Game design in life. Game Economics (Part II)

Good day!

A little about the author: my name is Maria, game designer. This is the third article from the series on the application of game design theory in life.

References:
')

1. The first article: "Game design in life. An example of the analysis of the mechanics of the game "
2. The second article: "Game design in life. The economy of the game (Part I) »

Analysis takes place on a real-life game, without naming names. In the first part, the bottlenecks of the game were considered, the existing economy was dismantled.

Briefly about the identified problems of the game:

1. Little content
2. Currency surplus / no well spending
3. Pak currencies - fluctuations in the value of one unit of game currency

About the game

Name: * Top Secret *
Genre: Simulator
Setting: Reality
Platform: mobile (iOS, Android)
Monetization model: ftp (free-to-play)
CA: 8 to 25 years old, mostly girls / girls
The main gameplay: the appearance of the player, relationships with other players, the rating of the most fashionable, the creation and arrangement of his apartment.
Refinement. First there will be the water part (yes, we will pour some water), then the numbers.

Problem 1. Content

The solution to the problem of content is simple and elegant - the creation of more content, new and popular. The question is - what is claimed by our players? Here are some examples of how to find answers:

• Youtube

Our players are children and teenagers, it means they are all “on style”, “fashionable” and know “HYIP themes”. Let's see what topics in the trend, what music, what clothes. The character in the game is an improved, upgraded version of the player. To be the best is to be the most trending.

Total:

a) made a list of trend clothing
b) compiled a list of accessories - tatuhi, bracelets, hairstyles.

• Official group (VK, FB, Instagram)

Watch player comments, give it at least an hour a day. Know your players - it is to communicate with them and always keep your finger on the pulse. Thanks to the daily testing of the group, we found bugs, to which testers would not get, we found enterprising players, understood the vector of development.

Total:

a) fix old bugs
b) found players who drew clothes for their characters, had a group of like-minded designers. We implemented their ideas in the game, in the official group of the game we made a separate post indicating the authors of the ideas and gave the young designers an award in the form of hard currency
c) made a list of the players' wishes and began to implement

For example, we added to the game such trifles as freckles, tatouches under the eyes (please do not roll your eyes, we were in the wake of the trend), scars (Samurai X, hello!). All these accessories cost about 2-5 units. hard currency. The game has never seen such a shopping boom. The players wrote in the comments words of gratitude, and we smiled at 33 teeth, because a happy player is a game designer.

• Polls and contests

Both items were introduced gradually. At a very early stage, when the team had 3 people, and the analytics department looked at us as an industry appendix, we came up with a “tricky way” to study the players - a Google questionnaire, where we were asked to talk about age, field, character, total playing time and tell about the first acquaintance with the game in the form of a story. So we seized a small, but revealing analytics. For the most interesting story was given a reward in the form of hard currency and VIP.

Total:

a) began to increase activity on the official page of the game
b) the average player’s portrait was compiled

Contests started with the simplest requests - make a screen in the game, make a screen in the game with friends, draw something on the asphalt in spring based on the game. Then the competitions became more complicated - make a video on the topic, follow the conditions and file the drawing, etc. With increasing complexity, the reward also grew.

When we found out the needs of the players, we started to implement them. What has changed in the game:

1. Updates in the game began on an ongoing basis - every Wednesday and Friday (die, but do it).
   
   It was the beginning of the content creation pipeline. Sometimes everything needed for the current update was finished the same day, quickly tested and poured.
   
   The players were delighted a lot, because after 3 years of rare updates, suddenly so much good was poured over the mountain. Growth in daily revenue was x5 from normal, DAU increased 2 times, old players began to return.
2. The cost of new things has been increased by ~ 800%
   
   First there were changes in the cost of content, then the packs changed. In the first pouring we drank so much dirt that we almost choked on our monitors (in fact, we got the case). At the same time, there were practically no drawdowns on purchases, ARPPU (average payer’s check) and ARPU increased. It was natural - paying the same amount, but paying more. There was a small increase in the first payments.
   
   Along with the cost of the content, the “image” and “comfort” were increased - the main numerical indicators in the game, which reflected the coolness of the player’s clothes and his apartment, respectively.
   
   A good example, the thing cost 5 hard currency and gave the player +10 to the image. The new thing cost 300 hard currency and gave the player 1800 to the image. Agree, a huge gain.
   
   All new calculations were made on the basis of the relationship to the dollar. On the calculation of dependencies will be a little later.
3. Shares on packs
   
   On old packs, shares x2, x3 were made. Those. the player paid the same amount, but received 3 times more hard currency. With the new prices it was very profitable, otherwise for the purchase of one new thing you would have to buy 5 minimum old packs instead of 2 new ones.
   
   When launching the x2 campaign, revenue on the first day of launch jumped 15 times and kept the entire share at this level (at the end there was a decline, but not a sharp decline).
   
   In later versions of the game, rewards for viewing ads were added. You can get both soft currency and hard.
   
   Players have been waiting for and asked for this functionality. There is no data on revenue.
4. Major updates in the game with new functionality
   
   With the growth of the team, the possibilities for implementing ideas have increased - so have the inquiries for the events.
   
   For example, in honor of February 14, a location with a gazebo was created; if opposite-sex players got into it, hearts would fall on them. A new work also appeared - Cupid's house, where players collected boxes of chocolates and received event currency and craft items.
   
   Among other things, players could throw huskies (hearts) into each other.
   
   On the New Year, players threw snowballs at each other, and at open locations randomly began to snow, and everyone could go to Santa Claus and collect gifts.
   
   Events raised DAU, MAU, returned the old players and increased activity in the game. Now the players had something to entertain themselves and what to show off in front of friends.

Now let's move on to the numbers.

Problem 2. Currency surplus

The surplus of currency, as already mentioned above, was decided by raising prices for goods by 800% or more. Why is that? All tied to the dollar.

For further calculations set the following values:
$ 1 = 65 rubles.
1 cu = 1 unit hard currency
1 cu = 100 units soft currency

The easiest way (and the most clumsy) to withdraw currency from a player is to increase the prices of goods. In one of the updates things began to cost instead of $ 10. or 1 000 software for 40 cu and 8,000 software. In the subsequent update 40 cu turned into 380, and 8,000 software into 35,000. Along with rising prices, the “comfort” / “image” index also increased.

The first increase - checking the soil and trying to find the best price - and we are not cheap, and you are not expensive.

The second increase is pegging prices to $.

Why the dollar? The publication of games takes place on the platforms operating with this currency + in most countries for which the game is open, the main currency - the dollar.

Now, with the price spacer, we were guided for how many dollars we are ready to give the thing. And identified 3 categories: cheap, average price and coolness.

$ 0.1 - $ 5 - cheap
$ 6 - $ 14 - average price
$ 15 - $ 20 - cool

Set at $ 1 = 80 USD What then comes at a price?


From the value of the goods depend on the numerical parameters that it gives. You can also tie them to the dollar, or set the coefficient of dependence of the parameter from the price. The parameter on which the competition is built between the players should be "juicy." Exceed the price at least twice. Example:

For example, the old system was without mathematical support, everything was random. Different things of approximately the same type could give diametrical parameters - from 10 to 150 images.

Each update should contain items from all three categories. The approximate ratio: 30% cheap, 65% - the average price and 5% - expensive.

Problem 3. Packs

In games, the same rules apply as in normal commerce. All promotions, events, timed for the holidays came to us from the market. And one of the rules that is observed - the more expensive the pack, the more profitable one unit of game currency.

How the packs looked like BEFORE the changes (figures are taken from the ceiling, for clarity):

As you can see, the cost of 1 cu. dancing as she wants and the most profitable pack is not the last, but the second. In the economy of a healthy person, the cost of 1 cu. is waning. Approximately so packs were converted:

This is an example for understanding the logic, not for use in the game :)

So the bottlenecks of the game were changed (the first iteration of the changes). There were more events about which I wrote, but I would like to make this topic separate so as not to lengthen the article.

PS Under the last article there were comments that the game will turn into another one-time play. I would like to answer this in the following way: it is worth understanding that the mobile gaming market is a business, like the others, requiring ROI. No money - no games. The question is whether the game gives you the joy of spending time and how well it relates to the player.