Target Audience

In the Anima Mundi games design document, created by the designer Josh Basi, there is no reference to the target audience but I can form my own person by focusing on the essential experience.

Here are some key quotes from his work on essential experience:

(Source: https://joshpalb.wordpress.com/2020/10/09/example-post-3/)

1. "I want the player to feel a sense of discovery that will be completely unique from their conscious perception of reality."

2. "The essential part of this experience is to make the player go through a journey and realise that there are so many more personal discoveries in the world"

3. "My game will contain many opportunities that will allow the player to feel a sense of exploration, be it through the use of perspective, examination or observation of their surroundings."

So, to summarise, the main themes of the game are discovery and immersion. The game aims to draw the player into to a new world full of wonders that will take their breath away and show them something unique and wondrous. I would imagine this to be a soothing experience, perhaps a distraction from the stresses of day-to-day life; an escape.

If the game aims to be an escape for the player, and an opportunity to discover a new world, I would assume that the setting that they would play this in is a quiet and comforting zone such as their own bedroom, where they are free to relax, unwind and step into a world that will take their breath away.

This is an individual, looking for an escape or distraction, who has likely has a rough day at school or work and just wants a break away from their responsibilities. Therefore the age range we are looking at is likely teens and young adults. The game is a friendly, PG game about a stunning, magnificent natural world so would be appropriate for younger teens. I would put the age range at fourteen and over. Old enough that they have matured enough to take interest in bigger more story based games and RPG's.

However, we are adapting the design of this game to be a casual puzzle platformer, not an action based RPG, so that makes our demographic a little more specific.

"A first-person shooter game will most of the time target a demographic of young men between the ages of 15 and 35, while a mobile casual puzzle game may target women between 20 and 45 years of age." - bkomstudios.com/blog/blog-game-design

"65% of casual puzzle game app users are female? Or that 74% live in the suburbs, and 42% are university graduates?" - https://www.aarki.com/insights

Puzzle games are played more by women than men, and the majority of those women are university graduates. This puts our demographic at 18-24 but of course, that is open to people older and younger too. I believe that this is a suitable assumption as generally men are more interested in action games as opposed to peaceful mindfulness games.

So to create our persona...

Stacey is a university student feeling a little overwhelmed trying to juggle a part time job as well as all of her assignments. She is strong willed and fears failing so often find herself suffering from burn out when she has episodes of working so hard for so long. She needs a break! Her phone is a comfort to her, drawing her out of big scary crowds and shifting her focus when she's in a tiz!

What Stacey needs is to take some time out to rest, sit down and immerse herself into the wonder that is Anima Mundi! Our games focus on beauty and tranquility is the perfect escape for an overworked student who needs a break away from the keyboard. The game, developed for mobile, providing immense beauty and a soothing uniquely composed soundtrack helps Stacey to breathe a little better and take her mind away from her worries.

So to summarise, our target audience is:

Primarily women, aged 18-24, studying at university and looking for a soothing game that put them at ease and distract them from the stresses of the day-to-day.