Solomon’s Keep
 
 
Let me just put this out there. I played more Diablo I & II than you. If you want proof, inquire with my friend Johannes. Good luck with that though, because he doesn’t exist. That being said, one of my first missions after getting my iPhone 4 was to immediately figure out where I can spend countless hours crawling through dungeons, smiting the undead, and quenching an insatiable appetite for that oh so glorious loot.

Where could I find this gem? The Arkaine’s Valor, if you will, of mobile gaming?

Well, it’s here, in a little game from Raptisoft called Solomon’s Keep. Solomon’s Keep throws you in as an up and coming Wizard looking to prove himself. Your mission, should you choose to accept it (I highly suggest you do), is to put a stop to the evil Necromancer Solomon.

“I’m comin for ya...”

What SK lacks in plot thickness, it makes up for in subtle humor (talk to townsfolk), fast paced action, loot, challenges, character customization, and enough replayability to keep the adventure going for a long period of time. It’s the only game I have ever played where I literally drained the entire battery life on my phone in a single session. Don’t worry, I plugged in and remained in the fray.

Solomon’s Keep is a real winner. Even better, Raptisoft dropped the price from $1.99 to FREE about a year ago. If you ever enjoyed a good dungeon crawler, or just like fast paced action, Solomon’s Keep will certainly provide you with some decent hours of entertainment.

Beat Hazard

Music games are a dime a dozen so it would be very easy to overlook Beat Hazard by Cold Beam Games Ltd. Anytime I try out a new music game, there’s always one question on my mind: Does it have untz? What is untz you might ask? Untz is the sound and feeling you get when you’re dancing to electronic dance music. Bright lights, amazing colors, pew-pew lasers, deep beats, and lots of feeling. From the initial load screen, I was pleasantly surprised by Beat Hazard – “Warning,  Photosensitive Seizures – Strobing Effects”.
 
 

 
 
Another awesome addition is that the entire game can be powered by your music. The controls are smooth and you’re really able to appreciate the colors and music while you dodge your way around the baddies. It reminded me a lot of geometry wars on the XBOX 360 but with many more sounds and colors. The levels may seem quick, but this factor alone allows you to progress through your vast library of music. Bottom line: If you haven’t picked up this game yet, get it now and drop the beat.

Gem Keeper
 

A real gem from South Korean mobile developer, NCSoft, this tower defense game will satisfy even the most ravenous TD player. At first, I was skeptical, how would a company known for MMO games make the leap into mobile, especially the TD genre? Answer: extremely well.

 
Gem Keeper is my new standard when it comes to TD games. Aside from the outstanding graphics, the vivid colors and variety of gameplay makes for an extremely addicting game. As you beat the levels, you get access to new towers.
 
Each time you are introduced to a new tower, the level is fitted around how to best use the tower, teaching you instead of telling you and interrupting the game. In keeping with the true TD genre, the towers are upgradeable and sellable.

 
Something that NCSoft has done that I haven’t been introduced to in the past is the sliding rail. Placing towers on a sliding rail may not seem like a big deal, but this nuance adds to the complexity of beating each level. Timing, placement, tower choice… they become even more important when you throw rails into the mix.
 

While the multiple levels and endless choice of towers are huge pluses, another aspect that stood out to me was the cute critters. They are well animated and each cause havoc in their own special way — sprinting to steal your gems, dilapidating or freezing your towers, and morphing into gem-carrying-tank-beasts. Gem Keeper is an amazing tower-defense option for TD and non-TD fans alike. Countless stages, two different modes, a variety of towers… I highly recommend this game!

Homerun Battle 3D
 

Baseball, America’s Pastime, but for video games, I just never really found a baseball game that I’ve liked. After picking up Homerun Battle 3D by Com2us, I’m ready to change my tune. Homerun Battle 3D is well… a homerun!
 

The game makes great use of the gyroscope. Similarly to real-life baseball, Homerun requires all-star finger-eye coordination as well as major-league tilting skills. The responsiveness is sharp and multiple modes of game play keep the replay factor extremely high. As you get the hang of how to hit homers, you can start challenging yourself with more skilled pitchers. Learn how to hit a curve, fork, and more.
 

Once you’re done challenging yourself, move on over to multiplayer. I was also pleasantly surprised by the multiplayer. Skill balance matchups and quickness of pairing me with an opponent were fair and fast. There’s a free version of the game, but I highly recommend upgrading and trying the full-feature version. Batter up!

Sword and Poker:

If there are two things I can appreciate in life, it’s someone that can effectively wield both a scimitar and a rock solid poker face.  Doing both simultaneously is a feat I have only seen in Gaia’s “Sword and Poker”

The concept is simple, fight your way through various temples to progress your character and attain various weapons, shields, and magical powers to better annihilate your foes.  The fun part comes in an excellent twist that flawlessly mixes turn-based style fighting with Poker.  Every battle gives you a 3×3 grid with nine random cards placed within.  Each player’s hand contains 4 cards for which 5 card poker hands are created around the edges of this grid.  The better the hand you create, the more damage you will do to your opponent.

S&P does offer an option for local multiplayer.  Which is of course a great addition and allows you to keep the gameplay lasting longer.  While I would have loved to see a wifi multiplayer option, the long lasting single player campaign is certainly worth the $3.99 price tag.  With the popularity of poker games on the app store, and the unique game-play mechanics S&P offers, I’m a bit surprised some of the giant game publishers have not yet shameless ripped it off.

Make sure to check out this one-of-a-kind game before it’s too late.  For unknown reasons, Japanese developers Gaia have been known to take the game off the app store in the past (at least the U.S.).  This is certainly a title that should not be missed out on!  

Dungeon Raid

If you have come this far, not only do I applaud your reading skills, but also your conscious recognition that I’m really into games with dungeons.  Luckily for you, all three of the dungeon games mentioned could not be any more different from each other (aside from the fact they are created by awesome Indie developers).

“A furious battle is on the horizon...”

Dungeon Raid takes your match three game and…wait never mind, calling Dungeon Raid a match three feels like a lie, as Dungeon Raid’s unique matching characteristic requires you to match many more than three.  Your playing field is a 6×6 grid that can contain any number of different pieces.  Matching coins generates money to buy items, matching potions restores your health, and shields restore defense.

Unfortunately, nasty foes appear on the board, which will inflict damage and eventually kill you if not destroyed.  Matching swords with the skulls can be an effective way to defeat these foes, however magic spells like Fireball or Hack & Slash can crush a number of foes in a single turn.

Dungeon Raid is one of the most polished games you will find on the app store. Smooth gameplay and graphics, endless amounts of characters and abilities to unlock, and leaderboards to motivate you at 2 am for just One More Game….  You can get this monster of a game for $2.99, or, check out the lite version before shelling out those hard-earned bucks.  Whichever route you choose, Dungeon Raid will not disappoint.

Meet Bob.

Bob is a game developer, creating his first mobile title, Angry Hedgehogs, aptly named after his love of the adorable (yet surprisingly ferocious) creatures. Armed with his laptop and creativity, Bob embarks on a quest to create the most successful game of all time.

After months of hard work, Bob publishes his game and anxiously monitors its performance. Success! His early fans can’t get enough of the cuddly hedgehogs. However, Bob’s leaving a lot on the table by not maximizing the LTV of his early fans.

LTV is ultimately a function of Value and Engagement.  First, and most important is engagement.  If the game sucks, players will bail and no amount of lipstick will make your pig pretty.

There are several techniques for increasing engagement and central to this is making sure the core gameplay is solid (improving engagement and managing player lifecycle will be covered in a future post).

Alright Bob, we know your fans love your hedgehogs.  Way to engage!  Now let’s talk Value…

Value – the business side of gaming

The hustle of building and maintaining a fun game often results in the unintended consequence of neglecting the business side of gaming.  While many create games simply for the love, lets face it, we all want (or need) to make money.  That said, Value isn’t simply measured in dollars.  Players generate Value in several ways.

Virality – the friendly kind

Gaming is inherently a social activity and mobile game players more so than ever, love to share and discover games with friends.  How many times have you whipped out your mobile device to share your latest addiction?

Each player has the potential to drive new user adoption through face-to-face recommendations, online word-of-mouth, or more formal viral loops.  These socialites often re-engage existing and churned players through these organic notifications.

Marketplace Exposure – mobile gaming is like High School

Love it or hate it, apps often fly or die by their App Store/Play Store popularity.  After all, this is the primary destination of discovery for the majority of players.

Rankings drive free exposure and organic installs, providing ancillary Value for each new install.  Consistent exposure is key to driving long-term organic installs.

Reviews, and more so ratings, influence user’s likelihood of tapping the install button.  The more 5-star player ratings, the higher conversion and ultimately lower acquisition costs for paid user acquisition (UA).

User-Generated Content (UGC) and Community – the meta-game

New, fresh content is key to keeping an engaged user base; however, this is typically the most costly investment for game creators.  Games that support UGC not only benefit from “free” content but also create a meta-game that extends the life of their game, particularly for the most engaged, elder players.

Community interaction in forums, leaderboard rankings, and multiplayer/co-op experiences also contribute to Value creation.  Although a player may never provide Value in other areas, their participation in multiplayer matches helps ensure players always have competition to quickly match up against and provides social proof that other are playing the game.  It’s keeping up with the Jones, gaming style.

Loyalty – for the love of it

The most successful gaming companies build a brand with a loyal following and although it may take 51 failures before they strike gold, leveraging loyal fans makes success in future titles that much easier.

Players with brand affinity are more likely to download new titles from cross-promotions, while window-shopping in the App Store, or through other channels.  It also opens up additional monetization channels such as merchandising and cross-media expansion.

Loyal players tend to associate themselves with brands they love, promoting them on their sleeve or through online channels.  They also thirst for behind-the-scenes info and sneak-peeks of new content or titles, often signing up for newsletters and other communication channels for future re-engagement.

Feedback – ingredient #1

Flying blind usually isn’t a good idea and neither is building a game without feedback.  Usability studies and playtesting are typically part of the early game development process but feedback can also be captured from daily usage to provide insights and ideas on how to improve the game.

Explicit feedback is provided through support emails, social network posts, forums, reviews, and in-game surveys.  As creative and experienced as one may be, some of the best ideas come from players.

Arguably more important is understanding what your players actually do through implicit feedback.  User behavior analytics (when are my players churning?  what content is selling?) and crash reports (which devices and OS’ are experiencing issues?) provide empirical data on areas of improvement.  Each player can contribute but statistical significance is required before making any strong conclusions.

Monetization – show me the money

Of course the most obvious component of Value is direct monetization.

Direct payments through in-app purchases (IAP), “premium” game purchases, and pay-to-play transactions is the ideal type of monetization.  Influencing a non-paying player to pull out their wallet increases their likelihood of spending in the future and becoming an invested, engaged player.

Advertising monetizes the 95%+ of players that never drop a dime through banner or interstitial ads; embedded cross-promotions; and integrated brand advertising.  Ads have the potential to turn players away and ultimately have a negative effect.  Those that generate the highest Value per interaction are contextual and the least disruptive to the user experience.

Looking Forward – competing in a maturing market

Clearly Bob has a lot of work to do.  LTV-maximization is increasingly important as the industry becomes more sophisticated.  Those that take a  holistic approach to generating Value across various dimensions will create a healthier relationship with their players and remain competitive in this increasingly freemium-dominated market.

Stay tuned for the next post in the series as we discuss specific strategies for maximizing Value and Engagement.  I’d love to get your feedback and thoughts on the topic in the comments below or drop me a line at @rrhoover.

This has been an exciting start to the year, and GDC 2012 is the perfect time to catch up with our developers!

Our launch onto the Android Platform and our new Virtual Goods Promotion Tool continues to make PlayHaven the ultimate way for developers to acquire, retain, re-engage, and monetize their players. Check out our recent article in AppCraver to read more.

Interested in learning more? This year you can find us on the floor in the Unity booth in Moscone West. The location is front and center so you can’t miss us!

We know you mobile game devs are swamped, preparing for the busiest time of the year but take a break and join us and Kontagent over some free drinks at the APPNATION III closing party.

The festivities start at 9pm, 12/1 at Mighty. Registration’s free so RSVP now before it fills up. Did we mention there are free drinks?

RSVP at Eventbrite