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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!