killer game loops case: magic land - henric suuronen (wooga)
TRANSCRIPT
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Killer Game Loops
Case: Magic LandHenric Suuronen
Head of Studio at wooga
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Key stats
6 games on Facebook; 40 million active users
#3 social game developer worldwide
Little advertising
70% of users are female (age 20-60)
About wooga
Founded January 2009
Funding of $31m
International team of >100from 20 countries in Berlin
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Henric Suuronen
Wooga – Head of Studio
Magic Land
Magic Land: Island (HTML5)
GamesChangedMyLife.com blog
Previous work
Millionaire City – 2.9M DAU
MMA Pro Fighter
Tower Bloxx - 2007
+ >20 mobile titles
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Today’s Agenda
I. Game Loop
II. Smart-Depth
III. Closure
IV. Case: Magic Land
V. Post-Launch Iteration
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5KILLER GAME LOOPS
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Game Loop?
The chain of actions you do over and over again
Usually to generate soft currency
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BUY FISH
GROW FISH
SELL FISH
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BUY PLOT
BUY & PLACE ITEM
WAIT INCOME
COLLECTINCOME
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Common loop mistakes
• Object disappears at the end
• User does not get in-game money from the Core loop -> focus else
• Too complex/imaginary
• Slow animations -> not responsive
• Several Game Loops
• Too simple
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Good Game Loop?
• Real-life simulation
• Fun 1 time – Fun 1000 times
• Few steps (4-6 max)
• Requests tied to it
• Smart-Depth
• Good Closure
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Smart-Depth
An extra layer ON the core game loop that adds strategy and more ‘game’
BUY$$PLOT$
BUY$&$PLACE$$ITEM$
WAIT$$$INCOME$
COLLECT$INCOME$
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14ITEM INTERDEPENDENCY
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15FLOW PLANNING
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16TIMING - PLANNING
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17SMART-DEPTH
Un-fog optimally Utilize Outposts
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18SMART-DEPTH
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Game Closure
“I will define closure as the ability to leave the game with a feeling of certainty that one has done all one can do and that things will be okay until one returns [..]”
(Brenda Brathwaite)
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20GOOD CLOSURE
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21BAD CLOSURE
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22CLOSURE
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Timers & bars Blinking Icons
CLOSURE
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Loop Closure
• All actions done rewards waiting
• Variable / fixed times
• Energy Re-fills - timer
• Knows punishment rules
• Same state when returning
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Change Loop after launch?
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Checklist
Game Loop Check-List
Real-Life Simulation
Earn Soft Currency
Repeatedly Fun
Few Steps
Requests Tied
Smart-Depth
Closure
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Checklist
Game Loop Check-List
Real-Life Simulation
Earn Soft Currency
Repeatedly Fun
Few Steps
Requests Tied
Smart-Depth
Closure
THIS IS NOT HOW YOU MAKE GAMES!
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BE HUMBLE
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BOARD GAME
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BUY HOUSE
OPTIMALPLACING
WAIT INCOME
COLLECTINCOME
CITY GAME
WHACKNPC/OBJECT
BUY MAP
UN-FOG
OPTIMAL
ADVENTURE GAME
MORE SPACE/ITEMS
PLACE &BUILDHOUSE
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Concept Shot
CONCEPT SHOT
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33LEGO PROTOTYPING
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Prototyping / early 1st playableGAME 1st Playable
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User Testing
USER TESTING
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Closed BetaCLOSED BETA
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37LAUNCH 15th August
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POST-LAUNCH ITERATION
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50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week5
First 5 weeks show promise
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Focus: Improve Retention
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Problems Identified
- Too many dropping even before seeing the game.
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Problems Identified
- Too few completing tutorial- Too many dropping L2 L3- Way too many dropping L3 L4
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Data will show you there is a problem but very rarely suggest why.
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User Testing
USER TESTING
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46RE-SHUFFLE GOALS
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47USABILITY
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Extending TutorialEXTEND TUTORIAL
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49OBJECTIVE & STORY
• Re-write Tutorial texts• Goals to support Objective (becoming ruler)• More Story Goals
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Progression Speed
BALANCING
Energy& Level-up
Resource& RewardAmounts
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Solved Problems?
Problems
Before game drop-off
Tutorial Completion Rate
Drop-off L2L3
Drop-off L3L4
1-day retention: +3-4 percentage points7-day retention: +3-5 pp.
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Iterate, validate, iteratevalidate, iterate, validateiterate, validate, iterate
…
Work continues…
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200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
May Jul Aug Oct Dec Mar May Jul Sep
WHAT IS POSSIBLE
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apps.facebook.com/magicland
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wooga.com/jobsBlog: gameschangedmylife.comTwitter: @Henricgames Slides available
Thank You!