe that virtual reality has a lot of potential, although so far its prospects are very vague. The predicted VR boom in games hasn't happened yet. Perhaps, before VR “shoots” for business: presentations with VR, especially if you add interaction to them, produce a wow effect.
In the 21st century, business and game suddenly ceased to be mutually exclusive. Games went to the service to the business. Now they help him win customer loyalty and motivate employees. It turned out that you can turn anything into a game: a purchase, a training, and even a search for a new job - and most importantly, the business is ready for this.
Why corporations are client-players, what are the games doing in EPAM and how does the work of game designers and VR / AR-developers work?
Thirty years ago, when computer games just appeared, it was thought that gamers were completely marginal teenagers with red eyes. Time passed, the technology improved, the games did not lag behind. Three-dimensional graphics changed the two-dimensional, first-person shooters appeared, from the game consoles they moved to personal computers, and from there to mobile gadgets. On the two thousandth, there was a boom of casual games - the ones that are played on phones and in social networks. For casual games, neither assiduity nor special skills are needed - just a smartphone or browser and a couple of minutes with nothing to occupy. Not surprisingly, not only teenagers play games now: Candy Crush's candy mom liked both their mothers and grandmothers. And I liked it so much that now the traditional business attracts them with the help of these same games.
')
Pavel, unit manager:
For EPAM, the meaning of gaming technology is not to develop games as such. We make a lot of decisions on gaming tools: Unity-programmers make 3D, augmented and virtual reality, but these are games for business.
In the 21st century, we came to a post-industrial society, where people no longer buy goods, services, or functions. Now they buy stories, images, impressions and a game. This is a new experience for the traditional industry with the audience, and we in game devise have learned this well for the last 30 years. We take ready-made technologies and game development mechanics - 3D-visualization, AR, VR, gamification - and we shift it to the traditional business. That is why we are here.
It all starts with game design.
Game designers are the same UX designers who deal with the structure of the game, not its appearance. They know how to increase conversions, return and retain customers - and all this with the help of gamification, virtual and augmented reality. Game designers understand how games are organized, understand their psychological foundations and game mechanics, and are more like engineers than artists by their mental outlook.
Maria, game designer :
We often offer our customers free-to-play games - you can play these games for free and if you want to use paid options. In normal games, extra health or gold is bought from bank cards or online wallets. In our case, the paid options are opened to the player if he uses the services of our client or buys his goods.
There are many ways to motivate people to perform the expected actions. Most often, we are putting pressure on the desire to develop, to express ourselves creatively and the simplest, but the important thing is to simply complete the task and the conditions for its implementation. Surprisingly, it works. We seem to say to the player: “Weak?” - and then he loses his guard and wants to check whether he is able to complete the mission in thirty moves. He returns, tries again and again to pass the level and at the same time contacts with the brand of our client. More people love to try their luck. This is the basis of our concept of a mobile application for banks, which increases the number of card transactions. In the application is an icon for the chest, and in the chest is a prize from the bank. The chest is opened with a virtual key, and each card transaction gives a chance to get this key. Usually people do not care what to pay: by card or cash. We give them a reason to choose a card to win a prize, albeit a small one.
Gamification does not only return and retain customers - it is also good for staff selection and motivation. For example, we did a gamification project for job seekers in one company. We wanted candidates to send companies as much information about themselves as possible: not only resumes, but also photos, letters of recommendation. For each step, the user received points and could see how many points the leaders earned.
Vladimir, game designer:
The primary task of a game designer is to decide how the player plays. This for us (game designers) is more important and graphics, and mathematics, and anything else. For example, we decide how the player recovers health in the shooter and how much experience he gets for passing the level; we create missions for users, levels and transitions between them. For augmented and virtual reality applications, game designers help design the user interface.
At the core of any gaming applications are common basic principles. In virtual and augmented reality, you need to solve the same tasks as in large (and indeed in any) games.
In my experience, the main task of VR-and AR-applications is the visual presentation of information in a new format that can open up to the user previously unexplored interaction with content. We help businesses stun a potential client, evoke an emotional response from them, which means turn it from a potential client into a real one. Although sometimes VR-and AR-functionality is needed to solve very specific tasks.
We developed the HTC Vive virtual reality helmet app for one of our customers. It teaches new employees to use equipment on oil rigs. It would seem to be an educational application, but in it we solved purely game problems. For example, in the real world, devices are far apart. We needed to make sure that the user did not wander around virtual reality in search of unfamiliar cars and quickly got acquainted with the equipment. This is a classic case of level design: each new device and a new point on the map is a transition to the next level. Another task is to entice the user: a motivated person will cope with learning faster than a bored person. Therefore, it is profitable for business to make learning interesting, and this is already a story about gamification. Even a simple progress indicator adds excitement and motivates to achieve a result. When the user sees on the screen "0/19", he understands that he needs to go through 19 points, and perceives it as a game mission. Gamification benefits everyone: an employee likes to learn, and a business gets an employee ready to work faster.
VR is constant experimentation and the search for the right metaphor.
The development of virtual and augmented reality - the main focus of the unit. This is a promising direction, and customers are more and more interested in them.
Georgy, VR developer:
In the development of AR- and VR-applications, one should be able to experiment: while virtual and augmented reality are poorly understood. To technical problems that need to be addressed periodically, misunderstanding is added in which areas AR and VR can be used (sometimes in the most unexpected). For example, we had a project for one of the customers of the military museum - a VR tour around a sunken ship. By the way, we wrote shaders for it - programs for displaying materials. For this, we had to remember mathematics (mainly trigonometry and matrix multiplication).
A rich field for experimentation - the user interface. For virtual reality, the UI in the usual sense does not seem to be needed. You have to see the world around you, and the standard interface destroys the whole picture. What is the point of reading text in 3D? It would be better to move the UI to a suitable 3D form. Conventionally, instead of drawing a health indicator with a standard heart in the upper right corner of the screen, in VR you can transfer it to the sun. The less health remains, the more the solar circle fills with black, and vice versa. This is the right interface for VR.
I believe that virtual reality has a lot of potential, although so far its prospects are very vague. The predicted VR boom in games hasn't happened yet. Perhaps, before VR “shoots” for business: presentations with VR, especially if you add interaction to them, produce a wow effect.
A useful solution is an interesting solution.
In the 21st century, business and game suddenly ceased to be mutually exclusive. Games went to the service to the business. Now they help him win customer loyalty and motivate employees. It turned out that you can turn anything into a game: a purchase, a training, and even a search for a new job - and most importantly, the business is ready for this.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/338852/
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