Case Study: Tank Squad

Data Analysis of Tank Squad game in DeGenerals Studio.
Tank Squad Steam Page

Specification:

• AA game
• PC, Unity Engine
• Singleplayer/Multiplayer
• 3 years long development

DeGenerals Studio have recognised that relevant data from tests were being missed due to lack of data diagnostic.

We’ve implemented diagnostic data tools and gathered data from different stages of the production:

• Internal Tests
• External QA Tests
• Closed Community Playtests
• Demo Steam Festival Event

Each iteration allowed to address pain points and pivot on different aspects of the game as level design, gameplay design, difficulty level, balance, adjust economy, units configuration etc.

The use of diagnostic data allowed them to understand and react to crucial data within a wider context and adjust the configuration of the game to the vision of the gameplay and their players preferences.

The most relevant things that we’ve learned regarding level design was placement of the enemies on each level. Being able to see how dangerous was each enemy unit for the player allowed to balance the difficulty.

One of the fundamentals of game design is an escalation of difficulty with time. We’ve recognised the inbalance in that aspect on macro and micro level. On macro by comparing each level data parameters with each other and on micro by analysing each stage in parameters like: how many times players have died, how many times they have been hit, how many players have gone through each stage etc.

One of the data visualizations in the editor was Player’s Death. It showed:

• Player’s unit
• Position and rotation of player’s death
• Which enemy killed the player + trajectory of a bullet

Data visualized in that way allowed level design department to adjust different aspects of a design of each level to achieve their desired outcome.

DeGenerals Studio by using diagnostic data to learn about player‘s behaviour have improved Tank Squad‘s overall gameplay experience and have gained comptetitive advantage.