scottsdesignblog

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Looking to the future!

Hey everyone,

This month’s post is a bit of a short one. I want to give a general update and discuss what I want to achieve for this blog over the course of the next year.  A lot has changed for me in the last couple months or so. I moved, switched jobs, inherited a cat, got a puppy, and life keeps being crazy. 

Switched Jobs?

Yeah. So a few months ago, I made the difficult decision to leave Kung Fu Factory. At the time, I wasn’t connecting well with NFTs/crypto and the direction of the studio. While I don’t hold any animosity towards anyone there, I just wasn’t interested in working on play to earn games. Maybe as I understand crypto a little bit better, and the market evolves, this will change. But at the moment, it’s just not for me.

This leads me into where I ended up. I’m at Skydance Interactive now. I still do economics, but I’m doing a lot more Systems Design work now as well. Hence why my title changed to Systems Designer. When I’m able to talk a little bit more about what I’m working on, I will make sure to let you all know. I promise it’ll knock your socks off!

Blog Direction

I want to take this blog to youtube and discord. I’ve been posting here for years, I have some good traffic, and I’ve made some meaningful connections because of it. But I think posting here and on Game Developer isn’t quite cutting it anymore. And it’s tougher than ever to make connections with people in the industry since we’re all working from home. So I want to bring these blogs to video and eventually open a discord of like-minded developers where we can discuss the latest industry trends. These additions will take some time as they will take a bit of work on my end to get set up. Please bear with me, and I’ll make an announcement as each piece goes live.

I’m not going to stop producing content for the site, and I will still continue to write for it. I just want to try and expand my audience a little bit more. I’m hoping to have everything set up and the first video out by the end of the year. I appreciate any feedback you guys may have as I continue to move forward.

Ko-Fi

If you like my content and want to support my caffeine addiction, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi. Don’t worry, I won’t put any of my content behind a paywall and it will always be 100% free. I just want to give people an option if they wish to support my work.

And that’s it for this post. Next time we’ll be diving back into the world of Game Design Analysis. 

Until then,

Scott

#blog

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Battle Pass: Bonus - LiveOps Event Pass

Welcome back! This is a bonus post based on the battle pass series I did. If you haven’t read it yet, you can start it HERE. For this month’s post, I’m going to be taking a look at the event structure for Halo Infinite. They’ve done a few things which I think are particularly clever and interesting, then they’ve done some things which I find myself asking WHY? We’ll cover both today! 

How do Live Events work in Halo Infinite?

Halo’s event system builds off the back of their battle pass system. Similar to the battle pass’s loop, the event loop looks like this:

Each event has thirty rewards available to earn, laid out similarly to how the battle pass lays out their rewards. 

The primary differences between them are how you earn progress and that there is no paid track. In the normal battle pass, the player can earn progress via completing any daily or weekly challenges. For the event pass, the player must complete specific challenges designated by an event tag on the left of the weekly challenge.

When a player completes an event challenge, they get XP towards their normal battle pass and unlock a level (1:1 of event level to weekly challenge) in the event pass.

Where this gets interesting is from a balance perspective. You’ll notice in the image above that the event has three different weeks in which it runs. In most games, events only run for a week or a continuous month. They’re not broken up because this causes confusion in the player base. But Halo has decided to break the event up. Why do you think they did this?

My running theory is to extend content. We know that Halo was light on content when it was first released, so they needed something to help retain players. Something to look forward to that isn’t as intensive to polish as Co-Op. They already had the rewards for this event ready to go, but likely didn’t have enough to keep the pace up for future events. So, they instead split one up into three. To take it a step further, it is possible they only released a max of ten event weekly challenges per event. This would limit the player’s progression through the event. Thus players couldn't blast through all the content in one week. And, since the weeklies are “random” as to which new one the player gets, it’d be super easy to keep them out of rotation. While I don’t agree with this approach as a player, I understand the logic behind it as a developer. I’ve had to face similar problems in my time, and came up with similar solutions. 

That’s it for this series! I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did. If you have any suggestions for what’s next, shoot me a message. I’ve been eyeballing Destiny and Elden Ring…. Maybe I’ll do something involving those.

Until next time,

Scott

Disclaimer: All thoughts/comments are my own and in no way represent the viewpoint of Skydance Interactive.

#Battle Pass #Halo #economy #Balancing

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Let's Talk Battle Passes - Part 3 Difficulty to Progress

Welcome back to round three of our look into battle passes. In part one, we took a broad look at battle passes and how the different types work. In part two, we dug in a little deeper into the value of items and how to figure out what the designer believes the value of each item and pass is. If you haven't read those yet, I highly recommend them as they’ll set the stage for today’s post. This time, we’re going to be chatting about progression in the battle passes. This one is going to be very math and logic heavy, but I’m going to break it down so anyone can understand it. 

So why should I care about battle pass progression?

When I was building the economy in NBA Ball Stars, I designed a system for crafting gear where the player would use lower levels of gear to craft higher levels of gear. I modeled out the economy and popped all my data in. Play testing went fine and we released it. After release, I started to notice I wasn’t progressing along my gear model’s estimates. The Executive Producer a couple hours later came up to me and noticed the same thing. I started to look at our analytics and came to the conclusion that while we were giving out the correct amount of resources to progress in the economy, I put them as rewards too deep in the progression. This was resulting in players not unlocking the resources they needed to engage with the system. This was a progression problem which was affecting the economy. It was so bad that players in the discord started to make memes out of the deficit of the specific resource. Progression and economy in games often go hand in hand. If your economy is off, it’s going to throw off your progression. If your progression is off, it’s going to throw off the economy. Because I had a model to compare it to, we were able to analyze the problem, assess solutions, and deploy a fix VERY quickly. According to our charts, engagement spiked to normal rates, and the discord showered us with praise for fixing a problem quickly.

Back to our battle passes. All of our examples require the user to gain XP in some fashion to level up. XP can come from various sources, but the primary source is always just playing the game. Continuing forward, we’re going to stick to only one game. This is because the logic is the same across all of them and I don’t want to write a novel to cover them all. Let’s continue with Halo Infinite.

Typically, most games give out XP for playing PvP directly. Halo does, but it’s a little different.They have a daily mission which never runs out, but, each time it’s completed, awards less and less XP. This is clever because it creates a situation with diminishing returns. When you have a game with no energy restricting your play, this is an excellent strategy to keep grinders from blowing through all the content too quickly.

You’ll notice the daily mission at the top. In Halo, the XP awarded is the following:

Match 1: 300 XP

Match 2: 200 XP

Match 3: 200 XP

Match 4: 200 XP

Match 5: 100 XP

Match 6: 100 XP

Match 7+: 50 XP

In addition to the research above, let’s make some additional assumptions:

A single match takes 10-12 minutes

The total XP to complete the battle pass is 100,000 XP

One Level is 1,000 XP

The player has 3 months to complete the battle pass

A weekly mission pays out 200 XP on average

There are 5 weekly missions available on any given week

The average player is expected to play for 60 minutes a day

It’s likely the developers want the player to play roughly five matches per day. You can guess this by a few factors: playing five matches earns the player1000 XP, which is enough to level up the battle pass and give the player a visible reward. This is an excellent session ender. Additionally, five matches take roughly an hour to complete as each match takes between 10-12 minutes on average. It just ends up being such a neat and even parcel of time. Match 6 is likely to give players who have just a bit more time a nudge so they can start the next session slightly above. Match 7+ is just players grinding. So, the initial level up is five matches, which is roughly an hour. To go to the next level, it’s twenty matches, which at best is just over three hours, and, at worst, four hours. 

Let’s say you have a player that is grinding non-stop, such as a streamer, playing all day and all night with no breaks. This person will be able to progress roughly six levels in a twenty four hour gaming marathon. We can assume they spend one hour for the initial level, three hours for the next, and four hours for the rest. Since it’s physically impossible to figure out exactly how much a person will play, Economy Designers will frequently plan for the maximum grind, and also someone more casual. Then they will figure out how to make this a rewarding experience for both. Additionally, there is always a chance that there is one person who loves your game so much they will play as much as they physically can before their body collapses, so more reason to plan for them.

But what about weekly missions?

It's similar logic, but simpler. Typically, there are a specific number of weeklies that are available to a player. So, you take the max amount of XP a player can get from weeklies, divide it by 7, and add it to the daily amount. Let’s say, after you complete a weekly, a new one pops up for a total of five weeklies. At 200 XP each, that’s only an additional level for the whole week. The most hardcore grinder would only be able to get a total of thirtyone levels a week, though they would likely drop dead from lack of sleep, but it’s good to plan for it and then scale back if needed. Players will never complain if something is too difficult and you change it to be easier. They will start a war against you if you do the opposite.

So, using these numbers, where does this put our estimates? 

Hardcore grinder finishes the battle pass in about 3 weeks, 2.5 days

Casual players: 12 Weeks, 4 days (8 levels a week, 7 from dailies, 1 from weekly)

Looking at these numbers, we can see the grinder will finish in about a month. And the casual player will be just shy of being able to complete the battle pass in three months. This is going to either reinforce the need for them to play just a little bit more often than one hour a day, or spending to complete the battle pass as they’ll be so close to completion that FOMO will kick in. Either way, it doesn’t feel out of reach, which is super important for a player who has been playing every single day. All things considered, this is pretty well balanced.

This same logic we used to create estimates for Halo Infinite can be applied to Fortnite, CoD, and even Destiny. Though, to be fair, Destiny’s would be a tiny bit more complicated because there are so many sources to get XP from. Each planet alone has a series of dailies and weeklies, not to mention those from the Iron Banner and the Tower, which range from killing certain enemies to killing them in certain ways, or as broad as engaging in Strikes… you get the idea. But the logic is the same.

Looking at the estimates above, I could see how you’d be concerned by the grinders blowing through all the content. If a player finishes all the content, there is a substantially higher chance of them churning, a term for quitting your game and never returning. Different games handle this differently. In Fortnite, they have additional levels and rewards which go past the carrot reward, resulting in an almost unlimited grind. In other games, this is typically where Live Ops Events come in. And boy has Halo done an excellent job integrating it.

But that’s a subject for another time! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ve been enjoying this series. By now, you should be equipped with the logic to balance your own battle pass. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below, and I’ll get to as many as I can.

Scott

Bonus: Savvy readers who have played Halo may have noticed Halo has unlimited weeklies. How would you solve the effect it has on the grind? I’ll give you a hit, I’ve referenced similar logic in this article.

#Battle Pass #Halo #NBA BallStars #Progression #economy #Balancing

[scottsdesignblog]

Let's Talk Battle Passes - Part 2 Value

Welcome back! This time we’re talking about the value of a battle pass. If you haven’t read through my part one talking about battle passes, it’s a good place to start to get you up to speed. This is going to be a little math heavy, but I’ll break it up so it’s easy to digest. Without any further ado, let’s get started!

When players purchase a battle pass, they are buying a few rewards at the start and the opportunity to obtain more rewards. As battle passes require player engagement, the total value of the battle pass isn’t the same as the initial buy in price. The total value of the battle pass is the value of all the accumulated rewards within the battle pass, meaning everything from what players unlock at level one to level hundred, or whatever the max level is, and the effort required to unlock them. How do we figure this out you might ask? With a little bit of math!

Fortnite*

The monetary value of Fortnite’s battle pass is fairly easy to estimate.

1 Level = 150 V-Bucks

100 levels = 15000 V-Bucks 

Battle Pass Purchase Price = 950 V-Bucks = $7.59

1000 V-Bucks = $7.99

1 V-Buck = $0.00799

Total for BP = 15950 (15000 from leveling, 950 from the initial buy in) V-Bucks = $127.44

We get $127.44 by taking the 15950 V-Bucks determined above and converting it into its cash equivalent. By taking the smallest currency pack in the store ($7.99) and dividing it by the amount of V-Bucks you get (1000 V-Bucks) you can determine the value of a single V-Buck. We use the smallest pack to calculate this as the larger packs frequently have bonus currency inside of them, making it much more difficult to make an accurate estimation. From our calculation, we can assume the value of a single V-Buck is $0.00799. Then we simply multiply the $0.00799 by the amount of V-Bucks it costs to unlock and max out the battle pass, which is 15950 V-Bucks. This leaves us with a value of $127.44 for the full battle pass. Using this same logic, we can determine the total value of just about any battle pass. 

*Full disclosure: I'm sticking to the main battle pass for Fortnite. They have some bonus pages as well, which result in a doubling of the value of the BP. But the rewards are so spread out and not typically the rewards users are chasing within the battle pass. I won’t be diving into those pages at this time. Also, I’m not taking the reduced prices by purchasing the 25 levels at once. While it’s likely that this amount is the actual base amount for the rewards, I don’t want to muddy the water any more than I have to since we’re digging into some gnarly math and the logic is the same.

Destiny 2

Following the same logic as before, let’s estimate the value of Destiny 2’s battle pass.

1 Level = 100 Silver

100 levels = 10000 Silver

Battle Pass Purchase Price = 1000 Silver = $9.98

500 Silver = $4.99

1 Silver = $0.00998

Total for BP = 11000 Silver = $109.78

COD: Warzone Battle Pass

1 Level = 120 COD Points

100 levels = 15000 COD Points

Battle Pass Purchase Price = 1000 COD Points = $9.95

200 COD Points = $1.99

1 COD Point = $0.00995

Total for BP = 16000 COD Points = $159.20

Halo Infinite

1 Level = 200 Credits

100 levels = 20000 Credits

Battle Pass Purchase Price = 1000 Credits = $8.98

500 Credits = $4.49

1 Credit = $0.00898

Total for BP = 21000 Credits = $188.58

You might ask, why do I care? Well, when balancing rewards, studios don’t want to lose money on spenders. By taking the cost to purchase the battle pass and how much it would cost to level up the battle pass all the way using only hard currency, we can get an estimation of the value of the rewards within the battle pass. 

How do we take this a step further? We can use this information to estimate how much the System Designer believes a specific item is worth. In the case of a linear battle pass, it’s a little bit trickier to figure out the value of each individual item. This is because some levels have rewards that are vastly less valuable than others, even though the clearly more valuable reward appears earlier on in the track. On top of this, the XP progression requirement for most passes is a flat amount. Frequently, they’ll just need 1000 XP to progress to the next level regardless of which level it is. While this makes it easy to charge a flat amount to level up, it creates unreliable estimates for the value of each individual item. In the case of a linear pass, it’s likely designers will use some tricks to make it a bit more manageable on their end. Tricks like grouping rewards into sets of ten that take up various percentages of the total value creates a progressive increase to the trend of rewards without necessarily making every single reward better than the last. It also feeds into a better experience as players need highs and lows to truly have a fun gaming experience and progression. But that’s getting a bit too far off our original discussion. Linear-style battle passes are fascinating and a lot of fun to balance, but, like I mentioned before, “And then there’s Fortnite”:

You’ll notice Fortnite assigns different star values to different items in the battle pass. Thus, while the requirement to level up stays the same, the value of each of the rewards in the battle pass is detached from the direct progression curve. This allows us to approximate the value of each item in the battle pass based on the price in stars.

Using some research, math, and logic, we come up with this:

The value of 1 V-Buck is $0.00799

1 level awards 5 stars.

1 level costs 150 V-Bucks

5 stars must cost 150 V-Bucks

150 V-bucks costs $1.20 (It’s actually $1.1985 but I’m going to round to make life cleaner)

5 Stars must cost $1.20

1 Star must cost $0.24

Using these numbers, we can estimate the value of each of the items in the battle pass:

1 Star Item = Valued at $0.24

2 Star Item = Valued at $0.48

3 Star Item = Valued at $0.72

4 Star Item = Valued at $0.96

5 Star Item = Valued at $1.20

6 Star Item = Valued at $1.44

7 Star Item = Valued at $1.68

8 Star Item = Valued at $1.92

9 Star Item = Valued at $2.16

10 Star Item = Valued at $2.40

20 Star Item = Valued at $4.80

If you’re sharp, you’ll notice that if the user purchases 100 V-Bucks through the battle pass using their stars, it costs 5 stars despite the inverse operation requiring 150 V-Bucks to obtain 5 stars. 100 V-Bucks are roughly valued at $0.80, whereas the player is putting in $1.20 worth of resources. That means they’re losing $0.40 in every transaction. It’s likely the developers did this to offset the cost of the bigger rewards, thus making the star requirement for the big rewards less. In this way, the user that finishes the battle pass will get the full value, whereas the one which doesn’t will get a reduced value. It also reinforces that my numbers are estimates and not perfect. When you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you know that developers sometimes make small tweaks like this to make for a better experience overall while keeping the economy balanced.

We’ve done a lot of talking about the value of an item from a designer’s perspective. Funny thing about that, those are the designer’s own estimates of what a player would value the item at. This is where it gets a little tricky. There is how much the designer believes an item is worth to the players, and how much a player believes an item or pass is worth. The player’s value of an item can stem from any number of sources, a few examples being it looks really cool, it helps them to perform better in PvP, or even it just was the first item their older brother had trouble getting. It’s going to be unique to each individual, but a good starting point is to make sure most of your bases are covered by thinking about Bartle’s Player Types. By thinking about how an item will be valued by different types of players, you’ll be able to more accurately estimate it’s value. A weapon great in PvP will appeal to one type of player, but is unlikely to be a must have for another. Whereas hard currency will appeal to almost everyone. But we’re getting a little off topic, back to math!

By comparing the values of the items within the battle pass with the value to buy your way through the battle pass, we can keep our battle passes balanced and from blowing out the economy. If the battle pass progression rewards are valued by the designer at a much higher value than the value the player has placed on the items within the pass, players won't complete the pass. It becomes too expensive or too much work to unlock the items, thus losing the studio money and churning players. If the items in the pass are valued lower by the designer than the player, then players will just buy their way through to the item or quickly grind for it. This loses the studio money and engagement as the players were willing to spend money or work in only a quick burst to get the item, and thus ran out of content quickly, got bored, and churned. So it’s really important to make sure the values are as balanced as possible. Mind you, you’re not going to get it perfect the first time you design a battle pass. Games like Fortnite and CoD have multiple seasons of player data that they can use to reinforce their theories on how much a player values an item. This will allow them to balance better than a game that is introducing a battle pass for the first time. Just do your best, collect data, and tweak the next season to be more balanced using what you’ve learned about your player base.

That’s it for this time, not too long in length but a little heavy in the math department. I hope you enjoyed this post, and if there is demand for it, I’ll continue the series next time talking about estimating the difficulty to progress through a pass, an even more math intensive post.

I’ll see you next time.

Scott

#Battle Pass #Destiny #Monetization #Balancing

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Let's Talk Battle Passes

Hey everyone! Today we’re going to start talking about battle passes! Almost every successful live game has one, and we’re going to break down the most common types of battle passes seen today. We’ll discuss how they work, and the pros and cons in each. In this series, we’ll specifically take a look at the battle passes found in Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Halo Infinite, and Destiny 2. After reading this post, you’ll be equipped with the logic and knowledge to design your own!

First Layer - Premium Track Battle Pass

In a battle pass, players do actions in-game, earn XP for those actions, and progress along the track. Each level up earns them some rewards. The rewards typically consist of timed XP boosts, skins, resources, exotic items, and so on. Really, anything that can be awarded in the game can be awarded through the battle pass.

Fast Tracking Progress - Battle Pass Missions

To further reinforce the loop within the player’s session, daily missions are added that contribute to the battle pass. Players are given a series of missions every day, which they can complete for additional progress along their battle pass. This is built on top of the XP they would be receiving for playing the game. This helps to not only create a variety of objects every day for players, but it typically gives them a little bump in their battle pass progress. When balanced correctly, this guarantees that they advance at least one battle pass level per day if the user completes all the missions.

Second Layer - Free Battle Pass Track

To try to get more players involved in the battle passes, most games have added a free track. As premium battle passes require players to spend money to participate in them, the free track encourages non-spending users to engage with the battle pass loop as well. Players would make progress along the battle pass and get only free rewards. This is most easily seen in Destiny 2’s battle pass:

As you can see, there is a top track and a bottom track. The top track is the free battle pass track for users who are not spending money. The bottom track is the paid battle pass track. This way, every time a non-paying user goes to collect a reward, they are forced to look at the rewards they could be receiving if they were to spend money. This entices non-paying users to buy the premium pass rather than miss out on all the things they have ‘unlocked’.

A newer version of this same style can be seen in Halo Infinite.The newer version combines both tracks into one track and just labels the free items. 

An even newer iteration has been seen in Call of Duty: Warzone. In their version, they’ve incorporated “Clan Tier” rewards. These rewards can only be claimed if you are in a clan. This is a clever idea in concept because it forces users to join clans. If they join a clan, they’re more likely to be retained and continue playing the game.

And then… there’s Fortnite.

Fortnite marches to the beat of its own drum and embraces some interesting and very different ideas. Instead of using a direct track, Fortnite uses a page system. What I mean by this is there are ten pages of rewards in the main battle pass. Each page has a requirement to unlock it. Either the player needs to reach a specific level, or they need to unlock a specific number of rewards. They unlock rewards by spending various amounts of stars. Every time they level up, they receive five stars. They level up by gaining XP for completing games and punch cards (Daily Missions). Like the previous iterations of battle passes, there is a free track for the users, which in this case is the leftmost side of the rewards. Call of Duty: Warzone, or CoD, does have a slight leg up on Fortnite with the addition of Clan Tier rewards, but I’m sure we’ll see that become more common in the future.

The Fortnite battle pass is particularly interesting because it gives the players some choice. While the choices erode over time due to the requirements to unlock the next pages requiring a higher percentage of available items unlocked, at an early stage players can decide which reward to unlock based on what they feel is most valuable to them. So if there is a bundle they want to buy from the store but they’re a hundred V-Bucks away, they can choose to unlock the hundred V-Bucks on this page instead of the other rewards. 

On later pages we start to see ‘Prerequisites’ and ‘Base Item’ requirements:

Prerequisites mean the player needs to unlock everything else on the page first before they can unlock this item. Requiring the base item means the player needs to unlock the generic version of this skin before they can unlock this one. Frequently, the skin they need is on a different page. Fortnite uses these two concepts to create chain reward requirements for some of the more interesting items. For example, if a player wants to unlock the J.B. Chimpanski (Nebula Rose Skin), they’ll need to unlock everything else on this page first, as well as the J.B. Chimpanski generic skin. You’ll notice though on this page there is another skin. This skin likely requires a generic version to be unlocked as well. Both of the generic skins are on different pages and have the Prerequisite requirement. This means players who have not completed those pages first will need to go back and collect all the items from those pages to unlock the generic skins so they can unlock the new skins. I like this because it’s subtle and allows users to create their own goals for chasing rewards. The player becomes a little more invested in trying to unlock specific items rather than just chugging along a straight track.

Thoughts so far?

First off, it gives me a chuckle that every one of these styles, outside of the addition of the Clan Tier, have been a part of Fortnite in the past. So you can probably figure out which season of Fortnite the developers played the most of based on what battle pass they used in their game.

Jokes aside, personally I like the Destiny 2 or Fortnite’s version since it’s clearer to the player at a quick glance as to which rewards they are receiving and which they are missing out on. The blank spaces in the Destiny 2 free track clearly show the user is not receiving this reward, but could be receiving the paid reward if they just purchase the battle pass. They also see more rewards on screen that they are missing out on rather than Halo’s battle pass. In Fortnite, you clearly can see the rewards you’re missing out on next to the free track as well, plus it creates some early choice for paying users. Additionally, users can create their own goals and chase the specific items they want, further motivating them. The Halo and CoD passes are cleaner in the sense that the second track isn’t taking up precious UI space. There is more space on the top of the screen to really show off the effect or item the player has highlighted. But it is slightly harder to read as there is an item in every slot and players need to look for the “Free” tag on the item to know which ones they are eligible for. I imagine this would cause a little bit of confusion initially as to why the users are not receiving the reward because it’s slightly less clear. Though, I do love CoD’s idea of encouraging joining clans via the battle pass.

The Good vs the Bad:

The strongest benefits to the track style is that there are a ton of rewards. Well over a hundred rewards in a track means the player earns something with every level completed, leading them to feel happy about their progression. The free track is also fantastic at getting non-spending users to look at the battle pass and promote spending on the battle pass as they don’t want to miss out on the cool things they can see. It’s not too difficult for designers to balance it and put this together. Because of the linear nature of the rewards, designers always know B reward will be received before C reward. Or that C reward will be received for X time of engagement. Like I mentioned before, CoD’s Clan Tier idea encourages players to join clans, thus promoting retention within their game as they form bonds with other players. Fortnite specifically gives players some semblance of user choice as to when they want their rewards. It also promotes players creating their own goals and chasing specific items, rather than just plugging along a track.

There are a few drawbacks though, which are more easily seen when compared to something like Fortnite’s battle pass. In the track based battle pass, there are no options as to when a user wants to unlock a specific item. This removes user choice and control. While this can be considered a good thing, as it streamlines the process, it’s less exciting than getting to specifically choose the reward that they want, when they want it. Additionally, the “Clan Tier” in CoD isn’t explained well. A quick google search reveals a frustrated player base with more questions than answers regarding it. It seems there are a slew of players who are progressing along the pass, but not unlocking the item and thus getting frustrated with the game. On the flip side, Fortnite’s page-based battle pass doesn’t focus players’ goals as well as the straight track does. This can lead to some players suffering from analysis paralysis and not engaging because it’s just too much information to process. There’s also the issue that  Fortnite players won't be able to unlock rewards every single level up. Occasionally, players will need to grind a second level to gain enough stars, their version of XP for their battle pass, to unlock the reward needed to progress to the next page. This is not a great feeling, but, for players who go through the grind, the items are more valuable to them because they put in extra effort to get them.

Ultimately, you just need to be aware of the pros and cons of each and determine which is best for your game.

That’s it for this time. If there is some demand for it, I’ll break down the value of each of the passes and do a post on how designers likely select and value the rewards, what the true value of the battle passes are, and add some of my insight. Hope everyone is having an excellent year so far, and I’ll see you next time.

Scott

#Battle Pass #Halo #Fortnite #Call of Duty #Progression #Economy

[scottsdesignblog]

The Fall of Gacha Boxes and the Rise of the Gacha Store

If you’ve been paying attention to the gaming world, you’ll have noticed a certain animosity towards gacha boxes. This has gotten to the point where certain countries are beginning to outright ban them. The video game industry, being part of the tech industry and moving faster than Quicksilver, has begun to adapt. I made a post about some of the alternatives not too long ago, but, in my haste to finish the post and get it out, I completely forgot to mention one:

Marvel Strike Force’s rotating store!

For the uninitiated, Strike Force is a Marvel mobile app in which the player collects and levels up Marvel characters. They then take them into turn-based battles to complete the story and, in turn, unlock or power up more characters.

Ah ha! Are you sure? What is a gacha box but a box in which you randomly get rewards from when you purchase, or ‘pull’, the box?

Let’s take a closer look at this store.

In the store, we have items for sale for hard currency and various soft currencies. The store’s contents rotate every twenty-four hours. But wait, what’s this?

Hmmm, it would seem you can force the store to reset its contents with randomly rolled items via spending hard currency. Thus, by spending real money, you get the opportunity to spend more on a new selection of items. So, let’s say I know there are probably any number of items which could populate in the store. I just keep using the refresh button until the item I want appears in the store. And, because it shows you the items and you’re not getting anything directly from resetting the store, it circumvents all the gacha laws. It’s brilliant.

This is what my store initially looks like.

After one reset, we can see a different set of character shards are available.

After the second reset, we can see the refresh price has increased and another set of characters.

After the third reset, we have the same refresh price and a new set of characters.

After the fourth reset, the price would increase again and there would be yet another set of characters.

A couple weeks ago, during the Shang-Chi event, I reset three times. In all three instances, Shang-Chi appeared in a ten shard set. This suggests that my above example is of a general day in the game. However, during events, the tables of which characters may appear could be slightly skewed in favor of specific characters.

What makes this particularly interesting is that it has the possibility to increase revenue even further than typical gachas with less volatility.

Let’s look at an example:

Terminology note: Before digging in I want to explain what a carrot character is. In gacha or random reward sets, there is always a carrot. This is the item players really want. It can be a specific character or item. Typically, it’s the most valuable item in the gacha box which drives players to try over and over again to win one.

Assume the carrot character in the first slot has a high chance to stay the same. The player buys ten shards, then they reset the contents of the store hoping that a carrot character will appear. The carrot character reappears in the first slot but the other two are not particularly exciting characters. The player then buys ten more shards in hopes of trying again. On top of all this, the price goes up with every other reset, meaning the player will have to spend more to roll again if the character they want does not appear. This acts as a deterrent to users who normally might just buy their way through and are not whales, a term for users willing to spend large amounts of money through microtransactions, but still entices them to spend some money on the cheaper resets. Whales can buy their way through should their desired character not appear for many attempts, but the price will balloon quickly. Before they know it, each reset will cost $40 on top of the $10 they are spending for ten shards.

Let’s do some light math:

Mid tier characters cost 45 shards.

First buy $10 for 10 shards

Reset store $5

Second character shard buy $10 for 10 shards

Reset store $5

Third character shard buy $10 for 10 shards

Reset store $10

Fourth character shard buy $10 for 10 shards

Reset store $10

Fifth character shard buy $10 for 10 shards

That’s $80 for the chance to unlock the carrot character already. God help you if you want to level him up before he disappears tomorrow, or if the carrot character is a rare one that unlocks at a hundred shards. 

On top of that, savvy players don't want to “waste” the other shards that are appearing. They’ll want to maximize each reset. What does that result in? They buy everything of value. Now you’re selling three characters and exponentially increasing your revenue. And that’s not even taking into account all the non-character shard items in the store.

So, let’s assume there are two sets of five shards for random mid tier characters alongside the carrot character which appears. 

Purchase round 1: $10 additional ($5 for each lower tier character)

Purchase round 2: $10 additional ($5 for each lower tier character)

Purchase round 3: $10 additional ($5 for each lower tier character)

Purchase round 4: $10 additional ($5 for each lower tier character)

Purchase round 5: $10 additional ($5 for each lower tier character)

That’s an additional $50 for the lower tier characters, with no guarantee these character shards will unlock a character as they are more likely to be different upon refreshes. Thus the player won’t gain enough in one sitting to unlock the additional non-carrot characters. Players who do not buy all the characters when they have the chance will be kicking themselves when the next event rolls around and these lower tier characters are required to unlock better characters.

V Multi-Character Offers

$130 for 100 character shards. Let’s compare this to the offers in Strike Force. Team offers typically run from $15 to $25 and award 400 to 900 shards. This will unlock or promote four to five characters. So, for four characters, you’re looking at a 520% to 866% increase in revenue from selling them in group offers. 

500 Shards, 100K of soft currency for $25

400 Shards for $20

500 Shards and 100k Soft Currency for $25

V Single Character Offers

Single character offers come in typically at $30 for 50 shards and a bunch of resources. This is much cheaper than the straight $80 to unlock the same amount of carrot character shards without awarding any other resources. That is a 266% increase in spend over the single offers. Even though it seems like the user is spending less on the rotating store characters because it is in smaller increments, it ends up being considerably more than the single character offers.

V Gacha/Grab Bags

Let’s look at the Human Weapon Orb. Its carrot is the character Shang-Chi. After doing some math, we determine that on average 9.39 shards will be given out with each pull. Each pull costs 675 Hard Currency, and the player will need to do, on average, five pulls to unlock Shang-Chi. This comes out to about $45 to unlock the character. An argument could be made that the player will unlock 46.95 shards with only 5 pulls, and so they are getting slightly less value. This is true, but, as far as the value to the player goes, the character is still unlocked. The 3.05 additional shards do not translate to additional power or content in the game and are thus not worth worrying about in our current analysis. Additionally, 56.34 shards are still valued at less ($54) than rotating store value of $80 for the same result.

Note: even the most unlucky player will unlock the character with eight pulls after spending $72 which is STILL a better deal than the store.

Terminology note: Gacha typically awards X amount of a specific item per pull. Grab bags will have multiple pools of items and will award an item from each pool in each pull. For example the Human Weapon Orb contains 3 pools:

A Shang-Chi shard pool which awards at least 3 Shang-Chi Shards, and up to 180 shards for the jackpot.

Two Shang-Chi gear/ability pools, which award a random piece of gear or level up currency each for Shang-Chi.

So a user would be guaranteed to receive some Shang-Chi shards and two pieces of gear or two piles of useful currency.

With the Human Weapon Orb, the player is guaranteed a drop of the carrot character shards with each pull. While this doesn’t have the same “feels bad” moment of gacha, which has no guaranteed result, no one buys the Human Weapon Orb thinking they will get only three shards, despite there being a 50% chance of it. When people gamble, they are thinking about the best case scenario, the jackpot that catches their eye. “I could be the one to win that car.” After so long of not getting it, and getting the lesser reward, it can become a “feels bad” moment. Targeting a low amount of pulls required to unlock the character will help to mitigate this. Unfortunately, this also forces the revenue down to hit that good feeling of unlocking the character, thus making the gacha and grab bags receive less revenue than the rotating store.

Now, an argument could be made that a specific gacha box or grab bag can be balanced so a character comes out after a user has spent more money than the rotating store. However, with the forced rotation of the store, you’re going to get more users engaging in the system and buying additional shards. Instead of exclusively relying on whales to raise your ARPPU/ARPDAU, as no one else feels they can spend enough to reliably unlock the characters, it’s safer to engage more users more frequently. There’s also no “feels bad” moment this way, and, while I know that can be valuable in encouraging spending in some users, I’d argue it alienates and turns off more players than it brings in as it creates insane volatility with users not getting what they want.

If this is very similar to a gacha box then why doesn’t it take any heat?

It’s because, if I’m a free player who doesn’t do the resetting of the store, I can still buy the shards for a character I want regularly with hard currency. This guarantees me the thing I want without spending, whereas gacha boxes have that “feels bad” moment of trying for something and not getting it. You need to remember, it’s never the whales who have issues with gacha boxes. They don’t care, they have the money to pull as many as they want. It’s everyone else, and you need to really consider the non-whale experience regarding systems that are similar to gacha boxes.

So let’s wrap up with some Strike Force Data

For the rotating store, users pay at least $80 for the single character unlock.

For the gacha, users pay roughly $45 for the single character unlock.

For the offers, users pay $30 for the character unlock. 

For the multi character offers, users pay $20-$25 for multiple character unlocks.

Note: A character in any of these phases is never in the other phases at the same time. Shang-Chi was in the rotating store a couple weeks ago, and is now in the gacha. I imagine that after he’s no longer profitable in the gacha he’ll become a single character offer.

That’s it for me for now. I hope you enjoyed this post and can apply some of this info to your game to increase revenue while making your users happy. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on my blog/portfolio at https://ScottFineGameDesign.com or on social media like LinkedIn.

Until next time!

Scott

#Monetization #Game Design

[scottsdesignblog]

Design Analysis- POW!

Recently, I was digging through some of my old stuff and found a notebook of designs I created years ago when I had just started designing games. I thought it’d be fun to look at them now and critique them. Occasionally, I’ll post one of my very old designs and will explore what went well.. and what didn’t.

The Old Design:

Disclaimer: this used to be on paper with faded pencil. I’ve made a nicer, actually legible version to post here.

Intention:

Looking at this design, I think my intention was to capitalize on the excitement players feel in match 3s when they make a bunch of matches at once. A flow would look like this:

Done Well:

This does give the player that rush of excitement. The tension of the timer ticking down encourages the player to create as many matches as they can as fast as they can, and to even plan before hitting the POW! button as to max out their point multiplier. They feel that they have some control, and the game makes them feel smart as they almost clear the board with their prepared matches. It almost feels like completing a jigsaw puzzle within a time limit.

Not So Well:

Back then I failed to understand the importance of combos and chains, only focusing on one aspect of match-threes. Chains were entirely missing from this design, referring to the chance that randomly generated shapes that would 'fall' onto the board and create more matches. In the case of combos, the number that could be created at one time were limited. In Candy Crush, the player can chain together insane amounts of matches to make for quite a tasty experience.

Power ups are also harder to implement, especially those normally associated with match-threes such as stopping time or removing a chunk of tiles due to the importance of the POW! button.

For example: Stop time whenever they feel like it would allow the player more time to make matches but the game should focus on making matches and POW!ing quickly. We don’t want to slow down the cycle of rewards. We want to keep the pressure on the player so giving them this level of control is a bit counter to what we want. Maybe something with less control like the fever timer in Tsum Tsum might work. In Tsum Tsum a fever activates once a point threshold has been reached. It stops the timer for a few seconds and all matches made during that time are worth additional points.

Assumptions And Missing Info:

It looks like (referring to the old design mock up, due to the side note next to the bar) that the player will get a huge bonus if they POW! A second time. This is implying that it will be difficult to get it a second time. If they do, it will be exciting, but I think there is too much focus on a calmer play of swapping things around rather than quick repeated rewards.

Movement isn’t explicitly listed out either. Do the tiles swap like Candy Crush? Or do they move around freely like Puzzles and Dragons? This question needs to be answered if the game is going to be enjoyable. They each serve a different kind of challenge.

How to fix it:

So how do we fix this without dramatically changing the layout of the game? We need to make sure a few things are covered so the game will be enjoyable for more than ten seconds.

·       Chains

·       Continual play

·       Power Ups

·       Movement

Chains and Continual Play:

We need to encourage the player to make multiple POW!s within a short amount of time to create chains. Since we don’t have the ability to have chains in the traditional match-3 style, we’ll have to go with a Tsum Tsum approach. Additional tiles fall and if they happen to line up well the player can activate the POW! a second time quickly to continue the chain. Of course, a short chain timer will be necessary, thus encouraging the player to POW! Frequently without creating the perfect board layout.

For those unfamiliar with Tsum-Tsum: Tsum-Tsum is like a match-3 where players are matching groups of similar characters together quickly. Although if they are in groups of more than three they do not pop and give the player points until the player selects them. Thus, traditional match-3 chains are not present in Tsum-Tsum either.

Power Ups:

The traditional power ups for match-3s could work. But I think locking them into the game would be more useful. For example: If the player matches twelve tiles together the tiles could combine into a larger tile which takes up four spaces but is worth considerably more points when matched with other tiles. This will keep the focus on the gameplay and the player will only have to stop or slow down at all to hit the POW! button and get rewarded.

I know some people may argue that a traditional bomb style power up might be a good choice here instead of the growing tile. I’d argue against this because assuming the bomb explodes when the POW! is activated, it could ruin some of their planned chains or combos.

Movement:

It should move like Puzzle and Dragons. Having the free roaming movement of P&D will allow the player to create more matches (much like P&D does) at once, resulting in more rewards.

If I Designed This Now (Top Three Tweaks):

·       I’d probably do away with the POW! Button entirely and instead allow a double tap anywhere on the screen to let the player activate the POW! action.

·       Move the timer bar to the top of the screen. Allowing the play field to be near the bottom and closer to a player’s hand. When this game was designed phones were MUCH smaller.

·       I'd dedicate a spot on the screen to display combos so players could see how well they are doing without covering up the gameplay.

A potentially unique way to accent the combos might be to have the tiles become swollen. Increasing in size within their space along with the rising combos.

Starting with these tweaks, this game might shape up to something fun. What tweaks would you make to improve the design?

Until Next time,

Scott

#POW! #Match-3 #Tsum Tsum #Candy Crush #Old Design

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Finding the Fun: Archero Part 3 - Monetization

Welcome to part three of my look into Archero! This time we’ll focus on the monetization aspect of the game and how it doesn’t intrude on the fun. If this is your first foray into this series, I recommend starting at part one which focuses on the gameplay, which you can check out HERE. Let’s dive in!

Where money comes from

In Archero there is soft currency called gold and hard (premium) currency referred to as gems.

Gems are received via:

Purchasing them with real life currency directly

Through purchasing bundles

Through stage rewards (completing five or ten new stages)

The wheel of fortune minigame, which sometimes gives them a chance to receive gems for watching an ad

Increasing the player’s adventure level (this seems only good for receiving gems thus I didn’t include it in progression)

Gold is received via:

Purchasing them using gems

Clearing rooms of enemies

The wheel of fortune minigame at the beginning of a run and after bosses

Through purchasing bundles

Gold is primarily used for standard progression and upgrades. Gems are used to speed up progression. As we’ve already covered everything gold can buy in the previous post, we’ll be focusing on gems this time around.

Energy

Players have standard max of twenty energy. Attempting a run costs five energy. It takes twelve minutes to recharge one energy. When a player completes five new stages, they are given an additional five energy. They can also buy twenty energy for one hundred gems ($1.25) or watch an ad to recharge five energy up to four times a day.

You can imagine how this plays out in the beginning of the game. Players have over twenty energy easily and can play nonstop for quite a while. By the time the player will have to wait for energy to recharge, they’re well into the game and have begun investing themselves in it. They’re familiar with all the aspects of the game and are enjoying themselves so they don’t want to stop. This motivates them to watch the ads, after which if they’re still enjoying themselves it becomes easy to justify spending one hundred gems on another twenty energy.

Death

The first time a player dies in a run they are offered a chance to revive. This costs 30 gems and the player only has five seconds to decide.

This mechanic adds to the fun because it allows the players one more shot if they have an excellent set of abilities. Additionally, because they only have five seconds to decide, it keeps the game moving and keeps them in a heightened state. They don’t fall out of the flow of the game. In fact, wanting to stay in the game could lead to them impulsively spending money when they normally would not.

This mechanic works in this instance because of the amount of time and work it takes for the player to get through the chapter in one run. Players are more likely to want to throw money at this if they’re near the completion of a run.

Mysterious Vendor

The mysterious vendor appears from time to time after the completion of a stage. His inventory is always different scrolls. The player can purchase these scrolls for gems.

Anyone else getting a RE4 vibe? “What’re ya buyin?”

This falls under the convenience category of monetization. He’s targeted at late game players because he sells scrolls in bulk for a lot of gems. Late game players need a ton of scrolls for improving high level equipment. He’s there so if the player is tired of grinding for a scroll, which he happens to have in stock, they can speed up the progression and the grind by paying him. He’s particularly well thought out because players don’t “need” to purchase his wares but getting what the player wants that quickly is awfully tempting. And if they don’t buy it at that moment, they have no idea when he’ll return and what his stock will be.

Gacha Boxes

There are two kinds of gacha boxes: a golden chest (60 gems or about $0.75) and an obsidian chest (300 gems or about $3.75). Golden chests can drop any piece of equipment at common or great rarity. The Obsidian chest can drop any piece of equipment at great, rare, or epic rarity.

These are the best ways to get equipment. Because the player is given gems for defeating every five new stages and the chance at receiving gems for watching adds during normal playthroughs, it fits nicely into the loop of the game. Fight > get some gems (rewards)> save up enough and buy a box (improve)> repeat. A player only must purchase boxes with real world money when they want to speed up their progression. They monetize impatience.

Something I don’t want to discount is the low number of items within the boxes and that the boxes go up to maybe halfway to max rarity. Because the fusing system requires multiples of higher-level items at equal rarity, players will have to get even more items from the boxes, resulting in more boxes needed to be purchased to progress. If there were a huge number of items, I think the fusing system wouldn’t work and it’d be too tedious. But there are only four weapons, four armors, four rings, and four spirits, that’s it. Sixteen items are a tiny amount for a gacha game and yet it works so well because it fits with the progression systems requiring multiples.

Bundles

Every chapter has an accompanying bundle. They usually come with some gems and a mix of something useful to the player in that part of the game. For example, the beginner pack comes with three hundred gems, ten thousand gold, and five free revives. The players can’t buy higher chapter packs until they purchase the previous chapter ones.

The Chapter 2’s Pack is the available bundle for me since I bought the first one.

That last part is what’s most important because it helps condition the player to spending money on the game in progressively larger values. By holding the more expensive bundles in hiding from the player until they purchase the previous ones, they don’t scare off potential sales with the expensive prices. Then when they do appear, they feel more special. The hardest thing for a free to play game is to get that first purchase. If they can convince the player to purchase the first bundle at $1.99, it makes it so much easier to convince them to buy the second at $6.99 and the rest at $10 each. And if the player buys them with each chapter it becomes a habit, at which point they can kiss their wallet goodbye.

Conclusion

By looking at all the ways Archero monetizes, it’s evident it really excels by tempting the player to spend their real money while never demanding it. It’s like they’re a devil on the player’s shoulder, “Don’t you just want to play a little bit longer?”, “Don’t you want to improve just a little bit faster?”, or even “Just watch this ad and you’ll get something cool!” They are constantly tempting the player, but never forcing them to spend money or watch an ad. It’s always the player’s choice. Archero is able to focus on gameplay because of this, ultimately resulting in increased user engagement, retention, and a happier community. 

If you’ve come along with me on this journey through the pieces that make up Archero, I thank you. It has taken me a bit of time to put this together and even longer to research it. I hope I got you thinking about how the different pieces of this game are put together and why they make this full package an enjoyable experience.

Until next time,

Scott

#Game Design #Mobile game #Archero

[scottsdesignblog]

Finding the Fun: Archero Part 2 – Progression

Welcome to part two of my look into Archero. This time we’ll focus on the long-term progression and how that contributes to the fun. If this is your first foray into this series, I recommend starting at part one, which you can check out HERE. Let’s dive in!

Chapters

Chapters are sets of stages. The player must complete every stage in one run in order to complete the chapter and progress to the next one. Each chapter introduces new more difficult enemies with slight variations to the movement and attack patterns, and additional abilities which can be selected.

This infusion of content helps to keep the game feeling fresh. The developers drip feed the players new content to reinforce new challenges in each chapter. Once the player has mastered those challenges, items, and abilities, they move on to the next chapter.

Gaining Gold

Players gain gold by killing enemies and doing spins in the wheel of fortune style minigame at the beginning of each run. As previously mentioned, the wheel of fortune style spinner increases in rewards based on which chapter the player is in. This is a useful catch up mechanic if the player is behind in leveling up their talents or wants to grind their level. Even if the first encounter is too difficult for them, they are guaranteed some progression just for trying.

The gold dropped from enemies is only received once the room is clear. This increases the risk in tougher chapters. If a player is barely surviving and there is gold everywhere but still plenty of enemies left it increases the tension making for a more stressful situation and enjoyable victory.

So why does gold matter? Let’s get into it in the next section.

Talents Vs Abilities

Last time we discussed abilities, which are short term power ups that last until the player dies or completes a chapter. Talents are permanent stat upgrades. The player spends gold and receives a random talent upgrade. These are things like increasing max HP, general damage, attack speed, or so on.

This works great in the sense that every player’s character is different. Every player’s experience is a little bit different as well. But, as with all things completely random, it falls into the same pothole. What is the most frustrating thing about RNG? Getting the same useless item repeatedly. And while I would argue that none of these are particularly useless, some are clearly better than others. I think this would be fine in a casual game like a clicker or business management game. In tougher chapters though the difficulty skews away from casual at which point having some control over the character’s talent build would go a long way. When I make a mistake because I built my character wrong, that’s on me, and that’s not too frustrating because I can try to do something different. When it relies on RNG and there’s nothing I can do outside restarting my progress or grinding out of necessity rather than desire, it gets frustrating and pushes players away.

Equipment + Scrolls

Equipment is like a permanent upgrade, but one the player has more control over. They receive equipment sometimes in game, more often from gacha boxes (a.k.a. loot crates). The player gets one gacha box for free,or when watching an ad, once a day and a better one once a week. These can also be purchased for gems, the premium virtual currency that can be bought with real money, at any time.

There are four types of equipment: weapons, armor, rings, and spirits. The higher the rarity, the higher the max level it can be upgraded to and the higher stats it will have. The player can equip one weapon, one armor, two rings, and two spirits at a time for a total of six pieces of equipment.

All equipment increases in level by the player leveling them up using their designated scrolls and gold. For example, a weapon will require X weapon scrolls and X gold. Scrolls are received commonly through playing the game.

As I mentioned before, there are various rarities for each of the weapons (common, great, rare, epic, perfect epic, and legendary). Though rarities in this sense would be closer to ascending an item to a higher form. All common items could one day become legendary items. This is achieved through fusing; the player can fuse three of the same items with the same rarity to create a higher rarity version of the original item.

Okay, that was a lot, but here’s what’s so brilliant about it. All that information is displayed in an easy to understand format across maybe two or three screens.

The player can discern all this information (except for gacha boxes and where scrolls come from) from spending maybe thirty seconds inside this menu. The scroll locations players will learn from seeing them drop while playing the game. The gacha box information they learn from the gacha screen when they receive a notification for a free box. No hand holding tutorial needed, just playing on their curiosity. This is some excellent UI and UX design. It’s easy to understand, it’s quick, and it doesn’t get in the way of players getting back to the game.

How does this further increase the fun?

How does all this fit together? It fits well into the games loop of fight > get rewards > improve.

This loop resets itself every new chapter. When the player comes into a new chapter, they’re usually too weak to easily progress. They need to increase their talents and equipment levels to be able to better face the challenges of the chapter. While they are playing the game and getting the gold, items, and scrolls to improve themselves, they are practicing against enemies and learning the new attack patterns. Thus they are not only improving their stats but their skills at the same time. Upon completing the final boss and defeating the chapter, the whole cycle starts all over again in a new chapter. It’s fun in the long run just because of that simple loop executed so well.

The enjoyable moment to moment gameplay and a strong repeatable loop make for a very enjoyable experience for a long period of time. But how does this app make money? We’ve talked a bit about it in these last two posts and we’ll finish the series out answering that question next time.

See you then,

Scott

#Game Design #Archero #Mobile Design #Mobile Game

[scottsdesignblog]

Mid Year Update

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give a brief update on the whirlwind that is my life in the video games industry. Back in March I started working for Level-5 IA and got engaged! Between planning the wedding, work and trying to further sharpen my C# knowledge, I haven't had as much time to blog or do as much research as I would have liked. Though I plan on getting back into blogging regularly, it will be some time until I'm able to get around to it again. Until then I found another Game Design blog which I think is excellent, Stanislav 'Farlander' Costiuc. He goes really in depth into design concepts and does videos which are easy to follow. Check him out!

Aside from that I'm preparing for E3. I'll be going all three days this year! So if you're going or just in the area feel free to reach out and we can grab a bite or get coffee.

Oh! And don't forget to check back here as well from time to time! I'll be back soon enough.

I'll see you guys next time,

Scott

#Blog #update

[scottsdesignblog]

2016 Scott Fine game Design Year in Review

Whoa! Time does fly! It’s already been a few years since I started this blog. Just like last year, I’m doing a 2016 year in review! Today I’d like to take a look back at some of my favorite post from the last year.

I’d like to highlight three articles which I believe are my best work of the year. Additionally, I’d like to give an honorable mention to one of the most exciting moments of my year.

1.       Pokemon GO! Series

Okay, I know I’m cheating right out of the gate but technically I think these should be highlighted as a group. In this four part series, we start by understanding the basic functionality and mechanics of Pokemon Go. In part two, we discuss gym battles and the problems plaguing them. Part 3 is one of my most popular posts of the year, it deals with how Pokemon are distributed and located around the planet. We finish up discussing the economy of Pokemon go and how it affects the players.

Part 1 - Basic Pokemon GO

Part 2 - Pokemon Go: Gym Battles!

Part 3 - Where's that Pokemon?

Part 4 - Pokemon Go: Economy

2.       Game Design Analysis – Disney Magic Kingdoms

This analysis breaks down the game Disney Magic Kingdoms. We discuss everything from the basic mechanics and to quest functionality to the economy and rewards. This is one of the most popular pieces on the site today.

Disney Magic Kingdoms - Design Analysis

3.       The Dark Zone Versus the Prisoner’s Dilemma

This piece discusses the Division, more specifically the dark zone and how it relates to the Prisoner’s Dilemma. This is the piece I’ve had more comments and heat over than any other piece I’ve written.

The Dark Zone Versus the Prisoner's Dilemma

Honorable mention:

Boss Battle Gamecast Guest – Ep. 48

This was an exciting opportunity for me! I had the honor of being a guest on the Boss Battle Gamescast. We discussed the industry, what I’m up to now and so much more. Check it out when you get some time!

If you don't have time to stream it now, feel free to download it for future listening at the Raptor cow website HERE

With that said I’d like to thank you. Your comments have helped me to improve these posts. I’d like to give an extra big thank you to everyone who stuck around since 2015.  I know I haven’t been the most active over the course of the last few months. I appreciate your patience and thank you for sticking around. I’ll be doing more posts in the New Year and I should have some big news in the coming months. I hope you had an excellent 2015 and that 2016 will be even better.

I’ll see you guys next time,

Scott

P.S. If you're new (Welcome!) and wanted to check out 2015's year in review it can be found HERE

#Game Design #Year in Review #Boss Battle Gamecast #Silent Hill #Pyramid Head #The Dark Zone #The Division #Disney #Magic Kingdoms #Design Analysis #Pokemon #Pokemon GO #2016

[scottsdesignblog]

Boss Battle Gamecast Guest - Ep. 48

Hey everyone, 

This week I had the honor of being a guest on the Boss Battle Gamecast. We talk about my time in the industry, what i'm up to now, and more! Check it out here!

#Mobile Games #App Store #Unreal 4 #Blog #Diamond Raven Games #Android #Destiny #Mobile Game #NFL RUSH #Heroes&Rivals

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Alak-Hul the Darkblade - Design Analysis

This week we're trying something new! We're going to talk about Alak-Hul the Darkblade through video format! Please enjoy!

Did you enjoy this change of pace? Would you like to see more design analysis with video? Or should I go back to the text format? Please let me know!

I'll see you guys next week,

Scott

#Game Design #Destiny #Game Design Analysis

[scottsdesignblog]

Easy Week

Hi everyone!

We’re taking it easy this week, as I wanted to try something new after that marathon of Pokémon Go posts. As a result, I’m taking the week off to learn a little bit about video editing to see what I can pull together in place of a blog post. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll have a new post up next week anyways. I’ll just break down it into my usual analysis style post instead.

To prepare for next week, I’d love to hear your thoughts on excellent and memorable boss designs. I’ll be looking into Destiny’s Darkblade boss fight, and I want to compare it to other strike bosses within Destiny.

I’ll see you next week,

Scott

#Blog #Game Design Questions

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Pokémon Go: Economy

This week, we’re going to finish our look into Pokémon Go. Today, we’ll be discussing the flow of the economy and leveling up. We will talk about how these two work and how they affect the player’s experience. If you haven’t read my last couple posts on Pokémon Go, I recommend checking them out! While they aren’t necessary to understand the concepts we will be discussing today, they will help to give a broader picture of the game and how the individual functions work. They can be found at:

Part 1 – Basic Pokémon Go

Part 2 – Pokémon Go: Gym Battles

Part 3 – Where’s that Pokémon?

Before we get started, let’s briefly review the rewards.

Stardust:

·       Uses:

o   Powering up a pokémon (increasing their CP)

·       How to obtain:

o   Catch a pokémon (100 per catch)

o   Hatch an egg (Varies based on egg level)

o   Defend a gym (500 per gym)

Pokémon Candy:

·       Uses:

o   Powering up pokémon (Increasing their CP)

o   Evolving pokémon

·       How to obtain:

o   Catch a pokémon (3 candies)

o   Convert pokémon into candy (1 candy)

o   Hatching an egg (Variable amount of candy)

With that said, let’s take a look at how stardust and pokémon candy affect the economy and the user experience.

So we know how stardust works, and here we can see how it flows. Players stay engaged by constantly looping through this cycle. The flow of stardust never quite stops so long as the player is moving around and catching pokémon. Essentially, they’ll continue to gain stardust and candy so long as they continue playing the game.

But let’s take a look at a less common currency.

Coins are used exclusively to purchase items. Now, there are two ways to obtain coins:

●      Players are rewarded 10 coins for every gym held when they redeem their reward

●      Players can purchase coins with real world money

This ability to obtain the premium currency in-game is becoming more and more prominent in mobile games. If you look at something like Disney Magic Kingdom (More on that game HERE), we see that they give away the premium currency as well, but at an incredibly low rate. When designing this kind of system, players have to believe that it is a viable alternative to purchasing premium currency in real life. For example, currently in Pokémon Go, a player can purchase 1 incense Item for 80 coins. If the player holds a gym, they gain 10 coins. Thus, if they redeem one gym reward each day, they’ll have enough for one incense eight days later. For the casual player, this isn’t so bad due to how easy it is for players to take a gym, and they’re not playing the game as frequently. For the more hardcore player, they’re going to want the items much faster.

If we examine the flowchart, we can see that the player never really escapes this loop. Because once they purchase and use the one use item, they’re back in it again constantly trying to get stronger. But due to the game’s objective (Gotta catch ‘em all!), when the player doesn’t want to wait or take the time to build up to obtain the item in game, they can purchase it right then and there. This way, the player doesn’t feel like they’re being taken advantage of, and the developer can still have in app purchases without there being a huge hullabaloo.

This balancing act is incredibly important in the mobile scene. Once players start to feel like they’re being nickeled and dimed, they’re going to think just a little bit harder before spending their real world money in-game. That could result in a few players pausing just long enough to reconsider making the purchase.

Let’s talk about powering up the pokémon and how this actually scales to increase the difficulty over time. Based on trainer’s level, a pokémon will have a max CP that they will be able to reach. When the player levels up, the max raises as well. This way the game can keep trainers from just leveling up one pokémon to super high levels and further forces the player to catch a variety of pokémon. It typically costs X stardust and 1 candy to level up a weak pokémon. But what happens when the pokémon’s strength reaches about ¾ of the max?

The price goes up. Instead of only costing one candy, it costs two. This is an interesting twist because it makes players less likely to have max level pokémon due to the increased price. Because this has an effect on all evolution levels of pokémon, it also encourages players to evolve pokémon. An additional reason to evolve them would be a higher power cap.

This Primeape is a second evolution. It evolves from a Mankey. The Golem is a third evolution, and it evolves from a Graveler, which in turn evolves from a Geodude. If we compare the two, we can see that their power levels are about an equal percent to their max. We can also see that a Golem is clearly more powerful than a Primeape. This reinforces the idea that players should focus on using third level evolutions because they will always be stronger.

Side note: This is actually one design choice I heavily disagree with. Primeape is the final evolution of Mankey, but is going to be at a disadvantage against many other pokémon because it can’t evolve as high. The game expressly discriminates against all the pokémon who don’t evolve, or evolve only to the second form. While I like the system of pokémon evolutions raising the cap, I feel as if the second level evolutions should be able to reach the same point as the third level evolutions. Or even the pokémon, like Onix, who don’t evolve (In O.G. Pokémon, I know in the expanded universe he evolves into Steelix). This could be supplemented by making them cost an additional candy to power up when they reach the ½ and ¾ power point. It honestly just feels unbalanced having it work the way it does.

Pokémon Go is an interesting experience. It’s been a pleasure to pick it apart. I really hope you enjoyed looking into this very different mobile game with me. I’ve gotten a lot of requests asking about what my personal thoughts on the game are. Honestly, the only experience I find to actually be done particularly well is the catching of pokémon. But, I mean, the whole game is based around that so I guess it turned out well. It seems like they’ve got a strong core with the other mechanics within the game feeding back into the most fun part. So even though it is an incredibly shallow experience, probably wouldn’t do well if it wasn’t pokémon themed, and is broken half the time, it’s not terrible. The designers were able to figure out the most fun part of pokémon and streamline the process for mobile. So all I can say is good job, you guys made a hell of a game. The world will be watching Niantic’s next move very closely.

I’ll see you guys next week,

Scott

#Pokemon GO #Pokemon #economy #egg #level up #game design #system design #flow chart

[scottsdesignblog]

Where's that Pokémon?

Continuing with the pokémon theme this week we're going into part three of my series on Pokémon Go. Today we'll be discussing how the pokémon locations are determined. If you haven't read my last couple posts on Pokémon Go I recommend checking them out! While they aren't necessary to understand the concepts we will be discussing today, they will help to give a broader picture of the game and how individual functions work. They can be found at:

Part 1 - Basic Pokémon Go

Part 2 - Pokémon Go: Gym Battles

Now, let’s dive into how I believe the pokémon locations are determined. A disclaimer if you will, the only way to 100% find out for sure how it works is to ask Niantic how they did it. What I am presenting here today is based on my observations and discusses how I believe it to work. While their system is much larger, I have attempted to miniaturize it and discuss it in a smaller more manageable version. I hope by doing so the concepts will be more approachable and less daunting. With that out of the way, let’s get to it!

The Grid:

Imagine a grid over Los Angeles, like this:

Within each section of the grid, the player can see up to nine different pokémon. The player can see which pokémon are within their grid space via checking the nearby section of the app.

These pokémon might be in F2 (in the square with Museum of Contemporary Art), while in G2 there is a whole different set of pokémon. When a player moves to a different grid space, different pokémon will populate in their “Nearby” page.

Side note: The pokémon also seem to cycle in and out based on time elapsed. Each pokémon will disappear after a certain amount of time has passed.

But how do they decide which pokémon will be in each grid space?

Enter a random number generator! For simplicity sake, I’m going to use only five pokémon in my example.

Now imagine you have a twenty sided dice. You’re going to roll the dice nine times, and those nine dice rolls will determine the nine pokémon in the K1 grid space. You can try this exercise out using the grid as follows:

Just from looking at this chart you can see a few things:

 ●      25% chance the pokémon will be a Pidgey

●      25% chance the pokémon will be a Rattata

●      25% chance the pokémon will be a Zubat

●      10% chance the pokémon will be a Growlithe

●      5% chance the pokémon will be a Goldeen

●      10% chance there will be no pokémon

(If you don’t have a D20 lying around, you can check out WIZARD'S DICE TOOL and use their digital dice)

Try it out! Roll the dice nine times. What did you get?

My rolls are:

4, 1, 2, 17, 20, 1, 5, 13, 4

This means that the 9 pokémon in K1 are:

1.     Pidgey

2.     Pidgey

3.     Pidgey

4.     Growlithe

5.     Nothing

6.     Pidgey

7.     Pidgey

8.     Zubat

9.     Pidgey

As you can see the results are random, but there is a higher chance of certain pokémon appearing over others. If we were to check a different space, we’d see different results. Maybe we’d find a space with mostly Zubats instead of Pidgeys.

So how does geography affect pokémon placement?

Let’s say, for example, we go to the pier. Now we’re over water, so there are more water pokémon appearing. How has our chart changed? Let’s take a look:

As you can see from the chart, things have changed. Now we have:

●      15% chance the pokémon will be a Pidgey

●      5% chance the pokémon will be a Rattata

●      15% chance the pokémon will be a Zubat

●      5% chance the pokémon will be a Growlithe

●      50% chance the pokémon will be a Goldeen

●      10% chance there will be no pokémon

Now, if we run our simulation with the updated chart, what do you get? I got:

2, 8, 16, 17, 2, 10, 6, 16, 19

This means that the nine pokémon in the space with water are:

1.     Pidgey

2.     Goldeen

3.     Goldeen

4.     Growlithe

5.     Pidgey

6.     Goldeen

7.     Rattata

8.     Goldeen

9.     Nothing

As you can see, while on land we had more Pidgeys, Rattatas and Zubats, but Goldeen rains supreme by the ocean. This is because there is a higher chance of Goldeen appearing based on the player's proximity to water. It’s safe to say then, if the player were near a volcano for example the number of Growlithes would increase just like the number of Goldeens increased when the player was near the water. Because of the random number generator, it is possible to find an area that has no pokémon, or even only one kind of pokémon. Though this is unlikely because Niantic is working with 150 different pokémon instead of just five.

Is it possible to catch any pokémon at any location?

I believe so. I know it sounds crazy, but at times I’ve found Goldeens and Goldducks in the middle of downtown L.A. miles away from the water. I think the possibility of a Goldeen showing up though is so miniscule that it will almost never happen. While our example used only 20 slots to choose pokémon from, Niantic’s would be using hundreds of slots resulting in some pokémon appearing less than .001% of the time.

Side note: Imagine you lived in the middle of Kansas with your dog Toto. What if a super rare pokémon to the area, like Venasaur, popped up? You’d race towards that Venasaur. This is the kind of effect they’re creating in players by allowing pokémon to appear anywhere just at an incredibly small probability. Players’ excitement will be rekindled again long after the initial excitement has dwindled because of this rare find. Additionally, they may have done it this way to simulate wandering pokémon who maybe got lost.

So, what factors cause the chart to adjust?

Niantic has come out and said that there are a couple of factors which influence pokémon appearing:

●      Location - Geography and location on the planet

●      Time of day - different pokémon come out at night than during the day

●      Pokémon rarity - how rare is the pokémon?

So, your location at midday might cause you to run into more Pidgeys, but at night the chart readjusts and there may be a higher chance of Growlithes.

Now that you understand the basics of how pokémon are distributed, we’re going to add one additional layer, common, uncommon, rare and legendary. This is actually a third factor, which influences which pokémon appear. Common pokémon, like Pidgeys, will appear in greater numbers than an uncommon pokémon. Uncommon pokémon will appear in greater numbers than rare pokémon and rare pokémon will appear in greater numbers than legendary pokémon. To help you visualize the distribution of these kinds of pokémon, check out this chart:

Side note: This is assuming the legendary pokémon are not attached to public events. Though the commercial for Pokémon Go made it seem like they were.

The distribution of pokémon rarity might look like this, with considerable amounts of common pokémon vs. the other types. Then we’ll see a few less uncommon pokémon and even fewer rare pokémon, with the legendries being almost nonexistent.

This affects our chart by adjusting the rarity of pokémon. For example, we know we’ll find more water pokémon near the water, as you can see in the slots listed as Goldeen in our charts above. If we expand to add more pokémon to the mix, you’re still going to see more Goldeens than you would a Blastoise. This is because Blastoise is a rare pokémon and Goldeen is common. There is a greater chance of Blastoise appearing because the player is closer to the water. But due to the rarity of Blastoise there may still be a higher chance of the player encountering a Pidgey instead.

Side note: The best way I can think of to explain it is a little more technical. Each pokémon already has a percentage of appearing based on their rarity. The system checks the location of the grid space. From the environment/geography, the chance of a pokémon appearing adjusts by increasing or reducing the percentage based on if the area is near water, or in a city, near a volcano, etc. The system will then select nine random numbers and select the pokémon for placement in the world. It then selects nine random locations within the single grid space to place the pokémon. This is why three different people can all see the same pokémon at the same space.

For those who like math, a simple algorithm for pokémon chance of spawning might look like:

Pokémon rarity x (D + G) = % Spawn chance

·       D = Day/night cycle modifier

·       G = Geographical modifier

Most of the pokémon would be less than 1% because there are 150 of them.

But what about incense and lures?

Pokémon can’t move independently in the world. They are tethered to the global system. Additionally, when two players are using incense at the same time, which way do the pokémon go? What about ten players?  Because of this, and that pokémon can’t move towards the player who is also moving across grid lines, it causes too much confusion and stress on the system. So incense actually creates a virtual space around the player spawning in additional pokémon. This is why when I activate incense; someone next to me won't always see the same pokémon I do. It is also why sometimes I’ll see rare pokémon that my friends standing right next to me can’t see. Additionally, there is a check to see if the player is moving. When the player is on the move more pokémon will appear for the player. You can tell incense specific pokémon by noticing a slight purple glow when they appear on the map.

Lures on the other hand are stationary. They work similarly to the incense; the space around the lure spawns an additional set of pokémon, acting as it’s own grid space. Because it is tethered to a stationary position and not player specific all players can see these pokémon. Due to this benefit of attracting pokémon for all players, we oftentimes see players congregate around lured pokestops. This helps to bring players together and creates a sense of community.

I hope this post has helped you to think about how Niantic distributes pokémon across the world. Like I mentioned before, this is based on my research I’ve conducted and I may be wrong. The only way to know for sure is to ask the designers at Niantic. Do you agree? Do you think I missed something? Let me know in the comments below and we can discuss it further. Next week we've got one more Pokémon Go post. After that, we'll continue on to other games.

I’ll see you guys next week,

Scott

#Pokemon #Pokemon GO #Pokemon Locations #Geocaching #AR #Social Games #Game Design

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Pokémon Go: Gym Battles!

In the last blog post, we talked briefly about the battle system. In this post, I want to dive a little deeper into it. We’ll talk about how it works, how the designer’s messaging to the player is displayed, and the pros and cons of how this battle system works. In the interest of brevity, we’ll be discussing pokémon locations in the next post. I’m trying to shorten these just a little bit. If you haven’t read my broad overview of Pokémon GO, I recommend checking it out first. It can be found HERE. Without any further ado, let’s dive into the battle system.

Very brief review from last week’s post:

·      Player takes six pokémon into opposing teams’ gyms.

·      Player takes one pokémon into their team’s gym.

·      Pokémon strengths and weaknesses have an effect on damage received and damage output.

·      Concept of CP is similar to a pokémon’s level from the original games.

Battle:

Now we’re in the battle, our six pokémon are prepped and ready to go. The battle begins.

The player has a few different options:

·      Tap the Screen: Weak fast attack

·      Tap and hold the screen: Slow very powerful attack

·      Swipe the screen: Dodge attacks

These controls really help Pokémon Go’s battle system to be successful. Because they are built around mobile devices, using inputs that most players already understand, anyone can play and enjoy the gym battles.

To see what a battle is supposed to look like, I recommend checking out GameXplain’s video:

You'll notice that when Raticate would attack, the screen would have yellow flashes around the boarder of the screen.

This Gif image was taken from the above GameXplain video.

It also would lunge forward immediately after the flash. The yellow flash messages to the player to swipe to dodge. The Raticate lunging forward is when the actual attack hits. Although these are only on the screen for a split second, they are broadcasted for the player. This allows the player to dodge. Unfortunately, that’s it. The enemy pokémon can’t dodge the player’s attacks or even move.

Let’s take a look at the flow of how a battle is suppose to work:

As you can see, the player is constantly watching the enemy attack and responding to them to minimize the damage against the player’s pokémon. The best Pokémon Go players follow this flow and are able to take down gyms that are considerably more powerful, because they use their skill to compensate for their weaker pokémon.

Now that we’ve taken a look at how the battles are supposed to work, let’s take a look at the flow of how 99.9% of players battle in Pokémon go:

You’ll notice that players don’t swipe to dodge or use the more powerful attack.

Why don’t players dodge or use more powerful attacks?

Most gyms I’ve seen will have maybe three or four pokémon in them. So going in, I’m at an advantage because I’ve got two more pokémon than the gym. I can simply overpower them by pure numbers. The other reason is that I can attack so quickly that I can take out their pokémon typically before mine even hits half. The slow attack makes me vulnerable for a few seconds, which almost guarantees that I’ll take a hit. Why would I use an attack that does forty damage every four seconds, when I can dish out eighty plus damage in the same amount of time by simply tapping the screen as quickly as possible?

Additionally, the AI always follows the same pattern:

·      Attack with a weak/quick attack every X seconds

o   If pokémon falls under one-third health, use slow/strong attack every X seconds.

Usually I can eliminate that pokémon before they get their strong attack out. And even if I can’t, it won’t last much longer because it has no way of avoiding my attacks.

While I don’t think the designers intended to have a shallow battle system, it seems as if it is due to how players play the game. The only way I can think of to fix this is to create a cool down for player attacks. This would force the players to actually dodge the opposing pokémon and think more strategically about combat. The other way to fix it would be to either force players to only have the same number of pokémon as the gym, or make it even easier for teams to fill up their gyms with six pokémon. These tweaks would even the battlefield a little bit more and require the player to have a little bit more skill to take a gym down rather than a fast tapping finger.

For the next post, we’ll be talking about the pokémon spawn locations. I know there were some requests for me to rip on the game due to the absolute terrible server issues, which nullify the point of the designer’s messaging in place. But as that is technically not part of the game’s design and actually a bug, so I’m going to leave it alone. I hope you enjoyed this post.

I’ll see you next time,

Scott

#Pokemon #Pokemon GO #Gym #Battle #Pokemon Battle #Game Design #Game Design Analysis