Looking for advice/suggestions for my game.

I'm currently developing an educational game, in which it's purpose is to teach students about solving common IT problems (e.g. how to resolve a slow computer). I have intermediate experience with game development and programming.

Currently, a level within the game works like this:

1. The player is given a scenario by a customer. For example, it may be that a customer has forgotten their login passsword.
2. The player is given a selection of choices (usually around 4 possible choices) to try. For example, the player could choose to run an anti-virus or check the storage space.
3. If the player chooses an appropriate response or choice, then a new set of choices are displayed on the screen. If the player chooses incorrectly, then the customer get's irritated and the 'Customer Satisfaction' bar/meter goes down.
4. When the player finally solves the problem, the level ends and they are rewarded with money based off how many actions it took them to solve the problem. For example, a player would receive more money solving a problem in 4 steps than if they were to solve it in 7 steps.

Due to my current lack of experience, I am not a very good game designer, and i'm looking for ways to improve my game. At the moment, I feel like it is too basic and there is not a lot of depth to the game to make it very fun enough to play.

As i'm sure that most users on this forum are far better game designers than I am, please could I have some advice or suggestions on how to improve my game to make it more fun to play? I would really appreciate it!

 

how about microtransactions for google searches?
but about your situational remedies idea, how would you setup the problems?
an antivirus scan could help in one slow computer instance, but not another. A lot of tech support isn't set up like the troubleshooting section of your DVD player. computers have various computer problems that have various tells. The scan found a virus, the virus was just a logic bomb that currently does nothing. That isn't causing your speed drop.
You could get more involved in the "slow computer" diagnosis. Get more detailed than a game ever would. It doesn't gave to be a game to be a sim. Don't worry about making it fun, make an educational experience, or make a game.
A tool would have more details. A game would have timers and constant validations, like coins falling out of the computer for right answers.
You can make a game, or you can make an app that teaches. To do both at the same time, is past the scope of a single person.

 

something similar -- PC Builder Simulation game

 

I think the gameplay could translate well into something similar to Diner Dash or Burger Shop where customers come into your shop and present you with a list of requests. This adds a time challenge as being late in solving the problem can cause customers to leave in anger.

Since the purpose of this app is to teach, I would suggest starting with the correct option highlighted for the first few customers or as new problems arise that need new solutions. So in the beginning the player is guided towards the right path, but as you progress the hints become fewer or take more time to appear. If the player shows good progress then the hints become even rarer, but if the player is having trouble the hints should come back for a while.

I would also simplify thing further by using icons instead of text buttons, maybe with a tool tip that is revealed when you tap on the solution button. Whatever makes it feel more like a game than a training session.

 

You could include more depth to the customer behavior. For example, the customers could have various personalities:
* the know it all customer telling you how to do your job (which is usually wrong or they would have fixed it themselves)
* the customer that blames the player for their own mistakes
* the flirty customer that may not actually have any IT problem but instead turns out to just be there to flirt with you and otherwise waste your time
* the irate or threatening customer
* the passive aggressive customer that says there is no problem with you taking as much time as you want, but complains to your manager behind your back
* the computer illiterate customer that doesn't have anything wrong except an inability to use any computer

You could also encounter unexpected situations while in the process of fixing the computer, such as finding illegal content on the computer, discovering the computer is actually stolen property, discovering the computer is actually used for communication for some illegal business like cocaine smuggling, the computer could have a virus on it that accidentally spreads onto the player's network that the player then has to stop before it spreads to other customer computers, etc, etc.

You can also add a lot with whatever art style you choose for this game, maybe the customers could all have some kind of silly and memorable look for example. Audio and music choices for the game could also add a lot.

You could consider adding job promotions to the game as a form of advancement, and intra-office politics. Maybe a coworker in jealous that you've been doing well, and is ssh'ing into the computer you are working on to sabotage your progress, or maybe they try to steal your computer assignments for themselves, or set up scenarios to try to make you look bad like telling a customer their computer is ready when you are still working on it, and then have to deal with the customer pissed that they were lied to and blaming you for it.

 

If you have a few dollars, I'd highly recommend finding students on Reddit / Craigslist who would be a target customer and pay them a few dollars each to play the game for 15 minutes, record their play and write their impressions down. We've learned a ton about our game doing this. It really grounds you in reality.

Cheers,

Dave

 

My idea was that customers would approach you with a vague problem, with one or more symptoms. For example, a customer may say that "their computer is slow", with a symptom or hint suggesting that their computer has a small amount of storage space.

Then, the game would display a short list of options to try. When the player chooses a correct/appropriate action, another set of options are displayed. The level then ends when the player solves the customer's problem. Too many incorrect actions or taking too long to resolve the customer's problem results in the customer getting angry and walks away.

Here is the one, big problem i'm having atm which I'm sure someone could help me with. These various scenarios can be solved relatively quickly as it's difficult to think of a scenario that has lot of different steps involved.
Here's an example: Let's say a customer has ran out of hard drive space. You could simply solve the problem in one button click by choosing the 'Clean up the hard drive' option. As you can imagine, this is not really challenging.

Maybe, I could just create a load of quick scenarios and compile several scenarios in to each level, rather than 1 scenario per level. Levels could also be 'days' instead, as if the player is progressing through the days on their job.

 

I work tech support. before my current employer wanted to give me money for this, it was a hobby.
Here is how I see this.
Every problem that you could come up with for this will be too simple for a challenge, or too complex for entertainment.
You "should"(this is just my opinion) upgrade to a interactive "cheat sheet" or dumb it down into a "serving food" game or a time management game.
Maybe dumb it down, and all the loading screens can be informative. or hint at the nitty gritty while they are playing to plant a seed.

 

Seen this yet?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/621060/PC_Building_Simulator/

 

Yes. It looks interesting but not exactly the same idea as the game i'm building (very similar though).

 

I like your idea of an interactive cheat sheet. By this, i'm assuming the player has access to a load of different solutions and they can they choose which ones to try to solve a particular problem? I was thinking about putting a tool tips on the solutions so it goes in to a bit of detail, explaining how that particular solution could be useful for specific solutions. For example, let's say the cheatsheet has a solution could 'Run a disk defrag'. This could then have a tooltip which display when the user hover their mouse over it, and it then display something like 'This can be a useful technique for speeding up a slow computer".

What are your thoughts on this?

 

useful topic, and now i obtained a good ideas

 

Being able to handle customer problems and complains is risky. If the player does a poor enough job enough times, then they could get fired. Along the way, they might have the boss chew them out.