Designing for Virtual Reality Experiences

The gaming landscape is littered with once-hyped service games. Titles like The Finals and Palworld showed amazing promise only to run out of steam quickly. It left me with the question: What causes these dramatic drop-offs in users? So, I decided to dig a bit deeper into the role of gameplay, content, and ever-evolving user preferences in this boom-and-bust cycle. The Allure of the Initial Spark Service games thrive on anticipation. Trailers showcasing innovative mechanics and expansive worlds captivate audiences. The "live service" model promises continuous evolution, keeping players engaged. This initial spark is crucial for attracting a player base, but maintaining that spark is a different story. Let’s take a quick look at what that means. The Gameplay Grind: A Double-Bladed Weapon Engaging gameplay is the foundation of any successful game. However, some service games fall into the trap of repetitive mechanics designed to extend playtime artificially. This "grind" frustrates players, leading to churn (players leaving the game). The key IMHO lies in striking a balance between rewarding gameplay loops and fresh content that keeps players coming back for more, garnished with great narrative elements which leads me to… Content: The Fuel That Keeps the Engine Running Even the most engaging gameplay grows stale without a steady stream of new content. This includes features, storylines, and in-game events. Failure to deliver not only disappoints players but also breaks the promise of a "living" world. Here, developers need to listen to player feedback and adapt content to their evolving desires with a Community First approach. Having a strong world setting that inspires players to dive into their own emergent stories also helps as Helldivers 2 just recently proved impressively. The Shifting Sands of User Preferences The gaming community is a erratic beast. Trends & preferences evolve rapidly. A game that captures the initial hype can struggle to retain players if it fails to adapt. Staying relevant requires not just delivering content, but delivering the right content – the kind that aligns with what players currently crave. The Road to Sustainable Success So, what's the recipe for a thriving service game? Some key takeaways from my point of view: · Focus on core gameplay: Prioritize fun and engaging mechanics over artificial grinds. · Deliver consistent content: Keep players engaged with a steady stream of new experiences. · Be player-centric: Actively listen to feedback and adapt content based on player desires. · Embrace change: Evolve with the times and adjust to shifting trends in the gaming community. The service game landscape is a challenging one for sure, but understanding the pitfalls and focusing on player experience, can help build games that have a chance to stand the test of time. Let me know what you think and feel free to share more insights based on your experiences! Source: https://steambase.io/

Marvel Snap's designers have one of the hardest LiveOps challenges imaginable: launching gacha offers that give you compelling reasons to buy the battlepass every event without turning the game pay-to-win. From the jump, Snap has prioritized long term player joy (and therefore retention) over the P2W style monetization of a standard mobile gacha game. And having given themselves this difficult challenge, Second Dinner has found success and retained their fans across years of live operations. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Ricchetti, Second Dinner's Senior Director of Product Management, for a fireside chat at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco. Here's a lightly edited highlight from our conversation: Ethan: "What tactics does the team use to ensure new cards are worth the player's investment in time & money, but also don't upset the meta? How do you make sure they don't turn the game pay-to-win?" Matt: "Yeah, that's a challenge. Anybody who's worked on a live service game with an ongoing release of characters knows that you don't nail it every season. Sometimes, everything on paper looks awesome and then it comes into contact with players and you're like, 'oh no, we didn't realize that card is actually not as powerful as we thought.' "We try to use a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures. We have (1) a weekly team playtest. It's an important part of our development philosophy that the entire team sits down and plays all the new cards. We play them in a realistic setting. We prebuild decks that match how we think players are going to use the new cards, and the full team gives us feedback. "(2) We have a couple exclusive player groups where we invite longtime players who really understand the meta to play with the new cards over multiple weeks and months. (3) Quantitatively, we live in a world of tons of data and [that data]'s only as good as how you use it. So we do a lot of monitoring on metrics like ownership rate, win percentage, and then also more sophisticated metrics like cube gain rate. If you play Snap you know it isn't just about winning matches, it's about earning cubes that progress you up the rank track. "And critically, what’s really helped us over the years is we're very aggressive about balance updates. So we're super transparent with the playerbase that we don't want cards to be overpowered... we try to have a contract with them that we're going to keep the game balanced, we're gonna try to make as many different archetypes viable in the metagame as possible. So we release extensive patch notes with bi-weekly updates to explain the balance changes. So even if we are nerfing one of your favorite characters, you understand the reasoning and the long term thinking behind it." This was just one snippet from this delightful fireside chat with Matt. To learn more from Marvel Snap's example, tap Visit My Website button above for the link in profile.

A prototype from the Bluecadet project Flow for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, an immersive, entry experience for an exhibition of Netherlandish art. The room-scale experience pairs landscapes with soundscapes, using camera sensing and projections to reveal layers of content as visitors move through the space. Orienting a visitor to an experience is in art unto itself. A lot of museum experiences start with either a big panel of text or alternatively a linear intro video to orient the visitor to the experience. The MFA wanted to do something different, to create something cinematic but also interactive. And interactive but not requiring touch. To deliver content but not compel visitors to stand to read long blocks of text, to deliver key information, to set the mood and to keep the traffic from piling up in the entrance. One of the affordances of making this interactive is we get to test and iterate. We can play with the speed of how quickly things animate on, how dense or long the information is, text size, position, etc. It’s all code, so it’s easy to tweak, test and iterate. The link to the case study is the comments. See if you can spy the difference :) #prototype #museum #experiencedesign

Excited to share this deeper dive into my work in storyworld architecture and the Mythic Field. We’ve reached a point where AI can generate scenes, characters, and entire narrative environments in real time. But something breaks the moment those systems are used at scale. It may take time but at least for now, it's inevitable. AI narrative systems today have no mechanism for determining whether what they generate actually belongs. As opposed to being a model issue, it’s an architectural one. This article introduces a concept I haven’t seen formally addressed in the space: a coherence subsystem—a distinct component that evaluates generative output against the identity of a world and determines how it should influence what persists. This is where the gap is emerging for platforms working in: • AI characters • interactive story systems • multiplayer narrative environments Companies like Latitude and Fable Studio are already pushing into this territory. The next challenge is not generation—it’s coherence under continuous participation. If we’re serious about building worlds that last, not just experiences that momentarily engage, this becomes foundational. Curious how others working on AI narrative systems are thinking about this. Special thanks to Alan Berkson who has been contributing to my thinking around storyworlds since our days running tabletop roleplaying games.

Exploring the "Districts" System in Level Design and Narrative Through Environment 🌍 Today, I want to discuss an interesting topic in level design — the "districts" system and its influence on storytelling through the environment. This approach involves creating locations where objects are connected by a common narrative thread, allowing for a cohesive world where design, atmosphere, gameplay, and story work together. Fallout 4: Stylized Location Design and Immersion in Storytelling ☢️ In Fallout 4, locations are not only unified by a common artistic style but also reflect the history of the world. Areas like The Nucleus are filled with a ruined atmosphere and religious symbols, emphasizing the cult-like insanity that prevails there. Meanwhile, Far Harbor, with its water-filled landscape and misty environment, evokes a sense of mysticism and harsh unknowns, capturing the essence of the region’s spirit. Skyrim: A Unified World with Unique Regional Clusters 🏰 The world of Skyrim is divided into regions, each with distinct cultural features and atmosphere. For example, Windhelm, with its northern culture, stone buildings, and seafaring influence, creates a Viking-like atmosphere. On the other hand, Markarth impresses with its blend of Dwemer architecture and human craftsmanship, offering a unique experience that merges ancient technologies with modern life. Baldur’s Gate 3: A World Full of Unique Objects and Details 🌿 🗻 Baldur’s Gate 3 is packed with diverse locations, each brimming with unique objects and details that tell their own stories. Whether exploring magical forests or dark dungeons, each environment is carefully designed to enhance the game’s narrative. The use of magic and natural effects deepens the player's emotional connection to the world. How the "Districts" System Enhances the Player’s Experience 🗺️ The "districts" system goes beyond simple navigation; it deeply immerses players in the game world. By grouping elements based on themes, gameplay mechanics, and narrative, it helps players build a "cognitive map" of the world. This grouping makes the world feel cohesive while enhancing the player's understanding of the story. Think of this system as a web, where each "cell" represents a unique environment or theme, connected by a common narrative thread. Whether it’s the desert with bandits or trading caravans, each element shares similar features, forming part of a larger, interconnected story. This structure adds depth to the world, allowing players to become fully immersed in both the environment and the ongoing narrative.

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: AMAZING CHINESE METAVERSE THEATER SO REAL PEOPLE LOSE BALANCE SPECIFICATIONS The Chinese Metaverse Theater is an extraordinary immersive entertainment environment where digital and physical realities blend so convincingly that visitors can feel, see, and sometimes even lose balance due to sensory realism. This futuristic experience integrates advanced display tech, motion simulation, AI interaction, spatial audio, and haptic feedback to create an entirely new way of shared virtual reality performance. The technology centers on high‑resolution panoramic LED or VR projection systems, real‑time rendering engines, depth sensing, motion platforms, and wearable haptic suits. Some theaters use mixed reality headsets synchronized with a multi‑axis motion floor to simulate movement, acceleration, and terrain changes. AI‑driven avatars and environmental physics respond dynamically to user actions, enhancing immersion. The working process begins when visitors enter the metaverse environment and are equipped with lightweight AR/VR headsets, haptic feedback vests, and spatial audio headsets. The system maps each user’s position and adjusts visuals and sounds in real time. Motion platforms beneath participants can tilt, move up/down, or shift subtly in sync with virtual stimuli—creating sensations like walking on uneven ground, flying, or navigating surreal digital worlds. Advanced safety systems monitor balance and automatically adjust motion cues to prevent injury. Applications include virtual concerts, interactive storytelling, training simulations, collaborative design environments, educational exhibits, and therapeutic experiences. Advantages include unprecedented immersion, multi‑sensory engagement, social connectivity, flexible content updates, and a platform for creativity and innovation. Disadvantages involve high development and hardware cost, sensory overload for some users, and the need for spatial safety systems to prevent disorientation. Typical specifications include 4K+ resolution per eye, 120+ Hz refresh rates, 3D spatial audio, sub‑millimeter motion tracking, and synchronized motion platforms with safety harnesses. Top implementations in China combine technologies from leading VR/AR developers, AI labs, and entertainment studios, with experiences ranging from 10 minutes to full‑length narrative sessions. Products and experiences include interactive metaverse performances, immersive education, virtual tourism, and cutting‑edge digital festivals—making this theater an amazing leap in entertainment and reality blending.

6 tips I learned from attending Cannes Immersive Competition 2025 (the last one is🤑) 1. Immersion starts with set design. I was surprised to discover some very well curated sets surrounding some of the installations. It really helps set the mood, and brings an additional layer of reality into the mix. 🚖 2. There is more to explore beyond the VR headset. When you speak of immersive experience, all senses can be mobilised. While sound and image are king, touch, smell and taste can also be part of the mix. In “In the current of being” by Cameron Kostopoulos users were a haptic suit that makes you *feel* the electric shocks the character is going through within the story—and I can tell you your heart will skip a beat or two.⚡️ 3. VR headset are not comfortable to wear. It’s good to keep the story short.😵💫 4. Gear is key. The quality of the experience is tightly correlated to the quality of the gear and equipment you are using. A shabby headset will not deliver the same immersion quality as a comfortable, noise reduction headset. Likewise, glitches coming from poor internet connection, or low quality interfaces will offer users a poor experience. This is not a detail to overlook, for it put the entire experience at risk. Budget accordingly.🥽 5. The release platform you use for your premiere matters. Aim high if your project is strong. If you want your project to be considered for Cannes Immersive Competition, you need it to premiere there. 6. VR experiences can be monetised. In some places in Europe, people are ready to pay up to 20€ for a premium experience. Public libraries, museums, cultural centres also pay creators to have the right to showcase their work to their audience. Museum of illusions wouldn’t you guys be interested in showcasing African VR content for a fee?🎟️ By the way: when we look at project such as “Moguo Tree” by Kenyan studio BlackRhino VR, it’s obvious African creators have what it takes to compete at the highest level. Won’t you agree? 📸The Exploding Girl by Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, featured as part of Cannes Immersive Competition 2025.

83% of mobile games die within 3 years. Star Trek Timelines just turned 10. I created this game at Disruptor Beam and launched it in January 2016. Sold it to Tilting Point in 2020. Watching it celebrate a decade—with John de Lancie reprising Q for a livestream and a massive Borg mega-event—has me reflecting on what separates the survivors from the 83%. A few lessons for anyone building live-service games today: 🎯 Authenticity compounds. Star Trek isn't about space battles—it's philosophy, exploration, engineering. We built mechanics around diplomacy, science, and command skills, not just combat. Players who understood the characters succeeded. That depth created lasting engagement. 🧱 Your narrative framework is infrastructure. We made TIME the frontier, not space. A temporal crisis meant we could add characters from any era—and when Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds launched years later, they fit seamlessly. The framework never broke. Too many games paint themselves into corners. 🔄 Live ops isn't a feature. It's the game. The shipped product is just the start of a conversation with players. Star Trek Timelines added The Gauntlet, Voyages, Fleets, and Squadrons over the years—each extending engagement in different ways for different player motivations. 👥 Community is the moat. Discord servers, fan wikis, optimization tools—the best community features weren't ones we built. We created conditions for them to emerge. 📊 The math has to work. 76% of mobile games hit peak revenue in year one. Sustainable economics require revenue that funds continuous development, year after year. Respect your players and they'll stick around. In 2026, with downloads declining and retention becoming everything, these lessons matter more than ever. I wrote a longer piece on what it takes for a game to live long and prosper. Link in comments. 🖖

If you could give one “gone” site in your collection a second life in VR, which would you choose? 💬 For the #DendurDecoded online exhibition The Met recently created on Atopia Space, they wanted visitors to experience the temple in its original Nubian landscape, adding original context to the object. The problem: today, the site is under water. There was nothing to scan. So we rebuilt the terrace system using 20th-century photography, plans and curatorial knowledge. Here’s what made it possible: 1️⃣ Finding spatial data in “just a few” photos We spent a lot of time with each image: stairs, wall lines, terrace edges and even shadow lengths became clues for height, slope and proportions. It is surprising how much detail you can get, even from limited angles, if you look closely! 2️⃣ Many moments in time → one 3D hypothesis The photos were taken in different years and conditions. Together with The Met's curators, we merged the insights from them into one coherent model and marked clearly where we have strong evidence – and where interpretation starts. 3️⃣ Reconstruction ≠ scan This is not a LiDAR twin, and not every stone in it is accurate. It’s a research-based reconstruction that will likely evolve on and on with new findings. However, for visitors, this allows them to experience the object in a captivating perspective, and build a connection between the object and its history. It's something that deeply stays in their memory, and that no label could provide. For sites that are flooded, displaced or inaccessible, this kind of virtual “return visit” is often already possible with material in your archive. And online exhibitions in Web or in VR are a powerful way to bring them back to life! Try the full experience using this link on our platform: https://lnkd.in/d9vamMpx 👇 I’m curious: Is there any “gone” site you would like to allow your visitors to walk through again?

How do we solve the live service game problem? The live service model isn't broken - but our approach to it is. Studios everywhere are struggling with the same fundamental issue: they're designing live service games as business models first and player experiences second. The evidence is everywhere. Players abandoning games shortly after launch. Development teams burning out trying to meet unrealistic content schedules. Publishers shutting down titles that took years and millions to develop. It's unsustainable, and the industry knows it. What we're witnessing isn't a failure of the concept but a failure of execution and expectation management. Live service works when it enhances an already exceptional core game. It fails when it's treated as a way to monetize an average experience or stretch thin content over years of planned updates. The most successful examples all follow this pattern - the game needs to be fantastic as a standalone experience first. Many studios are making three critical mistakes: First, overinvesting in infrastructure before validating player interest. Building complex backend and or account systems, battle passes, and store frameworks before knowing if players even enjoy the core loop. Second, planning content schedules that development teams can't realistically maintain. Quality suffers, teams burn out, and players notice. Third, ignoring clear signals from player behavior. When metrics show players aren't engaging with certain content types, studios often double down rather than pivot. The solution starts with fundamentals. Build a great core game that players would enjoy even without the service elements. Test extensively with real players before committing to long-term roadmaps. Create sustainable development cadences that prioritize quality over quantity. Most importantly, be willing to adapt. The most successful live service games evolve based on community feedback correlated with in-game behavior, not rigid pre-planned roadmaps. They stay nimble, responsive, and focused on enhancing what players already love rather than forcing engagement through FOMO. The studios that survive will be those that recognize live service as a way to extend the life of great games, not as a business model to be applied universally regardless of fit. We need to get back to making games fun first, service second. The rest will follow.