What is a user story? ‘
“A user story is a tool in Agile software development used to capture a description of a software feature from a user’s perspective” (Rouse and Francino 2020). “An Agile user story is meant to be short, usually fitting on a sticky note or note card” (Rouse and Francino 2020).
“They place emphasis on the user and focus on solving real situations a customer might face. This can help development teams think more critically and creatively” (Rouse and Francino 2020).
Buyer persona
“What is a ‘buyer persona’? ‘Buyer personas are a composite sketch of a segment of your target market designed to help brands align with these specific buyers’ needs and priorities to build engagement that results in a profitable relationship” (Ardath 2020). So a buyer persona is a sketch of a person, their ‘needs and priorities’ so that we can understand our buyer market better.
How do we build a buyer persona? “Buyer personas require a bit of effort to develop. This includes interviews and research” (Ardath 2020). As an Indie Games Development student I will be researching and conducting interviews for personas that buy games.
How do I make my buyer persona well-rounded? “The persona descriptions need to explain what behaviours and needs each persona has that make a different interface necessary” (Hudson 2013). I interpret Hudson’s argument as the need to be specific when creating user stories, why does their income, hobbies, lifestyle matter.
My target market is everyone, so to narrow down the criteria and consider a persona I talked to my friend Sam. Sam is a single mum, an avid gamer and her son is also a fan of video games.
Indie Game Startup.
I plan to develop a game with educational value that has a fresh take on ancient history.
User story:
As a parent
I want a game that has a replay value.
So that I get value for money, I don’t have to go looking and researching more games, and the kids enjoy it longer, e.g. Minecraft, MarioCart, Little Big Planet.
As a parent
I want a game that teaches my children good values.
So that they grow into responsible adults, and I can feel less guilty about letting them play video games while I drink tea and play civilisation
As a parent
I want a game that is somewhat educational, not too scary, but not too childish.
So that the whole family can enjoy the game together
Buyer persona:
- Rebecca
- Mother and a part-time physiotherapist
- She has three children, who all enjoy playing video games
- Rebecca’s quote is ‘just five minutes peace’, when all three children enjoy the game this is achieved
- Female, between 30 and 40, with a middle income
- To find a suitable game for her children to play, so she can make a cup of tea and take a break without feeling guilty
List of figures
Figure 1. Sarah MASTERS. 2020. Rebecca.
References
ARDATH, Albee. 2020. ‘Buyer Personas’. Marketing Interactions [online]. Available at: https://marketinginteractions.com/buyer-personas/ [accessed 13 December 2020].
HacknPlan. 2020. ‘User Stories’. HacknPlan [online]. Available at: https://hacknplan.com/knowledge-base/user-stories/ [accessed 13 December 2020].
HUDSON, William. 2013. ‘User Stories Don’t Help Users: Introducing Persona Stories’. Interactions 20(6), 50–53.
ROUSE, Margaret and Yvette FRANCINO. 2020. ‘user story’. SearchSoftwareQuality [online]. Available at: https://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/user-story [accessed 13 December 2020].
WOODWARD, Jason. 2014. ‘User Stories: How to Maintain Structure with Creativity’. Gamasutra [online]. Available at: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JasonWoodward/20140519/218078/User_stories_How_to_maintain_structure_with_creativity.php [accessed 13 December 2020].
