new dogs, new tricks breeding social networking and virtual pets matthew roberts producer andrew...

New Dogs, New TricksBreeding Social Networking and

Virtual Pets

Matthew RobertsProducer

Andrew SternCreative Director, Engineer

Outline

• Shipping v1.0• Going Free, and Life in the App Store– Monetization– Engagement– Referrals

• Live Design

Shipping 1.0• A founding product goal of ngmoco:)

– “Native” virtual pets• Studio talent

– Stumptown Game Machine• Over 1y in development• Team

– Lead Designer• Andrew Stern

– 2 Full time client engineers• Bernie Rissmiller, Corwin Light-Williams

– 1 network programmer / sysadmin• John Worsley

– Lead Character Animator• Jeremy Cantor

– Ngmoco Production• Matt Roberts, Chris Plummer, Brandon Fischer

– Additional team members – 3 PT engineers, 10 PT artists• Hernan Silberman – Network + scalability consulting

Designing for a wide audience• “Casual” play– Free play simulation sandbox

• Petting, water, fetch, chasing, agility... – Clothing, dress up, pet store, caring

• “Directed” play– Careers, Daily Goals– Multiple XP tracks

• Caretaking, Training, Socialization– 13 unique behavioral stats

• Earn puppy bucks + xp from playing, unlock and buy stuff

“The premium 3d virtual pet game on iPhone”

• Early 2009: wanted to charge $9.99 -> $19.99• Mid 2009: $4.99 -> $9.99• End of 2009: Free(mium)

Why Free?

• How to sell the game?• High pricing pressure on paid category– Low average price, hard to sustain position in

chart

• Acquire largest audience possible• Monetize “deep” players• Let players tell us the price– Free -> $39.99

Average paid app prices in Top 100

Source: Pinch Media

The “Three” of Free

• Monetization• Engagement• Referral

Things we didn’t do to monetize (at first)

• Surveys• “Pure” virtual currency• Real money (in-app purchase) for virtual

goods• Advertising

Monetization design: “Dog Food”

Dog Food – day one• 31-Oct, 2009 - Launched in Canada only– Similar market, but smaller. Estimate it’s 5% of global– Six SKUs – Free to $39.99

• Good news: Servers perform well– Don’t underestimate challenge of app store position spike

• Bad news: players really don’t like dog food– Bad player reviews on iTunes– Angry emails– General hate

• But– We can change settings on the fly!

One Player’s Feedback• “[You buy] food bowls but guess what you still

have to pay for them first and how much were they? I think not! such a scan imagine if u gave it to a child to play with and they bought i dunoo loads of bowls and ur account got charged loads and u were poor but you only got the ipod for winning a competition and u got an overdraft on yout account and were charged loads of interest and your house got repossessed nice life that would be this is disfraceful and im surprised at apple for letting this app go on the store what a rip”

Source: iTunes App Store Comments

Tuning the game live

• Dog food replenished over time• Launch: 1 bowl / 3 hours• Cut refresh time in ½• Cut it again• Cut it again• Current free bowl refresh time: 15 minutes

“I have to buy ****-ing dog food?”• Dog food regulates play• Dog food can be converted to Puppy Bucks• Regulating play vs. Virtual goods• Maslow predicts it...

– Players choose to feed dog before spending on virtual goods, but resent having to do so

• Solution: Server side, award free food more frequently so players use food to buy stuff instead

• Lesson: Understand your monetization strategy, don’t overload mechanics

• Lesson: Be careful about getting too close to core gameplay fantasy when considering monetization design

Continuing to iterate on monetization

• Added direct purchase of virtual goods (In-App Purchase)

• Better value proposition for some customers

#2 - Engagement

• Deep behavioral sim – tons of unique behavior• “Careers”• Tons of unique items and clothes• Players level from 1-1000 on three tracks• Unlock items / careers with XP• Earn $$ to spend in store• “Daily goals” of care, training and social• This was the “easy” part– At least, the part with which we were most familiar

Engagement = get native

• What’s native?– Touch, accelerometer– Network connection– Friends using it too

Long term engagement• Touch• Accelerometer• 3d • “Native” UI

• Touch• Accelerometer• 3d • “Native” UI

• Always connected• Friends have it too• Updates / digital distro

• Always connected• Friends have it too• Updates / digital distro

Wow factorWow factor Long Term engagementLong Term

engagement

Touch Pets – what’s native?

• What’s native?– Touch, accelerometer– Network connection– Friends using it too

Long term engagement

• Gestural training, accel toys, touch to pet• Rich 3d character animation, environments

• Gestural training, accel toys, touch to pet• Rich 3d character animation, environments

• Touch Pets network • (Plus+)• “Playdates” / Cooperation• Events / News / Relationships

• Touch Pets network • (Plus+)• “Playdates” / Cooperation• Events / News / Relationships

Wow factorWow factor Long Term engagementLong Term

engagement

Playdates

• Original idea: Dog “jumps” from device to device• Final implementation: Network of friends and

dogs that can visit each other• Dogs form relationships– Acquaintances, friends, in love, break up, get back

together• Earn $$ from playing with your dog or other dogs• Cooperate to complete “career” challenges

together

What worked about playdates

• Limited amount of earning potential per day with your own dog, have to go to friends to earn more

• Used push to notify players about playdates that happened while they were offline

• Develop relationships with other dogs to reinforce depth of behavior

What didn’t work about playdates

• Players “grind” on network dogs• Social interface not primary in UX• Didn’t think virally enough– “Obligation” to invite other players can be

powerful

#3 - Referrals

• Players refer other players– “I am playing this, come play it with me”

• 3rd Party referrals– Apple Charts– Advertising

Getting social on the app store

• It’s hard• Moment of acquisition is important – and Apple

controls it• Think like a player– Push– SMS– Email– Asynchronous– Don’t make me think about how to connect to friends

The Charts

• Biggest referral engine: Apple– Getting in the charts snowballs success– Economic games create virtual goods

scarcity– Giving away stuff can increase

exposure, but can hurt monetization– Need to find a balance between

freebies and economy

The Charts (con’t)• 100 spots for 160,000 apps• Top 50 spots much more valuable

– Why? Everyone shops on the device• Can’t “buy” your way there

– Traditional advertising doesn’t work well– Apple has “editorial” policy on what’s featured

• Press coverage helps, but doesn’t make or break you

• This is a reality of the App Store– Not necessarily a reality of mobile in general

• Work with a partner– Plus+ publishing, smart networks

Live Design

• What do players like? How do you know?– Stats / metrics– Reviews– Customer support

• Listened to players – made more of what they like– Careers

• Released more SKUs– Reward for installing the game or telling friends

Live Design (con’t)

• Talk to players– Messaging system– (Careful) use of push messaging• Keep game fresh within terms of SDK agreement• Build pipeline to tune key systems live (and use it)• Keep designing the game• Fix broken features• Innovate on content• Cut underperforming features or content if you can

– (we probably should)

TPD 2.0

• Continuing to iterate on monetization and social design

• “Front loading” social with Town View

Questions?

• Matt Roberts– matt@ngmoco.com

• Andrew Stern– andrew@stumptowngamemachine.com

(we are hiring!)