pixelheros/.claude/docs/templates/player-journey.md

# Player Journey Map: [Game Title]

> **Status**: Draft | In Review | Approved
> **Author**: [game-designer / creative-director]
> **Last Updated**: [Date]
> **Links To**: `design/gdd/game-concept.md`, `design/gdd/game-pillars.md`

---

## Journey Overview

[One paragraph capturing the full emotional arc from first launch to long-term
play. This is the player's story, not the game's feature list. Describe the
journey in emotional terms: where do they start (curious, skeptical, cautious),
how does the relationship with the game deepen, what is the peak emotional
experience, and what sustains them afterward?

Example: "The player arrives skeptical and slightly overwhelmed, is quickly
disarmed by an early moment of unexpected delight, spends the middle hours
discovering that the systems run deeper than they first appeared, and eventually
reaches a state of confident mastery where they generate their own challenges and
share their discoveries with others."

If this arc cannot be described in one paragraph, the emotional design is not
yet clear enough — resolve that ambiguity before filling in the phases below.]

---

## Target Player Archetype

[3-4 lines describing the player's MINDSET and gaming literacy, not their
demographics. Demographics answer "who are they" — this answers "how do they
approach games."

Describe: What expectations do they carry from other games? How patient are
they with systems that don't explain themselves? Do they read tooltips or ignore
them? Do they lean into challenge or route around it? Are they here for a story,
a power trip, a creative outlet, or a test of skill?

Example: "A player who has finished at least one other game in this genre and
arrived with a specific hypothesis about what to expect. They are willing to
invest 30+ minutes before judging the game, they read item descriptions, and they
find emergent mastery more satisfying than scripted victories. They feel respected
when the game trusts them to figure things out."]

---

## Journey Phases

> **Guidance**: The six phases below are the standard template. Not all phases
> apply to all games. A short narrative game may not have Habitual Play or
> Long-Term Engagement. A puzzle game may compress Orientation into First Contact.
> Delete or merge phases that genuinely do not apply — do not fill them with
> placeholder values to make the template look complete.

---

### Phase 1: First Contact (0-5 minutes)

**Emotional state on arrival**: [What is the player feeling before they touch
the game? They may be skeptical (purchased on impulse), curious (followed
recommendations), or expectant (been waiting for it). This state is your
starting condition — your design must meet them there.]

**Primary question the player is asking**: [e.g., "Is this worth my time?",
"Will this be too hard?", "Do I understand what I'm supposed to do?"]

**Key experience the game must deliver**:
[What MUST happen in these five minutes for the player to stay? Not a tutorial
beat — an emotional beat. The first contact experience should answer the player's
primary question with a confident "yes." It may be a moment of beauty, a
satisfying mechanical click, a surprising twist on a familiar genre pattern, or
an early win that feels earned.]

**Emotional state on exit**: [What does success look like? e.g., "Curious
about the next layer", "Surprised that this feels different from similar games",
"Already thinking about a decision they made and whether it was right."]

**Risk if this phase fails**: [What does the player do? e.g., "Refund within
the 2-hour Steam window", "Put it down and never return", "Post a negative
first impression", "Recommend it to no one."]

---

### Phase 2: Orientation (5-30 minutes)

**Emotional state on arrival**: [Player is intrigued but not yet committed.
They are forming their first mental model of what this game is.]

**Primary question the player is asking**: [e.g., "How does this actually work?",
"What am I building toward?", "Am I going to be good at this?"]

**Key experience the game must deliver**:
[This is the window where the player builds their foundational mental model.
Describe the one or two "aha" moments that crystallize the game's identity.
The player should feel competence growing — their predictions about the game
should start coming true. They should also catch their first glimpse of depth:
a system or interaction that hints "this goes further than I thought."]

**Emotional state on exit**: [e.g., "Has a working model of the core loop",
"Has made at least one meaningful decision they care about the outcome of",
"Feels the skill ceiling is higher than it first appeared."]

**Risk if this phase fails**: [e.g., "Player concludes the game is shallow",
"Player feels lost and stops trying", "Player never forms a goal."]

---

### Phase 3: First Mastery (30 minutes - 2 hours)

**Emotional state on arrival**: [Player understands the basics and is testing
the edges. They are actively trying to get better rather than just trying to
understand.]

**Primary question the player is asking**: [e.g., "What's the right strategy?",
"What's possible if I get good at this?", "What am I missing?"]

**Key experience the game must deliver**:
[This is the phase where the player earns their first genuine skill victory —
a moment where something that was hard becomes easy through their own growth,
not through the game getting easier. It should feel like crossing a threshold.
They should also discover their first piece of emergent depth: a system
interaction, a build synergy, or a hidden mechanic that rewards curiosity.
According to Csikszentmihalyi's flow model, challenge must scale here — introduce
the first real test of the skills they've been building.]

**Emotional state on exit**: [e.g., "Proud of a specific decision or victory",
"Has an opinion about what the 'right' way to play is (even if wrong)",
"Has questions they want to answer in their next session."]

**Risk if this phase fails**: [e.g., "Player never reaches flow state and stops
before the game gets interesting", "Player forms wrong mental model and blames
the game when it breaks."]

---

### Phase 4: Depth Discovery (2-10 hours)

**Emotional state on arrival**: [Player has a working strategy and is starting
to see its limits. They are ready to discover that there is more.]

**Primary question the player is asking**: [e.g., "Is there a better way?",
"What am I missing that other players know?", "How deep does this actually go?"]

**Key experience the game must deliver**:
[This is where the game's true depth must reveal itself. Players who reach this
phase are your core audience — they have cleared the onboarding and proven their
commitment. They should discover systems, combinations, or strategies that
recontextualize everything they have done so far. The world should feel larger
than the tutorial implied. This is also the phase where Bartle's Explorers find
their reward: content and knowledge that only the curious find.

Design note: Depth Discovery is where many indie games fail silently. Players
exhaust the visible content without ever finding the hidden depth. Audit every
layer of depth in this window and confirm it is discoverable without a guide.]

**Emotional state on exit**: [e.g., "Has rebuilt their strategy from scratch
at least once", "Can imagine multiple viable approaches to the same problem",
"Has discovered at least one thing that surprised them."]

**Risk if this phase fails**: [e.g., "Player concludes they have 'finished'
the game and feels mild disappointment", "Player recommends the game but says
'it's a bit short.'"]

---

### Phase 5: Habitual Play (10-50 hours)

> *Note: Not applicable to short-form games (visual novels, short narrative
> games, puzzle games with fixed content). Delete this phase if the game's
> intended experience concludes before this timeframe.*

**Emotional state on arrival**: [Player considers themselves competent. The
game has become part of their routine. They have a playstyle identity.]

**Primary question the player is asking**: [e.g., "What's my next goal?",
"Can I beat my previous record?", "What haven't I tried yet?"]

**Key experience the game must deliver**:
[Habitual play requires the game to offer goals beyond the tutorial narrative.
The player generates their own challenges, pursues optional content, or begins
competing (against the game, other players, or their own records). This phase
sustains through Bartle's Achiever motivations: collection completion, mastery
benchmarks, visible milestones. It also requires natural session endings that
leave forward tension — the player should always stop with something unfinished
that they want to return to.]

**Emotional state on exit**: [e.g., "Has a specific goal they are working toward
across multiple sessions", "Considers themselves part of a community of people
who play this game."]

**Risk if this phase fails**: [e.g., "Player churns after completing main content
and never returns", "Game fails word-of-mouth because players don't develop
strong opinions about it."]

---

### Phase 6: Long-Term Engagement (50+ hours)

> *Note: Only applies to games designed for extended play — live service games,
> deeply systemic games, competitive games, and games with community-driven
> content. Delete this phase if it does not fit the game's design intent.*

**Emotional state on arrival**: [Player is a veteran. The game is part of their
identity to some degree. They are invested in the community and the ecosystem.]

**Primary question the player is asking**: [e.g., "What's new?", "Can I reach
the top?", "Can I find something no one has found before?"]

**Key experience the game must deliver**:
[Long-term engagement is sustained by different mechanisms than initial fun:
social status, creative expression, competitive standing, or the role of expert
and guide. Design for this phase by asking what role a veteran player wants to
play in the ecosystem — not just what content they want to consume. Systems
that enable knowledge transfer (guides, community sharing, mentorship) dramatically
extend this phase.]

**Emotional state on exit**: [e.g., "Part of a community", "Considered an
expert by newer players", "Invested in the game's ongoing development and direction."]

**Risk if this phase fails**: [e.g., "Veteran players leave and take their
social influence with them, accelerating churn in the broader player base."]

---

## Critical Moments

> **Guidance**: These are specific, individual events — not phases — that
> must land with precision. A critical moment is a single interaction, scene,
> or beat that carries outsized emotional weight. Missing it (through bad UX,
> poor timing, or weak feedback) can derail the entire journey. Identify 8-15
> such moments across the game.

| Moment | Phase | Emotional Target | If It Fails |
|--------|-------|-----------------|-------------|
| [The first death] | [First Contact] | [Surprise followed by understanding — "I see what I did wrong"] | [Player feels the death was unfair and loses trust in the game's fairness] |
| [The first big win] | [Orientation] | [Earned pride — "I figured that out myself"] | [Player feels the win was handed to them and undervalues it] |
| [The first system discovery] | [First Mastery] | [Delight — "I didn't know you could do that"] | [Player misses it entirely and never discovers the depth] |
| [The moment the world opens up] | [Depth Discovery] | [Awe followed by hunger — "How much more is there?"] | [Player feels underwhelmed and concludes they have seen everything] |
| [The first endgame goal] | [Habitual Play] | [Renewed purpose — "Now I have something to work toward"] | [Player completes the main content and feels finished] |
| [Add moment] | [Phase] | [Emotional target] | [Failure consequence] |

---

## Retention Hooks

> **Guidance**: Retention hooks are the specific mechanisms that pull the player
> back to the next session. They operate at different time scales. A game with
> only one hook type has a fragile retention loop. Strong games layer multiple
> hook types, so players with different motivations all have a reason to return.
>
> Map each hook to the systems that deliver it — if a hook has no system behind
> it, it is an aspiration, not a design.

| Hook Type | Hook Description | Systems That Deliver It |
|-----------|-----------------|------------------------|
| **Session Start** | [What draws the player in when they launch? e.g., "Unresolved choices from last session", "World state changed while they were away", "Daily reward waiting"] | [System names, e.g., "Persistent world state, save system, daily login reward"] |
| **Session End** | [What feeling do they have as they close the game? e.g., "A goal just out of reach", "A question unanswered", "An upgrade ready to use next time"] | [e.g., "Progress bar at 90%, next-session unlock notification"] |
| **Daily Return** | [What reason exists to play today vs. skipping a day? e.g., "Daily challenge", "Time-gated resource replenishment", "Limited-time event"] | [e.g., "Daily quest system, resource regen timers, event calendar"] |
| **Long-Term** | [What provides purpose across weeks? e.g., "Season pass milestones", "Competitive ranking reset", "Community challenge goals"] | [e.g., "Ranked system, seasonal content, community events"] |

---

## Player Progression Feel

[Describe HOW the player should experience their progression — not the mechanical
system (that belongs in GDDs), but the FEELING of growing.

Choose the primary progression feeling and describe what it should feel like in
concrete emotional terms. Examples of distinct progression feelings:

- **Power growth**: "The player should feel increasingly dangerous. Early game
  combat should feel tense and measured; late game combat should feel effortless
  against common enemies, reserving challenge for elite encounters."
- **World expansion**: "The player's sense of the world should grow outward.
  Each new area should make the map feel larger, not just longer."
- **Story revelation**: "The player should feel like they are slowly assembling
  a picture. Early revelations should recontextualize what they have already seen."
- **Skill improvement**: "The player should feel themselves getting sharper.
  Encounters they struggled with early should feel controlled by mid-game,
  not because they got more powerful, but because their decisions improved."
- **Community status**: "The player should feel a growing sense of belonging and
  recognition within the player community as their knowledge deepens."

Answer: what is the primary progression feeling in this game, and what does it
concretely look and feel like at the beginning, middle, and end of the journey?]

---

## Anti-Patterns to Avoid

> **Guidance**: Anti-patterns are recurring design mistakes that reliably
> break the player journey. List the ones most relevant to this specific game
> and how the design actively guards against them. Be specific — "avoid bad UX"
> is not an anti-pattern, it is a platitude.

- **[Player feels punished for experimenting]**: [e.g., "The crafting system
  should never consume irreplaceable resources. All experiment costs must be
  recoverable within one session."]
- **[Player loses progress with no explanation]**: [e.g., "All save points are
  visible before risky encounters. Progress loss must always be preceded by a
  warning the player could have noticed."]
- **[Difficulty spike creates a wall, not a gate]**: [e.g., "When a player
  fails an encounter three times, the game surfaces a contextual hint. A wall
  stops progress; a gate requires the right key — make sure players know what
  key they need."]
- **[Player reaches the content ceiling before the emotional arc completes]**:
  [e.g., "The game should never run out of content while the player still has
  unanswered questions about the world or their build."]
- **[Mandatory systems are introduced too late to feel meaningful]**: [e.g.,
  "Any system the player must engage with in the late game must be introduced
  in an optional or low-stakes context earlier."]
- **[Add anti-pattern specific to this game's design risks]**: [Description]

---

## Validation Questions

> **Guidance**: These are questions a playtester session facilitator asks
> during or after a session to verify the journey is working as intended.
> They are not yes/no questions — they probe the player's emotional experience
> and surface gaps between design intent and player reality.

**First Contact (0-5 min)**
- [ ] "Without looking at any menus or tooltips, what do you think this game is about?"
- [ ] "What's the first thing you want to do next?"

**Orientation (5-30 min)**
- [ ] "What does winning or succeeding look like to you right now?"
- [ ] "Is there anything you feel like you should understand but don't?"

**First Mastery (30 min - 2 hrs)**
- [ ] "What's the best decision you've made so far? Why did you make it?"
- [ ] "What would you do differently if you started over?"

**Depth Discovery (2-10 hrs)**
- [ ] "Has the game surprised you? When? How did it feel?"
- [ ] "What questions do you have about systems you haven't fully explored?"

**Habitual Play (10-50 hrs)**
- [ ] "What's your current goal? How long have you been working toward it?"
- [ ] "Have you told anyone about this game? What did you say?"

**General (any phase)**
- [ ] "If you had to stop playing right now, what would you be most eager to
  come back for?"
- [ ] "Is there anything you feel the game is not letting you do that you want to do?"

---

## Open Questions

| Question | Owner | Deadline | Resolution |
|----------|-------|----------|-----------|
| [Does the Phase 1 hook work for players without prior genre experience?] | [game-designer] | [Date] | [Unresolved] |
| [Is Phase 4 depth discoverable without external guides?] | [game-designer, ux-designer] | [Date] | [Unresolved] |
| [Add question] | [Owner] | [Date] | [Resolution] |