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Creating a Hardcore Social Game

Creating a Hardcore Social Game. Casual Connect 2013. Introduction. Leonard / Tianyang Tyler Projects. BS user stats x Social Life user stats. Hardcore Social game vs Casual Social Game. Battle Stations. Social Life. 79% female Easy to acquire new users Low ARPU

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Creating a Hardcore Social Game

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  1. Creating a Hardcore Social Game Casual Connect 2013

  2. Introduction • Leonard / Tianyang • Tyler Projects

  3. BS user stats x Social Life user stats

  4. Hardcore Social game vs Casual Social Game Battle Stations Social Life 79% female Easy to acquire new users Low ARPU Players interest in art/content Lots of fan art/video • 84% male • Hard to acquire new users • High ARPU • Strong player focus on item stats • Important game balance

  5. Differences between Casual and Hardcore Gamers • Hardcore gamers • Play fewer games • has “invested” time/money in the game • willing to make time for game events • Casual Gamers • Moves from game to game • Might spend money occasionally or not at all • plays only when time is available

  6. Can we make a casual game hardcore?

  7. Build for Long-term Engagement • Tasks / Achievements (Completion) • Levelling system (Progression) • Multiplayer (Competition)

  8. Tools/incentives to become “hardcore” • Sense of Ownership – listen/reply to feedback • Something to lose – dead crops, pillaged town • Screenshot sharing with friends • Design contests • A story

  9. Multiplayer • 3 different levels of Competition: • Individual player • Crew / PvP (interact/compete with other players but minimal communication) • Clan (within the clan there are "hardcore" and "casual" players)

  10. Monetization Strategies / Events • Casual gamer - appeal to sloth (skip, quick complete, collect all, ) • cultivate envy (tutorial character has a nice house/farm) • Hardcore gamer - appeal to pride, wrath (revenge), greed

  11. How to create a Casual Hardcore game? • Need to balance the demands of the casual gamer vs. the hardcore gamer • Use mobile to allow “casual” players to join hardcore players anytime • Matchmaking and balancing mechanics to enable both casual and hardcore gamers to have fun

  12. Technical Considerations

  13. Integration with Social Networks • Privacy • PvP/Clan element makes players reluctant to reveal their real identity (Grief-ing, revenge overflow into social network etc) • Players are used to hiding behind an avatar • Spying among clans (Top clans require detailed applicant information)

  14. Integration with Social Networks • Player Accounts • Fake accounts especially pronounced in hardcore games • Social engineering with fake accounts • Accounts blocked by social networks • Corporation blocking access • Countries blocking access (When players travel to those countries)

  15. Integration with Social Networks • Rapid Changing Landscape • Social Network changes beyond developers’ control • Important to be “up to date” with latest changes • E.g. Impacts shift in app virial-ity etc • Be wary of adoption of new changes • Compulsory changes • E.g. Requirements to use Facebook Credits

  16. Integration with Social Networks • Experience on other networks

  17. Server Load • Started in 2007 with first version on VPS • Cloud still very new and unstable • Multiple server migration to handle sudden load • Scripting cause server load to further spike • Team was new to server technologies • Eventually figured out ways to improve performance

  18. Server Load • Use of CDN • Large numbers of small assets • Easy way to update assets • Database replication for improved reads + additional backup • Webserver config tweaks

  19. Payment Methods • “Advertising” Phase • 2007 to 2008 • Easy to implement • Every other apps doing it • Low revenue • Gets less as more developers • Advertiser dollars spread to more apps Skyscraper Banner 160x600

  20. Payment Methods • “Offers” Phase • 2008 to current • Relatively easy to implement • Not everyone will use it • Require user action • Moderate revenue • Dependant on region • Requires support for missing offers etc

  21. Payment Methods • In-app Purchasing Phase • 2009 to current • Medium to hard difficulty to implement • Depends on payment method • Not everyone will use it • Require user action • High revenue • Fraud/Chargeback cases • Game balance • Non paying players as foundation of player base

  22. Localization • Chinese users started increasing • Create separate server • Converting Latin character support to UTF8 • Translating for different locale • Providing game support for different locale

  23. Localization • Good translation not easy • UI tweaks due to width and height • e.g. Chinese text with same height too small to read.

  24. QnA • contact us at tyler@tylerprojects.com • Play the games at • https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/battlestations • https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/sociallifegame

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