About Games For A Living
Games for a Living (GFAL) is a Web3 studio & publisher developing competitive multiplayer games built on their own proprietary blockchain.
The studio’s flagship title, Elemental Raiders, combines turn-based strategy with fast-paced PvP, allowing players to earn and trade digital items tied to their gameplay.
GFAL is also behind a full-featured Web3 gaming framework, offering tools for identity management, token integration and NFT-based progression systems.
With a focus on accessibility and real ownership, GFAL is building a space where skill-based games and blockchain can work hand in hand.
Challenge
GFAL was working on one of their upcoming titles, Diamond Dreams, and wanted to better understand how players experienced it from the start.
Their goal was to fine-tune the experience through weekly playtesting and iteration, focusing on things like:
- What stood out visually
- Whether the tutorial flow felt intuitive
- How players reacted to the core systems
Anna Sort, Head of Growth at GFAL, put it best:
“We needed objective feedback on elements like visual impact, first impressions, and emotional engagement, especially around the game’s ‘wow’ moments.”
While the team had a clear vision, they also recognized the value of external feedback to challenge internal assumptions and validate design decisions.
Anna expanded on this by saying:
“We realized that to create a game that could truly connect with players, we needed fresh, unbiased insights early enough to make impactful changes.”
To support this process, GFAL partnered with Antidote to run iterative playtests and identify areas where the experience could be refined.
“Antidote’s focus on user testing and deep player feedback provided the perfect solution. We were specially looking for the recording so we could hear what the player said out loud while playing the game. Transcription definitely gave it cookie points.”
Solution
GFAL needed a playtesting process that could keep pace with their iteration cycles and deliver clear insights.
We set up a workflow that gave their team fast, structured feedback on how players interacted with the game, especially in the first few minutes of play.
Throughout the collaboration, we helped GFAL test multiple game prototypes, each with its own target audience. In total, we recruited 40+ players with varied profiles depending on each game’s needs.
Player requirements included:
- Platform: Mobile (Android)
- Session length: ~30 minutes
- Focus: First-Time User Experience and specific in-game features
Each test also included:
- Post-session surveys
- Gameplay and audio recordings
- Transcriptions
Here’s how the workflow ran smoothly between both teams:
- GFAL set up the playtest in the Antidote platform (unpublished)
- They notified our UX team once it was ready
- Antidote researchers reviewed the setup and assigned players based on predefined criteria
- Once validated, the playtest was published
This process allowed GFAL to gather reliable insights and resolve blockers quickly, all from one centralized platform.
Result
Working with Antidote gave GFAL the insights they needed to make strategic improvements across multiple areas of Diamond Dreams. The team reworked several core elements, transforming the early game experience into something clearer, more intuitive and more rewarding for players.
One of the biggest improvements was to the first-time user flow, which was made easier to follow without overwhelming new players. The team also revisited how progression was communicated, updating in-game language and reinforcing key mechanics so players could better understand how their actions connected to rewards.
“We made small but important adjustments to how progression is communicated, including using better nomenclature.
Players reported feeling more rewarded as they leveled up, and they had a stronger understanding of key systems like jewelry crafting and collection value.”
Those same systems (jewelry crafting and collection value) were enhanced based on player feedback. Visual updates helped better align the presentation with the game’s aesthetic and tone.
“Additionally, we made visual tweaks to better align certain character designs (such as Crystal) with the overall game aesthetic based on player feedback.”
GFAL also fine-tuned the tutorial pacing, making it feel more organic and less prescriptive. These combined updates led to a noticeable increase in player satisfaction – especially around clarity and progression.
“The biggest outcome was a noticeable improvement in player satisfaction scores around progression and clarity.”
One standout moment was seeing how even small adjustments, the ones we might have overlooked otherwise, made a difference in how players perceived the game.”
And from a process standpoint, the working relationship added just as much value. GFAL noted how smooth and collaborative the experience was from start to finish.
“Another highlight was how collaborative and flexible the Antidote team was throughout the process; they truly understood our goals and worked with us as partners, not just service providers.”
Through iterative playtesting, GFAL was able to craft a game that’s grounded in player feedback and aligned with their long-term vision.
Why GFAL Recommends Antidote
We asked Anna whether she would recommend other studios to work with Antidote and here’s what she had to say:
“Absolutely. Antidote’s process gave us honest, actionable insights that went far beyond simple feedback, it gave us a clearer path to improving the player experience.
For any studio serious about creating games that resonate with players, working with Antidote is a no-brainer. Their ability to translate player impressions into meaningful improvements is genuinely impressive.”
By partnering with Antidote, GFAL was able to:
- Recruit the right players for multiple prototypes, each with specific profile needs
- Run fast, iterative playtests from one centralized platform
- Gather in-depth feedback through surveys, gameplay recordings and transcripts
- Focus on building the game while we handled recruitment, validation and logistics
