Research is the primary and most important aspect of any software, especially when it comes to games. One cannot just come up with an idea for a game, and directly start building it.
Research must be conducted for various activities such as how the current market conditions are, how much would it cost for the game to be put into production, etc.
Mainly, there are two types of Research-
1. Qualitative Research
2. Quantitative Research
-Qualitative Research is the data we collect that is not in the form of numbers. This can be anything ranging from the plot, gameplay, game reviews, etc.
-Quantitative Research deals with numbers, like how much the game was rated, how many copies of the game were sold, how much money did the game make, how many liked the game, how much was the production cost, etc.
While presenting the data, it is necessary that you properly distribute the quantitative data from the qualitative data, and not just put all the collected data together in any order.
These were the 2 types of Research when it comes to games.
Now, how we collect this information is a very crucial matter.
Most people get information from Wikipedia, and think their work is done. Well that's the easy way out. Developers of Wikipedia themselves say not all their information is valid, for anyone can edit the data. Always find other reliable sources for collection of data when it comes to R&D.
There are 5 techniques of research-
1. Primary Research
2. Secondary Research
3. Market Research
4. Production Research
5. Audience Research
-Information which is available directly through the developers, publishers, etc. of the game is primary information, eg. information from the game websites, game videos released by the game company, etc.-Information collected from sources other than the game company is secondary research. Even if newspapers or internet articles provide you information about a game that is directly coming from the game company, that still would be secondary information, because it is not you who has been in direct contact with the company. During (video) interviews, however, if the interviewer asks a question that addresses your concern, then that can be considered primary, not secondary data.
-Market Research is done by any game company, i.e. research about the current market trends, etc. For eg. it would be pointless releasing games on Floppy-disks in the current market, hence market research is necessary. Also, the number of games sold, ranking of the game, etc. would be market research too. Everyone is a potential game market and importance is laid on increasing the game sales based on the current market conditions.
-While beginning any new game project, it is important for any game company to plan the costs to be incurred in the production of the game and all factors that can affect the production cost of the game. Production research examples are cost of the game produced, and number of developers, artists, designers needed, etc.
-Audience research is the data that is collected from the audience, i.e. people who have played, or experienced the game. Audience data can be personal opinions about the games from various players' perspectives, found on social networking site groups, personal blogs, fan pages, user-reviews, etc. Surveys done by neutral parties also are a type of audience research, but when game companies hold surveys, they can also be marketing or audience related.
A very important thing to remember. If you play a particular game, and you find it interesting, or bad, you cannot say that it is primary research. That would come under audience research. Unless you are talking about the plot, new features of the game, etc., which will be the same for all users, in which case you can say it is primary research.
Example:
I like Ittle Dew- completely my personal opinion. Makes it audience research. (Subjective)
Ittle Dew minimum requirements- 512 MB. Makes it primary research. (Objective)