“Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering”: mobile game development and promotion to international markets
At the recent Winter Nights 2013: Mobile Games Conference, I talked about the success story of our mobile game “Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering” - about the creation, the pitfalls of the development process, the launch of the project in different territories and how the game was able to reach record positions on downloads in Russia and come out on top in the ranking of applications in Korea. Today I want to share my report on Habré.
In fact, the project “Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering” became for the company the first mobile game of the AAA category, we can say that we had no previous experience in developing games for mobile platforms. Mail.Ru Group has been releasing browser, client, social games for quite a long time and successfully, we have had vast experience and developments in these areas. But mobile games in 2012 were new to us.
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In the process of choosing a project, we evaluated several parameters: the popularity of game genres in the market, the possibilities and development of mobile technologies, and, of course, our own experience and best practices. Mobile devices and especially tablets were gaining popularity, with the most hardcore players being on the iPad. From the point of view of the genre, we did not doubt much: open research showed that the most popular and profitable in the markets of all countries were RPGs. A big plus was our rich experience in developing games in this genre - even on other platforms.
In particular, there was a large audience, a huge amount of ready-made graphic materials from the browser “Juggernaut”. We reasoned: why not use ready-made materials, optimize them for a mobile platform, thereby saving both time and money for the graphic component?
We bet that our game should be not only better than current representatives and competitors (later it turned into a decision to release only AAA-class games), but also to have unique features that are absent in similar games.
First of all, we gave the opportunity to choose a character: according to his characteristics, gender, abilities, etc., which allowed him to go through the game again for another character and choose the most convenient combat mechanics. At the start we made 6 heroes.
In order to play comfortably on both tablets and phones, in the battle scene we used radius zones with moving indicators of different colors. In addition, we gave the opportunity to choose the method of striking - to touch the desired area with your finger or to make a slash, and to use magic - to repeat the silhouette of the character by drawing it with your finger on the screen.
Another unique element of the game is the capture and management of locations. Each location, which captures the player, brings income in the game currency (it can be spent on character development), but it can be beaten off by the enemy. Thus, locations require constant attention - you need to periodically return to the game and protect them.
In addition, the game contains several mini-games. For example, in locations the player searches for treasure and opens the chests (it looks like a puzzle game in which you need to find pairs of identical objects). Also, mini-games can be found in battles - having won, a gamer will be able to dodge the magic blow of the enemy.
Development - the most interesting stage of the birth of the game. In this case, we chose Unity 3D technology. At that moment, it was the most popular, it allowed you to quickly do cross-platform things, and was most suitable for our project.
By the way, there were many specialists on the market who stated that they know how to work with technology, although in fact we often saw the opposite. Therefore, we spent some time on the selection of a professional team that could really solve almost any tasks on the Unity 3D engine.
The first problem we encountered was the feature of the technology. At that time, it was Unity 3.0. In subsequent versions, some of the problematic issues of technology were resolved, but we managed to feel them in full. First of all - in work with the interface: Unity is not really friendly with it. Therefore, we had some elements - for example, the same video launch in the game, which we have a lot of - to do with Objective-C.
Another big problem was the optimization of memory when unloading existing resources: there was a lot of content, all of which, naturally, did not fit and loaded memory heavily. Therefore, we had a very long time to optimize the amount of material that we wanted to use in the game. Some things had to be abandoned or simplified: we could not transfer assets from the browser version to 100%. We optimized them, and it was very long and very painful.
It is also a very important question, on which 50% of the success of the application depends - this is an adaptation of the interface and design of game elements. For example, our very first interface was absolutely nothing like the final. Initially, we made it based on the browser version. This was our huge mistake, because most of the elements were not suitable for playing on the touchscreen. At a certain point we had to simply redo everything in order to arrive at a simplified version, where the greatest attention is paid to the battle scene and the screen with this scene is minimally blocked.
The same problems affected other important elements: the player profile (initially it was very similar to the PC version of the game, which greatly confused users), the magic book (it was greatly simplified, the number of elements was reduced).
Naturally, a lot of work was done on porting to the Android mobile platform. We had to abandon the support of many devices, because they had weak processors that could not handle the graphics with which we wanted to be released (the file size was almost 500 MB).
Separate attention in the development process we paid to the integration of third-party SDKs that allow you to effectively carry out marketing campaigns and track the entire history of users. It is important to take them into account and build in the complete list at the very beginning in order to subsequently minimize the problems of promotion. In Juggernaut, we used Appsfire (the part where the user could either leave the question to the developers, or write about the problem, or rate the application (that is, the feedback system)), Flurry (the well-known system of statistics and metrics that allows you to track and activity of players inside the game), Tapjoy (because in our store there are, of course, free crystals, which are given for performing certain actions).
We also use our own MRG system, which makes it possible to collect data about the user and his profile. In addition, it allowed the implementation of a push user notification system and remote server management of local currency rates.
So, we made a project, and it was decided to perform a test run in Australia in order to collect statistics and, if necessary, correct the game before the global release (adjust the logic of monetization and internal purchases, select the optimal formulas).
After debugging, we entered the largest markets, and above all - in the United States. Our product came to taste Apple, and we were finished in the American iTunes on the main page. On the one hand, we had to quickly correct a number of their comments: for example, to remake the game icon - to make it less frank.
But in the end we got a big banner on the main page of iTunes, an icon in the New section and an announcement in the official Apple App Store account on Twitter. On the days of featureing, without any additional advertising support, we received about 70–80 thousand installations per day. For the first month, the game was downloaded almost a million times; In the top 3 territories, oddly enough, includes America, Russia and France.
Despite this effect, we concluded that for some countries it makes sense to run with local publishers. Why? For example, there are quite large players on the territory of Korea and Japan, with whom it is simply impossible to compete, and an attempt to quit independently will be very risky. Only the local big publisher knows how to promote the game and how best to submit it to the user. So, for example, even the screenshots that were created for Korea, placed greater emphasis on the image component and the text. Thanks to this approach, on the second day of launch we became # 1 Top FREE overall in Korea.
• Before you begin to do something, you need to conduct a serious analysis and market research. It is necessary to make a forecast of the release of new devices, assess the potential profit, make the top popular genres, and of course, do not forget about competitors.
• Also important is a team of professional programmers who specialize in the technology you have chosen for the project. The more carefully you select your team, the higher the probability of success and the lower the cost of development. Do not forget to save experience (good luck and mistakes): even in such a stable team as ours, there exists its own “Bible of Developers”, which combines our experience, allows us to share it with other departments and quickly learn newcomers.
• If you decide on AAA, then it should be observed in everything: as translations, voice acting of the game, in promotional materials. Higher quality - higher level of perception of the game by the end user.
• You can not just make a quality game and wait for it to profit. The launch strategy is important: when to start, in what territories, where to start by yourself, and where - with publishers. No less important is which stores you are going to cover in the first place, and which - in the second. For example, launching on Google Play allows you to quickly receive feedback and make necessary edits, since the approval process on Google Play takes place immediately, on the same day. Having tested on Android, you can safely configure the version for iOS and make a global release.
• The size of the build should allow you to freely use marketing tools to promote the game. Before a potential client there should not be a barrier in the form of a long game load - this directly affects the effectiveness of any advertising campaigns. Since you cannot use the same interface for tablets and smartphones, there are two options for development: make two different builds with different interfaces that differ on devices, or make a universal build, but in the process of resume download different interface packages depending on the device.
• And, as shown by the comments, questions and feedback from users of our game, the future is for multiplayer and everything
what is connected with this (cooperative walkthrough, systems of interaction with players). This is a must at the moment. A game of this level and such a genre should have MMO components. We considered all this to create the second part of our game “Juggernaut 2: Six Masks”
The process of working on the mobile version of "Juggernaut" was long and intensive - in order to tell everything in detail, you would have to write a whole series of posts. If you are interested in any specific points concerning the transfer of the game from the browser to the mobile platform - ask questions, and I and my colleagues will try to answer them in the comments.
Mikhail Ryazanov,
Head of the Mobile Games Department Mail.Ru Group
Why "Juggernaut"?
In fact, the project “Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering” became for the company the first mobile game of the AAA category, we can say that we had no previous experience in developing games for mobile platforms. Mail.Ru Group has been releasing browser, client, social games for quite a long time and successfully, we have had vast experience and developments in these areas. But mobile games in 2012 were new to us.
')
In the process of choosing a project, we evaluated several parameters: the popularity of game genres in the market, the possibilities and development of mobile technologies, and, of course, our own experience and best practices. Mobile devices and especially tablets were gaining popularity, with the most hardcore players being on the iPad. From the point of view of the genre, we did not doubt much: open research showed that the most popular and profitable in the markets of all countries were RPGs. A big plus was our rich experience in developing games in this genre - even on other platforms.
In particular, there was a large audience, a huge amount of ready-made graphic materials from the browser “Juggernaut”. We reasoned: why not use ready-made materials, optimize them for a mobile platform, thereby saving both time and money for the graphic component?
The first step to success is uniqueness.
We bet that our game should be not only better than current representatives and competitors (later it turned into a decision to release only AAA-class games), but also to have unique features that are absent in similar games.
• Character selection
First of all, we gave the opportunity to choose a character: according to his characteristics, gender, abilities, etc., which allowed him to go through the game again for another character and choose the most convenient combat mechanics. At the start we made 6 heroes.
• Battle Mechanics
In order to play comfortably on both tablets and phones, in the battle scene we used radius zones with moving indicators of different colors. In addition, we gave the opportunity to choose the method of striking - to touch the desired area with your finger or to make a slash, and to use magic - to repeat the silhouette of the character by drawing it with your finger on the screen.
• Location Management
Another unique element of the game is the capture and management of locations. Each location, which captures the player, brings income in the game currency (it can be spent on character development), but it can be beaten off by the enemy. Thus, locations require constant attention - you need to periodically return to the game and protect them.
• Mini-games
In addition, the game contains several mini-games. For example, in locations the player searches for treasure and opens the chests (it looks like a puzzle game in which you need to find pairs of identical objects). Also, mini-games can be found in battles - having won, a gamer will be able to dodge the magic blow of the enemy.
Development: from browser to mobility
Development - the most interesting stage of the birth of the game. In this case, we chose Unity 3D technology. At that moment, it was the most popular, it allowed you to quickly do cross-platform things, and was most suitable for our project.
By the way, there were many specialists on the market who stated that they know how to work with technology, although in fact we often saw the opposite. Therefore, we spent some time on the selection of a professional team that could really solve almost any tasks on the Unity 3D engine.
The first problem we encountered was the feature of the technology. At that time, it was Unity 3.0. In subsequent versions, some of the problematic issues of technology were resolved, but we managed to feel them in full. First of all - in work with the interface: Unity is not really friendly with it. Therefore, we had some elements - for example, the same video launch in the game, which we have a lot of - to do with Objective-C.
Another big problem was the optimization of memory when unloading existing resources: there was a lot of content, all of which, naturally, did not fit and loaded memory heavily. Therefore, we had a very long time to optimize the amount of material that we wanted to use in the game. Some things had to be abandoned or simplified: we could not transfer assets from the browser version to 100%. We optimized them, and it was very long and very painful.
It is also a very important question, on which 50% of the success of the application depends - this is an adaptation of the interface and design of game elements. For example, our very first interface was absolutely nothing like the final. Initially, we made it based on the browser version. This was our huge mistake, because most of the elements were not suitable for playing on the touchscreen. At a certain point we had to simply redo everything in order to arrive at a simplified version, where the greatest attention is paid to the battle scene and the screen with this scene is minimally blocked.
The same problems affected other important elements: the player profile (initially it was very similar to the PC version of the game, which greatly confused users), the magic book (it was greatly simplified, the number of elements was reduced).
Naturally, a lot of work was done on porting to the Android mobile platform. We had to abandon the support of many devices, because they had weak processors that could not handle the graphics with which we wanted to be released (the file size was almost 500 MB).
Separate attention in the development process we paid to the integration of third-party SDKs that allow you to effectively carry out marketing campaigns and track the entire history of users. It is important to take them into account and build in the complete list at the very beginning in order to subsequently minimize the problems of promotion. In Juggernaut, we used Appsfire (the part where the user could either leave the question to the developers, or write about the problem, or rate the application (that is, the feedback system)), Flurry (the well-known system of statistics and metrics that allows you to track and activity of players inside the game), Tapjoy (because in our store there are, of course, free crystals, which are given for performing certain actions).
We also use our own MRG system, which makes it possible to collect data about the user and his profile. In addition, it allowed the implementation of a push user notification system and remote server management of local currency rates.
Run: From Australia to Korea
So, we made a project, and it was decided to perform a test run in Australia in order to collect statistics and, if necessary, correct the game before the global release (adjust the logic of monetization and internal purchases, select the optimal formulas).
After debugging, we entered the largest markets, and above all - in the United States. Our product came to taste Apple, and we were finished in the American iTunes on the main page. On the one hand, we had to quickly correct a number of their comments: for example, to remake the game icon - to make it less frank.
But in the end we got a big banner on the main page of iTunes, an icon in the New section and an announcement in the official Apple App Store account on Twitter. On the days of featureing, without any additional advertising support, we received about 70–80 thousand installations per day. For the first month, the game was downloaded almost a million times; In the top 3 territories, oddly enough, includes America, Russia and France.
Despite this effect, we concluded that for some countries it makes sense to run with local publishers. Why? For example, there are quite large players on the territory of Korea and Japan, with whom it is simply impossible to compete, and an attempt to quit independently will be very risky. Only the local big publisher knows how to promote the game and how best to submit it to the user. So, for example, even the screenshots that were created for Korea, placed greater emphasis on the image component and the text. Thanks to this approach, on the second day of launch we became # 1 Top FREE overall in Korea.
findings
• Before you begin to do something, you need to conduct a serious analysis and market research. It is necessary to make a forecast of the release of new devices, assess the potential profit, make the top popular genres, and of course, do not forget about competitors.
• Also important is a team of professional programmers who specialize in the technology you have chosen for the project. The more carefully you select your team, the higher the probability of success and the lower the cost of development. Do not forget to save experience (good luck and mistakes): even in such a stable team as ours, there exists its own “Bible of Developers”, which combines our experience, allows us to share it with other departments and quickly learn newcomers.
• If you decide on AAA, then it should be observed in everything: as translations, voice acting of the game, in promotional materials. Higher quality - higher level of perception of the game by the end user.
• You can not just make a quality game and wait for it to profit. The launch strategy is important: when to start, in what territories, where to start by yourself, and where - with publishers. No less important is which stores you are going to cover in the first place, and which - in the second. For example, launching on Google Play allows you to quickly receive feedback and make necessary edits, since the approval process on Google Play takes place immediately, on the same day. Having tested on Android, you can safely configure the version for iOS and make a global release.
• The size of the build should allow you to freely use marketing tools to promote the game. Before a potential client there should not be a barrier in the form of a long game load - this directly affects the effectiveness of any advertising campaigns. Since you cannot use the same interface for tablets and smartphones, there are two options for development: make two different builds with different interfaces that differ on devices, or make a universal build, but in the process of resume download different interface packages depending on the device.
• And, as shown by the comments, questions and feedback from users of our game, the future is for multiplayer and everything
what is connected with this (cooperative walkthrough, systems of interaction with players). This is a must at the moment. A game of this level and such a genre should have MMO components. We considered all this to create the second part of our game “Juggernaut 2: Six Masks”
The process of working on the mobile version of "Juggernaut" was long and intensive - in order to tell everything in detail, you would have to write a whole series of posts. If you are interested in any specific points concerning the transfer of the game from the browser to the mobile platform - ask questions, and I and my colleagues will try to answer them in the comments.
Mikhail Ryazanov,
Head of the Mobile Games Department Mail.Ru Group
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/170055/
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