For Mars Horizon 2, I led the end-to-end development of the project's proto-personas, taking ownership of the research process from analysing player data from Mars Horizon 1 through to creating, validating, and refining the final personas. With support from the Marketing team, who provided audience data and market insights, I developed initial player profiles that captured key motivations, behaviours, goals, and pain points.
To improve the reliability of the proto-personas, I designed and conducted player surveys to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback from a broader audience. The findings were then used to validate and refine the personas, ensuring they were grounded in real player insights rather than assumptions alone. This evidence-based approach provided a strong foundation for design decisions throughout the project.
Initial Discussions with Directors and the Mars Horizon 1 Team
To kick off the research, we held open discussions with the directors, members of the Mars Horizon 1 development team, and the Marketing team. These sessions provided an opportunity to learn from those who had worked on the original game, capturing their insights into player behaviour, design decisions, and key lessons learned.
The Marketing team also shared valuable knowledge gained through their ongoing engagement with the Mars Horizon 1 community, helping us better understand the existing player base and their expectations. Together, these conversations established a strong foundation for the subsequent proto-persona and user research process.
Consolidating Mars Horizon Player Data with the Marketing Team
Working closely with the Marketing team, I consolidated previous player research to build a strong foundation for the next stages of the proto-persona development process. This involved reviewing previous survey data, analysing player discussions and feedback collected through the official Discord community, and gathering additional comments and reviews from the Mars Horizon Steam page.
Bringing these sources together provided a broader understanding of player expectations, recurring pain points, and desired features, creating a reliable evidence base to inform the proto-personas and guide the subsequent user research.
Cross-Disciplinary Brainstorming
A brainstorming session was held with one representative from each development discipline to capture their unique perspectives on the target players. The goal was to understand how each discipline felt the proto-personas should be represented, combining their expertise with the existing player research. These insights helped shape the initial proto-personas before they were validated through player research.
Organising Insights with a CSD Matrix
Within the Mars Horizon 2 project, the CSD (Certainties, Suppositions, and Doubts) Matrix was used to organise and refine insights gathered during the creation of Proto-Personas. This approach helped structure user-related observations by distinguishing between validated knowledge, assumptions about user behaviours, and areas requiring further investigation.
The Certainties captured confirmed insights and patterns identified from research, while Suppositions highlighted assumptions about user needs, motivations, and expectations that needed to be tested. The Doubts revealed gaps in understanding and opportunities for deeper exploration.
Transforming Insights into Proto-Personas: From Archetypes to Validation
Following the research phase, the collected insights were organised into user archetypes to identify common behaviours, motivations, and expectations among potential Mars Horizon 2 players. These archetypes formed the foundation for creating Proto-Personas
Then, I had transformed these archetypes into profiles that made the research findings into clearer and more relatable players. To validate these Proto-Personas, a survey was developed in collaboration with the marketing team and shared with Mars Horizon 1 players, as well as Auroch fans interested in playing Mars Horizon 2. The feedback helped evaluate the alignment between the personas and the real audience, while providing further insights into player preferences and behaviours.
Jung’s archetype framework was also used to connect psychological patterns with the Mars Horizon 2 Proto-Personas, adding depth to their motivations, goals, and decision-making styles.
Mars Horizon 2
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