Analysing a top grossing freemium game

Tuism

I came across this article discussing the game loop for Rage of Bahamut - a Freemium game that's a great example of the genre strategy. I know we don't really like this genre around here but I find that it's really good to learn from what makes it tick as a game, what holds people's interest.

http://iteratingfun.com/post/30438564732/top-grossing-rage-of-bahamut-analysis

creative630

I don't think we are all not a fan of the genre, there's just better ways to do it. Check out this extra credits video where they talk about Rage of Bahamut and similar collectible games that kinda spoil the genre.

farsicon

Wait...what? There's genre prejudice here? I missed the memo...

Fengol

yeah, I don't believe there's genre prejudice; just noisy people. I believe Freemium done well can be awesome for everyone. My favourite examples are the Nimblebit games.

Tuism

Love Triple Town. Basically bought it.

There are different things about freemium games to learn about, and of course different ways of going about it. I thought there's learning about RoB's game loop is valuable in all kinds of game design, not just Freemium :)

dislekcia

Freemium is not a genre, it's a business strategy.

CCG might just be a genre, if not a collection of mechanics. Rage of Bahamut is the old web-PvP-sim (complete with runaway feedback loops) model with the elements you build with supplied via collectible packs instead of earned over time... Seriously, boil it down and you get Promisance, or, closer to home, Moonbase.

RoB's success is more attributable to network effects than good design - there are a ton of games just like it on the app store and there were a ton before it took off too.

Tuism

What do you mean by "network effect"? What's the difference between RoB and the games before it that were just like it that made it take off the way it did? Are you saying that RoB's success when compared to others just like it was due to something other than the game itself (including design, implementation, etc)?

dislekcia

Tuism said:

What do you mean by "network effect"? What's the difference between RoB and the games before it that were just like it that made it take off the way it did? Are you saying that RoB's success when compared to others just like it was due to something other than the game itself (including design, implementation, etc)?

Yup.

The game is popular because it's popular. If you're seeing parallels to celebrity culture, that's a network effect too. Essentially: The game is being spread around because enough network nodes have it now that they constantly introduce it to other connected nodes. I'm not saying you don't want that to happen to your game, everybody does, it's just that you're not going to find out why it happened by analysing the game design.

Tuism

So you're saying it got lucky, essentially?

mattbenic

Luck has nothing to do with it these days. There are companies out there that will game the top charts for you by buying copies of your game, or in app purchases, leaving tons of reviews, and whatever else is suspected to increase chart rating. No company will admit to doing it, but when a game as downright crappy on every single level (IMHO) as RoH flies up the charts in no time at all, that screams chart cheating to me.

One of the keys to succeeding in freemium is to grow the number of players you have as quickly as possible, so these games are generally really pushy about inviting friends. They offer (often significant) in-game rewards for sharing actions. For this to work though, you need a core of starting players, and the easiest way to get that is to get their attention by cheating your way to the top of one of the charts.

konman

I think dislekcia might be refering to a "Kardashian effect" of sorts? You might be extremely popular, but it might not mean that you're contributing something useful or innovative. Well now, if my game could be a "Kardashian" it would probably be the (quote Poeple Magazine) "free spirited" Khloe Kardashian... (don't ask)