The Science of Financial Behaviour: Behavioural Design Tools for Games Development is a recorded webinar with presentation slides from Omneya Omar, the Behavioral Research and Insights Manager at Zoud, created for Zoud GameLab. This is the second of two “Behavioural Science for Game Jam” sessions.
Summary: This session gives game designers practical tools for understanding why people make the financial choices they do and turning those choices into play. It introduces four behavioural frameworks, COM-B, EAST, BASIC and MINDSPACE, along with a four-step approach to designing around a behaviour: spot the barrier, shape the choice, build the moment and test what changes. Six game theme starters, each built on a behavioural bias, show how the ideas become playable, and the session closes with guidance on using these mechanics to support learning without exploiting players.
Big Idea: A knowledge gap is rarely the whole problem. The best financial games start by working out what is actually stopping a player from acting, whether it’s skills, opportunity, or motivation, and then build the decision moment around that barrier.
Playable Takeaway: Before you pick a mechanic, ask what would make a player hesitate, procrastinate, or overspend, and let that become your game.
Watch the full session above or on YouTube here.
Access the presentation slides here.