Designing a Game for Live Operations
Daniel McLaren
- Hall:
- Water Hall (Business Track)
What the talk is about
Daniel McLaren talks about designing a game for live operations. His main point is that features should be built like Lego bricks, so the live team can combine existing mechanics (tower modes, rankings, milestone rewards) into new two-week events instead of waiting for six-to-ten-month feature cycles. He explains the "committed player" metric (someone who logged in seven days in a row and spent money in the last 48 hours) as a quick health indicator and a common language across teams. He also covers peer-level relationships between the creative director, the live ops lead and the product manager, a shared monetization philosophy agreed with studio leadership, and a designer mindset focused on players rather than personal taste. Useful for live ops managers, designers, product managers and studio leads.