/games_night_viz

#GamesNightViz is a 6-weekly Tableau community project focusing on using data from your favourite games to improve your skills with data visualisation, data preparation and visual design

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Introducing #GamesNightViz

#GamesNightViz is a 6-weekly Tableau community project focusing on using data from your favourite games to improve your skills with data visualisation, data preparation and visual design, and maybe a winning strategy for your next game night (no guarantees! 😉)

The Goal

Working with datasets from your favourite games we'll build and develop a portfolio of real world data skills including

  • Data visualisation
  • Data preparation
  • Design techniques

The Project

Each month, we will have a theme and a range of datasets available, with a challenge to prepare one of the datasets and a principle of design to focus on. Datasets will come with a difficulty scale to help those newer to data visualisation or those with limited time to practice. We will be sharing our creations with the #datafam and the wider teaching community.

Difficulty scaled datasets

  • Casual - For those new to data visualisation or with limited time available
  • Normal - A fair size data set that could create multiple data visualisations
  • Heroic - A large data set for those with more time available
  • Legendary - Bring your own data, #IronQuest style

There will also be two bonus 'Special Ops' tasks:

  • Data preparation - Recreate one of the datasets using a tool or coding language, Preppin' Data style
  • Visual design - A design technique to practice in your data visualisation, supported with some online tools

For this project you can choose which challenges you undertake depending on what you want to learn, e.g. you may want to focus on Design + a dataset, alternatively, you may want to just learn data preparation with a new coding language or tool.

What Type of Games?

All of them!

At #GamesNightViz we love all types of games: card games, board games, video games, party games, game shows, and the list goes on!

The Challenges

Season 1 of #GamesNightViz will consist of 6 sets of challenges released on a 6-week to monthly basis.

Challenge Data Viz Design Data Prep Deadline Roundup
Level 1: Player Select Choose Your Character Experiment With Colour The Best Mario Kart 31st December 2021 Level 1
Level 2: Hello World Game Worlds The World of Fonts Survive in Battleship 13th Febuary 2022 Level 2
Level 3: Powering Up Power Ups Shapes & Icons Monopoly's Most Profitable Streets 31st March 2022 Level 3
Level 4: The Need for Speed Fast Games Getting up to Speed with Map Layers Finding the Fastest Horse in the West 31st May 2022 Level 4
The Tour: Dungeons & Dragons with #DataFamCon #DataFamCon's June 2022: Dungeons and Dragons Challenge Tableau Conference Design Recap #Preppin' Data: Critical Role & Gantt Charts 30th June 2022
The Tour: Nostalgic Games with #IronQuest #IronQuest's July 2022: Nostalgic Games 31st July 2022
The Tour: The Sound of Games with #DataPlusMusic #DataPlusMusic's Music in Video Games 31st August 2022
Level 5: Montages Your Montage! Layout Containers Cleaning Weapons Data 30th November 2022
Is it a Sport or a Game? GNV + #SportsVizSunday: Is it a Sport or a Game? 10th February 2023
Level 6: The Final Boss Chart a path to victory! Boss the Gestalt Principles Learn a new way 30th April 2023

Bonus Levels

Looking for data?

Be sure to check out the #GamesNightViz Data Archive 💾 for all the datasets from our challenges.

House Rules

  • Make sure it 'sparks joy'
  • Support your fellow #GamesNightViz participents
  • Make time for yourselves away from the project

There's no expectation to complete all the tasks or participate every month. This project is designed to inspire you to develop new skills and build a portfolio showcasing what you've learnt, not be a chore or something that doesn't spark joy.

Feedback

We want to have a safe and supportive place where everyone feels comfortable sharing their work regardless of their skills. So please be supportive to each other and keep feedback overall positive.

Please make yourselves familiar with two great resources from Storytelling With Data:

There are also #datafam initiatives around feedback you can look to:

How to Get Involved

Our Contributors

Will Sutton

I'm Will, an avid fan of games of all kinds. I've been working with data for over 10 years and now work as a Consultant, helping clients gain better insight from their data.

I owe a large amount of my career development down to passion projects; either part of the Tableau community, producing insights for my running club, or just questions I wanted to know the answers to.

You can check out Will's work on:
Twitter | Tableau Public | GitHub

Tina Covelli

I'm Tina and I've been in the data visualization space since 2015 and a gamer for life! I joined the #datafam and Tableau Public community in 2021 and it has been such a welcoming experience.

I am very passionate about both topics and am excited at the opportunity to work with Will and Louis to bring this passion forward for all!

You can check out Tina's work on:
Twitter | Tableau Public

Louis Yu

Hi, Louis here! Have been working in various industries in the past decade but finally found my way into the video game industry as a Senior Data Analyst, driving customer insights and building dashboards for 2K Games.

I spent a good chunk of my growing up playing games as I always enjoy a good jRPG or anything with an immersive narrative. Which probably explains why I am fascinated by the storytelling potential of data vizzes!

Most of my work revolves around Tableau and Adobe (I’m not a full-fledged designer, but I know enough to pull my own weight)

You can check out Louis's work on:
Twitter | Tableau Public