Clash of Clans Improvements
Q) Describe three ways in which Clash of Clans can mitigate the conflict between churn and monetization.
A) In the F2P space a certain tension between churn and monetization will always exist. In most F2P games small groups of players (fondly termed whales) tend to contribute the largest shares of revenue. Therefore, the challenge then becomes how can we push potential whales through the pipeline of the game.
While there is no substitute for genuinely compelling gameplay, a logarithmic progression of level vs time is a part of this solution. Getting this balance right is a prerequisite to any additional systems as increased player engagement results in an increased tolerance threshold to obstructions.
High upgrade/construction times is one such obstruction. Mitigating this system also requires a prerequisite before any additional system is built on it. All upgrades/constructions should be non blocking for gameplay. One way Clash of Clans implements this is by capping the number of placeable structures based on the level of the Town Hall. However, upgrading structures is independent of such level dependencies.
A system of non blocking structure upgrades does compromise monetization. This can be mitigated through the following design additions:
Social Event Systems - One classic F2P strategy that Clash of Clans does not employ is time based events where new content or amplified reward mechanisms are unlocked for a given amount of time. Players are more likely to pay when an events affect their entire alliances.
Eg: For 24 hours loot received from a battle is received by all members in the winning clan and loot lost will be deducted from all members in a losing clan.
Targeted Quests - Players, particularly whales are more likely to pay when they are given a clear goal to pursue. Quest systems are great ways to provide player goals that in turn map to specific monetization goals. However the relationship between the player goal and the mapped monetization item must be twice removed so that the scenario does not seem overtly contrived.
Eg: A Raid Defense Quest could be designed in such a way that the placement of six cannons are required in specific positions. This quest has potential monetization value when the player’s town hall is at level 4.
Q) Suggest one change to the Clash of Clans battle system that would enhance gameplay
A) The easiest changes to suggest to any battle system are changes that add real time elements to the battle system. However, the crux of the Clash of Clans battle system is built on an observation based pre battle strategy mechanic. The biggest value add ons will be features that enhance this aspect. As battle stands now, deployment of troops is based on an anticipated trajectory that is not guided in any way. The failure to accurately anticipate a troop member’s trajectory does not add value to gameplay in any way as the player does not have any means of reacting other than deploying more troops. Hence, one way of creating potentially more intelligent play is adding a feature which shows the trajectory of a single character when deployed. The player selects a troop member and the game shows a phantom character of how the troop member would move in the battle arena. The player can add or remove opponent structures in the ‘character preview’ mode so that players can see how the character would traverse the arena. This will allow players to better focus their strategies on how many, where and when troops should be allocated instead of feeling frustrated that their strategies collapses because they’re carefully constructed plan fell apart due to an inaccurately predicted path.
Q) Suggest three design changes to Clash of Clans that incentivizes level progression.
A) Managing player perceptions in an MMO space is ultimately a fine balance between multiple features that push and pull in opposite directions. Ultimately no design feature is a silver bullet for a given problem unless it is seen in relationship with the entire game and it’s players.
One mechanism that was mentioned prior to this question was logarithmic progression of level versus time. This allows players to advance quickly so that the number of players vs level graph looks like a bell curve given a steady state of new users. This should challenge veterans of the game with a steady flow of incoming players. Given this system, we can attempt to add scaffolding features that further incentivize level progression by increasing the transparency of the system.
World Representation - Clash of Clans employs match based PvP gameplay, which means that the players inaccessible for battle because they are overleveled is hidden. It may be useful to represent the player base in a cohesive world to demonstrate the spectrum of player success achievable.
Eg: A real world map containing players around your geography with stats showing average level of a given area.
Player Peek - One player concern that prevents monetization is a concern that their money isn’t being spent optimally. Combining this with the ‘envy thy neighbour’ principle demonstrated above, we could create a peek feature where a player could retrieve the level progression of another high level player. This could reveal the strategy that a high level player employed to reach his current status. If modelled correctly, the feature could elicit pride for players who have been peeked instead of a feeling of being cheated.
Level Cap Removal - CoC undoubtedly uses level caps in it’s matching algorithm. Removing this level cap in a regulated environment could briefly demonstrate to players other player’s capabilities. Everyone in the world becomes prey and predator briefly. This would also elicit a feeling of pride for whales at how supreme they reign over the world! The feature would also need to be coupled with mechanisms to protect players at the very bottom of the food chain.
Q) Argue for or against a 'Fog of War' feature in Clash Royale.
A) Where Clash of Clans is primarily driven by pre battle observation strategy, Clash Royale is instead real time based. Gameplay revolves entirely around players mapping character abilities to specific use cases and reacting based on the presentation of these use cases. In the scenario of multiple use cases presenting themselves players make decisions in real time prioritizing one over the other. Therefore, perfect vision is an important part of the game. Without it, the use cases being presented to the player would not be a complete whole. Any presentation of a partial view would result in players panning drastically from one portion of the battlefield to another in order to prioritize deployment of troops in an informed manner.
The Fog of War feature is likely to detract from the game for all of the reasons mentioned above. It adds no value to the caster or the casted to be unable to track the progress of a battle segment, as the players will then have nothing to respond to. The small size of the play area further invalidates the feature, i.e. a scenario where a Fog of War obfuscates certain parts of the battlefield but leaves other parts open is not really a useful option. Brevity of battle sessions further detracts from it’s value as short bursts of Fog of War would be inconsequential and long bursts would result in uninformed arbitrary player behavior.
Q) Describe two improvements to Clash Royale's Chest system.
A) The most evident weakness of the system is that it disincentivizes play for long periods of time. Additionally, player disappointment when a receiving a chest when already full is a factor to consider. Nevertheless, the disincentives are not powerful ones as battling in Clash Royale, unlike Clash of Clans, is not a resource constrained activity. Eliminating the focus on victory prods players to reassess strategy, particularly how they utilize elixir with respect to their opponents. De-emphasising victory to reexamine strategy is particularly important when you consider that loss in Clash Royale does not impose any penalty. In addition, the inability to receive rewards potentially opens up a monetization channel particularly when combined with an event system that doubles rewards for a stipulated amount of time.
This system could be improved further with the following changes :
A) In the F2P space a certain tension between churn and monetization will always exist. In most F2P games small groups of players (fondly termed whales) tend to contribute the largest shares of revenue. Therefore, the challenge then becomes how can we push potential whales through the pipeline of the game.
While there is no substitute for genuinely compelling gameplay, a logarithmic progression of level vs time is a part of this solution. Getting this balance right is a prerequisite to any additional systems as increased player engagement results in an increased tolerance threshold to obstructions.
High upgrade/construction times is one such obstruction. Mitigating this system also requires a prerequisite before any additional system is built on it. All upgrades/constructions should be non blocking for gameplay. One way Clash of Clans implements this is by capping the number of placeable structures based on the level of the Town Hall. However, upgrading structures is independent of such level dependencies.
A system of non blocking structure upgrades does compromise monetization. This can be mitigated through the following design additions:
Social Event Systems - One classic F2P strategy that Clash of Clans does not employ is time based events where new content or amplified reward mechanisms are unlocked for a given amount of time. Players are more likely to pay when an events affect their entire alliances.
Eg: For 24 hours loot received from a battle is received by all members in the winning clan and loot lost will be deducted from all members in a losing clan.
Targeted Quests - Players, particularly whales are more likely to pay when they are given a clear goal to pursue. Quest systems are great ways to provide player goals that in turn map to specific monetization goals. However the relationship between the player goal and the mapped monetization item must be twice removed so that the scenario does not seem overtly contrived.
Eg: A Raid Defense Quest could be designed in such a way that the placement of six cannons are required in specific positions. This quest has potential monetization value when the player’s town hall is at level 4.
Q) Suggest one change to the Clash of Clans battle system that would enhance gameplay
A) The easiest changes to suggest to any battle system are changes that add real time elements to the battle system. However, the crux of the Clash of Clans battle system is built on an observation based pre battle strategy mechanic. The biggest value add ons will be features that enhance this aspect. As battle stands now, deployment of troops is based on an anticipated trajectory that is not guided in any way. The failure to accurately anticipate a troop member’s trajectory does not add value to gameplay in any way as the player does not have any means of reacting other than deploying more troops. Hence, one way of creating potentially more intelligent play is adding a feature which shows the trajectory of a single character when deployed. The player selects a troop member and the game shows a phantom character of how the troop member would move in the battle arena. The player can add or remove opponent structures in the ‘character preview’ mode so that players can see how the character would traverse the arena. This will allow players to better focus their strategies on how many, where and when troops should be allocated instead of feeling frustrated that their strategies collapses because they’re carefully constructed plan fell apart due to an inaccurately predicted path.
Q) Suggest three design changes to Clash of Clans that incentivizes level progression.
A) Managing player perceptions in an MMO space is ultimately a fine balance between multiple features that push and pull in opposite directions. Ultimately no design feature is a silver bullet for a given problem unless it is seen in relationship with the entire game and it’s players.
One mechanism that was mentioned prior to this question was logarithmic progression of level versus time. This allows players to advance quickly so that the number of players vs level graph looks like a bell curve given a steady state of new users. This should challenge veterans of the game with a steady flow of incoming players. Given this system, we can attempt to add scaffolding features that further incentivize level progression by increasing the transparency of the system.
World Representation - Clash of Clans employs match based PvP gameplay, which means that the players inaccessible for battle because they are overleveled is hidden. It may be useful to represent the player base in a cohesive world to demonstrate the spectrum of player success achievable.
Eg: A real world map containing players around your geography with stats showing average level of a given area.
Player Peek - One player concern that prevents monetization is a concern that their money isn’t being spent optimally. Combining this with the ‘envy thy neighbour’ principle demonstrated above, we could create a peek feature where a player could retrieve the level progression of another high level player. This could reveal the strategy that a high level player employed to reach his current status. If modelled correctly, the feature could elicit pride for players who have been peeked instead of a feeling of being cheated.
Level Cap Removal - CoC undoubtedly uses level caps in it’s matching algorithm. Removing this level cap in a regulated environment could briefly demonstrate to players other player’s capabilities. Everyone in the world becomes prey and predator briefly. This would also elicit a feeling of pride for whales at how supreme they reign over the world! The feature would also need to be coupled with mechanisms to protect players at the very bottom of the food chain.
Q) Argue for or against a 'Fog of War' feature in Clash Royale.
A) Where Clash of Clans is primarily driven by pre battle observation strategy, Clash Royale is instead real time based. Gameplay revolves entirely around players mapping character abilities to specific use cases and reacting based on the presentation of these use cases. In the scenario of multiple use cases presenting themselves players make decisions in real time prioritizing one over the other. Therefore, perfect vision is an important part of the game. Without it, the use cases being presented to the player would not be a complete whole. Any presentation of a partial view would result in players panning drastically from one portion of the battlefield to another in order to prioritize deployment of troops in an informed manner.
The Fog of War feature is likely to detract from the game for all of the reasons mentioned above. It adds no value to the caster or the casted to be unable to track the progress of a battle segment, as the players will then have nothing to respond to. The small size of the play area further invalidates the feature, i.e. a scenario where a Fog of War obfuscates certain parts of the battlefield but leaves other parts open is not really a useful option. Brevity of battle sessions further detracts from it’s value as short bursts of Fog of War would be inconsequential and long bursts would result in uninformed arbitrary player behavior.
Q) Describe two improvements to Clash Royale's Chest system.
A) The most evident weakness of the system is that it disincentivizes play for long periods of time. Additionally, player disappointment when a receiving a chest when already full is a factor to consider. Nevertheless, the disincentives are not powerful ones as battling in Clash Royale, unlike Clash of Clans, is not a resource constrained activity. Eliminating the focus on victory prods players to reassess strategy, particularly how they utilize elixir with respect to their opponents. De-emphasising victory to reexamine strategy is particularly important when you consider that loss in Clash Royale does not impose any penalty. In addition, the inability to receive rewards potentially opens up a monetization channel particularly when combined with an event system that doubles rewards for a stipulated amount of time.
This system could be improved further with the following changes :
- Multiple Battle Arenas - Opening up multiple battle arenas each categorized by level would fit well with the system. This way players unable to unlock further chests can try combat in higher level battle arenas to test out their skills.
- Chest Swap - Allowing players to swap out an unopened chest with a chest they received in battle would further incentivize lower level players to battle in arenas with higher level players. Additionally it would also reduce the impact of the weaknesses listed above.
