We continue the cycle of materials in which the editors discuss interesting game projects. Today we are discussing the Looney Tunes Dash runner!
Numbers
Looney Tunes Dash! is one of the most successful Zynga projects of recent times. At least the first month of the game, which was released in mid-December last year, was “excellent” in downloads.
The position of the game in the top of free apps (Russia, USA, Germany, iPhone App Store Overall):
The position of the game in the top of free apps (Russia, USA, Germany, Google Play):
But closer to the middle of January, simultaneously with the release of the update, the project began to have problems. However, we tend to believe that the drop in downloads may be due to the possible cessation of aggressive traffic buying. In any case, by now the game has flown out of the top charts of the regions we are interested in.
By the way, a few words about the selected regions. We traditionally choose specifically the United States, Germany and Russia, because this is the most different from each other non-Asian markets, which at the same time, a representative for the whole group of smaller markets (tops Canada and great Britain duplicate the us, the top of France similar to German, CIS much like Russian).
Returning to the project. The cash figures of the game, unlike downloads, are relatively stable throughout the entire period. They cannot be called high, but the project’s earnings in three markets are stable within the global Top 200 Overall.
The position of the game in the top box office applications (Russia, USA, Germany, iPhone App Store Overall):
In Google Play, the behavior of indicators is somewhat different, but the general situation is similar.
The position of the game in the top of free apps (Russia, USA, Germany, Google Play):
Game
As for the game itself, it is a three-dimensional three-rail transmission runner created based on the classic Looney Tunes cartoon series, the rights to which belong to Warner Bros.
The basic gameplay, apart from the fact that the missions are final levels, and not an endless track, is not very significantly different from Subway Surfers. The basic differences here relate specifically to monetization. The latter, in turn, repeats for the most part similar ones from the King games.
Monetization
There is a large map with missions, each of which is a unique track with a unique task, usually reduced to the fact that you need to collect so many coins or break several dozen barrels / boxes.
An error during the passage of the route leads to the need to re-pass it, plus one of the five hearts is removed for losing (one heart is replenished in 15 minutes). If there is no desire to re-pass, you can pay 9 game bucks (hard currency), then you will continue to play from the place of loss (it is important that a secondary loss does not increase the required number of bucks, there is no penalty). However, considering that 5 hearts will cost you 10 game bucks, this is not the most profitable way to spend hard currency.
10 game bucks is worth $0.99 real. But, classically, the more you buy, the cheaper they are.
Also, the player receives bucks for viewing ads. One view is one buck. Roughly speaking, the game is ready to pay $0.10 directly to users for watching videos (at the rate of 10 hearts = $1). Plus, there is a Tapjoy connected.
There is also a soft currency in the game – coins. They are earned on game levels. They can also be purchased for real money (without resorting to hard currency). They are spent only on improving the abilities of game characters and temporary amplifiers (magnet, helmet, and so on).
The fact that they cannot be obtained in any other way is most likely done in order not to overload the economy of the game and it was easier to balance the game balance. By attaching the exchange rate of coins to the exchange rate of bucks, it would be more difficult to change something within the game economy. So, yes: there are two monetization cycles in the game that are not related to each other.
Out of curiosity: access to new packs is instant: you do not need to collect a certain number of stars, pay real money or send requests to friends to share the key in the game.
Well, we have briefly analyzed the project, now we can talk about it.
Discussion
Sasha: I personally really liked the project, although, to be honest, at a certain stage I was tired of it. But here, rather, a subjective factor. I had been playing Subway Surfers for a couple of months before, and just, in general, got tired of this kind of gameplay. As far as I know, you’re in Subway Surfers right before the Looney Tunes Dash! I didn’t play, you shouldn’t have had such a feeling?
Ira: In general, I can’t say that I’m a fan of runners as a genre. That’s why Subway Surfers passed me by, and Looney Tunes Dash! they would have passed in the same way. If not for one “but” – I was hooked on cartoons. I am a cartoonist by my first education, I could not pass by.
I quickly formed a love-hate relationship with the game. What I came for – that is, cartoons, references to the Looney Tunes series, gags before the start of levels – all this is in the project. And it pleases. The gameplay also did not cause rejection. Low entry threshold, rapidly increasing difficulty, addictive nature of the game… In general, everything is as we like.
And the hatred was caused by Paywall.
Sasha: I know that you and I disagree on this point, but I think that the game has a very gentle monetization. The passage is based on two components: on the skills of the user himself and on the need to learn the route. In a way, Looney Tunes Dash! is a full-fledged modern Mario, in which you also need to split the levels. Hearts are a healthy limiter so you can’t eat all the content, right?
Ira: I agree with you mentally. And the heart requires continuous hours-long passage of trails! Therefore, of course, at the moment when you can no longer replay the track that has not been passed (and there is nothing to win, the authors of the game kindly emphasize this point), the brightest frustration arises.
I even had to temporarily disable my in-app purchases on my mobile, otherwise the phrase “shareware game” was already starting to sound mocking.
Sasha: By the way, the moment with the unique levels really impressed me. The content is really very expensive. To make not just a series of backgranudov and heroes, but levels with unique solutions, traps, traits, to script the behavior of characters on them… How much they spent on it!
At the same time, I can and want to scold Looney Tunes Dash! for the terrible graphics, but for me it is the main drawback.
Ira: It seemed to me that for a stylized 3D cartoon, it was nothing.
Sasha: If we start in particular, then one of the pitfalls of the game for me was the fact that each location has its own hero, and their behavior on the track is seriously different from each other. It’s confusing, disorienting. Throughout the game, it seems that you are playing different projects. And, for example, I like Bugs Bunny missions less than Road Runner, but more than Tweety. I like it less because of the behavior of the characters on the track. By the way, choosing not the most charismatic heroes of the series as the main characters is another healthy stone in the direction of developers. I would love to race around the track for the Tasmanian devil Taz or the cat Sylvester.
Ira: That’s where we disagree. It seemed to me a big plus: every time there was an opportunity to see a new gag with a new hero.
By the way, for me, Bugs Bani is just the cutest hero. And Sylvester is one of the minor characters. But in a level with a Road Runner, I would love to play for a Coyote, he causes more sympathy.
I would like to think that the creators of the game did not choose the characters “from nonsense”, conducted some research among fans of the franchise. However, knowing Zynga’s propensity for spontaneous and controversial decisions, I’m not so sure about it.
Sasha: Steering to the end, I will note one more point, which, if it weren’t for you, Ira, who chose the project for discussion, would have remained the decisive factor when getting acquainted with the game (in other words, I would have erased the project after the first few missions). Despite the fact that Looney Tunes Dash! just like Subway Surfers, it refers to three-rail runners (those in which you do not need to use a gyroscope, and the track is divided into three tracks), in terms of management, these projects are very different from each other. And the transition from Subway Surfers to Looney Tunes Dash! it can be painful. The fact is that the control in the Kiloo game is more sensitive, the game reacts faster to the player’s actions, and in the creation of Zynga there is some minimum delay to which it is necessary to adapt.
Do you have something to add? Be sure to write in the comments!
Also on the topic:
Zynga is a pioneer company in the social gaming market. It was founded in 2007. Osovny capital earned on Texas Hold’em Poker (now Zynga Poker). In 2008, she collected investments of $29 million, which allowed her to acquire MyMiniLife, which at that time had just completed the Farmville time manager. In 2011, Zynga successfully entered the IPO, raising more than $1 billion during the placement of shares. Then the company continued its policy of acquiring promising companies. This led to a severe drop in income. As a result, in the summer of 2014, the founder of the company, Mark Pincus, resigned as CEO, giving way to the former head of Microsoft’s entertainment division, Don Mattrick.