Getting Off the Couch and Into Bloodborne

Creating a mobile go version of the PS4 game

It’s a Sunday night, my hands are cramping, I’ve eaten only potato chips and Gatorade and I haven’t left my couch in over 6 hours, to make it worse I also haven’t progressed in my game any further than I had 6 hours ago. The game I’ve been playing is called Bloodborne, a non-linear action RPG game. For all the non-gamers here, that means a very difficult game with a whole lot of things to do. This game was a massive punish, the map was massive with so much detail and small areas, it took ages to uncover it all. It required a lot of skill and timing, and for those who didn’t have that, it required a lot of attribute points, which could only be gained by beating easier enemies over and over. So, in order to keep some resemblance of my life and not spend hours and hours in front of my TV gaining small points. I started thinking about how I could create a mobile “Go” version of the game that would directly link the user’s console experience with a mobile one. That way I could go visit my friends and be able to level my character up.

Why it could work

• Competitive rivalries
• Neurological rewards
• 100% completion
• Exercise and social interaction
• Massive following of Bloodborne
• “Go” games have proven to be very successful
• Brand new concept for interconnectivity across platforms for a game

Research

I found similar games to Bloodborne had sold over 8.5 million units and had a user following since 2011. Bloodborne won game of the year in 2015. It takes 35 hours to complete the main story and about 77 hours for full completion, for the more experienced gamers. This research coupled with what I had learned about the success of go games and the amount of times users check their phone on a daily basis gave me some great insights on how I wanted to proceed. I wanted to create the ability to take the game with you wherever you go and open up a ton of possibilities for gamers, and non-gamers to enjoy a game in a completely different way.

Insight questions

1. What are the different behaviors and attitudes that players have towards the game?
2. What are their goals and motivations while playing the game? What is the hook?
3. What are they most satisfied with and where do they struggle?
4. What amount of time, dedication does it take to get 100% completion on a game?

Personas

Process

I wanted to create a way for users to not be tethered to their consoles, to unlock achievements, explore new areas, gain items and battle enemies while getting some much-needed Vitamin C. I used the game Bloodborne because it was a massive non-linear game that I could alter to be a mobile, open world game without losing the user’s focus or motivation.

Syncing through the user’s network account, I wanted the main journey to continue throughout the game on console so the main path of progression would never be accessible on the mobile game. The mobile game was meant to give the ability to explore other parts of the world they may have not seen before; thus, gaining extra items, and fighting extra enemies for attribute points.

In addition the artwork and design of Bloodborne was striking. The original game had a large following; as the console game was already adapted into a board game. I knew there was a good user base that would be interested in not only the increased game benefits but using the AR technology to see the game design in their everyday life.

Leveraging already pre-existing AR concepts I started brainstorming what would serve my user base the best? What about designing for mobile could I leverage over a console? The location services, Augmented Reality, and social aspects stood out.

The user’s city would serve as their game map, as the encountered their own city they had the opportunity to secret areas of the gameplay map. Once a location was discovered the user would be presented with the gameplay map and the area in which they had unlocked. This was to ensure that when the user returned to the console game it was extremely clear where they needed to be to engage the new area.

Unlock reality

Using augmented reality was the most exciting part. Utilizing the stunning characters and environment design to bring the game to life in the user’s hands. Allowing the users to fight enemies and collect items as if they had become the hunter in the game.

Become the Hunter

Combat is the corner stone of Bloodborne. The console game has a very complex system built for its fighting controls. From knowing when to dodge or parry, to switching weapons and saving yourself using items. It is also the main feature of the game. There are a bunch of interactions using the controllers vast amount of space that the user needs in order to hit combos, defeat bosses and survive the night in Yharnam. In order to create the best experience on mobile I wanted to leverage the power moves mobile allows. My initial thought for controls was to memorize strokes. The way we did back in the day for Mortal Kombat, spending hours memorizing the D pad directions to hit finishing moves (Forward, Down, Forward, High Punch for Sub-Zero) in case you forgot. You could apply the same logic to mobile. Three left swipes and a press lets you use a power up or maybe you shake the phone to dodge. However, for the first round of this concept I wanted to keep it concise and simple to understand for the users.

Making friends…or enemies

Last was the social aspect of gaming. Did you even play the game if you can’t trash talk about how many badges you earned? Since mobile is so much easier to communicate on than typing on a ‘qwerty’ keyboard with a controller, why not utilize it. If the user passed other users with the mobile app they would get an alert on the phone asking if they wanted to be friends or enemies. That option would either open a chat box so the users could communicate or a dual and the users could battle one another right then and there.

Future considerations

The artwork of Bloodborne really intrigued me as well. In the future I would love to be able to allow users to access their camera through the mobile game and see monuments, streets, even other people transformed into the creepy Victorian style of the game.

Bloodborne is a non-linear game by design so I would want to enhance that further and allow the “Go” version of the game to have a totally different end to that of console, so the users could not only beat the game once, but start over and have an entirely different experience through mobile.