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

• 84% male• Hard to acquire new users• High ARPU• Strong player focus on item

stats• Important game balance

Social Life• 79% female• Easy to acquire new users• Low ARPU• Players interest in

art/content• Lots of fan art/video

Battle Stations

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

Can we make a casual game hardcore?

Build for Long-term Engagement

• Tasks / Achievements (Completion)• Levelling system (Progression)• Multiplayer (Competition)

• Sense of Ownership – listen/reply to feedback• Something to lose – dead crops, pillaged town• Screenshot sharing with friends• Design contests• A story

Tools/incentives to become “hardcore”

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)

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

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

Technical Considerations

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)

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)

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

Integration with Social Networks

• Experience on other networks

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

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

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

SkyscraperBanner

160x600

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

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

Localization

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

Localization

• Good translation not easy• UI tweaks due to width and height– e.g.

Chinese text with same height too small to read.

QnA

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