> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.pickfu.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Game concept validation
> Validate a mobile game's concept, core mechanics, art direction, and feature priorities with real players before committing development resources.
The most expensive game development mistake is building something players don't want. This playbook
validates the concept — player desires, core mechanics, art direction, feature priorities, and
overall appeal — *before* you commit engineering and art resources, so your game design document is
grounded in real player feedback.
This is a **pre-development sequence**: each step informs the next, producing a prioritized, player-
validated concept. It's designed to be run by an AI agent (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any client
with PickFu MCP / CLI / API access) or step-by-step by a human.
## When to use this playbook
| Use it when | Skip it when |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| You have a game concept but haven't committed to development | The game is already built — use [ASO](/docs/playbooks/app-store-listing) to optimize the listing |
| You want to validate mechanics / art / features with real players | You only need to test marketing assets |
| You can describe scenarios or show concept art | You have nothing concrete to show or describe yet |
**Audience targeting.** These polls target mobile gamers (`mobileyes`) aged 25–44 and report by
age and gender. Adjust to your game's actual target players. Use
[list\_available\_targeting](/docs/integrations/mcp-server) for options.
## The sequence
Learn what players love and hate about existing games in your genre, and what would make them
play daily.
Rank gameplay scenarios to find the mechanic players find most fun.
Rank visual style references to find the look that most attracts your players.
Rank candidate features so you build the highest-impact ones first.
A star-rating poll on the assembled concept confirms download intent before you build.
**Sample size and cost.** Defaults to **100 respondents** per step for reliable ranking signal on
pre-development decisions (these inform expensive build choices, so the extra confidence is worth
it). On a tighter budget, 50 per step gives directional results. See
[sample size guidance](/docs/guides/best-practices#consider-sample-size).
## Run this playbook with an AI agent
Paste this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any AI agent connected to the
[PickFu MCP server](/docs/integrations/mcp-server), [CLI](/docs/integrations/cli),
or [REST API](/docs/api-reference/introduction). The agent will run the entire loop on your behalf —
creating polls, reading responses, and iterating until a winning variation emerges.
```text wrap theme={null}
You are running the PickFu "Game concept validation" playbook end-to-end.
Goal: validate a mobile game's mechanics, art direction, features, and overall
concept with real players before development begins.
Before starting, ask the user for:
- The game concept and genre (e.g. "4X strategy", "cozy farming sim")
- 3-4 gameplay-mechanic scenario descriptions (text)
- 3-6 art-style reference images
- A candidate feature list (5+ features)
- A game name + short description, and concept art for the final validation
- Target audience (default: mobile gamers 25-44; refine to the game's
actual demographic if known)
Substitute [GENRE] with the user's genre in every question. Run in sequence:
1. COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (100 respondents, multi-question open_ended).
Q1: "What do you like most about the mobile [GENRE] games you currently play?
What keeps you coming back?"
Q2: "What frustrates you most about current mobile [GENRE] games? What would
make you stop playing?"
Q3: "What kind of gameplay would you expect or want in a mobile [GENRE] game?
What features would make you play every day?"
Synthesize the responses into player desires, frustrations, and must-haves.
2. CORE MECHANICS (100 respondents, ranked, 3-4 options).
Provide 3-4 mechanic scenario descriptions as text options. Question:
"In a mobile [GENRE] game, which gameplay scenario would you prefer? Rank
from most to least appealing, and explain why your top choice is the most
fun." The winner is your core loop direction.
3. ART DIRECTION (100 respondents, ranked, 3-6 options).
If the user doesn't have art references, GENERATE them: use generate_image
to render the SAME subject/scene in 3-6 distinct art directions (e.g.
realistic, stylized cartoon, pixel art, painterly, low-poly) so respondents
react to style, not subject. Question: "Which visual style would you prefer
for a mobile [GENRE] game? Which style makes you most interested in playing?"
You can also feed the step-1 frustrations back into the prompts — generate
styles that address what players said current [GENRE] games get wrong.
4. FEATURE PRIORITIES (100 respondents, ranked).
Provide your candidate features as ranked options. Question: "Which of these
features would you most want in a mobile [GENRE] game? Rank them from most to
least important." This orders your development backlog by player demand.
5. CONCEPT VALIDATION (100 respondents, star_rating).
Add the game name + description as context; upload concept art as the option.
Question: "How likely would you be to download and play this mobile [GENRE]
game? What do you like or dislike about the concept?"
Success target: overall concept averages 4.0+ stars. Below that, revisit the
weakest dimension (mechanics, art, or features) before committing to build.
Final report must include:
- Player desires / frustrations / must-haves from step 1
- The validated core mechanic (step 2) and art direction (step 3)
- A player-prioritized feature list (step 4)
- The overall concept star rating (step 5) and the top likes/dislikes
- A go / iterate / rethink recommendation for the game design document
Tools to use:
- save_survey + publish_survey — create and launch each poll
- get_survey_responses — read responses
- generate_image — render art-style variations (step 3)
- list_available_targeting — confirm targeting codes
- upload_media — art references, concept art
```
**Where AI fits in this playbook.** Two places: (1) **synthesis** — the agent turns the open-ended
competitive research (step 1) into a structured map of player desires, frustrations, and
must-haves that shapes every later step; and (2) **creative generation** — the agent renders the
art-direction candidates (step 3) with `generate_image`, including styles that address the
frustrations surfaced in step 1. The final concept validation (step 5) stays a single one-shot
gate — it's a go/no-go decision, not a loop, so re-testing it repeatedly just burns budget on a
decision you've already made.
Want to run this manually? The same sequence is available as a one-click template in the PickFu
app ([Start the concept-validation playbook](https://app.pickfu.com/playbooks/game-concept-validation))
with pre-filled poll URLs.
## Step-by-step (human operator view)
### 1. Competitive research
| Setting | Value |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Poll type | Multi-question (3 open-ended) |
| Q1 | "What do you like most about the mobile \[GENRE] games you currently play? What keeps you coming back?" |
| Q2 | "What frustrates you most about current mobile \[GENRE] games? What would make you stop playing?" |
| Q3 | "What kind of gameplay would you expect or want in a mobile \[GENRE] game? What features would make you play every day?" |
| Audience | Mobile gamers, 25–44 (report by age + gender) |
| Sample size | 100 |
**What you'll get:** the player desires, frustrations, and daily-play hooks that should shape every
later decision.
[See an example research survey →](https://app.pickfu.com/results/uqKhGrNrUm)
### 2. Validate core mechanics
| Setting | Value |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Poll type | Ranked choice |
| Question | "In a mobile \[GENRE] game, which gameplay scenario would you prefer? Rank from most to least appealing, and explain why your top choice is the most fun." |
| Options | 3–4 mechanic scenario descriptions (text) |
| Audience | Mobile gamers, 25–44 |
| Sample size | 100 |
[See an example mechanics poll →](https://app.pickfu.com/results/Y5jbO664Fr)
### 3. Choose art direction
| Setting | Value |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Poll type | Ranked choice |
| Question | "Which visual style would you prefer for a mobile \[GENRE] game? Which style makes you most interested in playing?" |
| Options | 3–6 art-style reference images |
| Audience | Mobile gamers, 25–44 |
| Sample size | 100 |
**No art references yet?** Use [generate\_image](/docs/api-reference/media/generate-media) to render the
same scene in 3–6 distinct styles (realistic, stylized cartoon, pixel, painterly, low-poly) so
respondents react to the *style*, not the subject. Feed your step-1 frustration findings into the
prompts to generate directions that address what players say current \[GENRE] games get wrong.
[See an example art-style poll →](https://app.pickfu.com/results/DV9ABiaQiR)
### 4. Prioritize features
| Setting | Value |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Poll type | Ranked choice |
| Question | "Which of these features would you most want in a mobile \[GENRE] game? Rank them from most to least important." |
| Options | Your candidate features (replace the defaults with your own) |
| Audience | Mobile gamers, 25–44 |
| Sample size | 100 |
[See an example feature-ranking poll →](https://app.pickfu.com/results/fNJ2JqqPAm)
### 5. Validate the overall concept
| Setting | Value |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Poll type | Star rating |
| Question | "How likely would you be to download and play this mobile \[GENRE] game? What do you like or dislike about the concept?" |
| Options | Concept art as the option; game name + description as context |
| Audience | Mobile gamers, 25–44 |
| Sample size | 100 |
**Success criteria:** a confirmed core mechanic (step 2), validated art direction (step 3), a
player-prioritized feature list (steps 1 & 4), and an overall concept averaging **4.0+ stars**
(step 5) — ready to inform your game design document.
[See an example concept-validation poll →](https://app.pickfu.com/results/1gLH7gdldv)
## Troubleshooting
Not necessarily — diagnose first. Cross-reference the step-5 dislikes against your earlier
results. If the mechanic (step 2) and art (step 3) scored well but the concept didn't, the
problem is usually how they're combined or communicated, not the parts themselves. Re-pitch with
a sharper description before abandoning.
That's the playbook doing its job — it surfaces demand before you've sunk cost. Either build
toward what players want, or understand the gap (sometimes the appealing mechanic is a hook and
your intended one is the retention driver). Run a follow-up ranked poll if you need to
disambiguate.
This validates the *concept* before development. The
[ASO playbook](/docs/playbooks/app-store-listing) optimizes the *store listing* once the game exists.
Run this one first; run ASO when you're preparing to launch.
## Related
* [Game concept advanced tests & FAQs (help center)](https://help.pickfu.com/en/articles/13921422-validating-your-game-concept-with-pickfu-getting-started-advanced-tests-faqs) — willingness-to-pay, IP validation, world/theme, character-design tests, and common questions
* [App store listing optimization](/docs/playbooks/app-store-listing) — optimize the listing once the game is built
* [Best practices for survey design](/docs/guides/best-practices)
* [MCP server reference](/docs/integrations/mcp-server)
* [PickFu CLI](/docs/integrations/cli)