We won't be getting into the argument of whether iAP should only be in free-to-play or should premium games have them as well. We'll just focus of iAPs and what constitutes a good iAP design.
UNLOCK GAME
Games that can not be advanced without an iAP isn't exactly a free-to-play game. And if you have paid for the game, it isn't fair to have something like that at all! On the other hand, not every game has the feature of iAP or microtransactions. The only games, that should have this feature, are games that might be premium game but can be downloaded for free.
ALMOST THERE!
Ever played candy crush and missed the target with just 1-2 moves? This is a perfect motivation for an iAP. Why? Because, the player has invested too much time in it to quit easily. And the players know that spending on it isn't a bad investment. It's right there, if you like you can just purchase few more moves and reach the target. Or restart the whole thing again and start from zero. These are the moment that every designer should look for. Pin such moments in your game and see if you can give the players a little push to advance ahead.
DON'T RUIN MY GAME!
Every game has a difficulty graph that has certain pacing to it. Which means, at a certain point the player should find the game difficult. When the player crosses a difficulty peak, the game should give rest to the player and then the graph goes higher to more difficult peak, and so on. Difficulty gives the player a sense of achievement. If an iAP lets the player to advance the whole game easily or most part of the game, than you failed as a designer. The joy of any game is in its challenges. By making it easier for the players, you not only broke the game design but you have basically ruined the whole game experience for that player. The above point, of giving a little push, is misused to become this. If you study candy crush you'll see that even with that little push, they aren't giving away the goal. The difficulty level remains the same, only few more chance. It's like giving hints to a riddle but not telling the answer.
SELL CONVENIENCE, NOT POWER
One of the biggest mistakes while designing an iAP is when you sell power. Every game has a power against resource ratio. If a sniper costs 10 gold and a rocker launcher costs 50 gold, selling power means you are giving rocker launcher for 10 gold because the player spend real money in the game. It is the evil pay to win. The philosophy that paid customer should have more advantage, gameplay wise, is complete BS. As said in the above point, by making the player more powerful you jeopardize the game design. Convenience, on the other hand, is the best way to propose an iAP to the player. Most games these days have down time, in form of time to build something or number of sessions you can have per day etc. These are the best examples of how to make people feel good about their iAP that makes it convenient for them to get an item faster but doesn't spoil the game all together. These iAP could make more sense to the player and the longevity of him in that game.
NEVER underestimate THE POWER OF CUSTOMIZATION
There isn't much to say, the title says it all. League of legends and Dota does this perfectly. This isn't a power or convenience, it's just visual aesthetics. Players get it, and it is one of the most acceptable iAP. It just works!
IMPLEMENT iAP AS A PART OF CORE GAMEPLAY
iAP shouldn't be the last thing to do in a game dev cycle. It should be kept in mind while designing the game. Maybe the inception of an idea can be pure and innocent, focusing on just the fun of the game. And then, when designing the gameplay in detail, it can be implemented. I don't think iAP should ever be the inspiration of an idea, as in the core gameplay is designed around it. Which would explain people's hatred for Zynga games. Rather iAP should be wrapped tightly and all around the core gameplay. Say, you have to slay a dragon. To slay the dragon, you need armour and a golden sword. You got the armour but to get a golden sword you'll need 500 blood points. You can get it by killing 1000 boars, or 2000 eagles or $0.99 iAP. Once the fun of the game is discovered, you then start figuring out what is convenience, what are powers, what are the almost there moments, and what could kill the game. These would help decide you iAP design.
DON'T DISCRIMINATE THE PLAYERS
Just because the player didn't do any iAP doesn't mean that they are stealing from you. Non paying players are the ones that make your game famous. Discriminating them or splitting them is the worst thing you can so. Non paying players are your blessings. They are your advertisers who bring their friends and maybe one of those friends is a paying customer or even a whale.
LET PLAYERS EARN THE CURRENCY AS WELL
Soft currencies are your friend. It basically means that you are making your players get used to economy. The flow of cash makes it easier for players to spend actual money in the game. On the other hand, it lets the non paying players interested in the game. Soft currencies reduces the impact of "the-evil-iAP". It basically lets the players know that they are not forced to spend money on the game. Ofcourse, it will take a lot more time to earn that much money to buy an item, which can be dramatically reduced by a simple iAP. Any game that gives you choice over payment walls are always welcomed by players. And may turn some into paid players as well!.
KEEP THE iAP THRESHOLD LOW
The first one is the most difficult. Once the player makes their first purchase, they are more likely to make another easily. Keeping the initial iAP to the lowest cost definitely help making their first purchase. Soft currencies also play an important role in helping with the threshold.
IMPLEMENT METRICS IN YOUR GAME
Some people might not exactly like this one but boy it works! Any additive social game is the result of metrics, period! Whatever i have written isn't possible without metrics. What works and what doesn't, can only be known using metrics. There are great third party systems like flurry that does a great job. The only problem with metrics driven games is the misunderstanding and it's misusage. This can be another topic all together. But if done properly, it can be very lucrative.
Conclusion
I think not every game should have iAP, just like not every game should be free to play. Having iAP does not guarantee revenue in profit. iAP works when done right. You can't get the iAP right in your first attempt. It's a process of iteration and refinement. And no, you can not just copy iAP model of one game to another, unless you copy the whole game. Every game has its own economy, iAP should be based on that economy.
In my opinion, iAP designs are in its infancy. There are only handful of games and examples of good iAP. Most of them follow almost similar pattern. There might be better iAP models out there which are still unexplored.
No comments:
Post a Comment